Google reportedly spends $100 million on avatars to take on TikTok
Google may be ailing in ad revenue right now and pushing harder on hardware, but it’s also seemingly not against spending nine digits to buy an AI-powered imaging company focused on making avatars. That’s reportedly what’s just happened, according to a source familiar with the matter.
That source tellsTechCrunchthe firm is called Alter and the cost was $100 million. Google did later confirm the acquisition, but did not disclose further details. The deal closed “about two months ago” and is supposedly meant to shore up the company’s efforts to compete with TikTok. Former Alter COO Jonathan Slimak announced in September onLinkedInthat he was starting at a new position at Google without directly acknowledging the acquisition.
Alter began life in 2020 as Facemoji, specializing as a plug-and-play avatar vendor for social and gaming platforms. Twitter was among several firms that provided $3 million in seed money.
In addition to face-mapped filters and avatars, Snapchat has dedicated full-body avatars calledBitmojiwhileFacebook and Instagramhave their alternatives. Given that TikTok is being thumbed as a target, Google may be setting up itsYouTube Shortsplatform for avatars as well, though it’s not clear if Google is only interested in playing catch-up with such a move.
With Alter, Alphabet has made its eighth major acquisition of the year — we also reported on Google’s takeover of micro-LED producerRaxiumback in February.
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