Acquisitions accelerate as tech giants seek to build AI smarts
Google acquires 11 startups
ing director of Madrona Venture Group.
Health care startup Forward, for example, is using artificial intelligence to crunch data that can inform doctors’ recommendations.
“For people who really want to focus on core AI problems, it makes a lot of sense to be in bigger companies,” said Forward Chief Executive Officer Adrian Aoun, who previously worked at Google. “But for folks who really want to prove a new field, a new area, it makes more sense to be separate.”
AIs companies that do remain independent field a steady stream of suitors: Matthew Zeiler, chief executive of Clarifai, which specializes in image and video recognition, said he has been approached about a dozen times by prospective acquirers since starting the company in late 2013. Clarifai’s pitch to customers such as consumer goods company Unilever Plc. and hotel search firm Trivago is bolstered by its narrow focus on artificial intelligence. “(Google) literally competes with almost every company on the planet,” Zeiler said. “Are you going to trust them with being your partner for AI?”
Tech giants have been locked in a bidding war for academics specializing in AI. Startups rarely have the capital to compete, but a company with a specialized mission can win over recruits, said Vic Gundotra, chief executive of AliveCor, which makes an AI-driven portable heart monitor.
“They say, ‘ I want to come here and work on a project that might save my mother’s life,’” Gundotra said.