Strategic holding company Rokk3r has acquired US-based artificial intelligence (AI) technology developer AdMobilize and its hardware spinoff Matrix Labs, allowing media group Axel Springer to exit.
The price was reported by TechCrunch as being $19.5m in size, the companies having raised a combined $13m in funding according to a statement announcing the deal.
AdMobilize has developed AI-enabled software and hardware which can identify and analyse people and objects from camera footage in real time. The company’s products are used to measure the impact of advertising by recording data such as age, gender or emotional cues.
Matrix Labs produces microprocessor development boards typically used in internet-of-things technology. It has produced a development board that can detect and process real-time information such as temperature, motion and pressure, and a separate board for AI-assisted voice recognition.
Both companies were both founded by Rodolfo Saccoman, who was previously head of digital innovation at luxury hotel operator The Breakers Palm Beach.
The $13m includes $2.2m in series A funding AdMobilize raised from Fuel Venture Capital (then Rokk3r Fuel ExO), a venture capital firm launched in partnership Rokk3r (then Rokk3r Labs), as well as Azoic Ventures and various individuals, in 2014.
AdMobilize’s investors also include Axel Springer and VAS Ventures, according to its website. Matrix Labs has not revealed details of any funding.