Not just Facebook: Google’s also in talks to buy navigation app Waze [Report]

It seems like a little Israeli startup may just start a bidding war between tech giants. While rumours have been swirling around that Waze, a crowd-sourced navigation app which cleverly helps you avoid everything from traffic jams to speeding fines, is reportedly an acquisition target for Facebook, it may not be the only company interested in handing over some cash.

According to Bloomberg‘s sources, companies like Google also entered into talks with the navigation startup after the rumours around a possible buy out by Facebook surfaced. The report suggests that, if it consents to an acquisition, Waze may be looking for more than US$1-billion. Alternatively, it could rather raise another round of funding to continue operating independently.

Apple, who used Waze data in the development of their disastrous poorly received Maps app, was also one of the companies rumoured to be eyeing up the app. But according to Bloomberg, it’s not one of the companies which is currently in talks with the Waze team.

Waze has been steadily gaining popularity and acclaim since it was founded in 2008. It was named best overall mobile app at Mobile World Congress this year, and has over 47-million users globally, who use its cross platform app while driving to share information about their speed and location to assist other users and build crowd sourced maps worldwide. Although the app is free for download on everything from BlackBerry to Android, Wave does make a small amount of revenue from selling location-based ads in-app.

At this stage, it’s unclear what Google and Facebook would do with the app should an acquisition offer go through — allow it to continue to operate independently out of its offices in Israel and the US, or incorporate the team into an existing product like Google Maps.