We analyse from the point of view of corporate finance look at the most recent buying a company most relevant Google andn this past year. We are talking about one of the world's most famous technology companies that has to keep abreast of what is happening in its sector in order not to be left behind. That is why since 2001 it has confirmed 232 investments in the purchase of companies.

Google, our everyday technology

Founded in 1998 in California, Google is a a multinational company specialising in Internet-related products and services. Larry Page and Sergey Brin were the founders of the company, which has been growing steadily since its inception.

The number of products managed by Google is extensive. The Android platform, the Chrome browser, the Google+ social network, Gmail and even the YouTube video platform, among many others, form part of a very complete catalogue of services run by the Californian company.

This high level of technological activity forces Google to be alert to future changes that may arise in the sector. The extensive range of products on offer also influences the company's future, requiring it to constantly update and expand in both a geographic and a business manner. In recent years Google has made 232 acquisitions And it doesn't look like it's going to stay that way.

We wanted to highlight the most relevant company acquisitions confirmed by Google in 2018. Discover them with us.

1. Xively

Google announced on 15 February the purchase of LogMeIn's Xively company for a total of 50 million. This acquisition allowed Google Cloud to add an IoT platform to its product portfolio.

Xively (Boston, Massachusetts) allows device designers to build connectivity directly into the design process while providing a cloud-mobile connection. Google indicated that it wanted to use this purchase as a a stepping stone to the growing IoT marketwhich believes it will reach 20 billion connected things by 2020.

"This acquisition will complement Google Cloud's effort to provide a fully managed IoT service that easily and securely connects, manages and ingests data from globally dispersed devices," wrote Antony Passemard, head of Product Management at Google.

2. Where is my train

"Where is my Train" is a platform for mobile devices. The functionality of this application is to serve as a reference in train transport for the whole region of India. Sigmoid Labs, the company developing the app, was founded by four former TiVo executives in 2013.

The app has 10 million registered users and helps travellers track train arrivals and departures, as well as buy seats. It is estimated that India operates approximately 14,000 trains daily, making the app extremely useful.

The acquisition by Google was confirmed on 10 December, expanding its services in India. There is no official price tag for the deal, although the Economic Times of India reported that the total amount was in the region of 30 to 40 million dollars..

3. Tenor

With more than 12 billion monthly searches and 300 million monthly users, Tenor is the world's leading largest and fastest growing mobile GIF search engine. In a world that operates largely through text messaging and social media, Tenor adds excitement to digital conversations by helping people find the perfect GIF to communicate their mood and personality.

On 27 March, Google's purchase of Tenor became official, in a deal where the amounts are unknown.

After the purchase, Tenor has been dedicated to helping Google open GIFs more easily within Google Images or other services such as Gboard. For its part, Tenor remains an independent brand.

4. GraphicsFuzz

On 6 August, Google acquired the UK company GraphicsFuzz, which offers automated reliability testing of GPU controllers. Both parties denied providing details of the operation.

While this acquisition doesn't sound very relevant to the average user, it is important because of its significance. In the Android ecosystem, graphics drivers are one of the many pieces that make a phone or tablet work, and broken drivers are open to security attacks.

GraphicsFuzz uses a fuzzing technique, which basically throws a large amount of random data at a program, making graphics processors more secure and reliable.

"GraphicsFuzz has pioneered the combination of fuzzing and metamorphic testing. They can produce an automated method for testing graphics drivers that quickly detects and corrects bugs, potentially breaking reliability and security before they affect end users," the Google team explained.