Another day and another Israeli startup gobbled up by tech giant Intel. According to a TechCrunch report, Intel will acquire Jerusalem based startup Cnvrg.io, which develops an automated Machine-Learning operating system for data scientists. The companies have yet to reveal any financial details regarding the acquisition.
An operating system for Machine-Learning and AI
Cnvrg.io’s platform simplifies the development of complex Machine-learning and AI models, while also managing technical operations during the process. The system is adaptable to all programming languages and operates as a SaaS/On-Prem service, in all cloud environments. Cnvrg,io’s system provides a solution for organizations with large teams, and its subscription-based financial model accounts for the number of users, in addition to a system service fee.
In the past, we asked Cnvrg.io CEO and co-founder Yochay Ettun what the difference between his company’s product and the competitors like Databricks and Sagemaker? To this, he answered, that unlike existing products Cnvrg.io is the only platform that provides a real end-to-end solution that enables data scientists to have full control over the process, from the research stage and until the implementation of the ML and AI models in an organization’s IT network. Ettun also notes that the company’s platform is the only one that supports continual learning, which trains models on live and continuous data.
Cnvrg.io was founded in 2017 by Yochay Ettun and Leah Kolben and employs a team of 30 split between its Jerusalem home-base, and Tel Aviv and NYC offices. Since its establishment, the company has raised a total of $8 million from Hanaco, JVP, private investor Kevin Bermeister, who was an initial investor in Skype, and Prashant Malik, one of the original authors and co-founder of Cassandra.
In response to Geektime’s query, Intel confirmed the acquisition, saying that “the company will continue to function autonomously under the Intel umbrella, it will continue to support existing customers and its future ones.”
Intel strengthens its grip on the Israeli ecosystem
Over the past few years, Intel has moved its focus, and invested countless resources in AI. This new path has led the chip giant to, among other ventures, acquire Israeli technologies and startups, such as Habana Labs and Mobileye.
This last acquisition further highlights Intel’s deep involvement and confidence in Israel’s tech ecosystem, as it currently operates 3 R&D centers in the country, in addition to a chip factory; Intel’s corporate venture capital arm - Intel Capital - is considered one of the most active VCs in the Israeli ecosystem, and has invested tens of millions of dollars in Israeli startups; and of course, add the numerous Israeli acquisitions over the years. Over the last decade, Intel has acquired Moovit, Habana Labs, Mobileye, Replay, Ginger, Omek, Graphtech, Centrino, Innovision, Telemap, and Neocleus.
