Week Ending 07.28.19
GRIDSUM EVALUATES MBO & PARSONS AQUIRES QVR
DYNATRACE, RAPT & INPIXON MOVING FORWARD WITH SHARE SALES
IFLYTEK RAISES USD 400M & BEHAVOX RAISES USD 100M IN FUNDING ROUNDS
AI-DRIVEN DATA CENTERS PRESENT RISKS
ALIVCOR & SOUNDCOMMERCE HIRE FORMER AMAZON EXECS
TOP AI M&A INFOGRAPHIC
AND MORE ↓
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MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
EnPro, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based industrial product maker, said it is acquiring LeanTeq, the Taiwanese semiconducter production machinery maker. One of LeanTeq’s specialties is equipment used to make AI chips.
CEVA, the Mountain View, California-based company licensing AI processors, said it acquired the Hillcrest Laboratories business from InterDigital.
In April CEVA promoted Michael Boukaya to chief operating officer. He was general manager of the company’s wireless business unit.
Gridsum, the Beijing, China-based analytics platform using AI, said it received a management buyout offer and formed a special committee to evaluate the proposal. Last year the company fell afoul of Nasdaq listing regulations.
Mynd Property Management, the Oakland, California-based property management company, said it acquired HomeUnion, which offers a property valuation product that uses AI.
Parsons, the Centreville, Virginia-based defense company using AI, said it acquired electronic warfare technology company QRC, for USD 215m.
FILINGS
Dynatrace, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based AI company, said it and shareholders are raising as much as USD 463m from an upsized initial public offering of 35.6m shares at USD 11 to USD 13 each.
The company filed earlier for a USD 300m initial public offering on the NYSE. The company is backed by Thomas Bravo, the private equity firm.
RAPT Therapeutics, the South San Francisco, California-based cancer research firm using machine learning, said it is raising as much as USD 80m from a downsized initial public offering of 5m shares at USD 14 to USD 16 each.
The company originally filed a USD 86m placeholder on the Nasdaq.
Inpixon, the Palo Alto, California-based cybersecurity company using AI, said it is raising USD 18m from the upsized sale of convertible preferred stock with warrants. It had filed a USD 15m deal in June.
The company said earlier this month it acquired Jibestream, a location technology firm. In September, the company hired Adam Benson as chief technology officer.
Livongo Health, the Mountain View, California-based healthcare platform using machine learning, saw its shares close up 36% on the first day of trading.
The company said it raised USD 356m from an upsized initial public offering of 12.7m shares at USD 28 each.
The company originally sought USD 246m in an initial public offering of 10.7m shares on the Nasdaq at USD 20 to USD 23 each.
Castle Biosciences, the Friendswood, Texas-based cancer research firm using AI, saw its shares rise 34% on the first day of trading.
The company said it raised USD 64m in an initial public offering from the sale of 4m shares, which was upsized by 700k shares, at USD 16 each, the highest end of the marketed range.
The company had originally sought up to USD 53m from an initial public offering on the Nasdaq of 3.33m shares at USD 14 to USD 16 each.
Health Catalyst, the Salt Lake City, Utah-based data analytics company using AI, saw its shares jump as much as 49% on the first day of trading.
The company said it raised USD 182m in an upsized initial public offering of 7m shares at USD 26 each. The company had originally planned to sell 6m shares at a range of USD 20 to USD 23.
Other deals include Bio Essence, Telemynd, mPhase Technologies, Adynxx, which acquired Alliqua BioMedical in October last year, and Sundial Growers
FUNDING
Open AI, the San Francisco, California-based AI company, said it raised USD 1bn from Microsoft.
iFlytek, the Hefei, China-based natural language technology company using AI, said it raised USD 407m in a funding round led by Anhui Railway Development Fund and state-run investment fund China Reform Holdings, according to a Slator.com report.
Behavox, the New York City-based AI company, raised USD 100m in an unspecified funding round from unidentified investors, according to a Telegraph report.
UVeye, the Tel-Aviv, Israel-based auto inspection company using AI, said it raised USD 31m in a funding round led by a unit of Japanese car marker Toyota and Volvo, the Chinese owned, Swedish-based car maker.
Fetch Robotics, the San Jose, California-based warehousing robot maker, said it raised USD 46m in a Series C funding round led by Fort Ross Ventures. Existing investor Softbank also participated.
