According to a report by the U.S. tech blog TechCrunch on Friday, Intel has quietly completed another acquisition deal, acquiring Indisys, a Spanish startup specializing in natural language recognition. Intel did not disclose the details of the transaction, but it was reported that the amount involved was over $20 million (approximately $26 million). Two months ago, Intel acquired Omek, an Israeli gesture interface company, with reports indicating that the acquisition cost around $40 million.
TechCrunch stated that Intel confirmed this acquisition and pointed out that most of Indisys' employees have joined Intel. An Intel spokesperson mentioned in an email: "Intel has acquired Indisys, a privately held company headquartered in Seville, Spain. The majority of Indisys employees have joined Intel. We signed the acquisition agreement on May 31st, and the transaction has now been completed."
The spokesperson noted that the financial terms of the deal are confidential, so Intel will not disclose the exact price, "but I can confirm that the cost of this transaction is not high for Intel." When asked which Indisys employees have transferred to Intel, the spokesperson said that its CEO Pilar Manchon has joined Intel's Santa Clara R&D department.
Intel also did not reveal how it plans to use Indisys' technology or existing products. The spokesperson stated: "Indisys has deep expertise in computational linguistics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and machine learning. For now, we will not disclose any detailed information about how Intel might use Indisys' technology."
Before Intel confirmed the transaction to TechCrunch, multiple media outlets had already reported on the deal, and Inveready, one of Indisys' early investors, issued a statement saying the company had sold its shares to Intel.
Indisys is a developer of natural language recognition technology, and its dialog-based system has been used by many Spanish companies, such as retail giant El Corte Ingles, insurance group Mapfre, and banking group BBVA, covering both web and mobile platforms. Additionally, Indisys has developed a smart assistant interface similar to Siri, allowing users to interact with it. Many of Indisys' customers are from Spain, but the company claims to have developed multi-language technology.
TechCrunch pointed out that there are several reasons why Intel acquired Indisys. First, Intel is entering the 3D virtualization and "perceptual computing" market, a term the company created for gesture, touch, voice, and other artificial intelligence sensing technologies. When Intel established a $100 million investment fund in April 2013, "perceptual computing" was a focal point in the industry. The second reason is that voice recognition technology can directly integrate into Intel's processor business.
For Indisys, Intel is no stranger. Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of Intel, led a $5 million Series A funding round for Indisys in November 2012, eventually helping Indisys raise more than $6 million. Indisys began operations in 2003, and the financing round led by Intel Capital helped expand its business to international markets.