Google has finally closed the deal on Wavii, a natural language processing startup, for a price that is more than $30 million, we’re hearing from a legitimate source.
Both Apple and Google were competing for the Seattle-based startup, and Google eventually won. Apple wanted the company, which developed its own aggregation technology and natural summarization algorithms, for its Siri division. The 25-person-strong team, including founder Adrian Aoun, will be moving down from Seattle to join Google’s Knowledge Graph division.
While it was previously reported by Business Insider that the two were in acquisition talks, a definitive agreement has now been signed after the Apple/Google bidding war. The buy comes shortly after Yahoo’s $30 million acquisition of aggregator Summly, which, like Wavii, attempted to summarize stories.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2013/04/23/google-buys-wavii-for-north-of-30-million/