Refresh.io, a startup and an iOS app by the same name, which provides predictive insights about users within your group or network, has been acquired and subsequently shut down by Professional Social Networking website LinkedIn.
Refresh.io was founded in 2012 as a digital briefing book that every professional could use to discover common ground and build stronger relationships with people they were meeting.
Talking about the acquisition via a blog post, Bhavin Shah, co-founder at Refresh.io says,
Our joint passion for delivering insights that help professionals be more productive is what makes joining LinkedIn so exciting. Plus, LinkedIn gives us an opportunity to share insights with more than 347 million professionals across the globe.
The startup has also confirmed that it will not be accepting new users, and the Refresh app will be shut down on April 15. The Refresh team will “focus its efforts on providing LinkedIn members with more insights to help them better do their jobs“.
Acquisition of Refresh.io will be yet another step by LinkedIn towards developing its own suite of apps powered by its social graph. Last month too, LinkedIn released its standalone job for Adnroid devices, after pushing it on iOS App store last year.
Another similar acquisition made by LinkedIn, was that of Rapportive in 2012, a Gmail based service which helps Gmail users view other important information (than just mail address and profile data) of all their connections.
LinkedIn had also acquired Careerify last year, which is a Toronto-based startup which has developed an online platform offering recruitment solutions in the human resources industry.
