Figure Eight acquired by Appen
AI data enrichment platform Figure Eight has been acquired by Appen, a developer of datasets for machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), reports Julie Muhn at Finovate.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Becky Scott, Figure Eight chief operating officer, says that the conjunction of the two companies offer a “single-source global data annotation solution for any company, in any vertical, seeking to advance its use of artificial intelligence.”
“With a critical component of our integration complete, we’re excited for the opportunity to deliver immediate value to Figure Eight customers who can now accelerate their AI and ML initiatives with the massive scale of Appen’s crowd,” says Mark Brayan, Appen’s chief executive officer. “We’re also pleased to offer even more flexible work from home opportunities to our crowd as a result of integrating with the Figure Eight platform.”
Figure Eight uses human intelligence to create quality data to train ML models. The data that Figure Eight helps enhance can train models relating to natural language processing (NLP); images, video, and computer vision; search relevance; data enrichment; and speech-to-text.
Under the acquisition, the company’s users now have access to Appen’s over one million on-demand global crowd workers covering 130 countries across 180 languages and dialects.
Founded in 2009 as CrowdFlower, the company rebranded to Figure Eight last April to refocus on AI and ML opportunities.
Headquartered in California and founded by Chris Van Pelt and Lukas Biewald, Figure Eight has raised $58 million from firms including K9 Ventures, Industry Ventures, Trinity Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners.
