Yahoo has made another talent acquisition with the pick-up of OnTheAir. Yahoo gave us this statement from SVP Emerging Products & Technology, Adam Cahan:
“Hiring the most talented mobile product thinkers and engineers is a big priority for us moving forward. Abel, Dan, Erik, Josh, and Mike are a great addition to Yahoo!, and we can’t wait to work with them to create the best possible mobile experience for our users.”
In a message on its site, the OnTheAir team writes:
While we haven’t yet attained our dream of building a widespread daily use product, we are just as committed to it. And this is why we’re so excited to be joining Yahoo!. When we first met with the team at Yahoo!, it was clear that everybody there is committed to making mobile products the backbone for the world’s daily habits. All in all, it’s a fascinating time to be joining Yahoo!. There’s a tremendous amount of energy in the company. There are big things to be done and great products to be built, and we’re thrilled to be a part of it.
OnTheAir launched this past March. The team is made up of Abel Allison, Daniel Hopkins, Erik Goldman, Josh Schwarzapel, and Mike Kerzhner. ts investors are: Scott Banister, Ben Narasin, Will Smith, Ryan Freitas, True Ventures, Triple Point Ventures, Brian Ahern, Tony Conrad via True, Howard Lindzon, Eric Ries, Aaron Lee and Social Leverage.
The product has been described as “Skype Meets Google+ Hangouts” and has been said to “make Hangouts and Ustream seem static“.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In October, Yahoo acquired the team from mobile recommendation app maker Stamped (which was made up of former Googlers).