StumbleUpon has gone independent, parting company with eBay who acquired the social surfing startup two years ago for $75 million.
The acquisition was lead by founders Garrett Camp and Geoff Smith, as well as Ram Shriram of Sherpalo Ventures, Accel Partners, and August Capital. The price of the acquisition (or is that buy-back?) was not disclosed, but is believed to be less than the $75 million eBay paid for the company at the top of the last tech boom.
“We are grateful to eBay for its guidance. However, we realized there were few long-term synergies between the two businesses. It is best for us to part ways and focus on our respective strengths,” said Garrett Camp in a statement. “This change makes it possible for StumbleUpon to continue to innovate and focus on becoming the Web’s largest recommendation service.”
Despite the lack of “long term synergies,” the company has grown at eBay, with 7.4 million users and 425 million recommendations per month. The company also claims it has 20,000 advertisers.
