Major technology companies focused their acquisitions this year on Artificial Intelligence (AI) startups including Machine Learning, Big Data and Analytics companies.
Here is a list of the major technology acquisitions in 2018.
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Avere – Microsoft
Microsoft acquired Avere Systems, a leading provider of high-performance NFS and SMB file-based storage for Linux and Windows clients running in cloud, hybrid and on-premises environments.
Avere has worked with global brands including Sony Pictures Imageworks, animation studio Illumination Mac Guff and Moving Picture Company (MPC).
By bringing together Avere’s storage expertise with the power of Microsoft’s cloud, customers will benefit from industry-leading innovations that enable the largest, most complex high-performance workloads to run in Microsoft Azure.
Redux – Google
Google acquired Redux ST, a U.K. based consumer electronics startup focused on technology that transforms the user experience by bringing surfaces to life with sound and touch.
Main Street Hub – GoDaddy
GoDaddy Inc. acquired Main Street Hub, a marketing company that offers small businesses a complete “do-it-for-me” experience, providing them with a comprehensive solution for their marketing needs, including websites, brand development, social media management, digital customer service, email marketing, commerce, SEM and SEO capabilities, and more.
Confirm – Facebook
Confirm makes authenticating a drivers license or ID fast, easy and secure. The software integrates in minutes to confirm a person’s identity for any transaction requiring remote identity proofing.
Their solution is used by a number of Fortune 50 companies including financial institutions, healthcare providers, insurance carriers, retailers, shared economy companies and on demand service providers.
Kngine – Samsung
Kngine is an intelligent answer engine that answers naturally posed factual questions. It understands what users are actually seeking and provides them with meaningful results.
Digg – BuySellAds
Digg is a social news site that delivers the most interesting and talked about stories on the Internet.
Cask – Google
Cask Data Application Platform (CDAP) that makes building and running big data solutions easy for enterprise customers with a unified integration platform for Hadoop and Apache Spark.
DataScience.com – Oracle
DataScience.com is a platform that centralizes data science tools, projects and infrastructure in a fully-governed workspace giving data scientists and machine learning engineers the ability to easily organize and share their work, access data and compute resources, and build, train, deploy, and manage machine learning models in a cloud computing environment.
iZettle – PayPal
iZettle is a mobile payments company, offering small businesses with portable point-of-sale solutions and free sales overview tools. The solution incorporates a suite of products and services that allows merchants to meet their customers where they are – online, in store or via mobile.
Semantic Machines – Microsoft
Semantic Machines uses the power of machine learning to enable users to discover, access and interact with information and services in a much more natural way, and with significantly less effort.
Magento – Adobe
Magento is a market-leading, modern e-commerce platform with enterprise power, unlimited scalability, and open-source flexibility for B2C and B2B experiences.
GitHub – Microsoft
GitHub is a web-based code hosting service with version control that allow developers/programmers to write and build software for open source and private projects in a collaborative environment.
Smyte – Twitter
Smyte stops spam, scams, harassment and credit card fraud for marketplaces and social networks. The company has dealt with many unique issues facing online safety which Twitter will use in being proactive to stopping abusive behavior before it impacts anyone’s experience.
GraphicsFuzz – Google
GraphicsFuzz offers an automated method for testing computer graphics drivers that quickly finds and fixes bugs that could undermine reliability and security before they affect end users. The approach has been successful at exposing a large number of graphics driver defects across a wide range of mobile and desktop platforms.
Lobe – Microsoft
Lobe’s offers a visual interface that lets people easily create intelligent apps that can understand hand gestures, hear music, read handwriting, and more using deep learning and AI models without writing code.
Iridize – Oracle
Iridize is an enterprise platform for personalized and contextual user onboarding, engagement and training.
The addition of Iridize’s technology and solutions is expected to enhance Oracle’s Guided Learning capabilities to increase cloud application adoption and improve user onboarding experience.
