Hyderabad startup gets Apple moment

Hyderabad: Hyderabad’s startup eco-system has got a big boost as it has witnessed the moment long overdue: A takeover of city startup by a big multinational company.

On Thursday, Apple Inc. confirmed the acquisition of a Hyderabad-based machine-learning startup Tuplejump Software Private Limited for an undisclosed amount.

Tuplejump’s software specialises in processing and analysing big sets of data quickly. It will help Apple in improving its expertise in artificial intelligence.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” Apple spokesman Colin Johnson told Bloomberg.

According to industry sources, the founders of Tuplejump — Rohit Rai and Satyaprakash Buddhavarapu — have joined Apple after the acquisition.
However, the exact date of acquisition is not clear as Mr Rohit Rai’s profile claims that he has been working for Apple since May and all the employees working at Tuplejump are currently based in the United States.

This deal is the third acquisition by the iPhone maker this year, after it bought Seattle-based Turi Inc. for $200 million and purchased Emotient, a company that uses AI to recognise and act upon facial expressions, for an undisclosed amount.

This acquisition, industry experts claim, will act as a big moral boost for Hyderabad startups firms.