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A $1 billion acquisition is rare, but there are a few startups that could share the same fate as Instagram.
Many of them have raised so much venture capital, their valuations are already in the billion-dollar range.
We've compiled a list of the next likely acquisition targets and which big companies are most likely to buy them.
Visa or American Express should buy mobile card reader Square
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Jack Dorsey's mobile payment solution, Square, would help a big payment provider like Visa or American Express stay relevant. Neither has a good mobile solution and Square was made with credit cards in mind. (Visa is an investor in Square, but we're talking outright buy.)
Kleiner Perkins led a $100 million round of financing in Square at the end of June. Now the company has a $1 billion valuation; some wonder if it could be worth as much as $2 billion.
Yelp should acquire Foursquare but it doesn't have enough money. It could be a smart $1 billion acquisition for Groupon, though.
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Location-based check in startup Foursquare closed a $50 million round last June. That's in addition to the $20 million it previously raised.
Foursquare's rumored valuation has been as high as $1 billion.
It has more than 20 million users, so it's not quite as big as Instagram, but Groupon could find the location data it has valuable when targeting deals to users.
Apple should face the music and buy Spotify. It would cost a minimum of $1 billion.
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The music company raised $100 million in June from Kleiner Perkins, Accel and DST, giving it a $1 billion valuation.
It has more than 10 million users and a few million of them are paying subscribers. It's in 13 countries and has a popular mobile app.
The pay-per-song model is losing marketshare to free streaming options like Spotify offers, so Apple may need to bite the bullet and take out Spotify. But it might cost more than $1 billion to do it.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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See Also:
- The Best Uses For The Facebook Timeline We've Seen So Far
- Instagram's First Investor Explains What He Looks For In Companies
- A Photo Tour Inside Apple's Headquarters
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