Week Ending 5.31.2020
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 six acquisitions, one equity filing, 32 funding rounds, some regulatory moves, and 12 executive hires in the AI sector.
Read more below ↓
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Cleareye.ai, the Los Angeles, California-based fintech company, said it has acquired Indian startup AIWare.ai.
Partnerize, the San Francisco, California-based provider of partnership automation company using AI, said it has acquired BranVerity, a leading SaaS provider.
Last year, the company hired Scott Samios as chief revenue officer, and Mike Lemberg as CFO, and raised USD $9M in a funding round led by GP Bullhound, the boutique investment bank focused on technology.
Zscaler, the San Jose, California-based cybersecurity firm, said it has acquired Edgewise Networks, a developer in securing application-to-application communications for public cloud and data centers.
Last month, the company acquired Cloudneeti, a cybersecurity company that uses machine learning.
CM.com, the Breda, Netherlands-based global conversational commerce platform using AI, said it has acquired CX Company, a European digital conversational platform that also uses AI.
Cisco, the San Jose, California-based technology firm, said it has acquired ThousandEyes, a San Francisco, California-based provider of internet and cloud intelligence platform.
In August 2019, Cisco acquired Voicea, which uses AI in voice transcription.
Apple, the Cupertino, California-based mobile phone and computer giant, has acquired machine learning startup Inductiv Inc., according to a media report by Sup News.
FILINGS
ZoomInfo, the Vancouver, Washington-based marketing firm using AI, said it is raising USD $800M in an initial public offering of 44.5M shares at USD $16 to USD $18 each on the Nasdaq. The shares will trade under the symbol ZI. The company had filed a USD $500M placeholder.
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.
FUNDING
DiDi, the Beijing, China-based mobility and convenience platform using AI, said it has raised USD $500M in a funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
insitro, the San Francisco, California-based drug development company using machine learning, said it has raised USD $143M in an oversubscribed Series B financing round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
In September 2019, the company hired Matthew Rasmussen as vice president of data engineering and Duane Valz as general counsel.
Vesta, the Lake Oswego, Oregon-based fraud protection and payments company using machine learning, said it has raised USD $125M in a funding round led by Goldfinch Partners.
In January, the company hired Leo Khan as chief marketing officer. In December, the company hired Laura Stepp as chief people officer.
AbCellera, the Vancouver, Canada-based biotech firm that researches and develops human antibodies to address pandemics and common diseases using machine learning, said it has raised USD $105M in a Series B funding round led by OrbiMed and DCVC Bio.
Scandit, the Zurich, Switzerland-based technology platform for mobile computer vision and augmented reality, said it has raised USD $80M in a Series C funding round led by G2VP.
Exscientia, the Oxford, UK-based AI drug discovery company, said it has raised USD $60M in a Series C funding round led by Novo Holdings.
In October 2019, the company hired Gregory Egorov as CFO.
Synack, the Redwood City, California-based security platform using AI, said it has raised USD $52M in a Series D funding round co-led by C5 Capital and B Capital Group.
The company will invest this new capital into its core products that combine hacker talent with AI and machine learning to find and fix exploitable vulnerabilities at scale.
Decibel, the London, UK-based real-time intelligence platform that enables businesses to improve customer experiences using machine learning, said it has raised USD $40M in a Series B funding round led by Perwyn.
Last month, the company hired Shane Phair as chief marketing officer. In November 2019, the company raised USD $17M in a Series B funding round led by Draper Esprit.
Kentik, the San Francisco, California-based network intelligence platform, said it has raised USD $23.5M in a funding round led by Vistara Capital Partners.
Fundbox, the San Francisco, California-based B2B payments and credit network using AI, said it has raised USD $20M 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 $200M.
In January, Fundbox 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.
Bright.md, the Portland, Oregon-based virtual healthcare company using AI, said it has closed a USD $16.7M a Series C funding round led by B Capital, Seven Peaks Ventures and Concord Health Partners.
Bright.md will use the funding for accelerated market and technology expansion of their flagship product, SmartExam, a capacity-boosting, AI-powered, asynchronous telehealth platform already implemented in hospitals and healthcare systems across the U.S. and Canada.
In March, the company said it had raised USD $8M in the Series C.
D-ID, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based tech startup protecting privacy using AI, said it has raised USD $13.5M in a Series A funding round led by AXA Venture Partners.
Stackin’, the Los Angeles, California-based text message-based financial platform using machine learning, said it has raised USD $12.6M in a Series B funding round led by Octopus Ventures.
Enview, the San Francisco, California-based 3D geospatial data firm using AI, said it has raised USD $12M in an oversubscribed round of funding led by Statkraft Ventures.
In the first part of May, the company said it had raised an undisclosed amount in a round of funding led by BrightCap Ventures with participation from several investors which included Skype co-founder Toivo Annus.
