Snapchat’s video chat is powered by a secret AddLive acquisition

Snapchat has just confirmed its first acquisition, a big step for the Santa Monica, California-based startup. As part of its update yesterday, the company rolled out two major new features in its app: instant messaging and video calling. The video-calling feature is particularly impressive. It’s meant to enable quick conversations with someone who’s already engaging with you, with the expectation that a call might be as short as the video message you would have sent using older versions of the app.

To help build and power its new cross-platform video chat service, Snapchat acquired software company AddLive, sources tell The Verge. Snapchat confirmed the deal to The Verge, saying “We are excited to welcome the AddLive team to the Snapchat family. We have no further comment at this time.” The deal went through several months ago, sources say, after Snapchat went on the hunt for companies with the expertise to handle the video platform it envisioned. Snapchat’s new video chat lets you initiate video chats within seconds across a great variety of smartphone hardware, which is no small feat. AddLive had previous experience in the space, providing business-to-business voice and audio services for Citrix and a variety of other companies.