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Frontback, the once-hot startup that rejected a $40 million Twitter acquisition, is back from the dead

Biz Carson   

Frontback, the once-hot startup that rejected a $40 million Twitter acquisition, is back from the dead
Tech2 min read

The selfie app Frontback has found a new partner and narrowly avoided shutting down.

The startup announced on July 23 that it only had a few weeks left and was shutting down come August 15.

That shut down is no longer on the calendar, and the app will continue operations, according to an announcement posted Friday on Frontback's site.

"We just signed an agreement with a partner who believes as much as we do that there's something incredible with Frontback.

This partner is fully committed to make Frontback an even better place to share your moments, we were impressed by how much they understand the platform and we will help the new team to make the transition as smooth as possible," said the new notice on Frontback's site.?

It's not known who the new partner is, and Frédéric della Faille told Business Insider the new team would "introduce themselves at the right time." In the interim, the Frontback team will be helping with the transition.

"We're very happy we found a solution for our community and truly blessed by the thousands of messages," della Faille said in a message.

The once-hot selfie app let users take a picture with the front camera and back camera. The app then merged both photos into a single image. The company took off in 2013 after revealing it had more than 200,000 downloads in a month - including users like the Prime Minister of Belgium and Ashton Kutcher - at Tech Crunch Disrupt.

The company was in talks with Twitter shortly after and walked away from an acquisition offer for $40-$50 million, according to a source. The company struggled to capitalize on the momentum, and growth stalled as competitors like Snapchat took off.

In its original good-bye letter, della Faille had admitted that Frontback never emerged as the forerunner in a crowded photo app space: "This was a fresh idea and truly the heart of our vision, a concept that's seeing massive adoption today. Unfortunately, Frontback is not the winner."

Developing....

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