Week Ending 7.5.2020
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 eight acquisitions, 10 equity filings, 32 funding rounds, some regulatory moves, and 23 executive hires in the AI sector.
Read more below ↓
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
NetObjex, the Irvine, California-based operating platform for digital assets that uses AI, said it has acquired VitalGrid, the Toronto, Canada-based business technology and management consulting firm.
Informatica, the Redwood City, California-based enterprise cloud data management using AI, said it has acquired Compact Solutions. The acquisition strengthens the company’s current leadership in metadata-driven AI and automation.
OneTrust, the Atlanta, Georgia-based privacy software company using AI, said it has acquired the startup Integris Software, AI-powered data discovery and classification technology.
UAS Drone Corp, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based engaged in the production and sale of drones, said it has acquired Duke Robotics, a robotic system designed to serve tech solutions in the combat field.
MYOS RENS Technology, the Cedar Knolls, New Jersey-based advanced nutrition company, said it has acquired MedAvail, the Ontario, Canada-based telemedicine-enabled pharmacy platform that uses robotics.
VMware, the Palo Alto, California-based business software company using AI, said it plans to acquire Datrium, a provider of hybrid cloud infrastructure.
Other deals include Healthy.io and Eko.
FILINGS
XP Inc, the Sao Paulo, Brazil-based technology-driven financial services platform using AI, said it plans to raise a placeholder for USD $1 billion from an IPO. The company is planning to sell 19.5 million shares at USD $42.50 each on the Nasdaq under the symbol XP.
Artius Acquisitions, the New York City-based blank check group focused on AI businesses, said it plans to raise a placeholder for USD $525 million from an IPO. The company is planning to sell 52.5 million shares at USD $10 each on the Nasdaq under the symbol AACQU.
BlueCity Holdings Limited, the Beijing, China-based online LGBTQ community and dating platform, refiled for a USD $103.6 million IPO of 2.6 million shares at USD $15 to USD $17 each on Nasdaq under the symbol BLCT. Last month, the company originally filed an IPO for USD $50 million.
Kubient, the New York City-based AI-powered advertising platform for advertisers and publishers, said it plans to raise a placeholder for USD $9.5 million from an IPO on the Nasdaq under the symbol KBNT. Last year, the company acquired Fidelity Media.
Other deals include Ascendant Digital Acquisition, Ecoark Holdings, ekso Bionics, Father Time and Quhuo Limited.
FUNDING
Anduril, the Orange County, California-based silicon valley-based technology company using AI, has raised USD $200 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, according to a media report by Forbes.
Fivetran, the Oakland, California-based provider of automated data integration using machine learning, said it has raised USD $100 million in a Series C financing round co-led by General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz.
Mynd Property Management, the Oakland, California-based property management company using AI, said it has raised USD $41.5 million in a Series C funding round led by Wells Fargo. In October 2019, the company acquired property management firm Empire Industries.
Area 1 Security, the Redwood City, California-based cybersecurity company offering AI-driven protection against phishing attacks, said it has raised USD $25 million in a funding round led by Forge Point Capital.
Owkin, the New York City-based startup using machines learning to medical research, said it has raised USD $18 million in a funding round led by Mubadala Capital and Bpifrance. This Series A extension brings the startup’s total amount raised to USD $70 million.
Cynet, the New York City-based autonomous breach protection platform startup, said it has raised USD $18 million in a Series B+ funding round led by Telekom Innovation Pool.
Hunters.AI, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based autonomous hunting solution that detects cyberattacks, said it has raised USD $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Microsoft’s venture fund M12.
Veriff, the Tallinn, Estonia-based online identity verification company using AI, said it has raised USD $15.5 million in a financing round led by NordicNinja VC.
DigniFi, the Seattle, Washington-based financing platform for auto repairs and services using AI, said it has raised USD $14 million in a Series A funding from BuildGroup.
Upsolver, the Sunnyvale, California-based cloud-native standard for data lake computing using machine learning, said it has raised USD $13 million in a Series A financing round led by Vertex Ventures US.
