Facebook acquires modular hardware company Nascent Objects

Perhaps the future is modular.

Facebook recently announced its acquisition of a California startup which focuses on modular devices. Nascent Objects was founded by Baback Elmieh in 2014 with the intention of creating a modular electronics system that consumers can use to build gadgets.

Nascent went on to develop “world’s first modular consumer electronics platform,” as CEO Elmieh wrote in a post on the company’s blog today. He goes on to say that the intention behind such a development was to make product development easy for consumers.

“By combining hardware design, circuitry, 3D printing and modular electronics, our technology allows developers to go from concept to product in just weeks, much faster and less expensive than traditional methods,” read the company’s announcement. 

Nascent will join Facebook’s Building 8 lab, which focuses on quickly moving products from concept to shipping state. TechCrunch reports that Nascent is probably a good fit for Facebook’s ‘rapid prototyping’ segment.

Modular efforts are beginning to spring up across the tech space, such as Motorola’s Moto Z and Google’s recently suspended Project Ara.

Elmieh concluded that, “people have become used to the idea that with software, you can have whatever you want, whenever you want it. We want to make this happen with hardware — and we think Facebook is the best place to make this a reality.” 

Related reading: Google has reportedly canned Project Ara, it’s plan to build a modular smartphone

[source]Nascent Objects[/source]