Walmart has acquired Aspectiva, an Israeli-based start-up, for an undisclosed sum. As part of the acquisition, Aspectiva will be joining Walmart’s Store N° 8, the incubation arm launched by the retailer in 2017 to uncover the ideas that will transform the future of commerce. Aspectiva’s Natural Language Processing capabilities will help Walmart further enhance the end-to-end shopping experience. The Aspectiva team joined Store N° 8 on Feb. 25, 2019 and will continue to operate from Aspectiva’s offices in Tel Aviv.
Aspectiva has developed incredibly sophisticated machine learning techniques and natural language processing capabilities, both of which are areas we believe will have profound impact on how customers will shop in the future. Israel is a hotbed of tech talent and innovation. We’re thrilled to join the growing community of entrepreneurs in Israel and see it expand within Aspectiva.
“Our team is extremely excited to be joining Store N° 8 and be part of Walmart’s most recent investment in Israel. Store N° 8’s record of innovation and of developing capabilities that will transform retail as we know it makes for the perfect environment to leverage Aspectiva’s technology throughout the shopping funnel” said Ezra Daya, CEO of Aspectiva.
This is the latest activity for Walmart with Israeli-based technology companies. The company has also made a strategic investment in Team8, an Israeli think tank and tech incubator, launched a joint venture with Eko, an interactive media and technology company with offices in Tel Aviv and New York, and recently joined The Bridge, a technology accelerator connecting global companies with the technology start-up community in Israel.
