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 we start our corporate finance newsletter with an exclusive interview of Inzata Analytics COO Christopher Rafter, who says the Internet of Things is throwing out masses of unstructured data of a new nature.

Next up is half a dozen acquisitions, four equity filings, 18 funding rounds, one regulatory move and 19 executive hires in the AI sector.

Companies we have tracked over the past year or so in the news this week include Antuit.ai,  TransPerfect, Lucidworks, HighRadius, Komodo Health, Label Insight, Radcom, Kubient, Vesta, SnapLogic, Premier Health and Selligent.

See all of this, a special offer from our sponsor application design and development company Infinite Red and more below ↓

Our interview with Inzata Analytics

Growing volume of machine generated, not human created, data confronts the AI industry

Internet of Things drives massive production of unstructured data, Inzata CCO Christopher Rafter says.

Read the entire story here.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Antuit.ai, the Frisco, Texas-based marketing services firm using AI, said it acquired Forecast Horizon.

In March, the Goldman Sachs-backed firm hired Patrick Smith as executive vice president of global sales.

TransPerfect, the New York City-based corporate translation firm using AI, said it acquired Chulengo, a dubbing and post-production outfit.

TransPerfect acquired Germany’s Scheune München Mediaproduction in November after snapping up Spain’s Sublime Subtitling & Translation and Tauyou, which uses AI in corporate translation services, in October. Tauyou founder Diego Bartolome became TransPerfect director of AI at the time.

Press Ganey, the Boston, Massachusetts-based healthcare industry services firm, said it acquired Strategic Management Decisions, the healthcare human resources firm using AI.

Appian, the Tysons, Virginia-based enterprise software developer, said it acquired Novayre Solutions SL, the robotics process automation firm.

Lucidworks, the San Francisco, California-based search company using AI, said it acquired Cirrus10, the ecommerce services firm. In August, Lucidworks raised USD 100m from investors including Francisco Partners and TPG Sixth Street.

Mimecast, the Lexington, Massachusetts-based email and data security company using machine learning, said it acquired Segasec, the cybersecurity firm using machine learning.

FILINGS

Schrodinger, the New York City-based drug development firm using machine learning, said it plans to raise a placeholder USD 100m from an initial public offering on the Nasdaq.

Zhongchao, the Shanghai, China-based healthcare website operator using AI, is raising as much as USD 15.75m from an initial public offering of 3.5m shares at USD 4.00 to USD 4.50 each on the Nasdaq. The company filed for a placeholder USD 15m initial public offering in November.

Lizhi, the Guangzhou, China-based audio app using AI, is raising as much as USD 53.3m from an initial public offering of 4.1m shares at USD 1.00 to USD 13.00 each on the Nasdaq. The company filed a placeholder USD 100m initial public offering in November.

Other deals include Clip Interactive/Auddia

FUNDING

ClassPass, the New York City-based fitness platform using machine learning, said it raised USD 285m in a Series E funding round led by L Catterton and Apax Digital.

HighRadius, the the Houston, Texas-based fintech company using AI, said it raised USD 125m in a Series B funding round led by ICONIQ Capital.

In December, the company hired former Oracle executive Ken Laversin as chief revenue officer and in September, the company hired Jon Keating as vice president and general manager, Europe, Middle East and Africa. In March, the company hired Natalie Fedie as vice president of consumer success.

nference, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based pharmaceuticals software platform using AI, said it raised USD 60m in a Series B funding round that included the Mayo Clinic and a venture capital unit of Japanese telecommunication firm NTT.

BigID, the New York City-based cybersecurity company using AI, said it raised USD 50m from Tiger Global. In September, the company raised USD 50m in a Series C funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

Adagene, the Suzhou, China-based clinical-stage oncology company using AI, said it raised USD 50m in a Series D led by General Atlantic.

Komodo Health, the San Francisco and New York City-based healthcare company using AI, said it raised USD 50m in a Series C funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. In June, the company hired IBM’s Bill Evans as chief marketing officer.

Vecna Robotics, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based autonomous forklift maker, said it raised USD 50m in a Series B funding round led by Blackhorn Ventures.

Deep Genomics, the Toronto, Canada-based drug development company using AI, said it raised USD 40m in Series B funding led by Future Ventures.

Soul Machines, the Auckland, New Zealand-based company developing AI avatars, said it raised USD 40m in a Series B financing led by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek.

Orchard, the New York City-based home buying platform using AI, said it raised USD 36m in a funding round led by Navitas. The company was previously known as Perch.

Evolv Technology, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based weapons screening firm using AI, said it raised USD 30m in a Series C funding round led by Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s Finback Investment Partners.

Pieces Technologies, the Dallas, Texas-based healthcare industry services firm using AI, said it raised USD 25.7m in a Series B funding round led by Concord Health Partners.

