Tech giant Google acquires Bangalore-based Sigmoid Labs, the company behind India's highest rated travel app, "Where is my Train", that works even without internet connection. The terms/financials of the deal has not disclosed yet, however according to a media report it is estimated to be US$30-40 million. The acquisition was part of Google's 'Next Billion Users' initiative.

The startup has announced its acquisition, saying, "We’re excited to share that Sigmoid Labs, the team behind the "Where is my train" app, is joining Google. We can think of no better place to help us achieve our mission, and we’re excited to join Google to help bring technology and information into more people’s hands."

Founded in 2017, by five former executives of TiVo Corporation, a technology entertainment company in the US, Where Is My Train is a unique train app that displays live train status and up-to-date schedules. The app can function offline without needing Internet or GPS. It is also packed with useful features such as destination alarms and a speedometer. It is the .

The startup has a team of about 10 people and is based out of Bengaluru and post the acquisition it will be joining the company and will continue to work on the app.

Where Is My Train offers offline integration of Indian Railways and IRCTC timetables, using cell-tower information to locate trains. The app also helps customers zero in on trains with just the source and destination or even partial train names.

For Google, which till date has acquired close to 229 companies, globally, Sigmoid Labs is second Indian startup acquired by Google to date. In July last year, Google acquired Bangalore-based AI startup, Halli Labs, which was working on solutions based on AI and machine learning.

In the following month of same year, Google had also acquired a health monitoring startup Senosis Health, which was founded by Indian-origin Professor Shwetak Patel along with four others. Based out of Seattle-based, Senosis Health turns smartphones into medical devices and collects various health stats.

In 2013, Google had acquired Flutter, a San-Fancisco-based startup founded by team of Indians - Navneet Dalal, Mehul Nariyawala, Ankit Mohan and Varun Gulshan. Flutter was essentially gesture recognition based technology which enables users to control music and movies with gestures through their webcam.
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