Week Ending 11.10.19
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 kick off our corporate finance newsletter with our exclusive coverage of the Brainbox Series A.
Next up is about a dozen mergers and acquisitions, four equity filings, 15 funding rounds, a handful of government moves on AI and 14 executive moves.
Companies we have tracked over the past year in the news this week include Amperity, DXC Technology, Biodesix, Ideanomics and UiPath.
See all of this and more below ↓
Sam Ramadori, chief business development officer at Brainbox AI
Our Exclusive Interview This Week
Brainbox AI, the Montreal, Canada-based building services firm, is currently running a Series A round targeting both venture capital and strategic players, according to Sam Ramadori, chief business development officer.
The round is expected to close before the end of the year. Ramadori declined to comment further.
CTO and co-founder Jean Simon Venne told this news service in May the company may kick off a funding round by the end of 2019. At that time the company was looking at different options that included a seed round of a few million dollars or the possibility of something larger with a strategic player, such as a real estate firm.
Ramadori said the momentum the company has generated in the six months since launching into the market in May, when he joined the firm, is driving for a larger round.
At that time the company was working with less than half a million square feet of real estate and is now at 6m square feet. The company expects to hit 10m by the end of the year.
Read the entire story here
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Workday, the Pleasanton, California-based business services firm using AI, said it plans to acquire Google and Salesforce-backed Scout RFP for USD 540m in cash.
OpenGate Capital, the Los Angeles and Paris, France-based private equity firm, said it acquired CoreMedia, the digital marketing company based in Germany using AI.
Amperity, the Seattle, Washington-based marketing firm using AI, said it required Custora, another marketing firm.
Amperity raised USD 50m in a Series C funding that included Tiger Global Management and Goldman Sachs in July. In April, Amperity hired former Starbucks and Microsoft executive Lynn Girotto as chief marketing officer.
Life360, the San Jose, California-based social media platform for families, said it acquired Zeescreen, an app using AI to monitor computer usage.
Building Engines, the Boston Massachusetts-based commercial real estate platform, said it acquired Synlio, a real estate documentation service using AI.
Zebra Technologies, the Lincolnshire, Illinois-based business services company, said it acquired Cortexica Vision Systems, the AI company based in London.
LinQuest, the Los Angeles, California-based space systems technology company, said it acquired The Perduco Group, an analytics firm using machine learning.
Mateon Therapeutics, the South San Francisco, California-based drug developer, said it completed the acquisition of PointR Data announced in August. Mateon said at the time it was acquiring the company for its AI technology.
Blue Ridge, the Atlanta, Georgia-based supply chain company using machine learning, said it acquired Prolific Virtue, a price optimization firm.
Venus Concept, the Toronto, Canada-based company developing hair restoration processes, said it completed the reverse merger of Nasdaq-listed Restoration Robotics, the company developing an automated system used in hair loss surgery.
DXC Technology, the Tysons, Virginia-based IT services company using AI, said it acquired Blueleader, a consulting firm using AI.
In September, DXC hired former Accenture executive Mike Salvino as president and CEO. Mike Lawrie, who had held the CEO role retired and will step down as chairman of the board of directors at the end of the year.
FILINGS
Canaan, the Hangzhou, China-based AI chip designer and cryptocurrency mining machine maker, refiled for a placeholder USD 400m initial public offering on the Nasdaq.
Q&K International, the Shanghai, China-based apartment rental platform using machine learning, saw its shares rise 2.5% on the first day of Nasdaq trading.
The company raised USD 45.9m from the downsized initial public offering of 2.7m American depositary shares at USD 17 each, the lowest end of the marketed range. It had originally sought USD 100m from the sale of 5.2m ADS but then cut that last week to as much as USD 51m from 2.7m ADS at USD 17 to USD 19 each with a dual-class shareholding structure.
Other deals include Adynxx, which acquired Alliqua BioMedical in October last year, and Yield10 Bioscience, the Woburn, Massachusetts-based agricultural company using AI.
FUNDING
Coveo, the Quebec City, Canada-based business services firm using AI, said it raised USD 227m in a Series F funding round led by OMERS Growth Equity.
Riskified, the New York City-based payments and fraud-prevention company using machine learning, said it raised USD 165m in a Series E funding round led by General Atlantic.
HomeLight, the San Francisco, California-based real estate platform using machine learning, said it raised USD 109m in a Series C funding led by Zeev Ventures.
Reonomy, the New York City-based property platform backed by Softbank, said it raised USD 60m in Series D funding led by Georgian Partners. Venture capital units of Citigroup and Wells Fargo also participated.
Human Longevity, the San Diego, California-based health analytics platform using machine learning, said it raised USD 30m in financing from investors that included Emerging Technology Partners.
Snapdocs, the San Francisco, California-based real estate platform using AI, said it raised USD 25m in Series B funding led by F-Prime Capital, the technology focused investment firm based in Massachusetts.
