How Google struck gold in India’s Halli Labs acquisition

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.

Read more at:ET