Recently, Zoom, one of the safest video conferencing software companies, has announced that it’s acquiring Kites (Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions), developers of real-time translation and transcription software. To recall, Zoom emerged victorious among the fastest growing video calling apps during the initial wave of COVID, it allows 100 participants on a video call (up to 1,000 with Large Meeting add-on).
Zoom said that this acquisition would help make communication easier especially for people who communicate in different languages. Also, the company is planning to add translation features to its video calling application. However, both Zoom and Kites didn’t share any terms of the acquisition. But, it is beneficial on Zoom’s part as it can get a bunch of top researchers who can help Zoom expand footprints on machine-learning translation.
Kites was originally founded in 2015, with Dr. Sebastian Stüker and Dr. Alex Waibel. Its technology was initially developed to help students who needed help understanding the lecturer’s language in the classroom of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
At present, Zoom has real-time transcription but is limited to individuals communicating in the English language. The company also indicated the inauguration of a new research center in Germany that can accommodate Kite’s research team.
