It’s just an 18-month old company, but Wit.ai was clearly doing something right in the voice recognition space, working largely with developer’s, that caught Facebook’s attention. The social media behemoth has acquired the API (application program interface) for an undisclosed amount.
Wit.ai is Facebook’s neighbor company in California and is set to move base from Palo Alto to Menlo Park to join the Facebook team. Following the acquisition, the three Wit.ai Co-Founders – Alex Lebrun, Willy Blandin and Laurent Landowski – will become part of the Facebook team.
Considering Wit.ai is largely a tool for developers, it is still unclear on what role this acquisition will play in Facebook’s growth strategy.
What is however clear with this acquisition and the acquisition of virtual reality startup Oculus VR that Facebook had done in July 2014, is that Facebook is going well beyond the current scope of social media or how it is perceived.