ABBYY
American digital intelligence company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ABBYY is an American technology company specializing in Optical character recognition (OCR), AI document processing, and automation,[2] data capture, process mining and optical character recognition (OCR).[3][4][5] It was founded in the USSR and operated in Russia for nine years before moving to the United States. Primarily focused on software as a service model, the company serves clients worldwide.[6] ABBYY offers ABBYY FineReader, an OCR computer program.
| |
 Office of ABBYY in Kyiv, Ukraine | |
Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1989 |
| Founder | David Yang[1] |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Number of employees | 500 (2023)  |
| Website | abbyy.com |
History
ABBYY began in 1989, when David Yang founded BIT Software company in Moscow.[7] In the early 1990s, the company introduced optical character recognition (OCR) and since then kept investing in artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML).[8] In July 1993, the company released the first version of its ABBYY FineReader text-recognition software.[9]
In 2019, ABBYY acquired TimelinePI, a process mining company, and Marlin Equity Partners became its biggest shareholder in 2021.[10][11]
After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia began in 2022, ABBYY began closing its sales, development, and service provision in Russia and Belarus.[12] As of October 2024, ABBYY’s former Russian legal entities are liquidated.[13] On 1 October 2024, Radio Liberty reported that, according to accounts from employees, ABBYY employees with Russian citizenship had been dismissed from branches in Serbia, Hungary and Cyprus.[14]
Offices & management
The company was headquartered in Milpitas, California, with regional offices in 15 countries.[15] As of May 2023, ABBYY Group had about 500 employees across 13 countries.[16]
In September 2024 ABBYY dismissed part of its personnel, including some software developers.[citation needed] In October 2024, the company announced that it would move its headquarters to Austin, Texas,[17] but keep the Milpitas office for sales, marketing and operations.[18]
ABBYY's CEO is Ulf Persson.[19]
Company products
- ABBYY FineReader, an application for documents and PDF files, based on ABBYY OCR technology.
- ABBYY Vantage, a platform for AI document processing (recognition, classification, and data retrieval).[20][21]
- ABBYY FlexiCapture, another AI document processing platform. In 2019, natural language processing technologies were added.[22]
- ABBYY Timeline, a platform for business process analysis and task mining.[23]
Additional products include NeoML, a cross-platform open-source machine learning library.[24]
