Culturea New York-based AI video platform company, is acquiring eSelf.aian Israel-based startup behind chat avatars — AI-generated digital humans who can chat with users — for about $27 million. Kaltura announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire eSelf, a platform that supports more than 30 languages and features a user-friendly studio for creating, customizing and developing photorealistic digital avatars.
Founded in 2023 by CEO Alan Bekker, who sold his first startup, Voca, to Snap in 2020 — and CTO Eylon Shoshan, eSelf brings deep technical expertise in video speech generation, low-latency speech recognition and screen understanding, which enables user avatars to see and respond to user screens. The co-founders of eSelf will join Kaltura to oversee the integration of eSelf’s technology into the company, with all eSelf employees also on board.
The two-year-old startup has a small but strong team of about 15 AI experts, Ron Yekutiel, co-founder and CEO of Kaltura, told TechCrunch. He noted that Bekker’s former company specialized in natural language processing, which helps computers understand human speech and computer vision, saying it was a “very leading company in the field of speech robots. And so he is an expert [in this field]and that’s what we bought,” Yekutiel said.
Kaltura offers a suite of cloud-based software solutions designed for advanced video applications, including a corporate video portal similar to a private YouTube, tools for webinars and virtual events, and integrations that integrate video learning into university learning management systems or platforms that host online courses.
The Nasdaq-listed company also provides virtual classroom products and TV streaming solutions. Kaltura’s video platform serves more than 800 enterprise customers, helping them engage users in sales, marketing, customer service, education and entertainment. Its clients include technology giants such as Amazon, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP, Adobe and IBM, as well as leading banks, insurance companies, consultancies, pharmaceutical companies and universities in the US
Kaltura plans to integrate eSelf.ai’s virtual agent technology into its video offerings. The integration aims to enable agents that can hear, speak and interpret user screens in real time.
“This acquisition was so strategic. We were actively evaluating multiple companies to find the right fit. We decided that [eSelf] were best-in-class for real-time sync chat—not just lip-sync video on demand—and that they had an impressive speech-to-text and text-to-speech technology stack,” Yekutiel said in an interview with TechCrunch. “Beyond the technology, there was also a strong cultural and geographic alignment for us.”
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Why a video company is betting on chat avatars
Over the past two decades, businesses have mostly used video for streaming, uploading and managing content. But that’s changing fast. Thanks to artificial intelligence, videos can now be created instantly — hyper-personalized and contextual — giving each viewer their own customized experience, tailored to exactly what they need at that moment, Yekutiel explained.
“We started with video, then moved on to personalized video, and now, with eSelf’s technology, we’re adding human features — faces, eyes, mouths, ears — to make our AI agents conversational and expressive,” Yekutiel said.
Kaltura is evolving from a video platform to a video-based customer and employee experience provider where video serves as the interface. Unlike most avatar companies that only offer a “face”, it provides the complete workflow — avatar, intelligence and knowledge connected to the business. The focus is not just on video streaming. leads to measurable business results and return on investment (ROI), the CEO added.
The company plans to launch autonomous, embeddable agents for uses such as sales, marketing, customer support and training. Target sectors include education, media and telecommunications, e-commerce, financial services, healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
Asked about media reports saying that Kaltura is exploring a sale or merger at a $400 million to $500 million valuation, Yekutiel told TechCrunch that Kaltura has explored opportunities with a number of companies, including potential “acquisitions, mergers with similar-sized companies and tie-ups with some larger players.” But it never came close to a transaction like the ones reported, he said. He also pointed to Kaltura’s recent acquisitions, including its fourth company, as evidence of the company’s continued commitment to its current strategy.
This marks Kaltura’s fourth acquisition to date. The company acquired cloud TV solution Tvinci in 2014, followed by Rapt Media in 2018 and video conferencing platform Newrow in 2020. eSelf’s most recent funding round was $4.5 million announced in December 2024.
Kaltura, which will go public in 2021, reports revenue of approximately $180 million, is profitable on an adjusted EBITDA and cash flow basis, and has approximately 600 employees.
