Google builds the foundation of Southeast Asia engineering team. The announcement was made recently and it has been accompanied by the news that Google purchased Pie, a small Singapore-based communications service.
Google builds the foundation of Southeast Asia engineering team. The announcement was made recently and it has been accompanied by the news that Google purchased Pie, a small Singapore-based communications service.
The purchase is the cornerstone of growing a Google engineering team tailored to the requirements of the Southeast Asia market. Pie was much like Slack, with the nine employees offering enterprise chat app to bypass email communications within a company. All the employees of Pie will transition to Google.
The Pie enterprise chat app will be dismantled. Nonetheless, the Singapore startup that raised 1.2 million dollars in funding last year will have the opportunity to do great things under Google’s umbrella.
It’s clear that purchasing Pie is the first step in a long journey as Google builds the foundation of Southeast Asia engineering team. While neither Google nor Pieter Walraven, the founder and CEO of Pie disclosed the terms of the deal, the financials are less important at the moment.
What’s key is the value that the Pie team can bring to Google’s Southeast Asia engineering team. The Singapore startup worked similarly to Slack. However, Asian rivals like ChatWork and Eko pushed it a bit to the sidelines. From here, the team behind Pie tried to make a difference by offering its basic enterprise chat app to non-tech companies.
It also looks like the Singapore startup was looking for additional funding. That may imply the Google gobble was the best solution out there. It was also a solution that works for the benefit of both sides. The new Google engineering team will focus on new products for Southeast Asia.
It’s the same process we’ve seen with Google in India in the past year. The engineering team in India has brought free WiFi on the large nation’s railways. Moreover, there are India dedicated apps, a dedicated YouTube production studio and many others. Southeast Asia could well see the same product development spearheaded by Google.
Manpower is all Google needs. As such, Google builds the foundation of Southeast Asia engineering team by hiring fresh graduates and engineers. The company has also kick started an internship program opened for students who could get the chance to work in the Google Sydney office.
Moreover, Google asked staff in the U.S. who wants to relocate in Singapore to express their will to do so. On March 8th, Google will hold an informative event for existing employees to outline the new set of opportunities.
Photo Credits: Wikimedia
