Week Ending 3.8.2020
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 Veego co-founder Amir Kotler. The Israeli AI company plans to raise up to USD 17m in a Series A.
Next up is nine acquisitions, three equity filings, 27 funding rounds, a handful of regulatory moves and 16 executive hires in the AI sector.
Companies we have tracked over the past year or so in the news this week include SymphonyAI, MindBridge Analytics, Trace Genomics, WeTrade, Investview, Ordr, Semios, Zapata Computing, Ambyint, AliveCor, Evntus Systems, Venus Concept, Appier, Tractable, Catasys and Stampli
See all of this and more below ↓
Veego co-founder and CEO Amir Kotler
OUR EXCLUSIVE THIS WEEK
Veego to seek up to USD 17m in Series A later this year
Tel Aviv-based company expects to quadruple number of clients on back of new funding round
Veego, the enterprise-level IoT troubleshooting firm using AI, plans to raise up to USD 17m in a Series A later this year, says co-founder and CEO Amir Kotler.
The round is currently scheduled to kick off towards the end of summer and close by November.
Proceeds would go to building out the team to provide support for more clients, Kotler says. Currently the firm can service about 50 clients but by the end of they year they want that number to quadruple to at least 200.
Read the full story here.
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
OMNIQ, the Salt Lake City, Utah-based computer vision image processing company, said it acquired parking management software firm Eyepax USA.
SymphonyAI, the Los Altos, California-based startup incubator, said it acquired TeraRecon, the Foster City, California-based visualization and AI software developer.
Symphony AI acquired Azima, a machinery diagnostics company, in May.
NVIDIA, the Santa Clara, California-based AI chip maker, said it acquired SwiftStack, the data storage firm.
TechTarget, the Newton, Massachusetts-based marketing company, said it acquired Data Science Central, the publishing firm focused on AI and machine learning.
MindBridge Analytics, the Ontario, Canada-based auditing services firm using AI, said it acquired Brevis.
In June, MindBridge received USD 11m in new funding from the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund, an investment vehicle focused on AI.
Trace Genomics, the Burlingame, California-based agricultural technology company using machine learning, said it acquired soil processing assets from WinField United.
Trace raised USD 13m in a Series A in November last year from undisclosed investors. In October, it hired Dan Vradenburg as CEO. The company is developing tools for farmers using AI to increase crop yields.
FILINGS
SelectQuote, the Overland Park, Kansas-based insurance distribution platform using machine learning, said it is raising a placeholder USD 100m in an initial public offering on the NYSE.
WeTrade, the Beijing, China-based travel company using AI, said shareholders were raising USD 991k from the sale of 330,337 shares at USD 3.00 each.
In October, the company said it planned to raise USD 300k from the sale of 100k shares at USD 3.00 each over the counter in the US, where it is incorporated in Wyoming.
Investview, which brought in Joseph Cammarata as CEO in December, also refiled for the sale of shares and warrants.
FUNDING
Element Science, the San Francisco, California-based wearable medical device company using machine learning, said it raised USD 145.6m in a Series C financing round led by Deerfield Healthcare and Qiming Venture Partners USA.
Rigetti Computing, the Berkley, California-based company developing quantum computing, said it raised USD 71m. TechCrunch called it a down round. Story here.
Hailo, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based AI chipmaker, said it raised USD 60m in a Series B funding round led by ABB Technology Ventures.
Ordr, the Santa Clara, California-based cybersecurity firm using machine learning, has now raised USD 50m in an expanded Series B from the Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente Ventures, according to a P&T Community report.
In December, the company raised USD 27.5m in the Series B led by Battery Ventures. In October the company hired former Cisco executive Anthony Dumont as vice president of worldwide sales.
FiveAI, the Cambridge, UK-based autonomous driving software developer, said it raised USD 41m in a Series B funding round led by Trustbridge Partners, Direct Line Group and Sistema VC.
Semios, the Vancouver, British Columbia-based farming platform using AI, said it raised USD 25m in debt financing from CIBC Innovation Banking.
Last month, the company raised USD 75m in a funding round led by Morningside Group.
Suki, the Redwood City, California-based natural language processing firm, said it raised USD 20m in a Series B funding round led by Flare Capital Partners. The company is developing a digital assistant for doctors.
Talespin, the Los Angeles, California-based AR/VR workforce training firm, said it raised USD 15m in a Series B funding round led by Cornerstone OnDemand.
SiLC Technologies, the Monrovia, California-based computer vision chip maker, said it raised USD 12m in a seed financing round led by the venture capital unit at Dell.
unitQ, the San Mateo, California-based marketing firm using machine learning, said it raised USD 11m in a Series A funding round led by Gradient Ventures, Google's AI-focused venture fund.
FastForward.ai, the Mountain View, California-based marketing firm, said it raised USD 8m in a seed funding round led by General Catalyst and Ulu Ventures.
Mostly AI, the Vienna, Austria-based AI data firm, raised USD 5m in a Series A funding round led by Earlybird, according to a Finsmes report.
Deep Sig, the Arlington, Virginia-based company developing AI for use in 5G, IoT and cybersecurity, raised USD 5m in a Series A financing round led by Leawood Venture Capital, according to Finsmes report.
