Reddit acquires natural language processing firm MeaningCloud to strengthen ML capabilities

Popular online discussion forum Reddit has announced that it is acquiring MeaningCloud, a natural language processing (NLP) company specialising in extracting meaning from unstructured content. The company said that the technology will strengthen the company`s machine learning (ML) proficiencies and understanding of unstructured data, ultimately providing the most relevant information for redditors.

"MeaningCloud helps strengthen Reddit`s platform by helping our community get the relevant information they are looking for even faster," Jack Hanlon, Vice President of Data, Reddit, said in a blogpost.

"With the addition of MeaningClound`s technology, we can continue our mission of providing simpler, richer, and more relevant content to our users," Hanlon added. 

The MeaningCloud team will support ML projects across our Product, Safety, and Ads teams at Reddit.

"We are thrilled to welcome the talented MeaningCloud team to Reddit," Hanlon said.

"As we continue to expand internationally, this acquisition marks Reddit`s first office in Spain and supports our efforts to grow local communities and provide them with engaging and relevant content," he added.

The platform has recently acquired a machine learning (ML) platform Spell for an undisclosed sum.

Founded by former Facebook engineer Serkan Piantino in 2016, Spell provides a cloud computing solution to allow people to run resource-intensive ML experiments without high-end hardware.