Tobii Dynavox Acquires Acapela Group

Tobii Dynavox, a provider of assistive technology for communication, will acquire Acapela Group Babel Technologies, a provider of digital voices and artificial intelligence-powered speech synthesis software, for about $11.3 million.

Acapela Group has created more than 200 synthetic voices available in more than 30 languages. Acapela Group's products are currently sold with Tobii Dynavox's assistive technology for communication, as well as by many other assistive technology providers.

"We continue in our quest to give all people with communication impairments a voice and the opportunity to be who they want to be," said Fredrik Ruben, CEO of Tobii Dynavox, in a statement. "Tobii Dynavox and Acapela Group have been successful partners for many years. The merger will deepen this relationship, further providing great opportunities to create solutions that enable our users to create their own identity and be able to express themselves clearly, personally, and effectively in the way they want."

Acapela Group's products will continue to be offered as stand-alone solutions, and Tobii Dynavox will continue to offer third-party products from other speech synthesis providers.

"Tobii Dynavox and Acapela Group are very complementary companies with similar driving forces. Both companies have been built around exceptional products with a focus on enabling the best possible life for people with functional impairments," said Rémy Cadic, CEO of Acapela Group, in a statement. "We are proud of what we have accomplished as a company and are very much looking forward to taking another exciting step in our journey so that together with Tobii Dynavox we can accelerate our pace of product development and expansion."