Issued patents certainly can add tangible value to a deal, but take years to make their way through USPTO and require a lot of money to file, respond to office actions and the examiner.

However, most startups with time and not too much $ can file a provisional patent for "patent pending" status, which is likely what Punchd has. It's really just a way to extend the patent filing deadline an extra year.

Thus the value of an un-examined, pending patent to a deal is negligible -- especially to Google. Most pending patents are never granted.