Week Ending 1.5.2020
EYE ON A.I. GETS READERS UP TO DATE ON THE MOST CRITICAL FUNDING, CORPORATE AND REGULATORY NEWS WITH ORIGINAL CONTENT AND MEDIA REPORTS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE.
This week our first corporate finance newsletter of 2020 features one acquisition, half a dozen regulatory filings, eight funding rounds, a handful of government moves and two executive hires in the AI sector.
Companies we have tracked over the past year or so in the news this week include Stats Perform.
See all of this and more below ↓
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Snap, the Los Angeles, California-based operator of the Snapchat app, has paid USD 166m for the Ukrainian computer vision firm AI Factory, according to a TechCrunch report citing a local report from media outfit AIN. Snap acquired the last startup from the same founder Victor Shaburov in 2015 called Looksery.
FILINGS
Black Diamond Therapeutics, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based oncology firm using machine language, said it is raising USD 100m in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq.
1LifeHealthcare, the San Francisco, California-based healthcare platform using machine learning, said it is raising USD 100m in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq.
Molecular Data, the Shanghai, China-based chemical industry services platform using AI, saw its shares more than double on its first day of Nasdaq trading before falling back to close up only 1%.
The company raised USD 61.87m from the downsized sale of 11.5m American depositary shares at USD 5.38 each. One ADS represents three shares. It had originally filed a USD 70m placeholder.
Other deals include Form Ds from Flo Artificial Intelligence and EquityZen, and a follow on from Ideanomics
FUNDING
Loft, the São Paulo, Brazil-based real estate platform using machine learning, said it raised USD 175m in a Series C funding round led by Vulcan Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.
Receipt Bank, the London, UK-based bookkeeping platform using machine learning, said it raised USD 73m in a Series C led by Insight Partners.
Trifo, the Santa Clara, California-based home robot company using AI, raised USD 15m in Series B funding led by Yidu Cloud, Tsinghua AI Fund and Matrix Partners, according to a Tech Crunch report. The company was formerly called PerceptIn.
GoMechanic, the Haryana, India-based car care company using machine learning, raised USD 14.7m in a Series B round led by Sequoia Capital and Chiratae Ventures, according to a YourStory report.
BlueConic, the Boston, Massachusetts-based customer data platform using AI, said it raised USD 13m in a Series B funding round led by Spring Lake Equity Partners.
TypingDNA, the New York City-based identity authentication firm using AI tracking keystrokes, raised USD 7m in an unspecified funding round led by GapMinder Venture Partners, according to a TechCrunch report.
InsightFinder, the Raleigh, North Carolina-based IT company using machine learning, said it raised USD 2m in a pre-Series A financing led by Idea Fund Partners.
FarmERP, the Pune, India-based agriculture platform using AI, raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A led by Technogen, according to a Inc42 report.
LEGAL AND REGULATORY
The Trump administration is taking steps to limit the US export of AI software, according to a Reuters report. The administration may work to implement international bans as well to keep sensitive technology out of the hands of countries that include China, the report says.
AI won’t steal your job says Canadian government report.
South Korean government to install AI cameras for crime detection.
PEOPLE
Stats Perform, the Chicago, Illinois-based sports technology company, hired Goodman Gu as vice president of AI, according to a Sports Video report. The company hired Jason Markworth as vice president of sales, Americas in October.
Juniper Networks, the Sunnyvale, California-based AI IT firm, said it hired Gordon Mackintosh as worldwide vice president of channel and virtual sales.
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