Yahoo Buys Bangalore-based Startup Bookpad

Yahoo has acquired Bookpad, the Bangalore-based startup that owns Docspad, a cloud-based document creation and collaboration product for developers.

The Sunnyvale, California-based tech giant confirmed the purchase Monday but failed to disclose financial terms of the deal. Two published reports offer conflicting information on the purchase price. According to The Economic Times, the value of the deal is approximately $8.3 million. The Times of India places the figure a little higher — at a little under $15 million.

Founded in 2013 by three Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumni — Niketh Sabbineni, Aditya Bandi and Ashwik Reddy — Bookpad offers three deployment options for Docspad: cloud APIs, private cloud and on premise. Its flagship product supports a range of image formats, including Word, Powerpoint, Excel, PDF, ODT, ODP, ODX, ePub 2.0 and others.

“We built Docspad for a singular purpose: any app out there that deals with documents should be able to let the users open, edit and collaborate on those documents, from right inside the app,” Bandi, who is also Bookpad’s CEO, said earlier today in a company blog post. “With Docspad, we’re helping to build a web where no one needs to download any document.”

According to The Economic Times, talks between Bookpad and Yahoo began in May when Sabbineni met Yahoo officials in the United States.

A Yahoo spokesperson in a statement said Bookpad will join Yahoo’s “communications organization in Bangalore, where they will work on strengthening the Yahoo Mail experience.”

“We’re excited for the expertise and knowledge that the team brings with them, and can’t wait to get to work collaborating with them,” the spokesperson said.

Follow CJ Arlotta on Twitter @cjarlotta and Google+ for further updates on the story above — or if you just want to say hello.