Baidu Inc. has announced plans to acquire Beijing-based Raven Tech, an artificial intelligence, big data and next generation operating system company, according to Chinese media.
No financial detail is disclosed.
After the acquisition, Raven's founder Lv Pin will join Baidu to oversee Baidu's smart home hardware operations. He will report to Baidu's president and chief operating officer Lu Qi.
Lu Qi, former global executive vice president at Microsoft and an expert in artificial intelligence, joined Baidu last month, and he is in charge of products, technology, sales, marketing and operations.
Founded in 2014, Raven's products include Flow, a chatting mobile app embedded with an artificial intelligence assistant Eva, Music Flow, a music search and player app, and Raven H-1, a smart home controlling system. Raven Tech is the fifth alumni of Microsoft Venture Accelerator and the only startup from mainland China enrolled in the U.S. seed accelerator Y Combinator W15.
Previously, the company raised a US$18 million series A round from Zhen Fund, Matrix Partners China, DCM Ventures, and Y Combinator.
Earlier this month, Baidu Ventures joined a US$27 million round in a New Zealand-based artificial intelligence company 8i.