Week Ending 1.19.2020
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 nine acquisitions, one equity filing, 22 funding rounds, a handful of regulatory moves and 23 executive hires in the AI sector.
Companies we have tracked over the past year or so in the news this week include Synopsys, Human Longevity, BioNtech, Accenture, Bigfoot Biomedical, 6sense, KeyMe, Buoy Health, Cloudera, Resolve Systems, Fundbox, Eightfold.ai and CUJO AI.
See all of this, a special offer from our sponsor application design and development company Infinite Red and more below ↓
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
ProctorU, the Birmingham, Alabama-based exam security and identity management company using AI, and Yardstick Assessment Strategies said they are merging to form Meazure Learning.
Synopsys, the Mountain View, California-based software developer, said it completed the acquisition of intellectual property assets from eSilicon, which will allow it to scale in the AI market. In November, the company also completed the acquisition of circuit board maker DINI.
Digital Dream Labs, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based children’s educational company, said it acquired Anki Robotics and AI assets.
Human Longevity, the San Diego, California-based health analytics platform using machine learning, said it acquired DoctorsForMe, the portal that connects patients to physicians. In November, the company hired Thomas Caskey as chief medical officer and announced a USD 30m financing from investors that included Emerging Technology Partners.
BioNtech, the Mainz, Germany-based company developing cancer treatments using AI, said it acquired Neon. In October, the company raised USD 150m in a downsized Nasdaq IPO.
Cornerstone OnDemand, the Los Angeles, California-based human resources firm, said it acquired Clustree, an HR tech firm using AI.
LogicMonitor, the Santa Barbara, California-based information technology industry services firm, said it acquired Unomaly, the Swedish AI firm.
Apple, the Cupertino, California-based mobile phone and computer giant, acquired Xnor.ai, according to a GeekWire report.
Accenture, the New York City-based professional services company, said it completed the acquisition of AI and machine learning consultancy Clarity Insights from private equity firm RLH Partners.
Accenture acquired Happen, the consumer marketing firm using AI, and Sutter Mills, a marketing company using AI, in October. The previous month it acquired Spanish AI company Pragsis Bidoop.
In August, Accenture said it was acquiring Analytics8, the Australian data and analytics firm using AI. It acquired TargetST8 Consulting, which specializes in commercial lending with AI, in October 2018.
In July of that 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.
FILINGS
Lizhi, the Guangzhou, China-based audio app using AI, saw its shares close 5.73% higher on the first day of Nasdaq trading.
The company raised USD 45m from an initial public offering of 4.1m American depositary shares at USD 11.00 each, the lowest end of the marketed range. The company filed a placeholder USD 100m initial public offering in November.
FUNDING
Concerto HealthAI, the Boston, Massachusetts-based oncology analytics firm, said it raised USD 150m in a Series B financing led by Declaration Partners.
Zinier, the San Francisco, California-based equipment monitoring firm using AI, said it raised USD 90m in a Series C funding round led by ICONIQ Capital. A venture capital unit of Qualcomm also participated
Bigfoot Biomedical, the Milpitas, California-based company using machine learning to treat diabetes, said it raised USD 45m in a Series C funding round led by Abbott. In October, the company hired Ian Hanson as chief technology officer and Jyoti Palaniappan as chief commercial officer. Hanson was chief operating officer at Unilife, a medical device maker. Palaniappan led the US diabetes operations at Abbott.
6sense, the San Francisco, California-based business services firm using AI, said it raised USD 40m in a Series C funding round led by Insight Partners. In April, the company raised USD 27m in a funding round led by Industry Ventures. Venture funds from Bain Capital and Salesforce also participated.
KeyMe, the New York City-based company using AI and robotics to make keys at kiosks, said it raised USD 35m in a financing round led by Brentwood Associates. In April, the company raised USD 50m from a BlackRock credit fund.
Verbit, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based professional transcription and captioning services firm using AI, raised USD 31m in a Series B round led by Stripes, according to TechCrunch report.
Phenom People, the Amber, Pennsylvania-based human resources platform using AI, raised USD 30m in a Series C round led by WestBridge Capital, according to VentureBeat report.
Seeq, the Seattle, Washington-based industrial analytics software developer using machine learning, said it raised an additional USD 24m in an expanded Series B funding led by Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures.
AI2 Incubator, the Seattle, Washington-based AI platform, said it raised USD 10m for a pre-seed fund from backers that included Madrona Venture, Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, and Two Sigma Ventures.
Clew, the Netanya, Israel-based AI healthcare analytics platform, raised USD 10m in a Series B financing round led by Pitango Venture Capital, according to a Globes report.
Buoy Health, the Boston, Massachusetts-based healthcare platform using AI, said it raised around USD 5m in an expanded Series B funding round from Cigna Ventures, according to a Finsmes report.
In August, the company announced a USD 15m Series B led by tech financier Bill Hambrecht and health insurance firm Humana.