Onward – Google
Onward is designed and built with a mission to help restore Tech/Life Balance by developing scalable, affordable solutions that give each of us the ability to change our compulsive behaviors. Onward leverages the latest in data and behavioral science to bring innovative behavior-change solutions to a global audience by allowing users achieve tech-life balance by reducing their screen time.
Glint – LinkedIn (Microsoft)
Glint delivers an enterprise-grade platform designed to help organizations do their best work, develop their skills, and improve business results. Glint has more than 300+ customers globally that have adopted Glint’s enterprise-grade AI-driven approach.
LinkedIn’s insight into the larger workforce to find and acquire great people alongside Glint’s visibility into the overall health and productivity of the people within an organization will be a powerful extension of LinkedIn’s talent business today.
Zhilabs – Samsung
Samsung acquired Zhilabs in order to expand its AI-Based Automation Portfolio in the coming 5G Era.
Zhilabs, known for its Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based network and service analytics, will lay the foundation for Samsung to foster its 5G offerings of automation and network analytics to finely tune customer experiences.
The joint capabilities of both companies will strengthen Samsung’s automated user-centric tools, service orchestration and analytics.
DataFox – Oracle
DataFox uses a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) data engine and derived business content provide
the most current, precise and expansive set of company-level information and insightful data to
optimize business decisions.
Their intelligence platform helps sales, marketing, and investing teams find and prioritize target companies to source more opportunities.
The combination of Oracle and DataFox will enhance Oracle Cloud Applications with an extensive set of trusted company-level data and signals, enabling customers to reach even better decisions and business outcomes.
Red Hat – IBM
IBM and Red Hat announced they have joined forces which will enable their customers to benefit from the combined power of both companies’ technologies in private and public clouds.
Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of open source cloud software and it partnership with IBM will provide a clear pathway for enterprises to adopt a complete hybrid cloud computing solution and move IBM closer to becoming the world’s #1 hybrid cloud provider.
Appthority – Symantec
Appthority and Symantec unite to enhance protection from mobile applications and strengthen modern endpoints and operating systems.
The acquisition of Appthority demonstrates Symantec’s continued commitment to securing modern (e.g. iOS, Android) endpoints and operating systems, as it brings innovation to its portfolio that addresses this vital security need.
Obsidian Entertainment – Microsoft
Obsidian Entertainment is an American role-playing video game. The acquisition will combine the forces of the RPG company with Microsoft’s Xbox’s team.
inXile – Microsoft
inXile Entertainment is a game development company focused on creating personality-packed games to gamers wherever they play; from the PS3 to the iPhone.
XOXCO – Microsoft
XOXCO is a software product design and development studio known for its conversational AI and bot development capabilities.
The company has been paving the way in conversational AI since 2013 and was responsible for the creation of Howdy, the first commercially available bot for Slack that helps schedule meetings, and Botkit, which provides the development tools used by hundreds of thousands of developers on GitHub.
FSLogix – Microsoft
FSLogix is a next-generation app-provisioning platform that reduces the resources, time and labor required to support virtualization.
From small businesses to very large global enterprises across numerous industries, FSLogix solutions enhance customer experience and productivity, while reducing support requirements for IT departments.
The new acquisition will enable Microsoft extend their virtualization capabilities and provide an even richer experience for Microsoft 365 customers.
Workbench Platform – Google
Workbench Platform engages learners and educators through shared, meaningful lessons and tools that they can make their own.
With Workbench, these educators will gain access to an innovative learning platform that provides lesson and project authoring, sharing, and discovery capabilities.
Spectrum – Microsoft
Spectrum is a new platform for you to join, start and build online communities.
Platoon – Apple
Platoon is a platform to discover emerging talents and provide them with the platform to create, distribute, and commercialize their creative work.
Where is my Train – Google
Where is my Train is a mobile app that displays live train status and up-to-date schedules. The app can function offline without needing Internet or GPS. It is also packed with useful features such as destination alarms and a speedometer.
It is the highest rated travel app in India.
