Week Ending 04.14.19
PUBLICIS, NETCORE & VISTA MAKE ACQUISITIONS
UBER & PINTEREST FILE FOR USD 1BN+ IPOS WHILE PARSONS & AXCELLA FILE SMALLER LISTINGS
LEMONADE, KEYME & UPSTART CLOSE FUNDING ROUNDS
EU SETS AI ETHICAL GUIDELINES
JINTEL HEALTH & IMPACT HIRE NEW CEOS
AND MORE ↓
EYE ON A.I. GETS READERS UP TO DATE ON THE LATEST FUNDING NEWS AND RELATED ISSUES. SUBSCRIBE FOR THE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER.
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Publicis, the Paris, France-based marketing firm, said it is paying USD 4.4bn for the data unit of Alliance Data Systems. Publicis said it was attracted to Alliance’s strong AI platform.
Netcore Solutions, the Mumbai, India-based marketing technology company, said it acquired Quinto.ai, the chatbot maker.
Vista Global, the Dubai-based private jet company using AI, said it is acquiring business aviation firm JetSmarter.
Level5, the Herndon, Virginia-based recreational vehicle services company using AI, said it is acquiring CellTuck, the website development firm.
Geotab, the Toronto, Canada-based logistical services company using machine learning, said it is acquiring BSM Technologies, a logistical services company focused on government contracts.
Other deals include NexTech
FILINGS
Parsons, the Centreville, Virginia-based defense industry engineering and services firm using AI, said it is raising a placeholder USD 100m in an initial public offering on the NYSE.
Uber Technologies, the San Francisco, California-based ride sharing company using AI, said it and unidentified shareholders are raising a placeholder USD 1bn in an initial public offering on the NYSE.
Pinterest, the San Francisco, California-based social media firm using machine learning and AI, said it is raising as much as USD 1.3bn in an initial public offering of 75m shares at USD 15 to USD 17 each on the NYSE.
Axcella Health, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company developing machine learning capabilities in drug research, said it is raising a placeholder USD 86m in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq.
PagerDuty, the San Francisco, California-based business services firm using machine language, saw its shares close out the week up 65% after its first two days of trading on the NYSE. The company and shareholders, including company co-founders Baskar Puvanathasan and Alex Solomon, raised USD 216m after pricing 9m shares at USD 24 each, a dollar above a marketed range that had already been raised on strong investor demand.
So-Young International, the Beijing, China-based plastic surgery services company using AI, said it is raising a placeholder USD 150m from the sale of American depositary receipts on the Nasdaq.
HUYA, the Guangzhou, China-based live streaming company using AI, said it and Chinese shareholder YY, a social media company, raised USD 444m from the sale of 18.4m shares at USD 24 each, a 1.36% discount.
Jumia Technologies, the Berlin, Germany-based ecommerce company using AI and machine learning, saw its shares rise 75% on its first day of NYSE trading Friday. The company, which focuses on the African market, raised USD 196m from the sale of 13.5m American depositary shares at USD 14.5 each, just below the midpoint of the 13 to USD 16 marketed range. Read the Quartz story here.
Jiayin, the Shanghai, China-based online lender using AI and machine learning, refiled for a USD 57.5m placeholder initial public offering on the Nasdaq.
Yunji, the Hangzhou, China-based ecommerce company using machine language and AI, refiled for a USD 200m placeholder initial public offering on the Nasdaq.
Other deals include Envision Solar, Quest Solutions and Gopher Protocol
FUNDING
Lemonade, the New York City-based insurance company using AI, said it raised USD 300m in a Series D led by Softbank.
KeyMe, the New York City-based company using AI and robotics to make keys at kiosks, said it raised USD 50m from a BlackRock credit fund.
Upstart, the San Francisco, California-based lending platform using AI, said it raised USD 50m from Progressive Investment, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and First National Bank of Omaha.
CleverTap, the San Francisco, California-based business services firm using AI, said it raised USD 26m in a Series B led by Sequoia India.
Affectiva, the Boston, Massachusetts-based AI company, said it raised USD 23m in a funding round led by Aptiv.
Deep Lens, the Columbus, Ohio-based medical research company using AI, said it raised USD 14m in a Series A led by Northpond Ventures. The company raised USD 17.5m three months ago.
Labelbox, the San Francisco, California-based data platform for machine learning, said it raised USD 10m in a Series A led by Gradient Ventures, the AI-focused venture capital fund run by Google.
Gradient also led a USD 3.85m investment in Flyreel, the Denver, Colorado-based property insurance industry services firm using AI.
Simudyne, the London, UK-based business services company using AI, said it raised USD 6m in a Series A funding led by Barclays.
Synapse, the Toronto, Canada-based education technology company using AI, said it raised USD 2.5m in a seed funding led by Generation Ventures.
Ampere, the Santa Clara, California-based computer services firm using AI, said it raised an unspecified amount in a second funding round led by Carlyle. A Softbank unit, Arm, also participated.
LEGAL & REGULATORY
The European Union published a set of ethical guidelines for AI. It plans to start a pilot phase of the program this summer.
PEOPLE
Jintel Health, the Richmond, California-based medical data company using AI, said it hired David Dvorak as chief executive officer. He will also take up the role of chairman of the board.
Impact, the Boise, Idaho-based marketing agency using AI, said it hired consumer package goods industry veteran Lloyd Johnson as chief executive officer.
Level Ex, the Chicago, Illinois-based company producing AR and VR educational programs for doctors, said it hired former Intel executive Jason Rubinstein as chief operating officer.
CEVA, the Mountain View, California-based company licensing AI processors, said it promoted Michael Boukaya to chief operating officer. He was general manager of the company’s wireless business unit.
Hanson Robotics, the Hong Kong-based robot maker, said it hired former Softbank executive Amir Kumar Pandey as chief technology officer.
SafelyYou, the San Francisco, California-based healthcare technology company using AI to prevent patient falls, said it hired Ajay Gulati as chief technology officer and Bryant Castleton as chief commercial officer. Gulati is tasked with developing the company’s next generation AI platform.
Nuance Communication, the Burlington, Massachusetts company developing AI language technology, said it hired Robert Dahdah as chief revenue officer. Dahdah joins from Benefitfocus, a software as services company, where he was executive vice president of global sales
In November Nuance said it planned to spinoff its automotive software business as a publicly traded company. The company hired Mark Sherwood as chief information officer in July from Semantec. Nuance hired a new CEO in April last year and reshuffled its board in June.
Catasys, the Los Angeles, California-based healthcare company using AI, said it hired Carol Murdock as chief commercial officer.
AllocateRite, the New York City-based financial technology company using AI in asset management, said it hired Michael Spece as chief of AI and data science.
BNY Mellon, the New York City-based bank, said it hired former State Street robotics and AI head Michael Demissie as advanced digital solutions leader.
iManage, the Chicago, Illinois-based business services firm using AI, said it hired former Reed Smith executive Alex Smith as global product management lead for iManage RAVN AI business, which can extract data from documents during due diligence and other processes. In September the company hired Nick Thomson to head the RAVN unit.
Alation, the Redwood City, California-based data services company using AI, said co-founder Alan Kalb has been named chief data officer. Stephanie McReynolds has also been promoted to senior vice president of marketing
Medidata, the New York City-based drug development services company using AI, said it hired pharmaceutical industry executive Rama Kondru as chief information officer and chief technology officer of its new unit Acorn AI.
OmniSci, the San Francisco, California-based AI analytics platform, said it promoted Grant Halloran to the newly created position of chief commercial officer. He was the chief marketing officer.
In October the company raised USD 55m in a Series C led by Tiger Global Management. NVIDIA, the AI chip maker, also participated. OmniSci was previously called MapD.
Other developments include Dorsey & Whitney, Cielo, Icertis, Evergage and TIBCO