Global technology giant Google has made its first acquisition in India by taking over a four-month old startup, Halli Labs for an undisclosed amount. Based in Bengaluru, Halli Labs was started in April 2017. Google’s acquisition is the latest in a series of such buyouts by top global tech companies in the field of deep learning.
Below are the reasons why Google has invested in an Indian startup for the first time:
Race for developing AI portfolio
Halli Labs becomes the latest AI startup to be bagged by Google after a flurry of similar acquisitions by firms such as Microsoft, Facebook, Apple in the last five years. The big six tech firms—Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM and Apple—are vying to lead in the AI ecosystem.
The rush for AI acquisitions by tech giants is fuelled by humongous data being generated by billions of people daily through their everyday online activities. According to market intelligence research firm IDC, the AI market stands at $8 billion today. The research forecasts the rise of AI market to $47 billion in 2020.
In March 2017, American chip-maker Intel acquired self-driving tech supplier Mobileye for $15 billion to up the ante against its rival Nvidia. In 2014, Google acquired DeepMind, a London-based artificial intelligence (AI) company, for $400 million.
According to research by CB Insights, tech giants have acquired 34 artificial intelligence startups the first quarter of this year. Google has been the most aggressive in this space with 11 acquisitions since 2012, followed by Apple, Facebook and Intel.
Halli Labs is an ideal fit
“Halli Labs is applying modern ML (machine learning) techniques to old problems and domains to help technology march on in its timeless purpose— that of giving superhuman powers to all of us humans in letting us do, whatever we want to do, better,” this is how Halli Labs described itself in its first blog on Medium.
As it claims, Halli Labs’ goal is to apply modern AI and ML techniques to old problems and domains to help technology. It has been working on natural language process (NLP), which can help Google efficiently process real-world language. That makes Halli Labs and ideal fit for Google’s future business strategy.
Data is the new gold
Companies like Google, Microsoft and Apple have already taken the lead in AI and ML by utlilising the data garnered by their businesses. Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant and Microsoft’s Cortana are a few examples of how the companies can utilise data to provide better facilities to their users.
Facebook uses deep neural networks for targeted advertising. It is also using machine learning to develop a messenger chatbot. Big tech companies are using data to give more enriched experience to their users. AI and ML startups give these companies an instant edge since they already have raw data.
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