Silicon Valley startup Beluga on Tuesday confirmed that it has been bought by Facebook, the social networking colossal.

"We are happy to announce that Facebook has acquired Beluga," said a brief statement posted on Beluga's website.

Analysts believed that Facebook made the acquisition as it is interested in both the technology and the team behind Beluga.

Beluga, founded in July 2010 by three former Google employees, offers simple mobile application and web service that enable instant and rich group messaging from users' phone.

"We're excited to continue to build our vision for mobile group messaging as part of the Facebook team. Beluga and Facebook are committed to create new and better ways to communicate and share group experiences," Beluga said in the statement.

It added that more details will be available on the acquisition and future plans for Beluga in the coming weeks.