Toronto Star

Google buys Waterloo’s Bufferbox

- MICHAEL LEWIS BUSINESS REPORTER

BufferBox Inc., founded by University of Waterloo students to provide users with lockers to pick up online purchases, has been acquired by Google Inc. as the search leader aims to compete with the Amazon Locker package service.

“We’re very excited,” said BufferBox chief executive Mike McCauley, who launched the company in 2011 with fellow engineerin­g students Aditya Bali and Jay Shah.

BufferBox is located at Communitec­h technology hub in KitchenerW­aterloo near Google Canada’s offices in the region.

Google said BufferBox, with about 10 employees including the founders, will move into Google’s Kitchener-Waterloo offices.

Terms of the cash and stock deal announced Friday were not revealed but Google said it will maintain the BufferBox brand and current operations for now.

In early November, BufferBox announced a deal with Metrolinx to install its automated, self-serve parcel pickup kiosks at GO Transit stations and plans to expand to 21location­s in the Toronto and Hamilton areas by the end of the year.

The service has been initially offered for free.

BufferBox users sign up for an address that correspond­s to a kiosk that can be used as a shipping address for online shopping. When the package is delivered, BufferBox sends an email with a one-time PIN code which allows access to the contents from the pickup station.

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