Elementary Robotics, the Los Angeles, California-based robotics startups, said it has raised USD $12.7 million in a Series A funding round led by Threshold Ventures.
Aclaimant, the Chicago, Illinois-based insight-driven workflow platform for safety and risk management, said it has raised USD $10 million in a Series A funding led by Mercury Fund, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on AI platforms.
Capital, the New York City-based fundraising process helping ambitious companies get funded using AI-powered “Capital Machine” platform, said it has raised USD $9 million in a seed funding round led by Jerry Yang's AME Cloud Ventures.
Hi Marley, the Boston, Massachusetts-based startup that is developing an AI messaging platform for insurers, said it has raised USD $8 million in financing round co-led by True Ventures and Underscore VC.
Overjet, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based provider of AI-powered technology for the dental industry, said it has raised USD $7.85 million in series seed funding led by top tech VC firm Crosslink Capital.
FraudScope, the Atlanta, Georgia-based healthcare fraud detection platform using AI, said it has raised USD $7 million in seed round funding co-led by Spider Capital and GRA Venture Fund.
Emissary, the New York City-based private sales intelligence network firm, said it has raised USD $6.3 million in a funding round led by G20 Ventures.
Rios, the Palo Alto, California-based developer of dexterous AI-powered robots for automating assembly lines, said it has raised USD $5 million in a funding round led by Valley Capital Partners.
inHEART, the Pessac, France-based providing a cloud-based medical image analysis solution using AI, said it has raised EUR €3.7 million (USD $4.17 million) in a funding round led by Elaia.
Spiketrap, the San Francisco, California-based AI-powered consumer intelligence platform, said it has raised USD $3 million in seed funding led by Susa Ventures. Founded in 2016, Spiketrap’s team of 15 people is comprised of seasoned industry leaders from Amazon, Apple Inc., Logitech, and AdColony.
Pactum, the Mountain View, California-based AI-based platform that enables global companies to automate personalized commercial negotiations, said it has raised USD $3 million in a seed financing round led by Project A.
StrategyBox, the Vancouver, British Columbia-based marketing analytics platform using AI, said it has raised USD $2 million in seed funding led by Fuel Ventures of London.
Riders Share, the Austin, Texas-based motorcycle rental platform using machine learning, said it has raised USD $2 million in a Series A round of financing led by LiveOak Venture Partners.
AskBrian, the Munich, Germany-based startup specialized in applied AI and provider of AI-based digital assistant Brian, said it has raised an undisclosed amount in an angel funding round led by business angels Björn Kolbmüller and Paul Schwarzenholz (founders of Zenloop and Flaconi).
Other fundings include Botsync, Intento, neo.tax, Voicemod, PuduTech, Layr, Pattern89 and Inspektlabs.
LEGAL AND REGULATORY
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recommended the Federal government increase funding for non-defense AI technologies in order to ensure U.S. world leadership in development and deployment of the technology.
UK government issues GBP £16 million funding to speed up life-saving diagnoses using AI.
PEOPLE
Spectral MD, the Dallas, Texas-based medical device company using AI, said it has promoted Wensheng Fan to CEO.
Data Center Inc (DCI), the Hutchinson, Kansas-based developer of banking software for community financial institutions using AI, said it has hired Sarah Fankhauser as CEO. Fankhauser is the only female CEO among major core providers in the US bank technology industry. In April, the company acquired Vetter technology suite to build out their AI-enabled voice banking products, and the company promoted Dennis Queal to executive vice president and CFO.
Fundbox, the San Francisco, California-based B2B payments and credit network using AI, said it has promoted Eyal Shinar, current CEO, to executive chairman. Also, the company has promoted Prashant Fuloria (currently their COO), to CEO. In May, the company raised USD $20 million in a Series C funding round led by MUFG Innovation Partners Co. This brings the total capital raised in their Series C round from September 2019 to almost USD $200 million.
Current Health, the Boston, Massachusetts-based AI-powered remote patient monitoring and telehealth company, said it has hired Adam Wolfberg as chief medical officer. Last month, the company hired John McLean as chief growth officer and CFO.
