John Pletz On Technology
Siri founder raises money from Pritzker, Johnson for startup
John Pletz
Technology, airlines, cannabis
Dag Kittlaus, Siri creator
J.B. Pritzker is upping his bet on artificial intelligence and Chicago entrepreneur Dag Kittlaus.
Pritzker Group Venture Capital led a $7.5 million investment in Viv Labs, an AI company launched by Kittlaus. The former Motorola engineer is best known for creating Siri, which was acquired by Apple five years ago and became the digital assistant for its iPhones and iPads.
Braintree founder Bryan Johnson's OS Fund also contributed.
Kittlaus' new company is based in San Jose, Calif., but he still lives in Barrington and commutes back and forth. The product, a next-generation version of Siri, still is in development.
Pritzker led a $12.5 million round of funding for Viv earlier this year.
The three-year-old company has about 20 employees and so far has raised about $30 million from investors that include Johnson, San Francisco-based Iconiq and New York-based Tiger Global Management.
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