Intel has acquired Cnvrg.io, a platform to manage, build and automate machine learning
Intel continues to splinter up startups to build out its machine learning and AI operations. In the latest activity, Mobcoder has learned that the chip giant has acquired Cnvrg.io, an Israeli company that has built and operates a platform for data scientists to build and run machine learning models, which can be used to train and track multiple models and run comparisons on them, build recommendations and more.
Intel is not
disclosing any financial terms of the deal, nor who from the startup will join
Intel. Cnvrg, co-founded by Yochay Ettun (CEO) and Leah Forkosh Kolben, had
raised $8 million from investors that include Hanaco Venture Capital and
Jerusalem Venture Partners, and PitchBook estimates that it was valued at
around $17 million in its last round.
It was only a week
ago that Intel made another acquisition to boost its AI business, also in the
area of machine learning modeling: it picked up SigOpt, which had developed an
optimization platform to run machine learning modeling and simulations.
While SigOpt is based
out of the Bay Area, Cnvrg is in Israel and joins an extensive footprint that
Intel has built in the country, specifically in the area of artificial
intelligence research and development, banked around its Mobileye autonomous
vehicle business (which it acquired for more than $15 billion in 2017) and its
acquisition of AI chipmaker Habana (which it acquired for $2 billion at the end
of 2019).
Cnvrg.io’s platform
works across on-premise, cloud, and hybrid environments and it comes in paid
and free tiers (we covered the launch of the free service, branded Core, last
year). It competes with the likes of Databricks, Sagemaker, and Dataiku, as
well as smaller operations like H2O.ai that are built on open-source
frameworks. Cnvrg’s premise is that it provides a user-friendly platform for
data scientists so they can concentrate on devising algorithms and measuring
how they work, not building or maintaining the platform they run on. Click here
While Intel is not
saying much about the deal, it seems that some of the same logic behind last
week’s SigOpt acquisition applies here as well: Intel has been refocusing its
business around next-generation chips to better compete against the likes of
Nvidia and smaller players like GraphCore. So it makes sense to also
provide/invest in AI tools for customers, specifically services to help with
the compute loads that they will be running on those chips.
It’s notable that in
our article regarding the Core free tier last year, Frederic noted that those
using the platform in the cloud can do so with Nvidia-optimized containers that
run on a Kubernetes cluster. It’s not clear if that will continue to be the
case, or if containers will be optimized instead for Intel architecture, or
both. Cnvrg’s other partners include Red Hat and NetApp.
Intel’s focus on the
next generation of computing strives to offset drops in its legacy operations.
In the last quarter, Intel reported a 3% decline in its revenues, led by a drop
in its data center business. It said that it’s projecting the AI silicon market
to be bigger than $25 billion by 2024, with AI silicon in the data center to be
greater than $10 billion in that period.
In 2019, Intel
reported some $3.8 billion in AI-driven revenue, but it hopes that tools like
SigOpt will help drive more activity in that business, dovetailing with the
push for more AI
applications in a wider range of businesses.
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