Mozilla has acquired the Pulse team, a group of developers behind a popular Slack status update tool of the same name.
It’s fairly rare for Mozilla to make an acquisition. As a result, when the organization does it’s worth taking note. Pulse was a powerful status updating tool that could automatically update individuals’ status based on calendar appointments and more.
Despite Pulse closing shop, Mozilla clearly sees potential in what the Pulse team accomplished, specifically in the realm of machine learning.
“I’m proud to announce that we have acquired Pulse, an incredible team that has developed some truly novel machine learning approaches to help streamline the digital workplace,” wrote chief product officer Steve Teixeira. “The products that Raj, Jag, Rolf, and team have built are a great demonstration of their creativity and skill, and we’re incredibly excited to bring their expertise into our organization. They will spearhead our efforts in applied ethical machine learning, as we invest to make Mozilla products more personal, starting with Pocket. “
Teixeira says the two companies had similar goals and vision of what is needed when building products for consumers.
“Which explains why we were so excited when we began talking to the Pulse team,” Teixeira. “It became immediately obvious that we both fundamentally agree that the world needs a model where automated systems are built from day one with individual people as the primary beneficiary. Mozilla, with an almost 25 year history of building products with people and privacy at their core, is the right organization to do that. And with Pulse as part of our team, we can move even more quickly to set a new example for the industry.”
Teixeira says the team’s work will eventually make its way into Mozilla’s entire portfolio of products.