Corporate
Doodle is taking over the chatbot scheduling assistant Meekan
Zurich, 30 June 2016 – Effective immediately, the online scheduler Doodle is taking over all shares of Israel-based startup Meekan in Tel Aviv from its founders Lior Yavor, Eyal Yavor and Matty Marianksy and investor Horizons Ventures. Driven thoroughly by artificial intelligence, Meekan acts as a virtual scheduling assistant and is controlled by a conversational interface. In response to a simple request, the chatbot automatically matches up the schedules of all members of a group chat within seconds and proposes prioritized dates. The Meekan chatbot is adaptive and remembers prior preferences and practices of its users to optimally plan and adjust schedules. Unique to this industry, Meekan is 100% driven by artificial intelligence, with no humans involved “behind the curtains”.
“Doodle's next step forward”
“The integration of Meekan enables Doodle's next step forward. The chatbot as an intelligent virtual assistant allows fast scheduling without having to consult one's own calendar. It has definitely enormous potential,” explained Christoph Brand, Head of Digital Division at the Swiss media group Tamedia, the owner of Doodle.
Doodle continues to be the first choice for scheduling
As members of the Doodle management team, the founders Lior Yavor, Eyal Yavor and Matty Marianksy will continue to be responsible for the development of Meekan. Lior Yavor, CEO of Meekan: “We very much look forward to working with Doodle, a strong international brand with more than 26 million users a month worldwide. With the chatbot feature and other developments, Doodle will still be the first choice for scheduling in the future, both for personal use and for business purposes.”
Meekan was established in Israel in 2013 by Lior Yavor, Eyal Yavor and Matty Marianksy and has been supported by Hong Kong-based venture capital investor Horizons Ventures up to now. The Meekan scheduler is already in use as a robot assistant in the instant messaging applications of Slack and HipChat.
Contact
Simon Marquard, Digital Communication Manager Tamedia,
+41 44 248 41 94, [email protected]
About Doodle
Simplified fast scheduling: With Doodle.com, the leading online scheduling tool, Zurich-based Doodle AG provides enormous time savings around the globe. The free basic service is available in 22 languages and is used by over 26 million users monthly around the globe; for board or team meetings, dinners with friends or simply planning the next weekend trip. Premium subscriptions with additional functions are also offered. Doodle is part of the Swiss media group Tamedia.
About Tamedia
Tamedia is the leading private media group in Switzerland. The digital platforms, daily and weekly newspapers and magazines of Tamedia offer overview, classification and selection. The company was founded in 1893 and employs a staff of approximately 3,400 in Switzerland, Denmark, Luxembourg, and Germany. It has been traded at the Swiss stock exchange since 2000.