About the Magic Pony Technology Twitter acquisition
Twitter acquired Magic Pony Technology in June 2016. Magic Pony is a London-based technology company. It built new machine learning techniques for visual processing. The Silverpeak team, led by Pietro Strada, advised Octopus Ventures on the transaction. Octopus was the largest investor in Magic Pony at the time of the sale. Terms were not disclosed.
Magic Pony Technology
Magic Pony Technology was founded by researchers with deep knowledge of machine learning and computer vision. The company built tools that can understand and improve the features of images and video. As a result, its technology has clear uses across live streaming and visual media. Magic Pony’s work drew on academic research to create solutions with real commercial value.
Twitter’s purchase of Magic Pony builds on its broader machine learning strategy. Earlier deals include Madbits in July 2014 and Whetlab in June 2015. In addition, Magic Pony’s technology strengthens Twitter’s offer in live video and visual content. Moreover, the deal brings a strong team of machine learning researchers into Twitter’s global engineering group.
About Octopus Ventures
Octopus Ventures first invested in Magic Pony in the summer of 2015. It then joined a further funding round earlier in 2016. As a result, Octopus became Magic Pony’s largest investor. The sale to Twitter represents a strong outcome for Octopus and its wider portfolio.
How Silverpeak added value
Silverpeak advised Octopus Ventures throughout the process. Pietro Strada led the Silverpeak team on this deal. The team worked to find the right buyer and negotiate a strong outcome for the investor. This transaction shows Silverpeak’s ability to advise investors on exit processes in the AI and machine learning sector.