Media: Google buys AI startup Alter for $100 million

Google has acquired Alter, a startup that builds avatars using artificial intelligence, for $100 million. TechCrunch.

According to a source familiar with the situation, the deal closed two months ago but was not publicly disclosed. Several senior Alter executives updated their LinkedIn profiles and indicated that they had joined Google, without mentioning the acquisition.

A spokesman for the tech giant confirmed that Google had bought Alter. He declined to comment on the terms of the deal.

According to a person familiar with the situation, Google hopes to use Alter to improve and expand its content offerings, as well as to strengthen its competitive position against TikTok.

Alter is headquartered in the Czech Republic and the United States. The startup was founded in 2017 under the name Facemoji.

The platform offered plug-and-play technology to help game and app developers add avatar systems to their programs. The startup received initial funding of $3 million from Play Ventures, Roosh Ventures and Twitter.

Facemoji was later renamed Alter.

In October, reports said Google was in talks to invest at least $200 million in the AI startup Cohere.

Subscribe to ForkLog news on Telegram: ForkLog AI — all the latest in the world of AI!