Apple’s Tim Cook Expresses Interest in Acquiring New Startups

Last week, on Apple’s earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said he was looking to acquire companies.

“We’re very open to [mergers and acquisitions],” Cook expressed previously. “We generally consider if a company can aid in speeding up our strategic plans. If they can, we’re interested in them.”

Cook mentioned that out of the approximately seven companies acquired by Apple so far in 2025, a number were not focused on artificial intelligence and came from diverse sectors. He also highlighted that the company was closing deals quickly — roughly every few weeks.

^{Apple CEO Tim Cook BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP | Getty Images}

What is Apple looking for in a startup?

“We are not stuck on a certain size company,” Cook said.

Apple’s cash reserves total about $133 billion, so cost isn’t the issue. Instead, the consideration is how effectively a startup could integrate into Apple’s ecosystem with consumer products.

Business Insider notes that Apple’s largest acquisition of all time was Beats Electronics in 2014 for $3 billion.

When a media outlet consulted several industry experts about which companies Apple should contemplate buying, numerous well-known names emerged — including Perplexity, a favored AI-driven search engine.

Another notable firm suggested was Thinking Machines Lab, a venture initiated by the former OpenAI CTO, Mira Murati. This company has secured $12 billion in funding thus far, though it has yet to debut any products. In July, Murati announced on X that the company would unveil its first product “in the next couple of months.”

Nevertheless, Perplexity and Thinking Machines Lab might be excessively expensive (both could potentially cost around $20 billion, according to BI estimates, if they were available for acquisition), so smaller enterprises certainly have a chance.

Maybe it’s time to give your pitch deck a refresh.

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