Sonos Acquires Snips For $37.5M To Improve, Privatize Voice Control

Sonos has acquired Snips, an Artificial Intelligence voice platform for smart speakers focused on private voice technology for $37.5 million.

Voice control on Sonos has come via partnerships with Amazon, Google and others. The Snips acquisition adds experienced developers and strategic IP designed to improve and privatize the voice experience directly on Sonos.

Snips full-stack solution is built with proprietary technology allowing for voice processing on the device. This localized processing maximizes accuracy, efficiency and privacy while minimizing footprint and cloud dependency. Snips’ voice assistants are custom-built for specific tasks and designed to run alongside the voice assistants currently on the Sonos platform.

“Millions of people have come to enjoy the ease of controlling music with their voice. Today’s announcement gives us the added talent and technology to create an even more differentiated and immersive experience for customers, both inside and outside of the home,” said Patrick Spence, CEO of Sonos. “We’re excited to welcome an incredible Snips team to the Sonos family to help bring this vision to life.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Sonos acquired Snips for approximately $37.5 million. The transaction closed on November 14, 2019.