M&A WATCH- Samsung Electronics affiliate Samsung Next has acquired 100% of Egyptian artificial intelligence startup Kngine to improve its virtual assistant Bixby, an unnamed Samsung official tells The Investor. The transaction, the value of which hasn’t been disclosed, took place in October but the news had not yet been released. Samsung Next had apparently invested in Kngine in 2014 and took its stake to 100% last year. Kngine was co-founded in 2008 by brothers Haytham and Ashraf El Fadeel and had landed a USD 775k investment from Sawari Ventures. The startup struggled to raise further investment here and ultimately moved to the US to seek capital.

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