Week Ending 6.14.2020
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 11 acquisitions, 11 equity filing, 23 funding rounds, some regulatory moves, and 17 executive hires in the AI sector.
Read more below ↓
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Milliman, the Seattle, Washington-based consulting and actuarial firm, said it has acquired healthIO, a startup that combines the forces of IoT, big data and AI to predict adverse events and manage chronic health conditions.
Affle, the Mumbai, India-based global technology company with a proprietary consumer intelligence platform, said it has acquired Appnext, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based discovery platform that uses AI.
Rapiscan Systems, the Torrance, California-based global supplier of security inspection technology, said it has acquired an AI platform from Synapse Technology.
RapidAI, the Menlo Park, California-based data-driven stroke imaging platform, said it has acquired EndoVantage, a cerebral aneurysm management platform.
DataRobot, the Boston, Massachusetts-based machine learning platform, said it has acquired Boston Consulting Group’s SOURCE AI Technology.
UnitedLex, the New York City-based technology and legal services company, said it has acquired Paul Hastings’ data science, analysis and investigations team, and its AI-empowered technology services group.
Babel Street, the Washington D.C.-based web and social media monitoring company, said it has acquired the intellectual property assets of Dunami, the Overland Park, Kansas-based AI and machine learning analysis company.
Glickon, the Milano, Italy-based candidate and employee experience platform, said it has acquired the people analytics platform Isaak from StatusToday, the workplace analytics platform.
SevenFifty Technologies, the New York City-based online marketplace and data platform for the U.S. alcohol beverage industry, said it has acquired Bridge, a technology and data-driven solutions provider for the beverage alcohol industry that uses AI.
Other deals include Predictmedix and Pivot International.
FILINGS
Lantern Pharma, the Dallas, Texas-based company developing cancer treatments using AI, saw its shares drop 2 percent below its IPO price on its first day of trading on the Nasdaq. The company raised USD $25.5 million by selling 1.7 million shares, which was upsized from the original 1.6 million shares, at USD $15 each, the lowest end of the price range the deal was marketed on.
Lantern originally filed a placeholder for an as much as USD $27.2 million IPO of 1.6 million shares at USD $15 to USD $17 each on Nasdaq.
Bill.com, the Palo Alto, California-based financial services platform for small and medium-sized businesses using AI, and shareholders raised USD $534.6 million in an upsized follow on of 7.2 million shares at USD $74.25 each, a 1 percent discount. The public offering was upsized from the previously announced size of 6 million shares.
In December, the company raised USD $216 million from an upsized initial public offering of 9.8 million shares at USD $22 each.
Burning Rock Biotech, the Beijing, China-based firm that focuses on early cancer detection using machine learning, saw its shares jump 49 percent on its first day of trading. The company raised USD $222.75 million by selling 13.5 million shares at USD $16.50 each. The public offering was upsized from the previously announced size of 6 million shares. In May, the company originally filed a placeholder for USD $100 million IPO.
Dun & Bradstreet, the Short Hills, New Jersey-based business analytics firm using AI, said it is raising USD $1 billion in an IPO on the NYSE.
Kaleyra, the Milano, Italy-based cloud communications software provider using AI, said it plans to raise a placeholder for USD $40 million from an IPO on the NYSE under the symbol KLR.
Vroom, the New York-based online car retailer using machine learning, saw its shares rise 118 percent above its IPO price on its first day of trading. The company raised USD $467 million by selling 21.2 million shares at USD $22 each, above an already upsized indicative range. Vroom, originally sought USD $431 million from the sale of 18.75 million shares at a range of USD $18 to USD $20. In May, Vroom originally filed a placeholder for USD $100 million IPO.
Boxlight Corp, the Lawrenceville, Georgia-based education company focused on robotics and other technology, said it has raised USD $10 million from a follow on of 13.3 million shares at $0.75 each.
Other filings include Dada Nexus Limited, Brain Scientific, Pluralsight and World Scan Project.
FUNDING
Domino Data Lab, the San Francisco, California-based provider of enterprise data science management platform that uses machine learning, said it has raised USD $43 million in a funding round led by Highland Capital Partners.
Alkemics, the Paris, France-based platform for brands to launch products with retailers using machine learning, said it has raised EUR €21 million (USD $24 million) in a Series C funding round led by Highland Europe.
Alpha Health, the South San Francisco, California-based unified automation company for healthcare using AI, said it has raised USD $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Planck, the New York City-based AI data platform for commercial insurance, said it has raised USD $16 million in a Series B funding round led by Team8 Capital.
Binah.ai, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based provider of general health and wellness video-based monitoring tools powered by AI, said it has raised USD $13.5 million in a Series B round of financing led by Maverick Ventures Israel.
Conversa Health, the Portland, Oregon-based virtual care platform that provides automated patient engagement, said it has raised USD $12 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Builders VC and Northwell Ventures. This brings the total raised to over USD $26 million.
Flatfile, the Denver, Colorado-based developer of a data import solution using AI, said it has raised USD $7.6 million in a seed funding round led by Two Sigma Ventures. Afore Capital, Designer Fund, and Gradient Ventures (Google's AI-focused venture fund) also participated in the round.