Dexai Robotics, the Boston, Massachusetts-based commercial kitchen robot maker, said it raised USD 5.5m in a seed round led by Hyperplane Venture Capital.
Reserved.AI, the Bellevue, Washington-based business services firm, said it raised USD 3.3m in a funding round led by Amplify Partners and Pioneer Square Labs. The company works to reduce cloud computing costs for clients.
WorldWatch Plus, the Kennesaw, Georgia-based identity screening firm using AI, said it raised USD 2.9m in a Series A round of financing led by Naples Technology Ventures, the early stage venture capital firm based in Florida.
Respeecher, the Kyiv, Ukraine-based call center technology company using AI, raised USD 1.5m in a seed funding round led by New York-based ff Venture Capital, according to Finsmes report.
Zapata Computing, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based enterprise software developer focused on quantum computing, said it raised an unspecified amount from the venture capital unit of Honeywell. The two companies plan to release a quantum computer by the end of the first half.
In April, Zapata raised USD 21m in a Series A led by Comcast Ventures and Prelude Ventures. A venture capital unit of Germany’s BASF also participated.
Ayar Labs, the Santa Clara, California-based semiconductor firm developing chip components used in AI, said it raised an unspecified amount from defense developer Lockheed Martin.
Other deals include Culture Biosciences, Basil Street, Mavenoid, Sonrai Analytics, Ziotag, Deep Sentinel and Sparta Science
And
Waymo, the autonomous vehicle division of Mountain View, California-based Alphabet, said it raised USD 2.25bn in a funding round led by Silver Lake, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Mubadala Investment.
Finally, startups are exploiting the hazy definition of AI, with over 40% of companies using the term but not the technology, according to a Wired report.
PEOPLE
Jazz Networks, the Washington, DC-based cybersecurity company using machine learning, said it hired Joel Brunson as CEO of its federal government unit. Brunson will serve in the same position at sister firm Vaion, the New York City-based video security company using AI.
Ambyint, the Houston, Texas-based oilfield services firm using AI, said it hired Blake McLean as CFO.
Last month, the company raised USD 15m in a Series B funding round led by Cottonwood Venture Partners. In August, it hired David Zahn as COO.
BlackBerry, the Waterloo, Canada-based business software developer using AI, said it hired former Intel executive Marjorie Dickman as chief government affairs and public policy offer.
In November 2018, the company acquired Cylance, the cybersecurity company using AI, for USD 1.4bn cash.
AliveCor, the Mountain View, California-based medical technology company using AI, said it hired former Amazon executive Siva Somayajula as chief technology officer.
In July, the company 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.
Sitecore, the San Francisco, California-based marketing firm using AI, said it hired Tom De Ridder as chief technology officer.
Eventus Systems, the Austin, Texas-based anti-financial fraud company using AI, said it hired Eric Einfalt as chief strategy officer and David Mitchell as regional sales executive, North America.
In February, the company raised USD 10.5m in a Series A funding round led by Jump Capital and LiveOak Venture Partners.
Curation Health, the Annapolis, Maryland-based clinical decision support platform using AI, said it hired Nick Reding as chief product officer.
Marchex, the Seattle, Washington-based marketing firm using natural language processing, said it hired Ryan Polley as chief product and strategy officer.
Venus Concept, the Toronto, Canada-based company developing hair restoration processes, said it hired Chad Zaring as chief commercial officer.
In November, the company completed the reverse merger of Nasdaq-listed Restoration Robotics, the company developing an automated system used in hair loss surgery.
MDOTM, the Milano, Italy-based investment advisory firm using AI, hired Simone Facchinato as chief investment officer, according to a Investment Europe report.
Appier, the Taipei, Taiwan-based online marketing firm using AI, said it hired Shou-De Lin as chief machine learning scientist.
In December, the company raised USD 80m in Series D funding that included a Temasek fund and JAFCO. Previous investors have included Alibaba, SoftBank, and Line, the chat app. Over the last two years Appier has acquired QGraph and Emotion Intelligence, an AI marketing firm.
Tachyum, the Santa Clara, California-based company developing AI chips, said it hired Stephen Dilbeck as senior director, system on chip.
Tractable, the London, UK-based insurance technology firm using AI, said it hired Jimmy Spears as head of automotive, North America.
Last week, the company raised USD 25m in a Series C funding round led by Georgian Partners.
twoXAR Pharmaceuticals, the Mountain View, California-based drug discovery company using AI, said it hired Mark Eller as senior vice president of research and development and Anjali Pandey as senior vice president of nonclinical R&D and chemistry.
Catasys, the Los Angeles, California-based healthcare company using AI, said it hired Brian Kelly as senior executive vice president, product portfolio.
In December, the company hired Curt Medeiros as president and COO and in June hired Daniel Prewitt as senior vice president of sales. In April, the company hired Carol Murdock as chief commercial officer.
Stampli, the Mountain View, California-based business services using AI, said it hired Shane Hamby as vice president of product.
The company closed a USD 25m Series B round in October led by SignalFire. A venture capital unit of media firm Bloomberg also participated.
SUBSCRIBE FOR THE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER.