Airbnb acquires Localmind!
Every startup, every tech entrepreneur, every exit has its own story, a unique story they can each call their own. Yes, the news is out: “@Airbnb acquires Localmind and goes big into mobile and social” @TechCunch article.
I’m very proud to have been part of the @localmind story. We actually got involved early on. We first met the team through Ben Yoskovitz, who had partnered with Lenny, got him and thereafter Beau, to move to Montreal to launch the Company under the @YearOneLabs program. That was about 2 years ago. Soon after the initial beta launch, Inovia participated in the seed round along side Real Ventures, Granite Ventures and a few other key angels.
This was Year One Labs first investment. And it was also Inovia’s smallest investment, out of our Fund II portfolio of 30 companies. Why did we participate in a $650k seed round? Because of: Lenny Rachitsky, Beau Haugh and Nelson Gauthier! Once you meet them, you want to back them. You know that they will deliver, no matter what. Through the up’s and downs (and I can tell you that they had a bigger share of up’s and downs than the average tech startup), they delivered. And now, they are leading Airbnb’s next wave in social products. And I know that they will deliver!
This is what Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky had to say:
“The role of social in travel is more important than ever. We’ve seen connections shape the experience for our community, so we’re excited to have the Localmind team join us and lead this next wave of social products.”
So, even though Localmind didn’t become a HUGE multi-hundred million dollar Company before being acquired (same comment I shared last week when our other early stage portfolio company BufferBox got acquired by Google), we are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such a great team. And we know that our relationship here goes way beyond one exit!
We loved Localmind’s social mobile crowdsource platform and we are excited to see what they will come up with at Airbnb.
Congratulations guys, and thank you for the ride!
