Week Ending 5.17.2020
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, 10 equity filings, 39 funding rounds, some regulatory moves and 17 executive hires in the AI sector.
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MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Orexo AB, the Uppsala, Sweden-based developer of pharmaceuticals and digital therapies, said it has acquired the US rights to GAIA AG’s deprexis, a digital therapy to help patients manage depression using AI.
CrowdVision, the London and Los Angeles, California-based automated pedestrian analytics company using AI, said it has merged with iinside, the US LiDAR-based indoor motion detection firm.
Planbox, the Wilmington, Delaware-based business services firm using AI , said it has acquired IdeaConnection, the business services platform. This is Planbox’s fourth acquisition since 2015.
CyberArk, the Newton, Massachusetts and Petach Tikva, Israel-based cybersecurity, said it has acquired Idaptive, a next-gen access platform. Together, they will deliver the industry’s modern identity platform with a security-first approach using AI.
iCIMS, the Holmdel, New Jersey-based human resources software services company, said it has acquired Opening.io, a data science company leveraging AI to recruit top-talent. In June 2019, iCIMS acquired the AI-backed career site Jibe.
Microsoft, the Redmond, Washington-based computer software company , said it has acquired Metaswitch Networks, a provider of virtualized network software.
Net Health, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based provider of cloud-based electronic health software, said it has acquired Tissue Analytics, a developer of AI-powered automated mobile wound and skin imaging and predictive software solutions.
Kustomer, the New York City-based business services platform using AI, said it has acquired Reply.ai. In December, Reply raised USD $60 million in a Series E funding round led by Coatue. In June, Kustomer raised USD $40 million in a Series D funding round.
Other deals include The DNA Company, PureFacts Financial Solution and VMware.
FILINGS
Kingsoft Cloud Holdings, the Beijing, China-based IT firm, saw its shares close their first week of trading up 36 percent on the Nasdaq. The company raised USD $510 million in an upsized initial public offering of 30 million ADS at USD $17 each. The company originally marketed 25 million ADS at USD $16 to USD $18 each.
The company, a unit of Chinese software developer Kingsoft, had originally filed a placeholder of USD $100 million. Smartphone maker Xioami is another shareholder. Kingsoft Cloud plans to use 25 percent of the proceeds to develop AI and other technology.
Novus Capital Corp, the Indianapolis, Indiana-based blank check company targeting acquisitions in industries including AI, refiled for a USD $100 million initial public offering of 10 million units at USD $10 each.
Novus Capital Corp was founded in 2020 and plans to trade under the symbol NOVSU. Novus Capital Corp filed confidentially on March 26.
Lantern Pharma, the Dallas, Texas-based company developing cancer treatments using AI, said it’s raising as much as USD $27.2 million from an initial public offering of 1.6 million shares at USD $15 to USD $17 each on the Nasdaq. Lantern originally filed a placeholder for a USD $29 million IPO.
Kiromic Biopharma, the Houston, Texas-based cancer research firm using AI, said it plans to raise a placeholder for USD $20 million from an initial public offering on the NYSE under the symbol KRBP.
Axcella Health Inc, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company addressing complex diseases using AI, said it has raised USD $52.3 million from a follow on of 11 million shares at USD $4.75 each, an 11 percent discount to the last traded price before the sale.
ZoomInfo, the Vancouver, Washington-based marketing firm using AI, refiled for a placeholder for USD $500 million initial public offering on the Nasdaq. Last November, the company acquired Komiko, a sales software company using AI and started by former Microsoft executives.
Zoominfo and business services firm DiscoverOrg hired former Dell executive Alyssa Lahar as chief human resources officer in September 2019. The two companies announced a merger in February and said it would take a year to complete.
SelectQuote, the Overland Park, Kansas-based insurance distribution platform using machine learning, said it and shareholders are raising as much as USD $425 million from an initial public offering of 25 million shares at USD $17 to USD $19 on the NYSE. The company originally filed a USD $100 million placeholder.
Other filings include Grid Dynamics, Dada Nexus Limited and Greenpower Motor Company.
