Google snaps up analytics company Looker for a cool $2.6 billion

The Alphabet subsidiary has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the analytics startup

Google has announced that is acquiring in-demand analytics startup Looker for $2.6 billion (£2 billion) and integrating the company into Google Cloud.

The business analytics company arrived on the scene seven years ago and helps customers visualize and understand their data.

The startup had already raised $280 million (£220 million) in funding and was valued at $1.6 billion (£1.3 billion) six months ago. It has over 1,600 customers and recently crossed the $100 million (£77 million) revenue run rate.

The platform is popular with data teams as it allows users to query data while maintaining consistent definitions in their calculations, ensuring accurate results. The company also offers popular vertical-specific solutions such as Sales Analytics.

In the context of the two companies’ existing strategic partnership, the acquisition makes sense. As part of the partnership, the firms share more than 350 common customers, including Buzzfeed, Hearst, and Yahoo.

Google is on a mission to improve its standing in the cloud infrastructure market, where it currently sits in third behind Azure and AWS. In February, the company announced the acquisition of data management firm Alooma.

Ex-Oracle chief Thomas Kurian, who moved to Google late last year to help improve the Alphabet subsidiary’s fortunes in the cloud market, said he was “thrilled” to add Looker to the company’s data management portfolio.

“The addition of Looker to Google Cloud will help us offer customers a more complete analytics solution from ingesting data to visualizing results and integrating data and insights into their daily workflows,” Kurian said in a statement.

“It will also help us deliver industry-specific analytics solutions in our key verticals, whether that’s supply chain analytics in retailing; media analytics in entertainment; or healthcare analytics at a global scale.”

The deal is expected to close later this year subject to regulatory approval.