Week Ending 1.26.2020
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 corporate finance newsletter features our interview with Fotis Konstantinidis, head of AI at boutique investment bank Stout.
Next up are seven acquisitions, half a dozen equity filing, 18 funding rounds, a handful of regulatory moves and 14 executive hires in the AI sector.
Companies we have tracked over the past year or so in the news this week include LiteLink Technologies, Berkshire Grey, Kneron, Bear Robotics, Promethium, SymphonyAI, ThoughtSpot, WekaIO, Fenris Digital, [24]7.ai, Evisort and Transplace.
See all of this and more below ↓
Stout Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation Practice Leader Fotis Konstantinidis
‘Notable and Quotable’ Stout Head of AI Fotis Konstantinidis
The industry veteran based in Los Angeles heading up a team of ten sees limitations in the data lake
See his full set of comments here
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
ActZero, the Palo Alto, California-based cybersecurity firm using AI, said it acquired IntelliGO Networks.
MHS, the Mt. Washington, Kentucky-based materials handling systems firm using robotics, said it acquired eMotion Controls.
RDC, the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based risk compliance company using AI, said it will be acquired by credit ratings agency Moody’s Corporation.
Varicent, the Toronto, Canada-based marketing software developer, said it acquired Symon.AI.
ServiceNow, the Santa Clara, California-based AI IT firm, said it acquired Loom Systems.
LiteLink Technologies, the Vancouver, Canada-based business software developer focused on the AI sector, said it acquired smart sensor technology targeting the waste management industry from an unspecified company.
In December, the company hired Kent Churn as COO of subsidiary LiteLink Labs.
F5 Networks, the Seattle, Washington-based business software firm, said it acquired Shape Security, the cybersecurity firm using AI.
FILINGS
Adaptive Biotechnologies, the Seattle, Washington-based drug development services firm using AI, said hedge funds Viking Global and Matrix Capital raised USD 212m from the sale of 8m shares they held in the company at USD 26.50 each.
Black Diamond Therapeutics, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based oncology firm using machine language, said it is raising as much as USD 160m from an initial public offering of 8.9m shares at USD 16 to USD 18 each on the Nasdaq.
1LifeHealthcare, the San Francisco, California-based healthcare platform using machine learning, said it is raising as much as USD 280m from an initial public offering of 17.5m shares at USD 14 to USD 16 each on the Nasdaq.
Other filings include Ecoark, Duos Technologies and New Frontier Health
FUNDING
Berkshire Grey, the Lexington, Massachusetts-based e-commerce industry services firm using AI, said it raised USD 263m in a Series B financing round that included SoftBank, Khosla Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, and Canaan. In December, the company hired Steve Johnson as president and COO.
Sysdig, the San Francisco, California-based IT firm using machine learning, said it raised USD 70m in a Series E funding round led by Insight Partners.
Kneron, the San Diego, California-based AI chip designer, said it raised USD 40m in a funding round led by Horizon Ventures, according to a Venture Beat report. In April, the company hired former Qualcomm executive Adrian Ong as chief commercial officer and Daniel Yuan as chief architect.
Bear Robotics, the Redwood City, California-based company building restaurant automation systems, raised USD 32m in a Series A funding led by Softbank Group, according to TechCrunch report. In September, the company raised USD 10m.
Soft Robotics, the Bedford, Massachusetts-based industrial automation systems maker, said it raised USD 23m in a Series B funding round led by Calibrate Ventures and Material Impact. FANUC, the world’s largest robot maker, also participated.
Outlier AI, the Oakland, California-based business services firm using AI, said it raised USD 22.1m in a Series B round of funding led by Emergence.
Placer.ai, the Los Altos, California-based location data firm, said it raised USD 12m in a Series A funding round led by JBV Capital, according to a TechCrunch report.
Promethium, the Menlo Park, California-based data management firm using natural language processing, said it raised USD 6m in a funding round led by .406 Ventures. In October, the company raised USD 2.5m in a seed funding round led by Zetta Ventures Partners.
Samya.AI, the Chicago, Illinois-based sales and marketing firm, said it raised USD 6m in a seed round led by Sequoia India.
Kristal.AI, the Hong Kong-based asset management platform, raised USD 6m in a Series A funding round led by Chiratae Ventures, according to a Yahoo Finance report.
Vicarius, the Tel Aviv, Israel-base cybersecurity firm using machine learning, said it raised USD 5m in a funding round led by Jerusalem Venture Partners.
RazorSecure, the Basingstoke, England-based cyber security software maker using AI, said it raised USD 2.1m in a funding round led by Mainport Innovation.
