Adobe acquires Bengaluru-based GenAI startup Rephrase.ai

In its first acquisition of an Indian tech startup, San Jose-based software giant Adobe has bought Rephrase.ai, a Bengaluru-based AI company that provides video creation technology. The value of the deal hasn't been disclosed.

Rephrase.ai Co-founder Ashray Malhotra's LinkedIn post says that the company is being acquired by a leading tech giant while his profile mentions Adobe. This development was first reported by The Economic Times.

Founded in 2018, Rephrase.ai has expertise in generative AI (GenAI) video and audio technology, which includes text-to-video generator tools, the report noted. The startup has cumulatively raised $13.9 million in funding with its largest round of $10.6 million that it secured in September last year.

The other founders of Rephrase.ai, which was part of YourStory's Tech30 cohort in 2020, are Nisheeth Lahoti and Shivam Mangla.

Also Read

[Tech30] Bengaluru startup Rephrase.ai is simplifying video creation using AI

The Economic Times reported that Adobe will integrate the technology stack and generative AI capability of Rephrase.ai with its own video-editing platform Creative Cloud.

This is the first time that Adobe has acquired an Indian startup as the software giant has predominantly made acquisitions in Europe and US. Last September, Adobe said it is buying Figma in a deal valued at $20 billion—a transaction that is still awaiting regulatory approval in the EU.

The acquisition of Rephrase.ai will see a majority of the employees become a part of Adobe while it will provide an exit to the investors, which include the likes of Lightspeed India, Silver Lake, and Red Ventures.

This deal also provides extended reach to Rephrase.ai in terms of its tech platform through Adobe, which normally would not have been possible given its size.

This acquisition highlights the interest among the big technology companies in the space of generative artificial intelligence and looks at various means on how they can expand on their capabilities.

Recently, Microsoft unveiled a text-to-speech capability through its Azure AI speech service.