Affectiva emotion AI vendor latest in AI acquisition wave

BREAKING – Amid a supercharged market for AI technology, eye tracking vendor Smart Eye on May 25 said it acquired Affectiva, vendor of emotion sensing AI technology, for $73.5 million.

The deal between Smart Eye, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, and Boston-based Affectiva creates a combined AI company that will focus on the fast-growing market for automotive interior sensing, as well on media analytics and human factors research.

Founded in 1999, Smart Eye develops AI-based eye tracking technology that closely studies movement of the eye, face and head to draw conclusions about a person’s awareness and mental state.

Smart Eye’s eye tracking systems are used in cars and commercial vehicles and the aerospace and aviation industries, among others. The vendor said its technologies are used by more than 800 partners and customers around the world, including NASA, BMW, Lockheed Martin, Volvo and GM.

Affectiva, an M.I.T. spinoff founded in 2009, was among the first software vendors in the emotion AI and human perception AI categories. Its technology uses deep learning, computer vision, speech science and big data to detect human emotions and cognitive states.

Affectiva’s interior sensing AI technology is used by car manufacturers, fleet managers and rideshare vendors.

Other recent major AI deals include Microsoft’s acquisition of voice recognition vendor Nuance Communications for $19.7 billion, chip and AI hardware and software vendor Nvidia’s purchase of switch maker Mellanox for $6.9 million, and machine learning vendor DataRobot’s acquisition of Zepl, vendor of cloud data science systems for an undisclosed price.

Smart Eye is listed on the Nasdaq exchange.

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