Orbita, the Boston, Massachusetts-based provider of conversational AI-powered chatbots for healthcare, said it has raised USD $9M in a Series A funding round co-led by Philips Health Technology Ventures and HealthX Ventures.
Tugboat Logic, the San Francisco, California-based security assurance platform using machine learning, said it has raised USD $8M in a funding round led by Inovia Capital. The company plans to use the funding to further its patent-pending AssureLogic AI engine.
Greeneye Technology, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based agriculture technology firm using AI, said it has raised USD $7M in a seed funding round led by JVP. Syngenta Ventures, the investment unit of the largest crop chemical producer in the world, also participated.
Toro Data Labs, the San Francisco, California-based data quality monitoring solution using machine learning, said it has raised USD $4M in a seed funding round co-led by Costanoa Ventures and Point72 Ventures.
Datch, the Los Angeles, California-based tech startup, said it has raised USD $3.2M in a seed funding for its “Voice-Visual” AI assistant. The round was led by Blue Bear Capital.
Warehouse Exchange, the Los Angeles, California-based on-demand warehouse platform powered by AI, said it has raised USD $2.2M in a seed funding led by Xebec Realty.
Otologic Technologies, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based startup developing a diagnostic AI system to help doctors better diagnose ear diseases, said it has raised USD $275K.
Promaxo, the Oakland, California-based medical technology startup developing a portable single-sided MRI that uses AI, said it has raised an unspecified amount in a first tranche of Series B funding led by Kineticos Disruptor Fund. The funding will be used for the continued development of the company’s robotic and AI programs. Previously, Promaxo said it had planned to raise a total of USD $40M in the Series B.
Greyparrot.ai, the London, UK-based AI startup to power next-generation robotics and smart systems that will monitor, sort and reuse waste, said it has raised GBP £1.825M (USD $2.2M) in a seed funding round led by Speedinvest.
PXL Vision, the Zurich, Switzerland-based developer of software powered by computer vision, AI and machine learning, said it has raised CHF 4.6M (USD $4.7M) in a seed funding round led by SIX Fintech Ventures.
Bluecore, the New York City-based retail marketing platform using AI, said it has raised USD $50M in a Series D funding round led by Georgian Partners.
Other fundings include DefinedCrowd, Spectrm, Wiz.ai, Endofonotics, Accern, Statespace and Dishcraft Robotics.
LEGAL AND REGULATORY
Japan passes bill to build AI-powered ‘super cities’ addressing societal issues.
The UK Space Agency announced GBP £1M in funding for a competition to find innovations in areas such as AI to combat the growing issue of space debris.
PEOPLE
Intrusion, the Richardson, Texas-based entity identification company using machine learning, said it has named Jack B. Blount as president and CEO. Before joining Intrusion, Blount had an extensive career in big data, cybersecurity and AI, and held positions at the US Department of Agriculture and IBM.
Entelo, the San Francisco, California-based recruiting company using machine learning, said it has hired former Jobvite executive Robert Tsao as CEO.
Last year, the company acquired ConveyIQ, a staffing technology company.
Flagship Pioneering, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based life sciences innovation enterprise, said it has hired Fabrice Chouraqui as both CEO-partner of flagship pioneering and CEO of Cellarity, the first company developing medicines through an understanding of cell behaviors that uses machine learning.
Biofourmis, the Boston, Massachusetts-based AI-powered remote monitoring platform, said it has hired Matt Borowiecki as CFO.
Everguard.ai, the Irvine, California-based worker safety firm, said it has hired Mark Bula as chief strategy officer and general manager of steel.
TeraRecon, the Durham, North Carolina-based medical imaging firm using AI, said it has hired John Danahy as chief revenue officer and Martin Clancy as vice president of finance.
Progress, the Bedford, Massachusetts-based IT firm using machine learning, said it has hired Jeremy Segal as senior vice president of corporate development. Prior to joining Progress, Segal was the global head of corporate development at LogMeIn. Progress said Segal would help with its M&A strategy.
Carbon Relay, the Boston, Massachusetts-based IT services firm using machine learning, said it has hired Josh Viney as vice president of product.
In February, the company raised USD $63M in a funding round led by Insight Partners.
Rajant, the Malvern, Pennsylvania-based wireless networks firm, said it has hired Jon Lederman as vice president of AI.
Lederman is the CEO and founder of New York-based Spinor, which is developing AI technology for creating conversational voice technology for enterprise and consumer applications. He also co-founded the San Francisco-based audio technology startup SonicCloud.
WhiteHat Security, the San Jose, California-based cybersecurity company using AI, said it has hired Tanya Gay as vice president of operations and business strategy, and has promoted Judy Sunblade to vice president of revenue growth and enablement.
In February, the company hired Chris Leffel as vice president of product management. In November, the company hired Anthony Bettini as chief technology officer.
Last year, the company was acquired by NTT Security, a unit of Japanese telecommunications firm NTT.
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