AiCure, the New York City-based healthcare analytics company using AI, said it raised USD 24.5m in a Series C led by Palisades Growth Capital, the technology focused private equity firm based in Los Angeles.
Nightfall AI, the San Francisco, California-based cybersecurity company using AI, said it raised USD 20.3m in funding led by Bain Capital Ventures and Venrock. The company was previously called Watchtower.
Bigfinite, the San Francisco, California-based manufacturing analytics platform using AI, said it raised USD 15m in Series B financing that included investors such as growth equity investor Atlantic Bridge and the venture capital unit of Honeywell, the aerospace firm.
Neural Magic, the Somerville, Massachusetts-based AI company, said it raised USD 15m in seed financing led by the venture capital unit of cable operator Comcast.
Anonos, the New York City-based data privacy platform using AI, raised USD 12m in a funding round led by Edison Partners, the growth equity investment firm based in New Jersey, according to a Finsmes report.
Inkbit, the Medford, Massachusetts-based 3D printer maker using AI, said it raised USD 12m in an unspecified equity financing round led by Stratasys, the Israeli 3D printer maker, and DSM Venturing.
RedMarlin, the Los Altos, California-based fraud prevention platform using AI, said it raised USD 10m in Series A funding led by the family office Thomvest Ventures and Crosslink Capital.
CTO.ai, the Vancouver, Canada-based computer services firm, said it raised USD 7.5m in seed funding led by Tiger Global and a venture capital unit of Slack.
Metawave, the Palo Alto, California-based company developing autonomous driving technology, said it completed a Series A funding round of unspecified size led by Japanese auto parts maker DENSO. Venture capital units of South Korea’s Mirae and NTT Docomo also participated.
LEGAL AND REGULATORY
The US National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence released a report to Congress outlining five ways the US can maintain advantages in AI. One recommendation is pooling data with other democratic nations.
IBM outlines a list of policy prescriptions on facial recognition, including consent, in a blog post with PDF.
PEOPLE
Biodesix, the Boulder, Colorado-based lung cancer diagnostic company using AI, said current COO Scott Hutton will become CEO on January 1. Current CEO and cofounder David Brunel will become chairman.
Biodesix hired James Jett as chief marketing officer in October and in August hired former AbbVie executive Robert Georgantas as senior vice president of research and translational science.
The company announced the acquisition of the lab and test business of Oncimmune last week.
riskmethods, the Munich, Germany and Boston, Massachusetts-based supply chain risk management company using AI, said it hired Patrik Heider as CEO.
Radcom, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based telecom industry services provider using machine learning, said it promoted Eyal Harari to CEO. Current CEO Yaron Ravkaie becomes chairman.
POET Technologies, the Toronto, Canada-based AI sensor developer, said it hired Vivek Rajgarhia as president and general manager. CEO Suresh Venkatesan has also taken on the role of chairman.
U.S. Bank, the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based financial institution, said it hired former Capital One executive Tanushree Luke as head of AI.
eSUB Construction Software, the San Diego, California-based construction industry data platform, said it hired Matt Belkin, the president of AI software company Bigsquid, as COO.
The Delaware Board of Trade, a unit of AI company Ideanomics that develops financial trading systems, said it hired former Fidelity Investments executive Joseph Valenza as chief revenue officer and president. Ideanomics took control of the company in May after it acquired an additional 71.7% of the financial services firm. The company now holds a 98.4% stake.
healtheo360, the Princeton, New Jersey-based social network platform for patients using AI, said it hired Robert Cecere as chief growth officer.
Glympse Bio, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based healthcare firm using machine learning, said it hired former Biogen excutive Tracey Dawson as chief commercial officer and head of strategy.
PsychoGenics, the Paramus, New Jersey-based medical research firm using AI, said it hired Mark Varney as chief scientific officer.
Volta Charging, the San Francisco, California-based electric vehicle charging network developer, said it hired AI expert Praveen Mandal as chief technology officer.
UiPath, the New York City-based robotics process automation company, said it hired former Google and SAP executive Chris Klayko as senior vice president of sales for the Americas.
Last month the company acquired StepShot, the documentation software company, and Dutch software firm ProcessGold.
In September UiPath hired Chris Townsend as vice president of federal sales. In May, the company raised USD 568m in a Series D led by Coatue, the technology-focused hedge fund. It raised USD 225m in a Series C led by CapitalG and Sequoia Capital in September last year.
Vectra AI, the San Jose, California-based cybersecurity firm using AI, said it hired Jennifer Geisler as chief marketing officer and Jodi Sutton as vice president of business operations.
ETS, the Princeton, New Jersey-based nonprofit educational services firm using AI, said it promoted Andreas Oranje to vice president of assessment and learning technology development.
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