Google and Facebook in bidding war for Israeli startup

Google and Facebook are in a bidding war for Waze, an Israeli startup that uses information from online communities to improve driving directions.

Waze is fielding expressions of interest from multiple parties and is seeking more than $1 billion, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The Palo Alto, California-based startup might also remain independent, instead seeking to raise a round of venture capital financing, the people said.

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Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, has held talks to buy Waze for as much as $1 billion, two people familiar with the matter said earlier this month.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, and other large tech companies have approached Waze about a possible deal since the Facebook talks became public, the people said.
None of the bidders is close to clinching a deal and the talks may fall apart, they said. Waze may also walk away from the discussions and use more venture backing to expand its mapping program, which has more than 40 million users.

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Waze’s investors include Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), people said. Waze raised $30 million in 2011 in a funding round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s Horizons Ventures Hong Kong. Earlier investors include Magma Venture Partners and Vertex Venture Capital in Israel and BlueRun Ventures in Silicon Valley.

Julie Mossler, a spokeswoman for Waze, declined to comment yesterday.

 Just a reminder that I represent companies like this one. No, unfortunately, not this particular company.