Facebook in talks to buy Israeli mobile navigation start-up Waze for $1 bn: report

Facebook Inc is in late-stage talks to buy Israeli mobile satellite navigation start-up Waze for a price believed to be in the $800 million to $1 billion range, the Israeli business daily Calcalist today reported, without disclosing its source of information.

Waze, which had earlier caught the eye of Apple and Microsoft, started negotiating with Facebook about six months ago. Facebook has signed a term-sheet and is currently conducting due diligence, said the report.

The potential acquisition would be the third in Israel by Facebook after it acquired developer of applications for mobile devices Snaptu for $70 million in 2011, and face recognition software company Pace. Establishment, for $ 60 million in 2012.

Founded in 2007 by Ehud Shabtai, Uri Amir Shinar and Uri Levine, Waze 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. They 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.