In a blog post on Tumblr, Yahoo Inc announced its newest acquisition in SkyPhrase, a natural language processing technology builder.
Skyphrase's statement on its website read about the acquisition, "In Yahoo, we have found a company that not only shares our vision, but delivers a rich collection of information and services to a massive user base. We are excited to join Yahoo Labs to continue to work on our shared vision of making computers deeply understand people's natural language and intentions. We can't wait to take things to the next level together."
In October, a TechCrunch report concluded how the natural language processing technology, or NLP. could be further developed into products geared towards advancements in fantasy sports, with the tech news site pointing out that Yahoo is a leader and had made significant investments in the niche market. According to TechCrunch, the company developed an app that allow fantasy football players to comb through statistics of players in order to quickly help them decide whom to pick for their fantasy teams. However, SkyPhrase founder and CEO Nick Cassimatis clarified around the same time that the purpose of the technology was to be a useful tool that could be tailored to specific verticals to make everyday users have easy access to third-party partners' products.
Prior to the acquisition, Skyphrase presumably received backing from Paul Bello, Joost Bonsen, Diana Cooper, Han Huang, the Thiel Foundation, and Don Williams, who were also acknowledged in the startup's announcement on its website.
TechCrunch believed that given the history of Yahoo's recent acquisitions, SkyPhrase and its teams would be focusing on improving Yahoo's existing products. An example, the tech site said, would be NLP's ability to conduct query types on complex data sets like a fantasy player's touchdown statistics or website analytics. Moreover, the NLP could help Yahoo tailor its content delivery for mobile devices, TechCrunch said.
Join the Conversation