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, two equity filings, 32 funding rounds, some regulatory moves and a dozen executive hires in the AI sector.

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MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Medallia, the San Francisco, California-based marketing company using AI, said it acquired Voci Technologies, the real-time speech to text platform.

Medallia acquiring computer vision firm LivingLens for USD 26m in cash in February. Medallia and shareholders, which include venture capital fund Sequoia Capital, raised USD 325.5m in a IPO in July on the NYSE.

Atos, the Paris, France and Irving, Texas-based IT company, said it acquired Miner & Kasch, an AI and data science consulting firm.

Orbo AI, the Mumbai, India-based computer vision firm, acquired Gemia, a unit of AI research firm Arvi, according to a Your Story report.

TapClicks, the San Jose, California-based marketing company using machine learning, said it acquired marketing firm AdStage.

TapClicks hired Kevin Thompson as CFO and Marielle Smith as vice president of people success earlier this month.

In November, the company acquired Megalytic and acquired iSpionage, a marketing firm, in July. TapClicks raised USD 10m from the private equity firm Boathouse Capital in August. It raised a similar amount from Boathouse in September 2018.

Bokio, the Göteborg, Sweden-based accounting services firm using AI, acquired Red Flag, according to a Finextra report.

Thinkster, the Kendall Park, New Jersey-based personalized tutoring company, said it acquired SelectQ, an educational technology platform using AI.

AdRev, the Los Angeles, California-based digital rights management firm, said it acquired Simbals, the French analytics firm using machine learning, according to a press release posted on Shoefire.

Terminal, the San Francisco, California-based remote working support services company, said it acquired ROIKOI, a software developer using AI.

FILINGS

Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. III, the Palo Alto, California-based blank check company focused on acquisitions in industries including AI, traded flat after it raised USD 720m from an upsized initial public offering on the NYSE. The company sold 72m units at USD 10 each.

Social Capital III was originally raising USD 600m. Social Capital II is also out raising USD 300m. Both had originally been scheduled to start trading in March but had been postponed because of the market volatility.

The original blank check Social Capital Hedosophia Holding Corp merged with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic last year.

Skillful Craftsman Education Technology, the Wuxi, China-based online vocational training company using AI, said it is raising as much as USD 16.5m from an initial public offering of 3m shares at USD 4.50 to USD 5.50 each on the Nasdaq.

FUNDING

Blue Prism, the Austin, Texas-based robotic process automation firm, said it raised  £100m (USD 123.6m) in a new funding round led by existing and new investors. Last month, the company hired Ian Horobin as chief product officer. In July, the company acquired AI company Thoughtonomy.

ForgeRock, the San Francisco, California-based digital identity firm using AI, said it raised USD 93.5m in a Series E round of fundraising led by Riverwood Capital. Last month, the company hired Renee Beckloff as vice president of cloud success and former Oracle executive Sudhakar Peddibhotla as vice president of engineering for autonomous identity.

Bestow, the Dallas, Texas-based digital life insurance company using AI, raised USD 50m in a Series B funding led by Valar Ventures, according to a BizJournal report.

Adverity, the London, UK-based marketing firm using AI, said it raised USD 30m in a Series C financing round led by Sapphire Ventures.

Digits, the San Francisco, California-based fintech startup using machine learning, said it raised USD 22m in a Series B round of funding led by GV.

Profitero, the Boston, Massachusetts-based e-commerce analytics platform using machine learning, said it raised USD 20m in a Series B funding round led by Scaleworks. (See People section for latest hiring)

Randori, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based cybersecurity firm using machine learning, said it raised USD 20m in a Series A funding round led by Harmony Partners.

H1, the New York City-based healthcare analytics firm using AI, said it raised USD 12.9m in a Series A funding round led by Menlo Ventures.

Peak, the Manchester, UK-based business services firm using AI, said it raised USD 12m in a new Series A funding co-led by MMC Ventures and Praetura Ventures.

Unlearn.AI, the San Francisco, California-based drug development services firm using AI, said it raised USD 12m in a Series A financing round led by 8VC.

Bodhala, the New York City-based legal industry data platform using AI, said it raised USD 10m in a funding round led by Edison Partners.