Mixergy, the Oxford, England-based firm developing home hot water tanks that use machine learning, said it raised £3.6m (USD 4.68m) in a Series A round from investors that included Foresight Williams Technology, Oxford Sciences Innovation, IP Group and Centrica Innovations.
Hachi Tama, the Kanagawa, Japan-based pet-tech firm using AI, said it raised USD 4m in a pre-Series A.
Gentem, the San Francisco, California-based health industry services firm using machine learning, said it raised USD 3.7m in a funding round led by Susa Ventures.
Arpeggio Bio, the Boulder, Colorado-based drug development services firm using machine learning, said it raised USD 3.2m in seed funding.
TestFit, the Dallas, Texas-based engineering services firm using AI, said it raised USD 2m in seed funding from Parkway Venture Capital.
Plotly, the Montreal, Canada-based data visualization platform, said it raised USD 1.7m in a funding round led by Scale AI.
Other deals include Insurify, Kenoby, Spoke Phone, DrChrono and Iterative Scopes
LEGAL AND REGULATORY
Europe may ban facial recognition software for up to five years amid privacy concerns, according to a Reuters report, while the US Congress moves towards facial recognition regulation, according to a VentureBeat report.
The UK Government announces AI warship contracts.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in stresses government role in fostering AI.
A report on China and the AI arms race from Global Defense Technology
PEOPLE
Cloudera, the Palo Alto, California business software company using AI, named Robert Bearden as president and CEO. Bearden joined when Cloudera acquired Hortonworks last year, where he was a co-founder and CEO. Cloudera acquired assets from AI company Arcadia Data in September.
Zebra Medical Vision, the Kibutz Shfayim, Israel-based medical imaging analytics company using machine learning, said it hired Ohad Arazi as CEO.
Emburse, the Los Angeles, California-based corporate expenses platform using machine learning, said it hired Eric Friedrichsen as CEO.
Resolve Systems, the Irvine, California-based AI firm, said it hired Vijay Kurkal as CEO. In August, the company acquired AI company FixStream.
ENACOMM, the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based customer authentication firm using AI, said it hired Shawn Hughes as president and COO.
Progress, the Bedford, Massachusetts-based app development services firm using machine learning, said it hired Anthony Folger as CFO.
Fundbox, the San Francisco, California-based payments and credit network using AI, said it hired Marten Abrahamsen as CFO. In November, the company hired Leslie Olsen as chief marketing officer, Allison Wirth as chief compliance officer and Todd Hamblet as chief legal officer and corporate secretary.
Fundbox raised USD 176m in a Series C and a USD 150m credit facility that included venture capital units of Germany’s Allianz and Japan’s MUFG in September.
Eightfold.ai, the Mountain View, California-based human resources company using AI, said it hired Celia Poon as CFO. In December, the company hired Tracy Flynn as head of human resources and Jeff Griggs as senior vice president of global sales. The company raised USD 28m in a Series C in April.
CUJO AI, the El Segundo, California-based AI company focused on the telecommunications industry, said it hired Tuomas Laine as CFO. In December, the company hired Kimmo Kasslin as vice president of laboratories operations.
Splitty, the Rishon Lezion, Israel-based booking platform using machine learning, said it hired Gil Harel as chief commercial officer.
Aparavi, the Santa Monica, California-based data services company using machine learning, said it hired Gary Lyng as chief marketing officer.
Innominds, the San Jose, California-based business services firm using AI, said it hired Sairam Vedam as chief marketing officer.
HERE, the Amsterdam, Netherlands-based mapping and location services firm, said it hired Fred Hessabi as senior vice president and general manager of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Russia. Hessabi is the former president of C3.ai International, the business software firm.
RightHand Robotics, the Boston, Massachusetts autonomous picking machine maker, said it hired Larry Chin as head of sales.
Red Sift, the San Francisco, California-based email security company using AI, said it hired Chuck Swenberg as senior vice president of strategy.
MRP Prelytix, the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based business software firm using AI, said it hired Garry Dawson as senior vice president of global ABM.
Triblio, the Reston, Virginia-based marketing company using AI, said it hired Acacia Waller as vice president of customer success.
SpotHero, the digital parking services firm using AI, said it hired Jim Terpstra as vice president of corporate and business development, Eric Brooke as vice president of engineering, Matt DiBari as vice president of product, Nate Phillips as vice president of enterprise sales and client development and Sandy Schwarz as vice president of finance and accounting.
Other hiring includes Momentum Worldwide, Cloudleaf, Vacasa and WorkReduce
Our Sponsor
The people at the application design and development company Infinite Red are offering a free mini-course, AI Demystified. It's a great place to start for anyone who wants to get up to speed.
At the end of five days, you will be able to speak intelligently and confidently about supervised, unsupervised and reinforcement learning and about practical business applications for AI.
If you're a business leader or have friends or family that you would like to understand the basics of AI, recommended to them.
We think everyone who wants to participate in the global conversation about our future should understand this stuff. Check it out at www.learn.infinite.red
SUBSCRIBE FOR THE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER.