Swirling reports continue today in the tech arena following the reported $7.7 million purchase by Snap of an Israeli photo filters patent made by Mobli.
According to the repeatedly quoted TechCrunch article, earlier this week, Snap purchased the pending geolocation patent from Mobli co-founder Moshe Hegog to protect one of its app’s main features.
Mobli started as an Instagram competitor but the social mobile photo app was placed into bankruptcy in 2016. Luckily, for Hogeg, his team patented the idea of Geofilters in 2012.
According to the TechCrunch article, $360 million of Snap’s revenues – out of a total $400 million – comes from selling photo filters based on location to advertisers. If another multinational company had bought rights to the patent, the article explains, “it would have destroyed Snap’s ability to garner revenues from geo-filters, and thus Snap’s main source of income.”
Mobli claimed in a letter to its shareholders, which was obtained and quoted by TechCrunch, that the $7.7 million purchase of its patent application was the highest amount paid for a patent from the Israeli tech field.
Snap and Mobli did not release press statements about the reported deal.
Fighting for Israel's truth
We cover what makes life in Israel so special — it's people. A non-profit organization, ISRAEL21c's team of journalists are committed to telling stories that humanize Israelis and show their positive impact on our world. You can bring these stories to life by making a donation of $6/month.
