Google acquires stake in Viennese IT developer

© Sebastian Philipp

The American company Google has acquired an equity stake in the Viennese IT developer StreamUnlimited, and now holds a good 41% shareholding in the company via its Irish subsidiary.

The Viennese firm specializes in the streaming of audio contents on the Internet. StreamUnlimited has a technology in its portfolio i.e. Stream SDK which bundles all audio functions required in digital loudspeakers. Accordingly, producers of consumer electronics in the audio sector can integrate the voice assistant Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa in their products 

The Viennese firm led by CEO Frits Wittgrefe works with JBL, Insignia, Onkyo and Panasonic, amongst others, which have built Google Assistant into their new smart speakers on the basis of this technology. The fresh capital is designed to be used to help the company in its further expansion efforts. “We will massively expand the site in Vienna and open up offices in California and China”, Wittgrefe said. StreamUnlimited emerged in 2005 from a team of developers at the Vienna-based Philips Audio Video Innovation Center.