Troubled augmented and virtual reality startup Leap Motion Inc. turned down two acquisition offers from Apple Inc. on the basis that one of the company’s founders wasn’t a fan of the company Steve Jobs built, according to one report.

Business Insider claimed that Apple first tried to acquire Leap Motion in 2013 before offering to acquire it again in the northern spring this year for about $30 million to $50 million.

Perhaps not surprisingly given Leap Motion was valued at about $300 million as of its last round, the company declined the offer but not on the basis that the offer undervalued the often-hyped startup. Instead, it apparently was because one of its founders thought Apple was “the devil.”

If that wasn’t strange enough, the report claimed that the deal earlier this year had Leap Motion employees celebrating about being acquired until the deal fell through at the 11th hour.

“Apple had already started talks with Leap Motion’s human resources department to review company benefits and sent out offer letters enclosed in white folders emblazoned with its silver signature logo — the arrival of which caused many employees to break out in high-fives around the office,” the report noted.

Leap Motion co-founders David Holz and Michael Buckwald do have a history when it comes to Apple, with Holz reported to have been offensive when talking to Apple reps.

“Not only did Holz seem disinterested in Apple’s prospective offer to acquire its team and intellectual property, the people said, but he was insulting,” the report said. “He told Apple representatives that the company was no longer innovative, that its technology ‘sucked,’ and — to the disbelief of many there — went on to praise the virtues of Android.”

According to another employee, “That’s why the Apple thing didn’t work out. David [Holz] was like, ‘I’m never going to go work for those guys, they’re the devil.’”

Leap Motion has long been liked in Silicon Valley, but it has, at least so far, been an underachiever. In April, when it open-sourced some of its technology, it was hard not to be impressed with it and what the company is trying to do. But good ideas don’t always result in successful startups.

Photo: qubodup/Flickr