Roblox is one of the latest companies that has decided to take a sizeable investment into artificial intelligence. This comes as it decided to invest in Speechly, a start-up that focuses on AI voice moderation.
Roblox is Acquiring Speechly, a Finnish AI Startup, for an Undisclosed Amount
According to the story by GamesIndustry.Biz, Speechly is based in Helsinki and the Finnish AI startup was acquired by Roblox for an undisclosed amount. It was revealed that the start-up specializes in voice moderation technology.
It was noted that in 2021, Speechly was introduced and it came with the purpose of using its technology to be able to improve the platform's voice chat service. Before the acquisition, the startup was backed by Y Combinator.
The Startup was Able to Raise 2 Million Euros During Seed Funding in 2019 Which was Led by Berlin's Cherry Ventures
In 2019, the startup was in a seed funding round led by Berlin's Cherry Ventures where it raised 2 million Euros, as reported by Tech Crunch, and was backed by Y Combinator. With the acquisition price remaining undisclosed, it remains unknown how much investors made from the investment or the status of the company on whether its valuation increased and to what point.
Speechly co-founder Hannes Heikinheimo released a blog post saying they are excited to join Roblox. They described it as a company that was dedicated to safety and civility while using the startup's AI expertise to be able to "evolve traditional methods."
Speechly Aims to Evolve the Platform When It Comes to Moderation at Scale
The goal of evolution was to be able to improve moderation to meet the scale. They also plan to provide real-time and dynamic needs when it comes to the UGC, or user-generated content, platform.
The co-founder also gave thanks to the developers who trusted Speechly when it came to voice moderation needs. They also thanked everyone else that was part of their journey, describing the acquisition by Roblox as a success.
The Acquisition Comes as Roblox has Let Go of 30 Employees from Its Talent Acquisition Team
However, the acquisition doesn't always come with good news as Roblox reportedly let go of 30 employees coming from its talent acquisition team. This comes as the company reportedly wanted to focus on being able to improve its current business.
The move to let go of people from its acquisition team comes as Roblox was focusing internally instead of expanding further. As described by Speechly, Roblox has 65.5 million daily active users of all ages, which is where they come in.
Speechly Plans to Provide a Real-Time and Cost-Effective Voice Moderation Solution to Roblox
Speechly revealed how they plan to come up with new voice features while moderating spoken languages in real time. The startup revealed how they shared the same vision with Roblox when it came to having safe and civil immersive communication.
The startup revealed how they plan to add real-time as well as cost-efficient voice moderation in order to assist developers when it comes to reducing toxic behavior within Roblox's online communities.
