Apple Has Reportedly Acquired Italian Startup Stamplay

Apple has acquired Italian startup Stamplay, which offered an API-based back-end development platform, according to Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. The report claims Apple paid around five million euros for the company.

apple stamplay
The report does not cite Apple's standard statement for acquisitions, which typically reads "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans." We've reached out to Apple for our own confirmation, but we did not immediately hear back.

Nevertheless, one telltale sign of the acquisition or at least an acqui-hire is that Stamplay's website was almost entirely stripped of information within the past few weeks, as is usually the case following Apple acquisitions.

Stamplay describes itself as a "low code workflow automation platform, empowering organizations to streamline manual work by integrating data and business applications used every day." The "API-based development platform" enables developers to build and launch "full-featured cloud-based web apps."

From the startup's LinkedIn page:

The powerful web-based editor includes everything a developer needs to create and run a powerful backend for their app, including popular APIs like Stripe (payments), Sendgrid (email), Twilio (SMS and VoIP), Pusher (realtime notifications) and many more.

The report was brought to our attention by setteBIT:

Stamplay was co-founded by Giuliano Iacobelli and Nicola Mattina.

Update: In a press release via setteBIT, the Università Roma Tre in Italy has confirmed that Apple acquired Stamplay.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
apple beta 26 lineup

Apple Leak Confirms Work on Foldable iPhone, AirTag 2, and Dozens More Devices

Monday December 15, 2025 2:05 pm PST by
Last week, details about unreleased Apple devices and future iOS features were shared by Macworld. This week, we learned where the information came from, plus we have more findings from the leak. As it turns out, an Apple prototype device running an early build of iOS 26 was sold, and the person who bought it shared the software. The OS has a version number of 23A5234w, and the first...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Leak Reveals Foldable iPhone Details

Monday December 15, 2025 9:09 am PST by
The first foldable iPhone will feature a series of design and hardware firsts for Apple, according to details shared by the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station. According to a new post, via machine translation, Apple is developing what the leaker describes as a "wide foldable" device, a term used to refer to a horizontally oriented, book-style foldable with a large internal display....
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Apple Logo Top Half

Early iOS 26 Software Leak Uncovers Dozens of Upcoming Apple Features

Monday December 15, 2025 3:05 pm PST by
Software from an iPhone prototype running an early build of iOS 26 leaked last week, giving us a glimpse at future Apple devices and iOS features. We recapped device codenames in our prior article, and now we have a list of some of the most notable feature flags that were found in the software code. In some cases, it's obvious what the feature flags are referring to, while some are more...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
macOS Tahoe 26 Thumb

Apple Releases macOS Tahoe 26.2 With Edge Light

Friday December 12, 2025 10:08 am PST by
Apple today released macOS Tahoe 26.2, the second major update to the macOS Tahoe operating system that came out in September. macOS Tahoe 26.2 comes five weeks after Apple released macOS Tahoe 26.1. Mac users can download the macOS Tahoe update by using the Software Update section of System Settings. macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes Edge Light, a feature that illuminates your face with soft...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...

Top Rated Comments

AngerDanger Avatar
88 months ago
I am not bright enough to digest this. Can somebody smarter than I am break this down into what it could be used for?
Can't help you there, but from what I know, when developing an app that accesses the internet, there tends to be a front end and a back end.

The front end runs code on the user's computer, moving data around on one device alone and not needing to communicate with other users. The backend runs on computers elsewhere, and when the front end needs some bit of information stored online (an account balance, a picture, the number of likes your stupid GIF got), it requests it from the server. Because multiple people are interacting with data simultaneously on the servers, and they need to do it quickly and securely, programming the back end of an app can be far more daunting than the front end.

Stamplay seems to make it much easier for businesses to develop backends without writing a lot of the server-side code from scratch by providing a "low code workflow automation platform, empowering organizations to streamline manual work by integrating data and business applications used every day."

However, I think what Stamplay truly brings to the table is a goofy sounding name:

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ryanwarsaw Avatar
88 months ago
I am not bright enough to digest this. Can somebody smarter than I am break this down into what it could be used for?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TinyTears Avatar
88 months ago
Lazy article.

1) They appear to be based in London, although founded by Italians.
2) It takes all of two seconds to confirm that they have been acquired by apple - https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08168198/officers

I'm sure it's no coincidence that various lawyers with a registered address of One, Apple Park Way, Cupertino, California 95014, United States recently took on director roles at the company.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
drdreric Avatar
88 months ago
Maybe it was bought for FileMaker, not Apple directly. Could that explain the lack of the usual Apple acquisition statement?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
asiga Avatar
88 months ago
Web cloud-based apps: A bad thing for us who want to use code locally, under our control, as opposed to the service-based model that many tech companies (Apple included) are trying to push (because of many things: more frequent payments from subscriptions, more chances of monetizing users behaviour and data, more chances of forcing into buying new hardware by not allowing you to avoid updating, etc, etc).

It fits with the latest Apple strategies.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)