LinkedIn boosts its messaging with smart replies, pre-written, AI based interactions

 LinkedIn — the Microsoft-owned platform for those who want to network with professional contacts and advance their own careers — has been in the middle of a long-term makeover of its social tools, as it looks to drive more usage. Today comes the latest chapter in that story: the site is unveiling a new smart reply feature in its messaging app, which gives users prompts with… Read More Continue reading LinkedIn boosts its messaging with smart replies, pre-written, AI based interactions

ActionIQ nabs $30M led by A16Z to bring big data targeting to marketers

 The trend of using big data analytics to glean more targeted insights for your business continues to be democratized, with an increasing number of startups hitting the market to help those who are not data scientists nor engineers take advantage of these kinds of tools. In the latest development, a startup called ActionIQ — a marketing activation platform that gives marketers better… Read More Continue reading ActionIQ nabs $30M led by A16Z to bring big data targeting to marketers

Data is the name of the game, as Intel Capital puts $60M in 15 startups, $566M in 2017 overall

 Intel Capital, the investment arm of the processor giant, is today announcing its latest tranche of investments, a total of nearly $60 million going in to 15 startups that are working on solving different problems in the bigger area of big data (with a full rundown below). The investments come on the back of a big year for the group: In 2017 so far, Intel says that it’s invested $566… Read More Continue reading Data is the name of the game, as Intel Capital puts $60M in 15 startups, $566M in 2017 overall

Commerce specialist Lightspeed POS raises $166M as it preps for an IPO in 2019

 E-commerce and digitally-based financial transactions have consistently been one of the biggest and most lucrative areas of the tech world, and today a commerce startup out of Canada is laying down its claim to be among the significant players in the field.
Lightspeed POS, which provides point of sale, accounting, inventory management, purchasing analytics, and other related services to… Read More Continue reading Commerce specialist Lightspeed POS raises $166M as it preps for an IPO in 2019

Apple acqui-hired the team from messaging assistant Init.ai to work on Siri

 Earlier this week, a small startup called Init.ai announced that it soon would be discontinuing its service — a smart assistant for customer representatives to parse and get better insights from their interactions with users, as well as automate some of the interactions — because the team was (according to a notice on the site) “joining a project that touches the lives of… Read More Continue reading Apple acqui-hired the team from messaging assistant Init.ai to work on Siri

LinkedIn to launch Talent Insights, a new analytics tool, as it dives deeper into data

 LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned social network for the working world with some 500 million members, has made a large business out of recruitment — with some 11 million job listings on the site at any given time, and the recruitment market providing the company with its largest source of revenue. Now it is taking another step ahead in building out that business with a new product:… Read More Continue reading LinkedIn to launch Talent Insights, a new analytics tool, as it dives deeper into data

Elements, Stripe’s new check-out toolkit, aims to boost e-commerce sales completions

 Stripe, the payments startup is now valued at $9 billion, is today taking the wraps off its latest effort to help its customers — which now number in the hundreds of thousands, and include companies like Lyft, Salesforce, Facebook, Deliveroo, and the U.K. government — generate more transactions, and thus greater returns for Stripe itself. It is launching Elements, a free toolkit… Read More Continue reading Elements, Stripe’s new check-out toolkit, aims to boost e-commerce sales completions

Truphone raises $339M to retire debt and step up in connecting IoT devices

 Truphone, a mobile company based out of London that made a name for itself through low-cost international mobile voice and data plans, is taking a very big step forward in a strategy to catapult itself into the future of communications: the company has picked up a massive £255 million ($339 million), funding that it will use to retire its debt and double down on providing data connectivity… Read More Continue reading Truphone raises $339M to retire debt and step up in connecting IoT devices

Facebook partners with ZipRecruiter and more aggregators as it ramps up in jobs

job listing Facebook has made no secret of its wish to do more in the online recruitment market — encroaching on territory today dominated by LinkedIn, the leader in tapping social networking graphs to boost job-hunting. Today, Facebook is taking the next step in that process. Facebook will now integrate with ZipRecruiter — an aggregator that allows those looking to fill jobs to post ads to… Read More Continue reading Facebook partners with ZipRecruiter and more aggregators as it ramps up in jobs

Onfido raises $30M more for its AI-based identity verification technology

 Malicious hackers and security breaches that have exposed personal information of millions of people have pushed the issue of online security into the spotlight, not just for individuals but for organizations that do business with them. Now a company called Onfido, which has built a way to help websites verify people’s identities using a photo-based identity document, a selfie and… Read More Continue reading Onfido raises $30M more for its AI-based identity verification technology