Even though Google didn't snag coupon site Groupon, the company still made the most acquisitions of venture-backed firms out of any company in 2010.
According to the Wall Street Journal's Deal Journal blog, Google made 10 acquisitions last year. Facebook made the second highest number of acquisitions, but the social-networking company bought just half the number that Google purchased.
Deal Journal said that this means Google chief executive Eric Schmidt has lived up to what he told analysts the company would do in October of 2009.
"We're open for business , making strategic acquisitions, both large and small."The companies that Google has purchased run the gamut in terms of size and type.
In July, Google shelled out $700 million for ITA, a Boston-based software company that specializes in organizing airline data like flight times, availability, and prices.
In August, it bought mobile payment company Zetawire, a Canadian company that allows consumers to make payments on their smartphones using near field communications (NFC) technology.
At the beginning of December, Google announced that it had acquired Widevine, a DRM and video-optimization company which could be part and parcel of Google's strategy to placate Hollywood and content owners.
Google also bought speech technology firm Phonetic Arts last month. This company's technology is most frequently used in video games and was patented in 2010.
In 2010, Google also bought a social gaming company, an app publisher, and a visual search company, among others.
Most of the companies on Deal Journal's list are tech-related. IBM tied Facebook as the second most active acquirer and social gaming company Zynga came in third with four acquisitions. Companies like APple, Dell, Microsoft, and Nokia all made three acquisitions each in 2010.
Venture-backed firms were not the only acquisitions made by Google last year. In a September quarterly report, Google said that it made 37 acquisitions totaling $626 million in the first nine months of 2010. As of last month, information about 26 of these companies had been made public.