Facebook Acquires Gadget Builder Nascent Objects

According to multiple news sources, social media giant Facebook has acquired a two-year-old San Carlos-based startup called Nascent Objects, which helps hardware developers create market-ready products and gadgets in unusually short amounts of time.

The startup invented what it claims is the “world’s first modular consumer electronics platform” that provides the fastest way yet to create shippable hardware and makes hardware development accessible to anyone. By using modular components such as circuits, sensors, and batteries, hardware designers can easily turn their concepts into fully fledged products without being (or hiring) manufacturing professionals.

The acquisition is Facebook’s latest move toward expanding its leadership position in categories outside social media. In this case, Nascent Objects will become part of Facebook’s growing hardware portfolio, mostly housed in Building 8, an in-house lab that is dedicated to rapid prototyping and productions of hardware. Nascent Objects’ modular system will be put to fairly steady use serving a range of different types of new products.

Nascent Objects was founded in 2014 by Baback Elmieh, who had previously been in lead engineering roles at Motorola Mobility and Qualcomm. The startup had about ten employees when Facebook acquired it.