Virtual Incision, the Lincoln, Nebraska-based surgical robotics platform, said it raised USD 20m in a Series B+ financing led by Bluestem Capital.

Alitheon, the Bellevue, Washington-based machine vision software firm, said it raised USD 14.9m in an unspecified funding round that included a venture capital unit at German car maker BMW.

Novadiscovery, the Lyon, France-based drug development industry services firm using AI, said it raised EUR 5m (USD 5.55m) in a Series A funding round led by Debiopharm.

Measure Protocol, the London, UK-based personal data firm, said it raised GBP 2m (USD 2.62m) in a funding round led by Dynata and Blockchain Valley Ventures. Measure is focused on the market research, advertising and AI industries.

M1neral, the Houston, Texas-based oil and gas industry transaction services firm using AI, said it raised USD 1.6m in a pre-seed funding round led by Amnis Ventures and Pheasant Energy.

MioTech, the Hong Kong-based financial services analytics firm using AI, said it closed a Series A+ of an unspecified amount that was led by Li Ka-shing’s Horizons Ventures.

LEGAL AND REGULATORY

The Trump administration wants ‘light-touch’ AI regulation, according to a Popular Mechanics report. US Chief Technology Officer Micheal Kratsios comments at the CES conference in Las Vegas are here and a blog post this week from Katsios is here.

PEOPLE

Move, the Santa Clara, California-based real estate platform using machine learning, said it hired former eBay executive David Doctorow as CEO. Move is a subsidiary of News Corp.

Label Insight, the Chicago, Illinois-based marketing firm using machine learning, said it hired Todd Morris as CEO. In November, the company hired Jenny Condon as senior vice president of e-commerce.

Neural Analytics, the Los Angeles, California-based medical robotics company, said it hired former Google executive Diane Bryant as chairman and CEO.

Applied Data Finance, the San Diego, California-based financial services firm using machine learning, said it hired former Capital One and JP Morgan executive Jimmy Cannon as president.

Radcom, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based telecom industry services provider using AI, said it promoted Hilik Itman to COO. In November, the company promoted Eyal Harari to CEO. Then CEO Yaron Ravkaie became chairman.

Kubient, the New York City-based advertising company using AI, said it hired Josh Weiss as CFO. In November, it acquired Fidelity Media. The company hired Peter Bordes as CEO and Chris Andrews as chief digital officer in August.

Vesta, the Lake Oswego, Oregon-based fraud protection and payments company using machine learning, said it hired Leo Khan as chief marketing officer. In December, the company hired Laura Stepp as chief people officer. The company hired Tan Truong as CIO in September.

SnapLogic, the San Mateo, California-based data and analytics company using AI, said it hired former People.ai and Cisco executive Dayle Hall as chief marketing officer. In October, the company raised USD 72m in an unspecified financing round led by Arrowroot Capital.

Transcepta, the Aliso Viejo, California-based business services platform using AI, said it promoted Lloyd Wendland to chief technology officer.

PROS, the Houston, Texas-based marketing company using AI, said it promoted Nikki Brewer as chief people officer.

MDLIVE, the Sunrise, Florida-based healthcare services platform using AI, said it hired Rachel Dvorken as chief legal officer and hired Cynthia McIntyre as chief revenue officer.

Magellan AI, the New York City-based advertising firm focused on the podcast industry, said it hired former iHeart Media executive John Goforth as head of sales and business development.

Excella, the Arlington, Virginia-based business services firm using AI, said it promoted Mahreen Rashid to senior vice president, people services.

Premier Health, the Vancouver, Canada-based healthcare company using AI, said it hired Richard Atkins as senior vice president of sales.

The company hired David Ostrow as chief medical officer and acquired Livecare Health Canada for USD 3m in shares and assumed debt in November.

Selligent, the San Jose, California and Brussels, Belgium-based marketing platform using AI, said it hired Matthew Saskin as vice president of customer experience. In October, the company hired Anushka Jayawardana as vice president of product management.

Guerbet, the Princeton, New Jersey-based maker of the contrast agents used in medical imaging, said it promoted Thomas McLaughlin as vice president, North America. He will also oversee the company’s digital and AI portfolio.

Kovrr, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based firm modelling risk for insurers using AI, said it hired former IBM executive Kurt Jackson as vice president of sales, North America.

Lumiata, the San Mateo, California-based healthcare industry services firm using AI, said it hired Saurav Chatterjee as vice president of engineering, Shannon Marques as vice president of sales and Jessica McCarthy as vice president of marketing.

RFPIO, the Beaverton, Oregon-based business services firm using AI, said it hired Paul Nadeau as senior vice president of finance, Mohan Natraj as vice president of customer success, Angela Earl as vice president of global marketing and Konnor Martin as regional vice president of sales.

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