[NEW YORK] Meta confirmed on Friday (5 December) that it will acquire Limitless, a US startup that makes wearable pendants that record and summarize conversations and meetings with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).
Financial details of the deal to acquire the 5-year-old Denver-based company were not disclosed.
“We are excited that Limitless is joining Meta to accelerate our efforts to develop AI-enabled wearables,” a Meta spokesperson told AFP.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made AI a priority at the tech giant, with the goal of achieving “superintelligence.”
AI is being used to power meta apps like Facebook and Instagram, as well as smart glasses made in partnership with EssilorLuxottica.
“Meta recently announced a new vision to bring personal superintelligence to everyone, and a key part of that vision is to build incredible AI-enabled wearables,” Limitless co-founder and CEO Dan Siroker said in a message posted on the startup's website.
“We share this vision, and we intend to join Meta to help realize our shared vision.”
According to Pitchbook, Limitless has raised a total of $33 million from investors including venture capital heavyweight Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman.
The startup was valued at US$368 million in its latest funding round in 2023, according to Pitchbook.
“We're not working on weird fringe ideas anymore,” Shilokar said of how the world of technology has changed since his startup days.
“We are now building an inevitable future.”
To pursue his AI ambitions, Zuckerberg launched an aggressive recruiting campaign, luring executives from OpenAI, Apple and Google with multibillion-dollar offers.
Meta made a significant investment in Scale AI earlier this year, and as part of the deal poached the startup's co-founder Alexandr Wang to lead a newly created division called Superintelligence Labs.
The Limitless acquisition deal appears to be Meta's first major acquisition since it completed its acquisition of virtual reality company Within Unlimited in 2023, after a court rejected an attempt by U.S. regulators to block the deal citing competition concerns.
The court loss was seen as a setback for then-FTC Commissioner Lina Khan, who had advocated for greater scrutiny of Big Tech companies on antitrust issues. AFP
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