Google closing in on next Canadian acquisition target

In the wake of Google’s (GOOG:Q) acquisition of Bumptop (see prior post “Google acquires BumpTop” May 1-10) earlier this year, as well as its commitment to the Waterloo region, it should come as no surprise that the folks from Mountain View, California have been poking around the Canadian start-up market over the past few months.

My sources tell me that Toronto-based SocialDeck, a BlackBerry Partners Fund investment, is in the final throes of negotiating its acquisition by Google. This would be the latest in a series of acquisitions designed to bolster Google’s social networking capabilities. Earlier today, the WSJ reported that Google had acquired Angstro, a tech play designed to make it easier to manage your social network universe.

SocialDeck’s website describes itself this way:

enabling “anywhere, anytime, anyone” gaming. The company has launched several titles for the iPhone, Facebook, and BlackBerry using its social gaming platform technology, which enables simultaneous game play across multiple mobile devices and social networks. SocialDeck’s technology also facilitates viral content discovery, distribution and monetization.

The deal makes sense for the Android platform, which Google wants to be able to work with every game and application developed anywhere, by anyone, for any device.

Although no one at the BlackBerry Partners Fund would ever talk about a pending deal (so I won’t ask), SocialDeck received a small-ish first round angel-type investment in March 2009 from team members Matt Golden and Rick Segal (now of Fixmo fame). This will be a nice financial win for the two year old fund.

Rumour is that, upon closing, some members of the SocialDeck employee team will make their way down to Google’s growing Waterloo office, while others may wind up in California, which SocialDeck also calls home. Interesting that Research In Motion (RIM:TSX, RIMM:Q) isn’t the buyer here, but its capital is still serving to grow the Waterloo tech hub nevertheless. If anyone thought that RIM’s role in the BlackBerry Partners Fund would turn off other global giants from picking off the fund’s portfolio investments, this deal will put that to rest.

Congrats to the SocialDeck and BBPF teams.

MRM
(note to DTM folks, see the © notice below; oh, and prior post “Hunger Strike – Day One” June 16-10)