Google Inc has acquired Wavii, the Seattle-based start up behind a news summarization app, for roughly $30 million in cash.
Google's successful bid came after Apple Inc had expressed interest in buying Wavii to incorporate the startup's natural language technology into Siri, Apple's voice-activated personal assistant feature, said the person, who declined to be named because the deal has not been publicly announced.
Google's purchase comes several weeks after Yahoo Inc paid a similar amount to acquire Summly, the news reader and Wavii competitor founded by 18-year-old Nick D'Aloisio in London.
In separate interviews last year, Wavii founder Adrian Aoun and D'Aloisio acknowledged the competition between the two start ups.
Wavii's investors included Paypal co-founder Max Levchin, former Facebook executive Dave Morin, and Fritz Lanman, a former deal-maker at Microsoft Corp.
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