A growing number of artificial intelligence startup founders are looking to sell their companies, a possible sign of consolidation in the artificial intelligence market, according to CEO Hugging Face.
Hugging Face, a leading artificial intelligence startup, announced Thursday that it has agreed to pay $10 million for small company Argilla, its fourth acquisition to date. Although Hugging Face approached the company about the merger, it also receives incoming requests from many other companies.
Clément Delange, co-founder and CEO of Hugging Face, told Bloomberg News that every week he hears from about 10 artificial intelligence startups that are interested in acquiring them. “This year in particular, it has increased quite a bit,” he said.
Hugging Face, which makes artificial intelligence software and hosts it for other companies, could be a magnet for businesses looking to be acquired because it has a lot of resources, Delang said. New York startup achieves success $235 million in funding from investors last year, valuing the company at $4.5 billion.
However, the startup isn’t just waiting for companies to approach it. Hugging Face previously worked with Argilla, a company that develops software that allows people to collaborate to improve data sets used to train AI that can mimic human language.
The startup’s 13 employees are joining Hugging Face, Argilla co-founder and CEO Dani Vila Suero said. Argilla will continue to operate as an independent team under the same name.