Exit: American Snap acquires the Israeli startup Voca.ai for an amount of about $ 70 million

American Snap, the parent company of the social network Snapchat, acquires the Israeli company Voca.ai. The purchase amount of Voca is about $ 70 million, having so far raised only $ 6 million. Its investors include the strategic investment group of American Express, Lool Ventures, Flint Capital and Group11. The company employs about 35 people who will join Snap.
Voca was founded in 2017 by Dr. Alan Becker, and Einav Itamar. Its most recent significant acquisition was in 2019, when it invested in the investment fund of the American credit card giant American Express. Mastercard.
Voca has developed a technology that seeks to change the world of service representatives through the development of artificial intelligence-based virtual agents called Voca, which combine the capabilities of human agents with advanced developments in the field of artificial intelligence, in order to change the way businesses communicate with their customers. While similar companies in the field use technology that converts speech into text, and only then processes the text to communicate with customers, Voca.ai has developed a technology called Speech To Intent that enables the creation of a two-way conversation based on intention that sounds completely human. In any conversation with a customer, Voca's virtual agents know how to adjust the voice, language, accent and tone of speech, as well as their responses, thus providing customers with a human, pleasant and efficient service without the conversationalist knowing he is conversing with a bot.
 Today Snapshot is a social network that is in increased use among young people, and less in business use among older audiences. Implementing Voca's solutions could allow Snap to open a door to the business world, similar to what WhatsApp is doing today building a business model around its business vis-à-vis business. Snap's entry into activities outside the world of young people can be an additional source of income for it beyond the world of advertising in which it is currently active.
Snap recently reported good reports. Snapshot's parent company reported 249 million active daily users in the third quarter of 2020, an increase of 11 million users compared to the second quarter of this year. The company's revenue jumped to $ 679 million compared to $ 446 million $ In the same quarter. Snapshot is one of the most popular apps in the US, and it focuses on young people and youth.
The social network Snapshot was founded in 2011 by Bobby Murphy and Evan Spiegel, and is based on the transfer of photos and videos that are deleted shortly afterwards.
The current acquisition is not its first in the Israeli market. In 2016, Snap acquired Cimagine Media from Kfar Yehoshua, which developed an augmented reality system. The deal was worth several tens of millions of dollars. Following the same acquisition of