Natural language processing startup Wavii confirmed on Friday that it has been acquired by Google, and some sources report that the search giant bought the startup from under Apple for more than $30 million.
Wavii confirmed the acquisition in on the company web page on Friday, noting that the Wavii service as it currently exists will be shut down. Wavii's team and technology, it is expected, will be integrated into Google's operations "in ways that may be useful to millions of people around the world," according to CEO Adrian Aoun.
Earlier reports had Wavii's technology being merged with Google's Knowledge Graph, a database of hundreds of millions of people, places, and things.
The acquisition price was north of $30 million earlier this week when The Wall Street Journal first reported on the impending deal.
Google and Apple had both been bidding for Wavii, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. Google wanted Wavii to improve its search capabilities, while Apple is said to have wanted to tie Wavii's tech into Apple's Siri digital assistant.