Google has purchased BufferBox, a Canadian startup based in Waterloo that has been in business for about two years, SlashGear reports.
According to sources, Google paid over $17 million for the locker storage provider, although the terms of the deal aren’t available. This could poise the search engine giant as a serious competitor to Amazon Locker, a service that allows buyers to pick up a product at a locker unit rather than receive it at their home or office, SlashGear says.
A Google spokesperson commented: “We want to remove as much friction as possible from the shopping experience, while helping consumers save time and money, and we think the BufferBox team has a lot of great ideas around how to do that.”
There’s no word on how Google plans to implement the service, with only the acknowledgement that BufferBox will keep its brand.