Snapchat parent acquires mapping startup Pixel8earth

LOUISVILLE — Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) acquired Louisville-based Pixel8earth Inc. at some point in the first quarter of the year, likely to bolster its mapping capabilities.

The parent company of social-media app Snapchat first disclosed that it had made an acquisition of an unnamed company for $7.6 million in its quarterly report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week.

The news was reported by startup publication TechCrunch.

A Snap representative confirmed the acquisition to BizWest but declined to comment further.

Pixel8earth was developing software that took submitted photographs and stitched them together into a crowdsourced 3D map of various areas.

In a blog post, the company said it would be joining Snap as part of its augmented-reality and Snap Map teams. The Snap Map feature allows users to submit and see public Snapchats from across the world.

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