FORM, the Vancouver, Canada-based sports technology company using machine learning, said it raised CAD 12m (USD 8.47m) in a Series A funding round led by large family offices in the UK and Denmark with participation from Silicon Valley Bank.

SensorFlow, the Singapore-based energy-efficiency firm using AI, said it raised USD 8.3m in a Series A+ round led by Openspace Ventures and Gaw Capital Partners.

Audiens, the San Jose, California-based marketing technology firm using machine learning, said it raised USD 8m in a funding round led by South Korea's NHN Corp.

SoapBox, the Dublin, Ireland-based voice technology firm using AI, said it raised USD 6.5m in a Series A funding round led by Elkstone Capital.

Auditoria.AI, the Santa Clara, California-based business services firm, said it raised USD 6m in a financing round led by Neotribe Ventures, Engineering Capital and Firebolt Ventures. 

360VUZ, the Dubai, UAE-based virtual mobile app, said it raised USD 5.8m in a Series A funding round led by Shorooq Partners.

Causality Link, the Salt Lake City, Utah-based investment industry services firm using AI, said it raised USD 5m in a Series A round led by HORIZON s.a.

Paige.AI, the New York City-based healthcare services company focused on cancer, said it raised USD 5m in a Series B funding round led by Goldman Sachs. In February, the company hired Leo Grady as CEO.

Comet ML, the New York City-based machine learning platform, said it raised USD 4.75m in a funding round led by Trilogy Equity Partners, Two Sigma Ventures and Founder’s co-op. 

MyndYou, the New York City-based healthcare industry services firm using AI, said it raised USD 4m in a Series A round of financing led by AI Life Sciences.

Other deals include Granulate, Igloo, Vedantu, Hugo, YAP, Trovata.io, SimpliRoute, Lead Inclusively, Guvi, Honestdoor and Easy Eat.AI

LEGAL AND REGULATORY

The US Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center has built prototype AI technology to predict panic buying in Covid-19 hotspots.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology cancels China AI firm contract over human rights concerns.

The Government of Spain has built a conversational assistant using AI to reduce emergency Covid-19 calls.

PEOPLE

Profitero, the Boston, Massachusetts-based e-commerce analytics platform using machine learning, said it hired Bryan Wiener as CEO, Sarah Hofstetter as president and Sandor Palfy as chief technology officer. (See Funding section for latest round)

Databook, the Palo Alto, California-based marketing company using AI, said it hired Jim Christen as COO. In February, the company raised USD 5m in a seed funding round led by Josh Stein at Threshold Ventures.

Aktana, the San Francisco, California-based healthcare industry services using machine language, said it hired Pini Ben-Or as chief science officer, Colm Callan as CFO, Kate Terrell as chief people officer, Mike Weber as vice president of product, Vishal Saxena as vice president of global SaaS operations, Alan Kalton as vice president of customer success EMEA and Eric Yip as vice president of engineering.

Amitech Solutions, the St. Louis, Missouri-based healthcare analytics and automation firm, said it hired Tim Branham as chief strategy officer.

GoBubble, the London, UK-based cybersecurity firm using AI, said it hired John Lloyd as chief marketing officer.

ONCODESIGN, the Dijon, France-based drug development services firm, said it hired Stéphane Gerart as head of its newly formed AI business unit.

Prometric, the Baltimore, Maryland-based human resources testing firm using AI, said it hired Sean Burke as chief client officer and Brooke Smith as chief marketing officer.

Amobee, the Redwood City, California-based advertising company using AI, said it hired former Verizon executive Jack Bamberger as chief commercial officer.

ENACOMM, the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based marketing firm using AI, said it hired Thomas Delaney as vice president of financial sales.

Figure Eight Federal, the Washington, DC-based AI unit of Appen, said it hired David Poirier as senior vice president.

Tachyum, the Santa Clara, California-based AI chip developer, said it hired Elena Zokhidova as vice president of finance. Read our interview with CEO Radoslav Danilak here.

Gurobi Optimization, the Beaverton, Oregon-based business services firm using AI, said it hired Tobias Achterberg as vice president of research and development.

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