As companies expand worldwide and meet online in tools like Zoom, the language barrier can be a real impediment to getting work done. Zoom announced that it intends to acquire German startup Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions or Kites for short, to bring real-time machine-learning-based translation to the platform. The companies did not share the terms of the deal, but with Kites, the company gets a team of top researchers, who can help enhance the machine-learning translation knowledge at the company. "Kites' talented team of 12 research scientists will help Zoom's engineering team advance the field of [machine translation] to improve meeting productivity and efficiency by providing multilanguage translation capabilities for Zoom users," the company said in a statement. The deal appears to be an acqui-hire as the company adds those 12 researchers to the Zoom engineering group.

Zoom announced today it plans to acquire Karlsruhe Information Technology, a German startup that specializes in machine learning-based real-time translation. Also known as Kites, the company is made up of about a dozen researchers with ties to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Zoom didn't share the financial terms of the deal, but did disclose that the startup will help it bring machine translation features to its platform. Moving forward, Zoom says it may also establish a research and development center in Germany. "We are continuously looking for new ways to deliver happiness to our users and improve meeting productivity, and [machine translation] solutions will be key in enhancing our platform for Zoom customers across the globe," said Velchamy Sankarlingam, president of product and engineering at Zoom.