Google has bought start-up firm Wavii for an estimated $30m (£18m), as the firm looks to capitalise on the growing demand for news aggregation apps.
Launched in 2012, Wavii provides customised news feed to users, summarising news stories, tweets and blogs related to their interests.
Wavii claims to ‘summarise everything that users care about into a customised news feed on the lines of a Facebook wall’.
The technology could be used by Google to improve search results for news stories.
Neither Google or Wavii have revealed the price of the deal, but most reports say it was about $30m.
Wavii was created by engineers who previously worked for Amazon and Microsoft and offers services via the web or as a smartphone app.
It is closely integrated with Facebook. That may change since the social network competes against Google+.
News app wars
Apple was also reportedly courting the start-up, with plans to incorporate the technology in the Siri function of its devices.
Last month, Yahoo acquired a news summarisation app, Summly, for “dozens of millions” of pounds, adding it to its iPhone app earlier this week.
