Tuplejump, a Hyderabad-based machine learning startup that helps companies to store, process and visualise big data with its unique software has been acquired by US tech giant Apple. "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans." the Cupertino giant told a publication, indicating the deal was likely an acqui-hire. Founded in 2013, Tuplejump's two co-founders Rohit Rai and Satyaprakash Buddhavarapu have already joined Apple while third cofounder, Deepak Alur, joined Anaplan - a Cloud-based business modelling and planning platform for sales, operations and finance. nearly all of Tuplejump's 16 employees are in the process of becoming Apple staffers. A back-of-the-envelope calculation by an expert put the valuation at about $20 million (Rs 27 crore). "When there is a talent hire, the cost of hiring is usually calculated based on the last few years' salary," the expert said. "So, for a 16-member team, I think it would probably come up to around $4 million a year, making this deal for something around $20 million (including for possible IP evaluation)". This deal comes a month after Apple acquired another machine learning company Turi. It had also bought deep learning company Perceptio in October last year.