SnapChat Buys Social Mapping Startup Zenly for $200m to Allow Users to Track Their Friends

One of the most worldwide dl used Los Angeles-based social media platform Snapchat just acquired Zenly, a French-based start-up that makes a social map so people can see where their friends are hanging out, for $200 million in cash plus additional stock awards.The company has been moving more deeply into location-based tools, using deals to build out its portfolio. Snapchat will keep Zenly running independently, similar to how Facebook lets Instagram run independently.

It is a great feature added to the Snapchat and has already turned the product into a feature on its main Snapchat application that lets users are friends photo and videos posts by location. In other words, Zenly’s app lets users see where their friends currently are on a map using constant GPS in the background. This also lets people message their friends in the app and make hang out plans according to location. SnapChat-Buys-Social-Mapping-Startup

The app is mostly used by teens trying to keep up with their friends around town, At school, or at concerts and other events. The company has said that the product updates will be the main driver of user growth rate, which slowed in the first quarter, sparking concern about the company’s trajectory just months after its initial public offering.

It might look to $250million to $350 million a lot to pay to Zenly, but it has been seen that Snapchat expensive acquisitions turn out well. Zenly doesn’t seem to fit with snaps mission but it had helped Snapchat in doing the things worth capturing on camera. Because it’s Snapchat Stories feature is being aggressively copied by Instagram and Facebook’s other apps, Snapchat is wise to expand into the social utility space of helping people meet up offline.