Microsoft has acquired 6Wunderkinder GmBH, a Berlin-based startup and the creator of the highly acclaimed to-do list app Wunderlist.
The news was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal and has now been confirmed by the behemoth in its recent blog post. The deal amount has not been disclosed yet but is estimated to be between $100 and $200 million according to The Wall Street Journal.
Wunderlist has over 13 million customers and claims to have more than one billion to-dos made on the app. It is available for Android, iOS, Mac and Windows platforms and through popular Internet browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, and Safari as well.
The company 6Wunderkinder is backed by the prominent U.S. venture-capital firm Sequoia Capital, European VC firm Earlybird Venture Capital GmBH and Atomico.
The Reason Behind Microsoft’s Acquisition
This acquisition is a bold move from the 800-pound gorilla to strengthen its mobile app ecosystem.
Prior to Wunderlist, Microsoft had already made two significant acquisitions recently. One was the acquisition of Sunrise Atelier Inc., a New York-based startup and the creator of Sunrise, a popular mobile calendar app, in February this year.
The other one was the acquisition of San Francisco-based Acompli Inc., a mobile-email app maker, in December last year, which was subsequently rebranded as Acompli by Microsoft.
On May 20, a tie-up with Sunrise was announced by 6Wunderkinder to let users create to-do items from their Sunrise calendar app and also see their to-do lists in the Sunrise app.
With apps such as Skype for Business, OneNote and Microsoft Office for mobile, we’ve already seen Microsoft’s attempts to re-invent productivity and the addition of these three acquisitions, is undoubtedly a reflection of its vision.
What Will Change After the Acquisition
If you are a Wunderlist Business or Pro customer, you will be happy to know that the acquisition will not have any impact on pricing. Wunderlist is expected to remain free for normal users.
The service will continue to support a wide range of integrated services and third-party apps. A host of new features could be introduced soon, as Wunderlist Founder and CEO Christian Reber, mentioned in his recent blog post.
The team will continue operating from their Berlin office and report to the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond,WA.
So what’s your view point about the Wunderlist acquisition? Do you think it will strengthen Microsoft’s vision to re-invent productivity? Please share your opinions in the comments section below.
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Wunderlist has been easy to use and actually kind of fun with a few projects. Makes shopping a lot easier when I can remember what I’m supposed to pick up from the to do list.
I was surprised to see this merger, but I could see a few places where this would definitely help Microsoft. As part of their calendar app and with One Note, this would definitely be better than what they currently have. I would probably use One Note a little more if the to do list was built-in. The check box function is currently what I use and I’m not impressed with it.