Payment services firm American Express has exited Voca.ai, an Israel-based producer of virtual call agent software, in an acquisition by social media platform developer Snap, Globes reported on Wednesday.
Snap paid about $70m for the company, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. All of Voca’s 40-person team is set to join Snap, TechCrunch has reported.
Founded in 2017, Voca has developed virtual call agent software that relies on natural language processing to learn from human customer interactions in order to gauge feelings intimated by the speed, pitch and tone of a caller’s voice.
The company has also created technology that could potentially diagnose patients with covid-19 based on voice samples potentially indicating whether the virus has affected their respiratory system.
Snap’s social messaging app, Snapchat, unveiled a voice-activated search tool in June this year, and while the company has not confirmed the acquisition, the move could enhance this element of its platform.
Voca closed a $2.6m round in October 2018 that was led by Lool Ventures and backed by investors including Flint Capital, before both investors joined American Express subsidiary American Express Ventures for a $3.5m round one year later.