Ywiki? Yahoo! bought Qwiki, surprise surprise

Guess what? As was reported by AllthingsD and us, Yahoo! has doled out US$50-million for video maker Qwiki. The deal was announced on Yahoo! Tumblr page saying that the internet giant will “continue to support the Qwiki app”.

Qwiki is a New York-based startup whose core business is automated video production. The company recently launched an iPhone app to join its initial iPad offering, which allows users to automatically turn the pictures and videos from a user’s camera roll into brief movies to share.

“It has been extremely rewarding having our products downloaded by millions, and watching the Qwiki community evolve and grow — especially via our most recent launch, Qwiki for iPhone,” said the Qwiki team in an an official blog post announcing the deal. “Seeing the stories that you share through the app inspires us every day.”

Neither post by Yahoo! or Qwiki mention any structural changes for the startup, the biggest change right now (aside from being owned by Yahoo!) is Qwiki moving into the Yahoo!’s New York offices. It seems the company will operate as before, a trend among recently Yahoo-owned companies.

Qwiki has seen respectable rounds of fund-raising in the last two years. It raised US$8-million in Series A financing in 2011, a round that was led primarily by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, the company raised an additional US$1-million months after launch and is said to have raised nearly US$10.5-million in total funds.

“Ywiki” is part of a slew of purchases Yahoo! has made since CEO Marissa Mayer joined the company. By now the tech community is learning if a rumour emerges that Yahoo! is about to buy something, chances are it is true. So we’re thinking the US$800-million Hulu deal is next.