The company had just raised USD $2 million from a pre-seed round back in October.
WiBotic, the Seattle, Washington-based developer of wireless charging platforms specifically for robots, said it has raised USD $5.7 million in a Series A funding round led by Junson Capital, SV Tech Ventures, Rolling Bay Ventures, Aves Capital, The W Fund and WRF Capital, amongst others.
Protera, the Chile-based AI-driven startup designing and developing new proteins to enable a wide range of natural and sustainable solutions, said it has raised USD $5.6 million in a Series A financing round led by Sofinnova Partners.
Zeitworks, the Seattle, Washington-based SaaS platform that uses machine learning, said it has raised USD $4.5 million in a seed investment led by Madrona Venture Group.
Veros Systems, the Austin, Texas-based industrial AI company, said it has raised USD $2.2 million in a Series C financing round led by Shell Ventures.
Canopy, the Indianapolis, Indiana-based revenue SaaS platform that uses AI, said it has raised USD $2 million in a seed funding round led by High Alpha Capital and Elevate Ventures.
infiniDome, the Caesarea, Israel-based GPS security company using AI, said it has raised USD $1.6 million in a seed round of funding and the opening of its pre-series A round led by Boundary Holding of India and Luxemburg, Next Gear Ventures of Israel, and Aston Partners of New York.
Upstream Security, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based cloud-based data platform purpose-built for connected vehicles and smart mobility services using machine learning, said it has secured an expansion of its Series B funding with an investment by Salesforce Ventures. The undisclosed amount is in addition to USD $30 million previously invested by Alliance Venture Capital (Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi), Hyundai, Nationwide Insurance, Volvo Group, and others.
Wellsheet, the New York City-based AI-powdered workflow platform, said it has raised USD $3.8 million in a Series A funding round led by SpringTide Investments.
Other fundings include CeADAR, Myelin Foundry, JIFFY.ai, The Hotel Networks, EnsoData, OPORA, SuperAnnotate and Monk.
LEGAL AND REGULATORY
US technology companies push for nationwide facial recognition law after banning police from the use of their technology. See the CNN report here and Politico’s coverage here.
The US Department of Energy is looking for input from AI researchers on how to design a series of open competitions that spur innovation and bolster U.S. technological superiority in AI.
The UK government department has appointed an AI company to help identify and analyze housing data sources to support its Covid-19 response.
PEOPLE
Acoustic, the New York City-based AI-powered marketing cloud platform, said it has hired Dennis Self as CEO.
BioLumic, the Palmerston North, New Zealand-based agricultural company using AI, said it has hired Steve Sibulkin as CEO.
8x8, the Campbell, California-based integrated cloud communications platform that uses AI, said it has hired Samuel Wilson as executive vice president and CFO.
AutoPets, the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based robotic pet equipment manufacturer, said it has hired Joshua Chandler as CFO.
Concord Technologies, the Seattle, Washington-based cloud-based fax software for healthcare providers using machine learning, said it has hired Allegra Landers as chief marketing officer.
AppZen, the San Jose, California-based business services firm using computer vision and natural language processing, said it has hired Wendy Yale as chief marketing officer and Richard Terry-Lloyd as chief revenue officer.
AppZen CEO Anant Kale told Eye on A.I. in March that it was planning a product expansion. Read more here.
EVOTEK, the San Diego, California-based data center operator using AI, said it has hired Mark Campbell as chief innovation officer. Prior to joining EVOTEK, Campbell had leadership roles at Directv, HP, BEA Systems, MCI, Ford Aerospace and the U.S. Navy.
Netskope, the Santa Clara, California-based security cloud firm using machine learning, said it has hired David Fairman as chief security officer for the Asia-Pacific region.
Applied Materials, the Santa Clara, California-based chip and advanced display producer, said it has hired Teri Little as senior vice president and chief legal officer.
numares, the Regensburg, Germany-based diagnostics company that applies machine learning to metabolomics data said it has hired Winton Gibbons as president of its US subsidiary, numares Group Corp.
Datameer, the San Francisco, California-based data pipeline platform for machine learning, said it has hired Ani Sanyal as senior vice president of worldwide sales. In November 2019, the company raised USD $40 million in a funding round led by ST Telemedia.
Sitetracker, the Palo Alto, California-based AI-powdered cloud-based project management platform, said it has hired Brandon Terry as senior vice president of product management.
Icertis, the Bellevue, Washington-based business services firm using AI, said it has hired Ajay Bhandari as executive vice president and global head of professional services. In March, the company hired Pranali Save as chief human resources officer.
Scipher Medicine, the Waltham, Massachusetts-biotechnology company developing a healthcare platform using AI, said it has hired Jerry Conway as senior vice president of market access. In March, the company hired Slava Akmaev as chief technology officer.
iQIYI, the Beijing, China-based AI-powdered online entertainment platform, said it has hired Kuek Yu-Chuang as vice president of international business.
WurkNow, the Irvine, California-based temporary staffing firm using AI, said it has hired Andrew Zarkadas as vice president of sales.
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