FUNDING
Dathena, the Singapore-based company that provides AI-powered data protection and privacy management for global enterprises, said it has raised USD $12 million in a Series A funding round led by Jungle Ventures. This funding will support Dathena’s R&D efforts and hiring of NYC-based staff to serve the company’s North American client base. Dathena also plans to expand its co-sell partnership with Microsoft in the US, which will help Azure Cloud and Microsoft 365 customers to automate data protection.
MemSQL, the San Francisco, California-based analytics firm using AI, said it has raised USD $50 million in a new funding round led by Hercules Capital.
SirionLabs, the Seattle, Washington-based AI-powered contract management platform, said it has raised USD $44 million in a Series C funding round led by Tiger Global and Avatar Growth Capital.
Paradox, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based conversational AI platform helping HR automate administrative tasks, said it has raised USD $40 million in a Series B funding led by Brighton Park Capital.
Featurespace, Cambridge, UK-based financial crime detection firm using machine learning, said it has raised GBP £30 million (USD $37.4 million) in a funding round led by Merian Chrysalis Investment Company Limited. In February, the company hired Don Riddick as chief legal officer.
FortressIQ, the San Francisco, California-based business services firm using AI, said it has raised USD $30 million in a Series B funding led by M12.
SiMa.ai, the San Jose, California-based machine learning company developing high performance computing at the lowest power, said it has raised USD $30 million in a Series A funding round led by Dell Technologies Capital.
Lilt, the San Francisco, California-based translation services firm using AI, said it has raised USD $25 million in a Series B funding round led by Intel Capital.
Nanit, the New York City-based AI-powered smart baby monitor and sleep tracker company, said it has raised USD $21 million in a financing round led by Jerusalem Venture Partners.
Deep Labs, the San Francisco, California-based company business transaction authentification firm using AI, said it has raised USD $16 million in a funding round led by Serendipity Capital, Gramercy Ventures and Gunnar Overstrom of Corsair Capital.
Vise, the New York City-based AI-driven investment management platform built, said it has raised USD $14.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital.
accessiBe, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based IT firm using AI, said it has raised USD $12 million in funding led by K1.
Hypersonix, the San Jose, California-based AI-powered analytics platform, said it has raised USD $11.5 million in a Series A funding led by Intel Capital. Hypersonix was founded by former executives from SAP, PayPal, and IBM.
LoanSnap, the San Francisco, California-based developer of smart loan technology using AI, said it has raised USD $10 million in a funding round co-led by True Ventures, Blue Bottle and Fitbit.
Code Climate, the New York City-based engineering intelligence platform using AI, said it has raised USD $8.5 million in a Series B funding round led by Foundry Group.
Quartz System, the San Francisco, California-based company that uses cameras and machine learning to improve safety at construction sites, said it has raised USD $7.5 million in a pre-seed and seed funding round led by Baseline Ventures.
The Yield Technology Solutions, the Sydney, Australia-based agricultural technology company using AI, said it has raised AUD $11 million (USD $7.1 million) in a funding round led by Yamaha Motor Ventures.
Ziva Dynamics, the Vancouver, Canada-based virtual film character software company, said it has raised USD $7 million in a seed round led by Grishin Robotics, Toyota AI Ventures and Millennium Technology Value Partners’ New Horizons Fund.
Day Zero Diagnostics, the Boston, Massachusetts-based infectious disease diagnostics company using machine learning, said it has raised USD $6.2 million in a funding round led by CARB-X, a global non-profit partnership dedicated to antibacterial research.
Flow, previously known as AsiaCollect, the Singapore-based credit management company using AI, said it has raised USD $6 million in a funding round led by DEG, Dymon Asia Ventures, SIG Asia and SCB10X.
Envelop Risk, the London, UK-based cyber underwriting and risk analytics business using AI, said it has raised USD $6 million in a Series A funding round led by Alpha Intelligence Capital.
PathologyWatch, the Salt Lake City, Utah-based dermatology industry services firm using AI, said it has raised USD $5 million in a Series A funding led by Spring Tide Investments and Rock Creek Capital.
LexCheck, the New York City-based AI and legal technology platform, said it has raised USD $3 million in a series seed round of financing led by Kli Capital.
