We now know how much Samsung paid for Viv, the voice assistant startup from Dag Kittlaus, the founder of Siri and a Chicago-area resident.
Samsung disclosed that it paid around $215 million (238.93 million won) for Viv when it acquired the technology in October. The news was reported first by Venture Beat.
Viv, which was based in San Jose, CA and built by Kittlaus and his fellow Siri founders Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham, is now a subsidiary of Samsung Research America. Kittlaus lives just outside of Chicago in Barrington, IL.
The startup was founded in 2012 and raised around $30 million before getting scooped up by Samsung. Chicago-based Pritzker Group Venture Capital led a $12.5 million round in the company in 2015.
Viv is designed to be an improved version of Siri; while Siri provides answers to simple questions, Viv goes further by understanding human intent. During a demonstration last year, Viv answered complex questions like: “Will it be warmer than 70 degrees near the Golden Gate Bridge after 5 p.m. the day after tomorrow?”
“Unlike other existing AI-based services, Viv has a sophisticated natural language understanding, machine learning capabilities and strategic partnerships that will enrich a broader service ecosystem,” Injong Rhee, CTO of the Mobile Communications business at Samsung Electronics, said at the time of the acquisition.
Samsung's acquisition of Viv comes as all major handset makers are investing in AI and voice assistance. Apple's working on improving Siri and Motorola just partnered with Amazon to get Alexa in most of its cell phones moving forward.
Screengrab via Viv
