PayPal closing down backend service StackMob mere months after buying it

Well, that was fast.

Two months after buying backend-as-a-service (BaaS) provider StackMob, PayPal is shutting it down.

A PayPal spokeswoman confirmed the move in an email to VentureBeat.

“We’ve decided to close the StackMob Backend-as-a-Service and shut down the StackMob brand to make it easier for our integrated StackMob and PayPal teams to focus on helping developers create seamless payment solutions that span online, mobile, and in-store experiences,” the spokeswoman wrote.

StackMob had 14 engineers working on the service, along with other full-time employees, the spokeswoman told VentureBeat.

StackMob customers can export their data until March 31, 2014, after which point data will no longer be accessible. A data-exporting tool is available.

Now StackMob customers will have to figure out where they’d like to go to get similar services. StackMob helped mobile application developers build and run apps more quickly without having to worry about, well, the back end, so they could focus more of their energy on user-facing elements of apps — and quickly add in standard mobile elements like publish notifications and integrations with social networks.

StackMob emerged in the past three years alongside other BaaS providers, such as Firebase, Kinvey and Parse. Facebook acquired Parse in April 2013, and the service has been growing, so Parse could stand to take on more developers in need of a BaaS.

Back when PayPal acquired StackMob, it wasn’t clear that it would continue to operate in the same way going forward. Just after the deal, StackMob cofounder and chief executive Ty Amell told VentureBeat’s Devindra Hardawar that it was too early to tell if the service would keep going the way it had.

The Stackmob BaaS will cease to run on May 11, according to an email StackMob sent to customers yesterday.

“By closing the doors to StackMob, we will be able to focus 100 percent of our energy on extending innovation in mobile technologies that will let users access the rich capabilities of the PayPal global network,” the message said.

“We truly believe our work at PayPal will make it easier for developers to create seamless payment solutions that span online, mobile, and in-store experiences. A daunting, but exciting challenge.”

StackMob started in 2010 and had raised $7.5 million before the acquisition.