The company is the provider of artificial intelligence technology for detecting people from Wyze’s cameras. According to LinkedIn, Xnor was founded in 2017 and has its headquarters in Seattle with 54 permanent employees. Prior to the acquisition, Xnor raised approximately $14.6 million from investors such as the Madrona Venture Group in Seattle.
Apple acquires artificial intelligence startup Xnor.ai
Apple has been using its home kit ecosystem for some time now. Until now, it has done so from a platform and software point of view, without the company having fully engaged in creating its own devices for the intelligent home. Despite the fact that there are no rumors about Apple entering this IoT market, it is part of the alliance with Amazon and Google to boost this sector.
The company has now confirmed the purchase of Seattle-based artificial intelligence company Xnor.ai, known as one of the providers of Wyze’s smart camera technology for people recognition related to home use.
The specialty of this start-up company is to run its software on devices with fewer computing resources, rather than in data centers with powerful computers. The products they develop can run on devices such as smartphones, cameras, drones, and even embedded, low-power mobile CPUs.
The purchase is a significant acquisition, since the Company’s advanced camera models, such as the Wyze Cam V2 and Wyze Cam Pan have been utilizing Xnor.ai’s people recognition technology since last summer. Of course, this feature is no longer available in the beta version of the camera software, as Apple now owns the company, so Wyze will be without one of its star features.
It is not clear whether Apple’s decision to take this step is to develop advanced features for the smart home, or whether Xnor.ai’s technology will be used for other projects of the company, such as improving the recognition of faces and people on the camera, or for the rumored smart car technology.