Standard Cognition, the San Francisco, California-based company developing automated retail check-out technology, said it raised USD 35m in a Series B led by EQT Ventures.
Late last year, the company raised USD 40m in a Series A led by Initialized Capital, the early stage venture capital outfit.
In July Standard raised USD 5.5m in seed funding from existing investor CRV. It also hired former Macy’s executive Jon Nam as head of global operations and former Walmart executive Evan Shiue as head of corporate strategy and growth.
Brainly, the Krakow, Poland-based secondary education platform using machine learning, said it raised USD 30m in a funding round led by Naspers.
Cambridge Touch Technologies, the Cambridge, U.K-based 3D electronic sensor company using AI, said it raised USD 10m in a Series B led by Japanese chemicals and plastics company Kureha.
Minute.ly, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based video company using AI, said it raised USD 8m in a financing round that included Ansonia Holdings and Infront.
Replicant, the San Francisco, California-based conversational technology company using AI, said it raised USD 7m in a seed funding led by Atomic. (See People section for the company new CEO)
Freedom Robotics, the San Francisco, California-based robotics software developer, said it raised USD 6.6m in a seed funding led by Initialized Capital, according to a VentureBeat report. The company filed a Form D here.
axial3D, the Cleymont, Delaware-based 3D printing firm using machine language, said it raised USD 3m in a funding round led by London-based Imprimatur Capital Fund Management.
And Softbank, the Tokyo, Japan-based technology company, said it launched the USD 108bn Vision Fund 2 but about one-third of the funds raised was its own money. Huge technology firms are contributing funds including Microsoft, Apple and Foxconn,
The company had targeted 100bn for the second fund. In the first USD 98bn Vision Fund Softbank invested USD 28bn.
LEGAL AND REGULATORY
AI in data centers presents risks, according to a report from the Uptime Institute Network carried in Data Centre Dynamics, a UK-based website.
PEOPLE
Replicant, the San Francisco, California-based conversational technology company using AI, said it hired Gadi Shamia, former chief operating officer of call center Talkdesk, as CEO. (See Funding section for the company’s seed round)
AliveCor, the Mountain View, California-based medical technology company using AI, said it hired former Amazon executive Priya Abani as CEO. Vinod Khosla was also elected chairman of the board of directors. Khosla is the founder of VC firm Khosla Ventures and Sun Microsystems.
Giant Oak, the Arlington, Virginia-based analytics platform using AI, said it hired Karelle Joun as CFO.
SoundCommerce, the Seattle, Washington-based marketing platform using AI, said it hired former Amazon executive hired Meredith Han as COO.
Digital Harmonic, the Ellicott City, Maryland-based signal and image processing company using AI, said it hired Mason Baron as chief technology officer.
Quanergy Systems, the Sunnyvale, California-based company developing AI software used in autonomous driving, said it hired Enzo Signore as chief marketing officer.
It hired semiconductor executive Gary Saunders as chief revenue officer in April. In November the company raised an unspecified amount in a Series C. The company did not disclose the investors in the round, which it said valued the company at over USD 2bn. Ford executive Karen Francis joined the company’s board of directors last year.
Caveonix, the Falls Church, Virginia-based cybersecurity company using machine learning, said it hired Erich Baumgartner as chief revenue officer.
Apixio, the San Mateo, California-based healthcare analytics company using AI, said it hired Tom McNamara as chief growth officer.
Selvita, the Krakow, Poland-based clinical stage drug discovery company with an AI unit, said it hired Setareh Shamsili as chief medical officer.
Joveo, the Redwood City, California-based recruitment software company using machine learning, said it hired Prajakt Deshpande as vice president of engineering.
Cielo, the Lubbock, Texas-based investment company focused on technology and AI, said it hired former Lockheed Martin executive Wade Haselden as director of business development.
Mitek Systems, the San Diego, California-based identity verification platform using AI, said it hired Judith Ohrn Hicks as vice president, global people operations.
BetterUp, the San Francisco, California-based training and coaching platform, said it hired Gaurav Kataria as vice president of product to build out its artificial intelligence and machine learning capacity.
DATA
Global Data published an infographic highlighting the AI acquisitions of some of the largest technology companies here.