Airbnb — the peer-to-peer platform where people rent accommodation and now do other travel-related business — has made an acquisition to expand its platform and how it works with developers to build services on it. It has acquired Deco Software, which had developed an integrated development environment (IDE) to build React Native apps, specifically with the aim of developers working more closely with designers on building native mobile apps for iOS and Android more easily. It was a partner of Airbnb’s for its own React Native work.
The news was confirmed on Deco Software’s website, and Airbnb spokesperson also confirmed the acquisition to us directly.
This is an “acquihire”: the full team of around five employees are all joining Airbnb. Deco’s product is not: as part of the move, Deco is ending support for Deco IDE as a product and open sourcing it. “It will live on as a free and open source project,” the company’s founders write in a note confirming the acquisition. More on the open source version here.
Deco has worked with Airbnb in the past on both design tools and its own use of React Native…