Week Ending 06.09.19
MEDALLIA ACQUIRES COOLDATA & LIQUIDNET BAGS PRATTLE, AVALARA UPSIZES FOLLOW ON & REVOLVE JUMPS 90% ON FIRST DAY OF TRADING, HIGHSPOT RAISES USD 60M IN SERIES D, DUBAI PUSHES MUNICIPAL AI REGULATORY FRAMEWORK, KOUNT HIRES CFO
AND MORE ↓
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MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Volpara Health Technologies, the Seattle, Washington-based software as services company, said it acquired MRS Systems for its AI and machine learning technology.
Medallia, the San Francisco, California-based marketing company using AI, said it acquired Israel’s Cooladata for its AI technology.
Miaozhen Systems, the Beijing, China-based marketing firm using AI, said it acquired RadioBuy.
Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, the Indianapolis, Indiana-based biomedical testing company, said it acquired Cytobank, a biomedical research company using machine learning.
Liquidnet, the New York City-based institutional investment services provider, said it acquired Prattle, an automated investment company using AI.
E2open, the Austin, Texas-based supply chain management firm, said it acquired Averetek, a marketing company using AI.
FILINGS
Revolve Group, the Cerritos, California-based online apparel sales platform using AI, saw its shares soar almost 90% to close at USD 34 on their first day of trading. The company raised USD 212m from an initial public offering of 11.8m shares that were priced at a highest-end USD 18 each.
GigCapital2, the Palo Alto, California-based company planning to acquire AI and other technology companies, upsized its initial pubic offering to USD 150m after raising the number of units on offer to 15m. It originally filed for a USD 130m initial public offering of 13m units at USD 10 each. The company is a special purpose acquisition company, or a company with no assets raising funds to make acquisitions based on the strength of its management.
GSX Techedu, the Beijing, China-based online tutoring company using AI, saw its shares close down two cents below the initial public offering price of USD 10.50 on its first day of trading on the NYSE. The company raised USD 208m from the sale of 19.8m American depositary receipts at the midpoint of the USD 9.50 to USD 11.50 range they were marketed on.
Avalara, the Seattle, Washington-based corporate tax services provider using AI, said it upsized a follow-on offering to 3.6m shares, valued at USD 250m at the company’s last closing share price. The company originally filed for the sale of 3m shares.
The RealReal, the San Francisco, California-based secondhand luxury goods retailer using AI, refiled a placeholder USD 100m for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq.
Personalis, the Menlo Park, California-based cancer testing company using AI, said it is raising up to USD 107.2m from the sale of 6.7m shares at USD 14 to USD 16 each in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq.
Stoke Therapeutics, the Bedford, Massachusetts-based company developing treatments for genetic diseases using machine learning, said it is raising up to USD 107.2m in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq of 6.7m shares at USD 14 to USD 16 each.
Other deal include Parallax Health Services, Internet Sciences and Globe Photos
FUNDING
Highspot, the Seattle, Washington-based platform using AI, said it raised USD 60m in Series D funding led by ICONIQ Capital. The venture capital unit of Saleforce also participated. ICONIQ led a similarly sized Series C with People.ai, the San Francisco, California-based business services firm using AI, last month.
Matillion, the Denver, Colorado and Manchester, UK-based business software company using AI, said it raised USD 35m in a Series C led by Battery Ventures.
DecisionNext, the San Francisco, California-based commodity market analytics company using AI, said it raised USD 7m in a Series A funding round led by Dalus Capital.
LEGAL & REGULATORY
The role of cities in AI regulation, feature in an opinion piece written by Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, the director general of government-backed Smart Dubai, in VentureBeat.
Leverton CEO Abhinav Somani argues in the same publication that AI would be better served by a certification process instead of draconian legislation. Leverton is a business services firm using AI.
PEOPLE
Kount, the Boise, Idaho-based fraud prevention software developer using AI, said it hired Scott Klossner as CFO.
Payrailz, the Glastonbury, Connecticut-based digital payments company using AI, said it hired former Infosys executive James Kern as vice president, chief sales officer.
Joveo, the Redwood, California-based job advertising platform using AI, said it hired Peter Gilfillan as chief revenue officer.
Kinetica, the San Francisco, California-based analytical services company using AI, said it hired Elizabeth McGlauflin as chief customer success officer.
SpotX, the Denver, Colorado-based video advertising company, said it hired former Rakuten executive Neal Richter as chief scientist to develop the company’s machine learning and AI capabilities.
WalkMe, the San Francisco, California-based business software company using AI, said it hired former Salesforce executive Kazuyoshi Michishita as representative director and country manager for the Japanese market.
Jumptuit Finance, the New York City-based data analysis platform using AI, said it hired former JP Morgan private banker Meredith Peguero as senior vice president of operations. The company also appointed Robert Barbetti to the board of directors. Barbetti is also an executive at JP Morgan private bank.
Cielo Global Holdings, the Lubbock, Texas-based investment firm focused on AI, machine learning and financial technology, said it hired Sallie Rodriguez as director of talent and culture.
QuickLogic, the Sunnyvale, California-based AI chip maker, said it hired Donald Alexander as vice president of worldwide sales.
Sabio, the Los Angeles, California-based marketing company using machine learning, said it hired Joao Machado as senior vice president of product marketing.