Microsoft acquires AI startup Genee that automatically schedule meetings

Artificial Intelligence startups continue to be hot property in the market as Microsoft announced that it is acquiring automated calendaring service Genee.

Genee, which launched in 2014, uses artificial intelligence to help automatically schedule meetings based on the participants’ schedules and will shut down its service on September 1. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

It is unclear whether the duct will be integrated with any of Microsoft’s existing applications, but comments from the company suggest Genee’s expertise could be used across Microsoft’s Office 365 suite of products.

“As we continue to build new Office 365 productivity capabilities and services our customers value, I’m confident the Genee team will help us further our ambition to bring intelligence into every digital experience,” Rajesh Jha, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Outlook and Office 365, said in a blog post announcing the deal.

Tech majors like Apple and Google are focusing on bolstering the capabilities of their digital personal assistants. Genee's expertise could be used to improve capabilities of Microsoft's Cortana as it competes with the likes of Google Now and Apple's Siri. Genee also marks the latest acquisition in Microsoft's buying spree, particularly in the productivity and artificial intelligence space. Last year, it bought a calendar app Sunrise before shutting it down the following year. And in February 2016, the Redmond, company acquired a British AI keyboard app called SwiftKey.

This is the third big announcement this month about a big-name tech company buying an AI startup. Intel is paying $400 million to buy Nervana Systems and Apple quietly picked up Seattle-based Turi.