Mixi Group, the Japanese internet company behind the social networking service of the same name mixi has announced on Monday that it has acquired Tokyo-based Compath.me, the startup behind family photo service KiDDY.
The financial terms regarding the deal has not been disclosed but it is revealed that Compath.me’s founder and CEO Hiromichi Ando and some of his colleagues will join Mixi upon the acquisition.
Following this acquisition, Compath.me’s KiDDY app is expected to be merged with Mitene app – a family photo service developed under Mixi’s Vantage Studio department which has been established since 2015. KiDDY app’s users will be migrated and the app will completely shut down in late April.
Japanese for “Check this out!”, Mitene is founded by Mixi’s co-founder and chairman Shinji Kasahara and has acquired over 1 million users since its inception. The app is a platform that allows users to share and organise photos and videos of their offspring in addition to facilitating conversations revolving around family and friends.
Mixi also recently launched a TV commercials campaign across Japan to boost the user acquisition campaign for the Mitene app
Launched in 2011, Compath.me graduated from Tokyo-based startup incubator Open Network Lab. The company started with a photo-sharing app aiming to help users discover locations and events around them, and then subsequently pivoted to the family photo service in 2013.
Compath.me has fundraised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from DG Incubation – the firm operating Open Network Lab as well as the investment arm subsidiary of Digital Garage along with Architype and Beenos. The startup also raised 50 million yen (about US$492K) from Japanese internet company United in May 2014.
By Vivian Foo, VCNewsNetwork
