The news that Yahoo is buying Artifact stirred the tech water cooler yesterday. Artifact was an interesting app, using AI to help its users find and consume more information and more targeted information. It had some devoted fans, but never reached a scale that would have made it an attractive long-term project. So, the Instagram founders who built it decided to end the service.
Then TechCrunch’s parent company, Yahoo, decided to take ownership of its technology. The app itself isn’t long for the world, but the deal is still an echo of an older era when Yahoo was famous for buying up small, mobile-focused businesses.
Whether or not you’re an Artifact user – I was for a while – Yahoo still feels acquisitive under its current ownership structure. After all, Artifact isn’t the only startup project on the market that might be looking for a new home.
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