eBay hits the “Buy It Now” button on Critical Path, joins Portland mobile development scene

When it comes to the Portland mobile development scene, online auction juggernaut eBay may be the furthest company from your mind.

But you’re going to need to think again. You see, today eBay acquired Portland mobile developer Critical Path and in so doing, joined the ranks of the rapidly developing Portland mobile scene.

According to Mike Rogoway over at The Oregonian, they plan to keep the Portland office and all of the employees. Voila! eBay’s Portland mobile development office.

Much like the Freerange acquisition and Stumptown Game Machine acquisition before them, Critical Path found a specific mobile app niche and dominated it, making mobile apps that were among the most popular for using the eBay platform. And that makes “build vs buy” decisions incredibly easy for large companies with money to spend.

The Portland-based mobile app developer has been helping eBay develop its mobile offerings, including its primary iPhone app, StubHub, eBay Classifieds and Shopping.com iPhone applications. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Now, Critical Path is far from a startup. But honestly, any company working in the mobile space is a startup of sorts.

Critical Path is a 19-year-old company that has developed mobile apps for eBay and Clearwire, among others. Its eBay app is the auction site’s most popular, according to the company having been downloaded more than 14 million times since 2008.

For more information on the acquisition, see the press release.

Published by Rick Turoczy

More than mildly obsessed with the Portland startup community. Founder and editor at Silicon Florist. Cofounder and general manager at PIE. Follow me on Twitter: @turoczy View all posts by Rick Turoczy