Google Buys Dodgeball

Google have bought the Dodgeball SMS-which-bar-is-your-good-looking-friend-in pinging service. We described the clever Social Networking App last year as follows:

A social networking service to get you away from your PC and into the
pub. A compelling system that revolves around sending and receiving SMS
to your mobile phone. Basically allows alcoholics who find themselves
at 1am with all their friends gone home to text their friends’ friends
to see if they are still out. With this mix of booze and buddies PSFK
thinks this you’ll have a better chance of getting laid than using
Friendster!

The email we received from Dennis Crowley of the management team said:

As a two-person team, Alex and I have taken dodgeball about a far as we
can alone. Since we finished grad school (ITP @ NYU), we’ve been trying to
figure out how to grow dodgeball and make it a better service along the way.
We talked to a lot of different angel investors and venture capitalists, but
no one really "got" what we were doing – that is until we met Google.

The people at Google think like us. They looked at us in a "You’re two guys
doing some pretty cool stuff, why not let us help you out and let’s see what
you can do with it" type of way. We liked that. Plus, Alex and I are both
Google superfans and the people we’ve met so far are smart, cool and excited
about what they’re working on.

Dodgeball & Google News Release