Malbek, the Somerset, New Jersey-based contract management firm using AI, said it has raised USD $3 million in funding led by Osage Venture Partners.
iSIZE Technologies, the London, UK-based company specializing in deep learning for video delivery, said it has raised GBP £740k (USD $896k) in a seed funding round led by Patrick Pichette, ex-Google CFO.
RPA Labs, the San Jose, California-based company develops software bots for companies in logistics and supply chain using AI, said it has raised an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round of unspecified size led by Schematic Ventures.
Prodoscore, the Irvine, California-based developer of an employee productivity tracking tool using AI, said it has raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A funding round. Troy Carter, serial entrepreneur and early-stage investor in Uber, Lyft, Dropbox and Spotify, led the round.
Other funding include CloudWalk Technology, Waymo, DigitalOcean, Immunai, Quizlet, Anyfin, Clear Labs, luiga, Intello Labs, Slimmer AI, Aizen and ConverseNow.AI.
PEOPLE
PROS, the Houston, Texas-based provider of digital sales services using AI, said it has appointed Les Rechan as COO.
Criteo, the Paris, France-based advertising platform using machine learning, said it has appointed Dave Anderson as interim CFO for a six-month engagement in replacement of Benoit Fouilland. Prior to Criteo, Anderson was the CFO for Nielsen Holdings and Honeywell International. In March Criteo said Fouilland had made his own decision to pursue other endeavors.
In November 2019, the company hired former Nielsen executive Megan Clarken as CEO. Former CEO, JB Rudelle will retain his role as chairman.
Bigfinite, the San Francisco, California-based manufacturing analytics platform company using AI, said it has added three executives to their leadership team. Brian Sweeney as chief revenue officer (previously held roles at HP, Oracle and IBM), Lawrence Baisch as chief customer success officer (previously held roles at Salesforce and Oracle) and Glenn Griffin as senior vice president of global alliances (previously held roles at DocuSign and NetSuite).
Last month, the company hired John Vitalie as CEO, David Merino as CFO, Crystal Black as vice president of marketing, Cristian Marfà as vice president of technical sales and Daniel Voicu as vice president of security.
Labelbox, the San Francisco, California-based training data platform for machine learning, said it has hired Ed Chan as vice president of engineering and Dan Buczaczer as chief marketing officer. Just last month, the company hired Josh Beard as head of federal sales. In February, the company hired Jason Stewart as chief revenue officer.
Earlier this month, the Labelbox raised USD $25 million in a Series B funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Last spring, the company raised USD $10 million in a Series A led by Gradient Ventures, the AI-focused venture capital fund run by Google.
Celsius Therapeutics, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based cancer research company using AI, said it has hired Jeanne Magram, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer, Christoph Lengauer, Ph.D., as chief scientific advisor
In May 2019, the company hired Greg Ryslik as chief data officer, and Michael Boretti as chief business officer.
Aprecomm, the Bangalore, India-based AI-enabled IT company, has announced that Gopi Sirineni will be taking up the as chief advisory role in the company and also joining the board of directors.
Berkshire Grey, the Lexington, Massachusetts-based e-commerce industry services firm using robotics and AI, said it has hired Sri Solur as senior vice president and general manager of a new business unit. Last week, the company hired Christine Washburn as chief marketing officer.
In January, the company raised USD $263 million in a Series B financing round. In December 2019, the company hired Steve Johnson as president and COO.
AutoGuide Mobile Robots, the Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based company that designs, develops and manufactures high-payload industrial autonomous mobile robots, said it has hired Mike Harper as vice president of sales and marketing.
MineralTree, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company that provides accounts payable and payment automation solutions using AI, said it has hired Robert Brooks as vice president of engineering.
Causality Link, the Salt Lake City, Utah-based AI-driven investment technology provider, said it has hired Antoine Mallard as vice president of portfolio management. Last month, the company raised USD $5 million in a Series A funding round led by Horizon, a French family office.
Data Center Inc (DCI), the Hutchinson, Kansas-based developer of banking software for community financial institutions using AI, said it has hired Paul Jones as vice president of professional services.
Last month, DCI 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.
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