Google spend £30.8 million on Fossil’s smartwatch technology

Watchmaker Fossil Group and Google have announced an agreement worth more than £30 million ($40 million).

The agreement will see Google acquiring some of Fossil's smartwatch technology as well as some of the team behind creating the technology.

The new product line is based on technology that has evolved on top of the acquisition of Misfit, for a reported £201 million in 2015.

Google will now have a dedicated team working on its WearOS software platform, and it could signal new smartwatch designs too. Smartwatches are Fossil's fastest growing category.

Stacy Burr, VP of Product Management of Wear OS at Google said, "We saw some technology that they were developing that we thought could be brought out in a more expansive way if Google had that technology, and was not only able to continue to use it with Fossil but bring it to other partners in the ecosystem.

"It's about bringing great features to the widest number of on-the-go customers."