Apple Acquires Startup That Removes the Background From Images and Video in Real Time

Apple has reportedly acquired Spektral, a Danish startup that specializes in the removing the background from images and video in real time. Børsen says that the company was secretly acquired in December of last year for over $30 million.

Spektral says it researches "machine learning for real-time compositing". Formerly known as CloudCutout, the company was founded by Toke Jansen and Henrik Paltoft with the vision of becoming the standard software solution for removing the background of images.

We started out in the US school photography industry creating a unique solution to professionally cutout portraits in seconds. In 2016 we continued the tech developments teaching the algorithms how to cutout products. We created cutout.ninja, which is a site for creating webshop perfect images from semi-professional product photos.


In late 2016 the technology took a major leap in the development of a solution that automatically extrapolate a cutout from one frame to the next. This solution makes it possible to create mixed reality content for video in real-time. In the beginning of 2017 we have been working fiercely with our algorithms on getting this cool technology available on a smartphone and thereby enabling anyone and anywhere to create mixed reality content.

Apple could use this technology in numerous areas including the iPhone, a new AR device, Final Cut and more. Check it out in the video below...

Read More [via Fortune]