KalturaA New York-headquartered AI video platform company, is acquiring eSelf.aiAn Israel-based startup behind conversational avatars — AI-generated digital humans that can talk to 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 deploying photorealistic digital avatars.
Co-founded in 2023 by CEO Alan Baker — who sold his first startup, Voca, to Snap in 2020 — and CTO Eylon Shoshan, eSelf brings deep technical expertise in speech-to-video generation, low-latency speech recognition and “Kaltura acquires eSelf” screen understanding, which allows users to see what’s on screen and see avatars. The co-founders of eSelf will join Kaltura to oversee the integration of eSelf’s technology into the company, with all current eSelf employees coming on board.
Kaltura acquires eSelf
The two-year-old startup has a small but strong team of about 15 AI experts, Kaltura co-founder and CEO Ron Yekutiel told TechCrunch. He noted that Baker’s former company specializes in natural language processing, which helps computers understand human speech and computer vision, saying it was “a very leading company in conversational speech bots. And so he’s an expert.” [in this field]And what we bought, “said Yekutiel.
Kaltura offers a suite of cloud-based software solutions designed for advanced video applications, including a corporate video portal “Kaltura acquires eSelf” similar to a personal YouTube, tools for webinars and virtual events, and embedded integration of video learning into university learning management systems, or online coursework organizing platforms.
The Nasdaq-listed company provides virtual classroom products and end-to-end TV streaming solutions. Kaltura’s video platform serves more than 800 enterprise customers, helping them engage users across sales, marketing, customer care, education and entertainment. Its clients include technology giants such as Amazon, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP, Adobe and IBM, as well as leading banks, insurance companies, consulting firms, pharmaceutical companies and universities in the United States.
Kaltura plans to integrate eSelf.ai’s virtual agent technology across its video offering; The goal of the integration is to enable agents that can listen, speak and interpret the user’s screen in real time.
Kaltura acquires eSelf
“This acquisition was very strategic. We were actively evaluating multiple companies to find the right fit. We determined that they [eSelf] was best-in-class for real-time, synchronous conversations — not just video-on-demand “Kaltura acquires eSelf” lip-syncing — and 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, which was for us.”
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Why a video company is betting on conversational avatars
Over the past two decades, businesses have mostly used video for streaming, uploading and managing content. But that is changing fast. Thanks to AI, videos can now be created instantly — hyper-personalized and relevant — giving each viewer their own custom experience, tailored to exactly what they need at that moment, Yekutiel explained.
“We started with video, then moved to personalized video, and now, with eSelf’s technology, we’re adding human-like capabilities — face, eyes, mouth, 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,” this one provides the entire workflow — avatars, intelligence and enterprise-connected knowledge. The focus is not just on video streaming; This is driving measurable business results and ROI, the CEO added.
Kaltura acquires eSelf
The company plans to introduce standalone, embeddable agents for use with sales, marketing, customer support and training. Target sectors include education, media and telecom, e-commerce, financial services, healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
is asked about Media reports With Kaltura exploring a sale or merger at a $400 million to $500 million valuation, Yekutiel told TechCrunch that Kaltura has explored opportunities with various companies, including potential “acquisitions, mergers with similar-sized companies and tie-ups with some of the bigger players.” But it never came close “Kaltura acquires eSelf” to trading as reported, he said. He also points to the recent acquisition of Kaltura, including its fourth company, as evidence of the company’s continued commitment to its current strategy.
Kaltura acquires eSelf
This marks Kaltura’s fourth acquisition to date The company acquired cloud TV solution Tvinci in 2014, Rapt Media and video conferencing platform in 2018. Neuro in 2020. eSelf’s most recent funding round was $4.5 million announced in December 2024.
Kaltura, which goes public in 2021, has revenue of about $180 million, is profitable on an adjusted EBITDA and cash flow basis and has about 600 employees.