Cisco Pays $125 Million For This Artificial Intelligence Startup

The networking technology company said Thursday that it plans to buy MindMeld, a startup specializing in artificial intelligence, for $125 million. The deal is expected to close in early 2017. MindMeld, founded in 2011, builds software tools for coders to create chat bots that can recognize and respond to human voices. Music-streaming service Spotify, for example, has experimented with MindMeld's technology for people to search and play songs by talking to their smartphones. Considering MindMeld has roughly 20 employees based on the company's website, it's likely Cisco is buying the startup for its workers.