E-commerce and cloud computing firm Amazon has acquired Body Labs, a US-based body scanner developer backed by semiconductor technology provider Intel, for between $50m and $100m, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
A “well-placed” source told TechCrunch that Amazon paid about $70m for the company, though a second source suggested the price could have been above $100m and TechCrunch itself estimates the price could have been as low as $50m. Body Labs confirmed the acquisition but did not offer further details.
Founded in 2013, Body Labs has developed a body scanner called Soma that can generate an accurate 3D representation of people based on a photograph or video.
The technology uses a combination of artificial intelligence, computer vision and body modelling, and could help e-commerce customers determine accurate measurements when they buy clothes online.
The spinout is based on research initially undertaken at Brown University, with further development at research organisation Max Planck Society’s Institute for Intelligent Systems.
Intel’s corporate venturing arm, Intel Capital, previously participated in Body Labs’ $8m series A round in 2015 alongside Osage University Partners, FirstMark Capital, Catalus Capital and Max Planck Innovation, the tech transfer arm of Max Planck Society.
FirstMark had already led the company’s $2.2m seed round in 2014, with participation from New York Angels and unnamed, existing shareholders.
– The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.