Week Ending 08.18.19
Decooda to kick off USD 25m Series B in fall
Globant acquires Belatrix
Apex IPO to raise USD 275m
TPG funds Lucidworks and Au10tix
WEF sees five hurdles to AI
Israel’s RSIP opens Silicon Valley office
and more ↓
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Decooda CEO David Johnson
THE LATEST FROM EYE ON A.I.
Decooda, the Atlanta, Georgia-based AI company, plans to kick off a USD 25m Series B in the fall, CEO David Johnson said.
The company originally planned to focus on the retail industry, helping companies understand consumer buying decisions.
It, however, was approached by a hedge fund and asked to analyze company data, and now its work in the financial sector accounts for 80% of its revenue, Johnson said.
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Globant, the Buenos Aires, Argentina-based technology services company using AI, said it acquired Belatrix Software.
Barracuda, the Campbell, California-based cybersecurity company, said it acquired bot detection technology from InfiSecure Technologies. InfiSecure uses machine learning.
Fiix, the Toronto, Canada-based financial software maker, said it acquired Alchemy IoT, which makes similar software with AI.
Accenture, the New York City-based professional services company, said it is acquiring Analytics8, the Australian data and analytics firm using AI.
Accenture acquired TargetST8 Consulting, which specializes in commercial lending with AI, in October.
In July last year Accenture acquired Kogentix, an AI and big data company, and Real Time Analytics Platform, a machine learning and neural networks firm.
A venture capital fund run by the professional services firm acquired a minority stake in Malong Technologies, the Shenzhen, China-based AI company, around the same time.
Ola, the Bangalore, India-based ride hailing company, said it acquired Pikup.ai.
Formant, the San Francisco, California-based robotics software company, said it acquired robotics firm Formation.
Compulink Healthcare, the Newbury Park, California-based medial practice management software company using AI, said it acquired contact lens reordering firm MyEyeStore.
Virtual Instruments, the San Jose, California-based AI company, said it acquired Metricly, the business software developer.
FILINGS
Cloudflare, the San Francisco, California-based cybersecurity company using machine learning, said it is raising a placeholder USD 100m in an initial public offering on the NYSE.
Apex Technology Acquisition, the Burlingame, California special purpose acquisition company, said it is raising USD 275m from the sale of 27.5m units at USD 10 each. The company plans to acquire software companies, including machine learning and artificial intelligence firms.
Inpixon, the Palo Alto, California-based cybersecurity company using AI, said it is raising a less-then-planned USD 4.8m from the sale of common and convertible preferred shares with warrants.
During the course of the sale the company had sought as much as USD 15m and as little as USD 6m.
In July, Inpixon acquired Jibestream, a location technology firm. In September, the company hired Adam Benson as chief technology officer.
RONN Motor, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based hydrogen fuel car maker using machine learning, said it is raising as much as USD 80m from the sale of 10m shares at USD 5 to USD 8 each.
And WeWork has filed for a USD 1bn placeholder IPO.
Other deals include a Form D from TriniCorp Robotics and another filing from mPhase Technologies
FUNDING
Lucidworks, the San Francisco, California-based search company using AI, said it raised USD 100m from investors including Francisco Partners and TPG Sixth Street.
Au10tix, the Nicosia, Cyprus-based identity verification and authentication platform using AI, raised USD 60m from TPG Tech Adjacencies, according to a Finsmes report. Au10tix is a subsidiary of ICTS International, a security services firm started by former Israeli intelligence agents.
Uniphore, the Palo Alto, California-based conversational technology company using AI, said it raised USD 51m in a Series C funding led by March Capital Partners.
REBEL, the Sao Paulo, Brazil-based online personal loan platform using AI, said it raised BRL 167m (USD 42m) in a securitization of loans picked up by investors including XP Asset Management and Franklin Templeton.
Incorta, the San Mateo, California-based data warehouse using AI, said it raised USD 30m in a Series C funding led by Sorenson Capital.
Pavilion Data Systems, the San Jose, California-based AI company, said it raised USD 25m in a Series C funding led by Taiwania Capital and RPS Ventures.
Mux, the San Francisco, California-based video company using machine learning, said it raised USD 20m in a Series B funding led by Evolution Media.
Buoy Health, the Boston, Massachusetts-based health platform using AI, said it raised USD 15m in a Series B funding led by tech financier Bill Hambrecht and health insurance firm Humana.
Alegion, the Austin, Texas-based data services firm using AI, said it raised USD 12m in a Series A-2 round led by RHS Investments.
ayfie, the Denver, Colorado-based analytics company using machine learning, said it raised USD 10m in a new funding round.
MyHealthTeams, the San Francisco, California-based social network using machine learning for people facing chronic health conditions, said it raised USD 9.44m in a Series B led by the drug developer UCB.
Nudge Rewards, the Toronto, Canada-based marketing company using machine learning, said it raised USD 9.3m in a funding round led by Chicago-based Jump Capital.
Miko, the Mumbai, India-based robotics company, raised USD 7.5m in Series A funding led by Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures India), according to a Business Standard report.
Talview, the Palo Alto, California-based recruitment company using AI, raised USD 6.75m in a Series A funding from investors including Storm Ventures, according to a VCCIRCLE report.
VeriSIM Life, the San Francisco, California-based medical research firm using machine learning, raised USD 5.2m in a funding round led by OCA Ventures and Serra Ventures, according to a Finsmes report.
KromaTiD, the Denver, Colorado-based gene editing company using AI, said First Capital Ventures funded a Series A of unspecified size.
LEGAL AND REGULATORY
The US Department of Defense is hosting an AI challenge for disaster recovery.
US state governments and AI, from Fortune.
The World Economic Forum highlights five challenges for government adoption of AI.
UK AI investment attacked.
PEOPLE
RSIP Vision, the Jerusalem, Israel-based image processing company using AI, said it promoted Moshe Safran to CEO of its new US offices in Silicon Valley. He will also head business development.
MindEdge Learning, the Boston, Massachusetts-based business education firm using AI, said it hired Hugo Lallo as chief technology officer.
Alteryx, the Irvine, California-based data analytics company using AI, said it hired former CapitalOne and PayPal executive Amy Heidersbach as chief marketing officer.
Appen, the Sydney, Australia-based AI company, said it hired former Oracle executive Jon Kondo as senior vice president of sales and marketing and former IBM executive Roc Tian as senior vice president of sales and marketing in China.
Appen completed the acquisition of FigureEight, which also produces datasets used in AI and machine learning, in April.
Benson Hill Biosystems, the St. Louis, Missouri-based agricultural company using machine learning, said it hired Kelly Fischer as vice president of people. She was previously at Express Scripts, which was acquired by Cigna.
Protenus, the Baltimore, Maryland-based healthcare compliance analytics platform using AI, said it hired Monica Giffhorn as vice president of marketing.
Biodesix, the Boulder, Colorado-based lung cancer diagnostic company using AI, said it hired former AbbVie executive Robert Georgantas as senior vice president of research and translational science.