Will Blandin, who was awarded a first class honours degree in European Computing, co-launched Wit.ai, a California-based company which provides applications for speech recognition for devices including mobile phones and tablets.
Will, who is working with Facebook following the acquisition, said he had “fond memories” of his time at the university.
His tutor Jane Challenger Gillitt, Course Leader for European Computing and Senior Lecturer in Computing, in the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, said: “Will was a studious and very popular student and we’re delighted for him.”
And Professor Andrew Lloyd, Dean of the university’s College of Life, Health and Physical Sciences, said: “It’s great to see our graduates doing so well.”
Wit.ai’s market niche dovetails with Facebook’s mission to connect everyone and build experiences for its 1.3 billion people on the platform.
Wit.ai, on its blog post, said “…technology that understands natural language is a big part of that (experience), and we think we can help.”
The blog post concluded: “We wouldn’t be where we are without the developers and investors, and mentors who believed in us. We want to thank everyone who has been a part of the first leg of this journey.
“This is just the beginning.”