Robohub.org
 

Google adds to DeepMind, acquiring 2 UK startups and partnering with Oxford U


by
27 October 2014



share this:
oxford_university

In January, 2014, Google acquired London-based DeepMind Technologies for $643 million. Now it is adding to that purchase with two more companies, ten new hires and a substantial contribution to Oxford University.

Google DeepMind was a British AI start-up with some high-profile investors and a whiz kid founder (Demis Hassabis), and their forte was smart recommendations for online commerce. Now they are acquiring companies, talent and university research resources.

The two acquisitions are Dark Blue Labs (which is creating systems to understand natural language that would allow computers to comprehend the meaning of sentences and how people react to them) and Vision Factory (which is developing systems capable of the visual recognition of objects in the real world; this means, for example, giving robots three-dimensional awareness that can allow them to understand how a cup sits on a table). Both are UK-based, deep learning startups, and both were spun off from Oxford University. According to the Financial Times, the two acquisitions are estimated to have cost Google DeepMind $50 million.

The Google-Oxford partnership will cost more. A substantial contribution to Oxford University is forthcoming to expand Google’s AI and deep learning capabilities.

“Google DeepMind has hired all seven founders of these startups with the three professors holding joint appointments at Oxford University where they will continue to spend part of their time,” Hassabis notes in his blog post. “These exciting partnerships underline how committed Google DeepMind is to supporting the development of UK academia and the growth of strong scientific research labs.”

f you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.



tags: , , , , ,


Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.
Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.





Related posts :



Researchers are teaching robots to walk on Mars from the sand of New Mexico

  02 Sep 2025
Researchers are closer to equipping a dog-like robot to conduct science on the surface of Mars

Engineering fantasy into reality

  26 Aug 2025
PhD student Erik Ballesteros is building “Doc Ock” arms for future astronauts.

RoboCup@Work League: Interview with Christoph Steup

and   22 Aug 2025
Find out more about the RoboCup League focussed on industrial production systems.

Interview with Haimin Hu: Game-theoretic integration of safety, interaction and learning for human-centered autonomy

and   21 Aug 2025
Hear from Haimin in the latest in our series featuring the 2025 AAAI / ACM SIGAI Doctoral Consortium participants.

AIhub coffee corner: Agentic AI

  15 Aug 2025
The AIhub coffee corner captures the musings of AI experts over a short conversation.

Interview with Kate Candon: Leveraging explicit and implicit feedback in human-robot interactions

and   25 Jul 2025
Hear from PhD student Kate about her work on human-robot interactions.

#RoboCup2025: social media round-up part 2

  24 Jul 2025
Find out what participants got up to during the second half of RoboCup2025 in Salvador, Brazil.

#RoboCup2025: social media round-up 1

  21 Jul 2025
Find out what participants got up to during the opening days of RoboCup2025 in Salvador, Brazil.



 

Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


 












©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence