Week Ending 10.19.18
ACCENTURE ACQUIRES TARGETST8
QUALTRONICS FILES FOR USD 200M IPO
AIRBUS-BACKED COGNATA RAISES USD 18.5m
IDEMIA BRINGS IN NEW CEO AND MORE ↓
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
ALTEN Calsoft Labs, the Santa Clara-based semiconductor design unit of engineering services firm ALTEN, said it acquired Si2Chip, the AI chip design firm. Terms weren’t disclosed.
Accenture, the New York City-based professional services firm, said it acquired TargetST8 Consulting, which specializes in commercial lending with AI. The company also provides blockchain consulting services. Terms weren’t disclosed.
In July Accenture acquired Kogentix, an AI and big data company, and Real Time Analytics Platform, a machine learning and neural networks firm.
Micron Technology, the Boise, Idaho-based semiconductor maker, said it expects to pay USD 1.5bn in cash for Intel’s stake in their IM Flash Technologies joint venture.
Last week Micron said it plans to invest USD 100m in AI companies through its venture capital arm, Micron Ventures.
FILINGS
Qualtrics International, the Provo, Utah-based business software developer using AI, said it is raising USD 200m from an initial public offering on the Nasdaq
Valtech, the London, UK-based business services firm using AI, said it is raising as much as USD 106.72m from an initial public offering of 6.67m shares at USD 14.00 to USD 16.00 each on the Nasdaq.
StoneCo, the Sao Paulo, Brazil-based payments firm using AI, said it and shareholders, including Tiger Global Investors, are raising as much as USD 1.1bn from the initial public offering of 47.7m shares on the Nasdaq at USD 21.00 to USD 23.00 each.
Jump World, the Shanghai, China-based VR/AR game developer, said it is raising as much as USD 50m from an initial public offering of 4m shares on the Nasdaq at USD 12.50 each.
Namaste, the Toronto, Canada-based cannabis company using AI, filed a prospectus for a USD 45m follow on offering of 15m units at USD 3.00 each.
Last week the company refuted Citron Research reports that a sale of US assets were to a related party under securities rules. Namaste acknowledged one action in progress by US regulators it did not identify.
Last month the company said it was acquiring the UK medical distribution firm AF Trading for USD 5m in cash and stock. In a separate statement, the company “reaffirmed” its intention to list on the Nasdaq but did not specify a time frame.
FUNDING
Gilot Capital Partners, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based venture capital firm, said it raised USD 110m for a third fund focused on AI, big data and cybersecurity.
Numerify, the San Jose, California-based business analytics services firm using AI, said it raised USD 27.5m in a funding round led by DAG Ventures.
Gauss Surgical, the Los Altos, California-based healthcare company using AI, said it raised USD 20m in a Series C led by Northwell Health and Softbank Ventures Korea.
Cognata, the Rehovot, Israel-based company developing virtual testing systems for autonomous vehicles, said it raised USD 18.5m in a Series B led by Scale Venture Partners. The venture capital arm of European aircraft maker Airbus also participated.
Paperspace, the New York City-based cloud computing firm using AI, said it raised USD 13m in a Series A led by Battery Ventures, SineWave Ventures, Intel Capital and Sorenson Ventures.
FundGuard, the New York City-based investment company using AI, said it raised USD 4m in a funding led by Blumberg Capital and venture capital firm LionBird.
Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions, the Reno, Nevada-based guard services company using AI and robotics, said it is trying to restructure “most” of its USD 4m debt. The maturity on the notes may be extended to 36 months from the current 24 months. The company was formerly called On The Move Systems.
CUJO AI, the El Segundo, California-based AI company focused on the telecommunications industry, said it raised an unspecified amount from the venture capital arm of Dutch telecommunications company KPN.
Penguin Computing, the Fremont, California-based data center subsidiary of SMART Global, said it formed an AI consultancy practice.
Other deals include Pr3vent, Tez Financial Services and Sonasoft
LEGAL & REGULATORY
The US Securities and Exchange Commission said it is setting up an innovation and financial technology hub, led by Valerie Szczepanik, associate director, focused on AI, robo-advising and blockchain.
Helios and Matheson Analytics, the New York City-based IT services company using AI, is under a New York state investigation for fraud, according to a tweet from the New York attorney general Carrie Underwood.
Helios and Matheson owns MoviePass, the theater ticket subscription service.
Proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis recommended shareholders support the company’s proposed reverse stock split. The vote was delayed until November 1 from the originally scheduled October 18.
Last month MoviePass and NEON Rated said they had acquired stakes in each other. Terms were not disclosed.
PEOPLE
IDEMIA, the Colombes, France-based identity services firm using AI, said it has hired Yann Delabriere as CEO after Didier Lamouche, the company’s former CEO, resigned for unspecified reasons. Delabriere is the former CEO of auto parts maker Faurecia and Zodiac Aerospace.
Apttus, the San Mateo, California-based business software developer using AI, said it hired Gregg Hampton as CFO. He held the same role at Actian, the data management firm, and Blue Coat Systems.
In September the company was acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.
Research Innovations, the Alexandria, Virginia-based software developer for the US military, said it hired Sourav Mandal to head its AI department. He joins from cybersecurity firm Two Six Labs, where he was lead research scientist.
Bigfoot Biomedical, the Milpitas, California-based company using AI to treat diabetes, said it hired Ian Hanson as chief technology officer and Jyoti Palaniappan as chief commercial officer. Hanson was chief operating officer at Unilife, a medical device maker. Palaniappan led the US diabetes operations at Abbott.
Clarify Health, the San Francisco, California-based healthcare company using AI, said it hired Kara Dennis as senior vice president and general manager of life sciences. Dennis was managing director of mobile health at Medidata Solutions, a healthcare software as services firm.
Clarify raised USD 57m in a Series B led by private equity firm KKR in September.
AMP Robotics, the Denver, Colorado-based company developing autonomous trash sorting machines, said it hired Robb Espinosa as vice president of operations. Espinosa was COO at Midwest Recycling Service and Sales.
Other hires include Veritone and GetSwift
Board appointments include Micron Technology
DATA
No new data sets were released in the areas we track.