Microsoft Acquires Rights For AI-Driven Swift Key
Silicon Valley giant Microsoft has reportedly shelled out about $250 million to acquire London-based SwiftKey- the tech startup behind the technology used to help world renowned scientist Stephen Hawking to talk and write.
The company is currently on a shopping spree for promising startups that would boost its innovation-led growth strategy. In a statement, the Windows maker is looking at "scenarios for the integration of the core technology across the breadth of [its] product and services portfolio" as quoted by Ars Technica.
Recently, Silicon Valley companies have been eyeing out for startups with highly advanced artificial intelligence (AI) knowhow and the UK isn't short of that. For example, Google paid handsomely to acquire University of Oxford spinouts like Dark Blue Labs and Vision Factory in addition to Deep Mind's $400 million price tag. Similarly, iPhone maker Apple also paid quite well to acquire another UK-based AI-oriented startup called VocalIQ.
SwiftKey founders Jon Reynolds and Ben Medlock are rewarded each with $30 million from the deal. The duo are assigned to continue their work on AI-related projects under Microsoft Research Division Chief Harry Shum.
"This acquisition is a great example of Microsoft's commitment to bringing its software and services to all platforms. We believe that together we can achieve orders of magnitude greater scale than either of us could have achieved independently," remarked Shum as quoted saying by The Financial Times.
SwiftKey's AI-powered predictive keyboard are currently downloaded "on more than 500 million Android and iOS smartphones" according to an article penned for Tech Crunch.
