Microsoft Confirms Acompli Purchase After 'Whoops' Moment

Microsoft (MSFT) confirmed Dec. 1 what the eagle eyes noticed late last week—that it has bought Acompli, a highly regarded, San Francisco-based, startup email developer.

While neither company disclosed the terms of the transaction, Re/code and TechCrunch reported that Microsoft paid about $200 million for Acompli in an all-cash deal. Acompli’s team of about two dozen people will join Microsoft’s Office 365 group to work on mobile email products for iOS and Android, the report said.

Acompli Chief Executive Javier Soltero, in a blog post, wrote, “18 months ago we started building a team and a product around the idea that we could make mobile email better. Today that journey continues as part of a larger organization with the technology, talent, and market reach that will help us take the vision of Acompli to hundreds of millions of mobile users across the world.”

Specifics of how the two companies will work together are still being worked out, including whether Acompli’s app ultimately will be rebranded or packaged with other Microsoft products. Right now, Acompli’s team will continue to be tasked with email alone, TechCrunch reported.

Late last week, a blank blog post on Microsoft’s website with a URL link referencing an acquisition but leading to an empty page sparked speculation Microsoft has bought Acompli. The blog post in question came from Rajesh Jha, Microsoft corporate vice president for Office Live and Exchange, who jumped ahead a few squares in advance of the official statement that came today.

“In a world where more than half of email messages are first read on a mobile device, it’s essential to give people fantastic email experiences wherever they go,” Jha wrote in an updated blog post. “The Acompli team is passionate about this quest. Their app provides innovative ways to focus on what’s important in your inbox, to schedule meetings, and work with attachments and files.”

Buying Acompli maps to Microsoft’s strategy to deliver productivity apps across multiple platforms, as evidenced by its earlier moves for Office on iOS devices and shortly to Android devices, he said. “Our goal is to deliver fantastic cross-platform apps that support the variety of email services people use today and help them accomplish more,” Jha said.

The Acompli app supports Exchange, Office 365 for business, Outlook.com, Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO) and also storage platforms such as OneDrive, Apple’s (AAPL) iCloud, Dropbox and Box. At this point, Microsoft has no plans to end Acompli’s support of email services that compete with Microsoft’s platform, TechCrunch reported.

According to Crunchbase, in June Acompli landed $7.3 million in Series A funding from Zimbra co-founders Roland Schemers and Ross Dargahi, and venture firms Harrison Metal, Felicis Ventures and Redpoint Ventures.