Viv Labs, a stealthy startup founded by the team that created Siri, has secured $12.5 million in Series B funding, in order to carry out its vision of an advanced AI.
If reports are to be believed, the round was led by the Silicon Valley’s elite Iconiq Capital along with contribution from Horizons Ventures, Pritzker Group VC and other private individuals, taking the total investment into the firm so far, to $22.5 million.
Although the details of the development remain undisclosed and Viv hasn’t made any comment on it, as TechCrunch points out, the current investment round was more “opportunistic” in nature as the startup isn’t quite in need of funding but is rather looking at benefits for its AI program through association with the Silicon Valley Billionaires Club – Iconiq Capital.
After Apple’s acquisition of Siri in 2010, the idea of an AI interface parsing and responding to queries in natural language has been re-envisioned with Viv as it “strives to be the first consumer-friendly assistant that truly achieves that promise. It wants to be not only blindingly smart and infinitely flexible but omnipresent,” wrote Wired last year.
“I’m extremely proud of Siri and the impact it’s had on the world, but in many ways it could have been more,” co-founder of both Siri and Viv Labs, Adam Cheyer had told Wired. Building on the limitations faced by Siri, Viv can link information through third-party sources to resolve complex queries.
Add to such capabilities speed and you have an ideal UI for the IoT at hand. Essentially, Viv will learn everyday, on its own as it interacts with queries.
(Image credit: Viv Labs)
