Service rental Airbnb has acquired U.S.-Russian startup Lapka, developing sensors to monitor the environment. It is reported on the company’s website.
Startup Lapka, founded by Russian Vadik Marmeladov, ceases to develop new sensors, but will continue to support existing ones. Founder and General Director Vadik Marmeladov, Lapka in an interview with Slon told me that startup team will be working on new products. What exactly — not specified. The amount of the transaction is also not known.
“Airbnb doesn’t need the sensors, we will create new products. Airbnb is about everything connected with housing, travel culture and ecosystem at home. What do Lapka and Airbnb? The desire to be guided not by a particular product, and from experience – not from “interfaces” and “design”, and from what is called user experience”, he said.
Lapka with 2012 is developing a plug-in electronics for assessing the condition of the environment and the body. The company has established a set of sensors for iPhone. They allow to know the temperature and humidity, radiation levels and electromagnetic radiation, and check the fruits and vegetables on the acceptable level of nitrates.
In September Lapka announced the second generation of PEM sensors. They do not need to connect to the smartphone via cable, so the sensors can be used as a wearable device.
Airbnb was launched in 2008. Airbnb develops website and mobile app, through which users can book an accommodation in another city or country, by contacting the owner. In 2015, Airbnb founders Brian chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia first entered the rankings of the richest billionaires in the world and the richest Americans according to Forbes. In the latest ranking they shared 194 place with a fortune estimated at $3.3 billion
