Amazon.com Inc. made a significant acquisition earlier this year in order to “improve” its voice-powered Alexa digital assistant, according to reports.

Amazon splashed out “tens of millions of dollars” to acquire Santa Barbara, California-based startup Graphiq Inc., which specializes in big data visualizations, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing “four sources familiar with the deal but unauthorized to discuss it.” The deal, which was completed in May, could have been worth as much as $50 million, one of the sources claimed.

Graphiq is a special kind of search engine that pulls masses of data from the Web when it’s queried to produce answers in graph form and other visualizations. The Times says Amazon bought the startup because of its potential to improve Alexa, which powers Amazon’s Echo smart speaker and other devices.

Neither company has acknowledged the Times’ story. A spokesperson for Amazon said that “as a matter of company policy, we don’t comment on rumors and speculation.” Graphiq declined to comment on the report.

Graphiq was founded by Kevin O’Connor, who previously founded the DoubleClick advertising platform that was later acquired by Google Inc. It began its life as a search comparison tool called FindTheBest that helped people to find the best deals online for a range of products.

As it evolved, the company rebranded in 2015 as Graphiq in order to reflect the wider scope of its search and data visualization tools. The Times said the site is popular with news outlets as it’s a useful tool for generating visual representations of data.

Although Amazon has refused to confirm the acquisition, the company is currently advertising 11 job vacancies for data associates, software engineers and other positions in Santa Barbara, where Graphiq is based.

Image: Adrienne Hoffman/Flickr