附近上门

As continues to diversify its revenue base away from iPhone-derived sales, the company is picking up startups. The Cupertino-based hardware giant acquired two this past week, a notable pace for the technology shop.

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Apple, like the rest of the companies that complete the Big Five, likes to buy smaller companies from time to time. Buying smaller companies allows cash-rich companies to trade checking-account rounding-errors for access to interesting personnel, new tech, and nascent markets. All that at a dollar cost that doesn鈥檛 even begin to impact cash hoards.

According to 附近上门, Apple in its lifetime has . The tech giant has been particularly acquisitive since the beginning of 2018, making nine acquisitions over the past year, including two mentioned startup buys in the past week alone.

Here鈥檚 what you need to know about Apple鈥檚 two most recent deals:

• On Feb. 15, 2019, Apple acquired (formerly ToyTalk), an eight-year-old AI voice startup that has raised $44.8 million from the likes of , and . According to , the company gives Apple 鈥渢he talent it needs to make talking toys a part of Siri, HomePod and its voice strategy.鈥�

• One day before the PullString deal was announced, Apple also picked up UK-based , a three-year-old digital marketing startup that had raised an undisclosed seed round in 2017. A Bloomberg noted that the buy could 鈥渂oost the company鈥檚 (Apple鈥檚) digital marketing and make it more relevant to customers.鈥� Indeed, 9to5Mac that DataTiger claims to put 鈥渄ata to work,鈥� and thus increase marketing retention and monetization.

While Apple and its compatriots wage Titanomachy against the rising decacorn class, every cohort of the largest tech shops like to buy smaller firms. Indeed, our own Jason Rowley recently took a dive through the acquisition patterns of unicorns. Among his findings was the fact that, at least concerning known deals, Airbnb, Automattic, and Pinterest were the most acquisitive as of this February.

Whether or not Apple will continue its startup spree isn鈥檛 clear (we wouldn鈥檛 bet on it), but if it did, it could help provide some middle-market liquidity to the startup market that has been lacking since Yahoo stopped buying everything that couldn鈥檛 stand on its own two feet.

One can dream.

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