Google has acquired Alter, an AI-powered avatar startup, for $100 million. Alter is a Twitter-funded startup that develops avatars using artificial intelligence.
According to TechCrunch, the deal was already completed two months ago. However, the two companies did not expand on the issue. Several Alter executives have updated their LinkedIn profiles to announce they are joining Google but did not confirm the acquisition.
The purpose of the deal is believed to be a push on Google’s part to improve and expand content offerings to better compete with TikTok. Google representative confirmed to TechCrunch the existence of the deal, however, without going into details of its cost and conditions.
Alter, headquartered in the US and the Czech Republic, launched as Facemoji, a platform that offers plug-and-play technology to help game and app developers add avatar systems to their games. It could also be incorporated into the metaverse. Seed funding of $3 million has been provided by investors such as Play Ventures, Roosh Ventures, and Twitter.
The thing about Alter as an avatar startup is that it has persevered when most others have given up. Alter, while still Facemoji, managed to interest big players such as Apple or Mark Zuckerberg himself. Roblox works with Alter regularly to purchase character accessories.
The Alter SDK was published on GitHub, but new API key generation was stopped, new partner sign-ups were stopped, and existing partners could no longer access it by the end of August 2022.
