I don't think they will buy too many of them though, seems like Google/Facebook are actually leading this area, and very few companies can compete with them, even research wise, let alone startups. Big companies have: data(if not they can afford massive data annotation), machines(thousands of GPUs connected), and other infrastructures. They are the Data monopolies.
The point of this kind of startup is not to sell the tech, but to assemble a team of highly capable, experienced engineers. The big corporations will then buy out the startup just to get the talent. This is called acqui-hiring.
The problem is...Google/Facebook,etc, have the best people, and others are following them, why would they need to acqui-hire someone who are worse than what they already have? For less prestigious companies though, those small companies might still be attractive, however.
