{"id":42227,"date":"2021-06-30T09:34:07","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T09:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/?guid=d5c020468610619fd0b3f2024a506c0d"},"modified":"2021-06-30T09:34:07","modified_gmt":"2021-06-30T09:34:07","slug":"zoom-acquires-ai-translation-startup-kites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/zoom-acquires-ai-translation-startup-kites\/","title":{"rendered":"Zoom acquires AI translation startup Kites"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n Sabina Weston<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
30 Jun, 2021<\/span><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Zoom<\/a>\u00a0has announced the acquisition of Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions (Kites) \u2013 a\u00a0startup<\/a>\u00a0focused on the development of real-time\u00a0AI<\/a>-powered translation technologies.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2015 by members of Germany\u2019s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology faculty, Kites is comprised of 12 research scientists who will now assist Zoom\u2019s engineering team in advancing in the field of machine translation (MT).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nThe\u00a0technology<\/a>\u00a0will be used to improve the\u00a0video conferencing<\/a>\u00a0experience by providing real-time, multi-language translation capabilities for Zoom users, enabling the company to increase the efficiency and accessibility of virtual meetings.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the news, co-founders Dr. Alex Waibel and Dr. Sebastian St\u00fcker said that Kites \u201cemerged with the mission of breaking down language barriers and making seamless cross-language interaction a reality of everyday life\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have long admired Zoom for its ability to easily connect people across the world. We know Zoom is the best partner for Kites to help advance our mission and we are excited to see what comes next under Zoom\u2019s incredible innovation engine,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n

Waibel and St\u00fcker are to remain based in Karlsruhe following the acquisition, with Waibel set to become a Zoom Research Fellow \u2013 a role which will include advising Zoom on MT research and development.<\/p>\n

The video conferencing giant also announced that it \u201clooks forward to investing in growing the [Kites] team\u201d, while also \u201cexploring opening an R&D center in Germany in the future\u201d.<\/p>\n

Velchamy Sankarlingam, president of Product and Engineering at Zoom, said that the company is \u201ccontinuously looking for new ways to deliver happiness to our users and improve meeting productivity\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMT solutions will be key in enhancing our platform for Zoom customers across the globe. With our aligned missions to make collaboration frictionless \u2013 regardless of language, geographic location, or other barriers \u2013 we are confident Kites\u2019 impressive team will fit right in with Zoom,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The acquisition of Kites, the financial details of which remain undisclosed, might be symptomatic of Zoom\u2019s focus on expanding its offering to retain users as lockdown restrictions are eased and more workers return to the office. Earlier this month, the company\u00a0unveiled a new range of desk phones<\/a>\u00a0fit for the\u00a0office and the home<\/a>\u00a0that includes high-definition video as well as built-in\u00a0collaboration<\/a>\u00a0software. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sabina Weston<\/p>\n

30 Jun, 2021 <\/p>\n

Zoom\u00a0has announced the acquisition of Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions (Kites) \u2013 a\u00a0startup\u00a0focused on the development of real-time\u00a0AI-powered translation technologies.
\nFounded in 2015…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/627"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42228,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42227\/revisions\/42228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}