The rumor on the street is that Google is looking to acquire face recognition company Viewdle. Unnamed sources told Forbes that the deal was sealed for anywhere between $30 and $45 million.
Google already have some face recognition tech of its own, but that obviously isn’t enough for the search giant. Perhaps future versions of Android will go beyond face unlock introduced in Ice Cream Sandwich, or perhaps (more likely), Google+ will get new features to stay relevant against Facebook. If I had to choose, I would go for the second answer though it’s likely the Mountain View company will use the new technology across different divisions.
Speaking of technology, Viewdle has been working on it for 10 years, first developing it at the Cybernetics Institute in Kiev, Ukraine as an ex-military university laboratory project. The company has offices in Ukraine and Palo Alto, as well as across Europe and South America. Its investors include KCP Capital, Anthem Venture Partners, Best Buy Capital, BlackBerry Partners Fund and Qualcomm.
UPDATE: The deal has been confirmed though terms of the transaction were not disclosed.