Google may get into bidding war with Facebook for Waze

Google Inc is weighing plans of buying Israeli mobile satellite navigation start-up Waze Inc, a move that may trigger a bidding war with Facebook Inc, Bloomberg today reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Waze, which has Microsoft among its investors, is seeking more than $1 billion failing which it may retain its independence and raise a round of venture capital financing, the report said.

Facebook has held talks with Waze and is reported to have offered $1 billion. (See: Facebook in talks to buy Israeli mobile navigation start-up Waze for $1 bn: report)

Early this month, Israeli business daily Calcalist had reported that Waze, which had earlier caught the eye of Apple and Microsoft, entered into talks with Facebook about six months ago.

It also said that Facebook had signed a term-sheet and was conducting due diligence.

Founded in 2007 by Ehud Shabtai, Uri Amir Shinar and Uri Levine, Waze, which also has an office in California, is a free social GPS application for smartphones.

Waze app is for drivers who use their smartphones to generate maps and traffic data and contribute traffic information to benefit other drivers. It can also report events such as accidents, police traps, or hazards along the way and provide the best real-time routes that bypass traffic, even re-routing drivers as road conditions change.

Its application is currently considered the world's largest navigation app based social network with 45 million users and holds a 10 per cent market share of the US navigation apps.

Waze was initially funded by the Blue Run Ventures, Magma Venture Partners and Vertex Venture Capital and recently received additional funding from Kleiner Perkins and Li Ka-shing's Horizon Ventures. 

Google, which already has a mapping app, may be interested in Waze's technology to add social features, and the acquisition would also eliminate a competitor from laying hands on the startup.