Realtor.com, the Santa Clara, California-based property platform using machine learning, said it has hired Mickey Neuberger as chief marketing officer. Prior to joining Realtor.com, Neuberger held various senior marketing and product leadership roles at organizations such as 24-Hour Fitness, Loyalty Lab, Travelocity, and most recently eBay, as vice president global marketing. Last month, the company hired Rachel Morley as chief product officer.
Lodo Therapeutics, the New York City-based reinventing natural product drug discovery using AI, said it has hired Steve Colletti as chief scientific officer, and Brad Hover, PhD, as vice president of discovery research and platform technology.
MemSQL, the San Francisco, California-based analytics firm using AI, said it has hired Jordan Tigani as chief product officer. Tigani was formerly the director of product management for Google BigQuery. In May, the company raised USD $50 million in a new funding round led by Hercules Capital.
Capitolis, the New York and Tel Aviv, Israel-based SaaS platform that drives financial resource optimization for capital markets, said it has hired Rahul Auradkar as chief product officer. Auradkar joins Capitolis with vast experience in the machine learning and AI industry from previous roles at Microsoft, Apptio and AnsweriQ.
Ivanti, the Salt Lake City, Utah-based that automates IT and security operations, said it has hired Nayaki Nayyar as executive vice president and chief product officer. Before joining Ivanti, Nayyar held several technology leadership roles at BMC, SAP, Valero and Shell.
Itiviti, the Paris, France-based technology and service provider to financial institutions, said it has hired Mireille Adebiyi as head of marketing and communications. She spent most of her career at Murex and joins from AI pioneer, Yseop, where she held her most recent position as chief marketing officer.
LiquidX, the New York City-based corporate finance company using blockchain technology and machine learning analytics, said it has hired Todd Lynady as managing director and global head of insurance sales and business development.
DailyPay, the New York City-based provider of the daily pay benefit, said it has hired David Dyar as senior vice president of engineering. Prior to joining DailyPay, Dyar served as senior vice president of engineering at BlueCore, an AI-driven retail marketing platform.
Resolve Systems, the Campbell, California-based global leader in accelerating incident resolutions for IT operations using AI, said it has hired Prashant Ketkar (formerly with Microsoft and Oracle) as senior vice president of product, and Abhinay Padhye (formerly with Cisco) as senior vice president of engineering. In January, the company hired Vijay Kurkal as CEO.
Stradigi AI, the Montreal, Canada-based AI software company enabling organizations to bring business-accelerating AI to fruition, said it has hired Chris Hegarty as vice president of business development. In November 2019, the company raised USD $40.3 million in a Series A co-led by Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Investissement Québec.
Everguard.ai, the Irvine, California-based AI-based worker safety firm, said it has hired Sanjay Pandya as vice president and general manager of construction. In May, the company hired Mark Bula as chief strategy officer and general manager of steel.
LTCG, the Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based insurance administration and claims solution provider for long term care insurance using machine learning, said it has hired Jeff Ferrand as vice president of fraud services.
SentinelOne, the Mountain View, California-based cybersecurity firm using AI, said it has hired Patty Trexler as vice president of government, healthcare, and education. Before joining SentinelOne, Trexler held leadership roles at VMWare, EMC and McAfee. Last month, the company hired Chuck Fontana as senior vice president of corporate and business development. In February, the company raised USD $200 million in a Series E funding led by Insight Partners.
Microsoft, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based computer software company, said it has promoted Mariana Castro to the vice president of sales, marketing, and operations for Latin America.
Vital Data Technology, the Newport Beach, California-based data science-driven healthcare solutions company improving clinical and financial outcomes with their proprietary AI-enabled platform, Affinitē™, said it has hired Peter Janelle as director of risk adjustment solutions. In May, the company hired Doug Downing as COO.
NexTech AR Solutions, the Toronto, Canada-based developer of a proprietary AR advertising platform, said it has hired Arnaud Amet as director of sales for Europe. In May, the company acquired Jolokia, a virtual event, remote video training, and live streaming software company.
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