Birmingham tech firm Whisk has acquired a German company.

Whisk was launched by Nick Holzherr, a former contestant on BBC show The Apprentice, and is used by some of the world's largest food companies with clients such as include Amazon, Tesco, Unilever and BBC Good Food.

The company has bought Munich-based Avocando which makes recipes shoppable at grocery retailers in Europe.

Whisk is a food artificial intelligence engine that these companies use to make their recipe websites and apps smarter.

With Whisk, recipes that users see are personalised and they can buy the groceries for recipes they want to cook from supermarkets which then deliver them.

Whisk said the e-commerce grocery market was quickly accelerating across Europe and customers were looking for new ways to connect recipe content to grocery retailers to provide consumers with personalised nutrition, planning and purchase options.

The company was launched in 2013 and is currently focused on the US, UK and Australia and will use this new acquisition as a channel to expand across Europe.

Mr Holzherr said: "We're delighted to build on a strong year of growth with this deal.

"With grocery e-commerce in Europe accelerating, it makes a lot of sense for both Whisk and Avocando customers."