So yes, LinkedIn has bought contact management startup Rapportive, according to multiple sources we’ve contacted, as was first reported by Liz Gannes at AllThingsD.
The startup — which aggregates and displays the social networking accounts of the people you contact through Gmail — was backed for $1 million by seed investors Charles River Ventures, Paul Buchheit, Scott Banister, Jason Calacanis, Gary Vaynerchuk, Dharmesh Shah, Shervin Pishevar, Roy Rodenstein, Kima Ventures, Zelkova Ventures, 500 Startups, Michael Zirngibl, Ashish Soni and David Cancel.
And at $3 million pre-money valuation, many of those investors are happy with the modest ~$15 million in cash exit we’re hearing.
LinkedIn seems to have gotten choosier with regards to its acquisition targets as of late, picking up data plays Cardmunch, ConnnectedHQ and now Rapportive in order to bulk up on what would seem to be some mystery contact management product. Or maybe it considers itself that product?
He who controls the spice …
LinkedIn makes *smart* acquisitions. Small teams of people building real tools, invited to the mothership to expand LI's offerings. #win—
Semil (@semil) February 07, 2012
Rapportive shows you everything about your contacts right inside your inbox. You can immediately see what people look like, where they’re based, and what they do. You can establish rapport by mentioning shared interests. You can grow your network by connecting on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and more. And you can record thoughts for later by leaving notes.
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