Wal-Mart Buys Kosmix, Forms @WalmartLabs

The Brisbane, CA-based online operation of Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: [[ticker:WMT]]) said today that the company has acquired Kosmix, a Mountain View, CA-based startup that helps users filter social media updates by topic. Kosmix founders Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman, who sold their first startup Junglee to Amazon in 1998, will join Wal-Mart as part of a new group called @WalmartLabs, which will “create technologies and businesses around social and mobile commerce that will support Walmart’s global multi-channel strategy,” according an an announcement. “Social networking and mobile applications are increasingly becoming a part of our customers’ day-to-day lives globally, influencing how they think about shopping, both online and in retail stores,” Wal-Mart vice chairman Eduardo Castro-Wright said in the announcement. “We are excited to have the Kosmix team join us to accelerate the development of our social and mobile commerce offerings.” The financial details of the purchase were not disclosed. Kosmix had raised $55 million in venture funding from Accel Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, DAG Ventures, Bezos Expeditions, Time Warner Investments, and individual investors.

Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/