Automattic recently completed the acquisition of Beeper, an all-in-one chat platform, in a notable deal worth $125 million according to the report by TechCrunch. Founded in 2020 by Eric Migicovsky and Brad Murray, Beeper is an integrated solution that allows users to seamlessly communicate across 14 different platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Signal, Telegram, Slack, and others. Eric Migicovsky is also the founder of Pebble, a smartwatch company that is now discontinued.
Merging Two Acquisitions
Toward the end of last year, Automattic also acquired Texts, an all-in-one chat platform. The future of how these two platforms will co-exist side by side has been explained in the official announcement as ” Merging Texts with Beeper is our next step toward the dream of combining all online conversations in a safe, secure, and effective way.”
In his blog post, Matt Mullenweg also reiterated the ultimate goal behind the acquisition of two similar apps: “ We’re combining the best technology from Beeper and Texts to create a great private, secure, and open-source messaging client for people to have control of their communications”.
Matt Mullenweg was following Beeper and its progress from the early days. “He was an early user, supporter, and investor in Beeper,” revealed Eric Migicovsky.
Beeper is Now Available For Everyone
On the same day of the acquisition announcement, Beeper became available to everyone, and the Android app successfully came out of its beta phase. Eric Migicovsky (now the Head of Messaging at Automattic) also outlined one of the future goals, “One of our long-term goals is to help the world migrate to an open chat/communication protocol” and this partnership with Automattic is the best way forward for them.
Beeper Mini and iMessage
Beeper created quite a buzz when it released Beeper Mini for Android which came to be known as the iMessage app for Android users. This led to Apple blocking the Beeper Mini and the Department of Justice investigating Apple blocking Beeper. Matt also shared the future of iMessage on Android: “ A lot of people are asking about iMessage on Android… I have zero interest in fighting with Apple, I think instead it’s best to focus on messaging networks that want more engagement from power-user clients.”
Impact of This Acquisition on Users
For now, Beeper and Texts will continue to work normally without any immediate change. But do keep in mind that it all could change at a later point in time.