Chinese internet giant Baidu has acquired Raven Tech, a specialist in applying voice-controlled artificial intelligence to smart home systems. No financial details related to the transaction have been disclosed, South China Morning Post reports. Baidu says Raven Tech’s 27-year-old founder Lu Cheng will now lead the company’s smart home devices business.
In an internal statement to staff on the acquisition, Baidu CEO Lu Qi says the Raven acquisition will support Baidu’s position in human/machine interaction, and will also help built up core strength in software and hardware integration.
Set up in 2014, Raven Tech is the developer of a voice-enabled music search app dubbed ‘Music Flow’, which currently has millions of users. Embedded with an AI assistant, Flow is described by the company as the world’s first ‘IM+AI Chatbot’. Voice or text massages can activate Chatbot, and Flow can also be ordered to help in services, including hailing a taxi or offering navigation services.
Raven’s ‘H-1’ smart home controlling system is the company’s latest product, designed to enable users to control their home appliances via voice or text commands.
Raven has previously secured funding from ZhenFund, Matrix Partners China, Y Combinator, DCM, and Magic Stone Alternative.
