Snapchat to buy mobile search and discovery app Vurb for $110 million

Snapchat is acquiring mobile search and discovery app Vurb for $110 million, according to The Information.

The report says that the purchase of Vurb will give the ephemeral messaging app company more resources to bolster its messaging and search features. Sources told the publication that 75 percent of the price tag would be in stock and the rest in cash. Snapchat is also said to be extremely interested in Vurb founder Bobby Lo, a serial entrepreneur who previously founded the online marketing firm Yodle.

Vurb bills itself as an "experience" search engine that helps people "easily find, save, and do the best things by connecting community recommendations, rich content, and useful services." The 5-year-old startup is backed by Redpoint Ventures, Tencent, Marc Benioff, and Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, among others.

Vurb works with a slew of third parties like Fandango and Uber to ramp up the traditional search and discovery experience. So, for example, searching for a nearby restaurant will bring up a Yelp review along with a link to Uber so you can order a car to get there. It can even tie in recommendations based on the time of day, the weather and your location.

It's unclear on what Snapchat plans to do with the acquisition, but a Snapchat take on search and discovery could potentially be pretty powerful. The Information theorizes that Vurb could let users link in media and maps in their Snaps or recommend Stories and media to each other. One of the biggest complaints against Snapchat is that discovery - finding people to follow - is pretty difficult, so Vurb could be a way to improve that.