Applica.AI, the London, UK-based robotic text platform, said it raised an unspecified amount in a Series A led by Cogito Capital Partners and Barclays.
Neocova, the St. Louis, Missouri-based banking startup using AI, said it raised USD 9.5m in a Series A funding round that included Coastal Community Bank, Bank of St. Elizabeth, First Financial Bank, Kearny Bank, Provident Bancorp, and Sunwest Bank.
Tealbook, the Ontario, Canada-based management data platform using AI, said it raised USD 5m in a seed plus funding round led by Refinery Ventures.
FeedStock, the London, England-based compliance services firm using natural language processing, said it raised £2.5m (USD 3.28m) in a funding round led by Praetura Ventures.
Scaeva Technologies, the San Francisco, California-based music and film distribution platform using machine learning, said it closed its first funding round, which was led by Impact Venture Capital, a venture capital firm focus on AI and robotics.
Other deals include Misty Robotics
PEOPLE
Symphony MediaAI, the Denver, Colorado-based financial management firm focused on the media industry, said it hired former Google executive Mark Moeder as CEO.
The company is a portfolio company of SymphonyAI, the Los Altos, California startup incubator.
In November, Symphony AzimaAI, the Woburn, Massachusetts-based industrial machinery diagnostics company using AI, hired Jack Leahey as chief revenue officer and John Renick as vice president of product management.
Symphony AI acquired Azima, a machinery diagnostics company, in May.
Govini, the Arlington, Virginia-based security firm focused on government contracts and using machine learning, said it promoted Tara Murphy Dougherty to CEO.
ThoughtSpot, the Palo Alto, California-based analytics company using AI, said it hired Mohit Daswani as CFO, Seann Gardiner as senior vice president of business development, Bob Baxley as senior vice president of design & experience, Seong Park as senior vice president of customer success and services, Sumeet Arora as senior vice president of engineering, Dianne Decena as vice president of partners alliances, Americas and Victor Chang as vice president of corporate development.
In October, the company hired Brian McCarthy as senior vice president of worldwide sales and David Freeman as senior vice president of business operations.
In September, ThoughtSpot raised USD 248m in a funding round that included a Silver Lake late stage growth capital fund and Sapphire Ventures.
WekaIO, the San Jose, California-based business services firm using AI, said it hired Intekhab Nazeer as CFO and Shailesh Manjrekar as head of AI and strategic alliances. In May, the company raised USD 31.7m in a Series C, which included participation from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Qualcomm.
Qutoutiao, the Shanghai, China-based mobile news aggregation service using AI, said it named Xiaolu Zhu as CFO.
In October, one of its online literature subsidiaries Midu raised USD 100m in a Series B led by CMC Capital.
Fenris Digital, the Richmond, Virginia-based insurance data and analytics firm using machine learning, said it hired Jay Bourland as chief technology officer. In September, the company raised USD 1.7m in a funding round led by Larry Rosenberger, past CEO of FICO.
[24]7.ai, the San Jose, California-based company developing AI-based platforms for businesses in the consumer/retail sector, said it hired John Wanamaker as chief revenue officer.
In February last year it hired Australian telecommunications executive Rohan Ganeson as COO and brought in Paul J. Loftus as chief revenue office in 2018.
Tamr, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based in enterprise data firm using machine learning, said it hired Lital Asher-Dotan as chief growth officer.
Shift Technology, the Paris, France-based automated insurance claims and AI-backed fraud detection firm, said it hired former SAP executive Nathalie Parent as chief people officer.
Evisort, the San Mateo, California-based document management company using AI, hired Mark Stephenson as chief customer officer, according to a Legal IT Professionals report.
The company raised USD 15m in December in a Series A funding round led by Vertex Ventures and Microsoft venture fund M12. In June, the company hired Alexander Su as director of business development.
Transplace, the Dallas, Texas-based transportation management and supply chain technology company using AI, said it hired Greg Sebolt as executive vice president of strategic capacity services. In May, the company hired Matthew Harding as senior vice president of data science.
Exponea, the New York City-based customer data platform using AI, said it hired Scott McNabb as senior vice president and general manager of the Americas.
Varian, the Palo Alto, California-based cancer care and research firm using AI, said it hired Ricky Sharma as vice president of clinical affairs.
ActiveCampaign, the Chicago, Illinois-based marketing firm using machine learning, said it hired Jessica Hannes as vice president of support.
And, CloudMinds is slashing its workforce amid a cash crunch, Reuters reports.
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