Official: LinkedIn has acquired Rapportive
So it's official - social profile contact aggregator for Gmail Rapportive has just announced in a blog post that it has been acquired by LinkedIn.
Rapportive CEO Rahul Vohra (whom I met a few years ago at The Next Web Conference) had this to say in the post:
We are completely beside ourselves with excitement. I have so much I want to tell you, and so much I want to show you. But I need to restrain myself — there'll be time for that later. For now, let me leave you with one last thought.
Terms were not disclosed and it wasn't exactly clear from the post if Rapportive will stay relatively independent or will be absorbed into LinkedIn:
When rumours of our acquisition surfaced last week, many asked what was going to happen to the product. Well, we have fantastic news: at LinkedIn, we will support Rapportive, and we will continue to build beautiful products that make you brilliant with people.
So the product isn't going away - which is great - but will it keep the name (and to a degree a kind of neutral source) or will it be branded a LinkedIn product? I would think the LinkedIn name on the product would help it more than hurt, especially for professionals, but we'll just have to see.
Regardless, a smart acquisition by LinkedIn.
