Samsung quietly acquires Greek text-to-speech startup Innoetics for under $50M

 With the launch of Bixby and reports that Samsung is building its own competitor to Amazon’s Echo, the consumer electronics giant has now made an acquisition that could help power its next generation of voice-powered services. Samsung has acquired Innoetics, a startup out of Greece that has developed text-to-speech and voice-to-speech technology that can, among other things, listen to… Read More Continue reading Samsung quietly acquires Greek text-to-speech startup Innoetics for under $50M

More funding for AI cybersecurity: Darktrace raises $75M at an $825M valuation

Digital security key concept background with binary data code With cybercrime projected to reap some $6 trillion in damages by 2021, and businesses likely to invest around $1 trillion over the next five years to try to mitigate that, we’re seeing a rise of startups that are building innovative ways to combat malicious hackers. In the latest development, Darktrace — a cybersecurity firm that uses machine learning to detect and stop attacks… Read More Continue reading More funding for AI cybersecurity: Darktrace raises $75M at an $825M valuation

UK’s Tide raises $14M to challenge big banks with a mobile-first service for SMBs

 Europe has seen a large wave of startup banks pop up in the last few years — businesses like N26, Atom and Monzo that are taking on the big incumbents by creating faster and cheaper services for a new class of consumers as they grow up and enter the working world. Now a startup has raised a sizeable Series A to tackle what it believes is a similar opportunity in the small business… Read More Continue reading UK’s Tide raises $14M to challenge big banks with a mobile-first service for SMBs

UK’s Tide raises $14M to challenge big banks with a mobile-first service for SMBs

 Europe has seen a large wave of startup banks pop up in the last few years — businesses like N26, Atom and Monzo that are taking on the big incumbents by creating faster and cheaper services for a new class of consumers as they grow up and enter the working world. Now a startup has raised a sizeable Series A to tackle what it believes is a similar opportunity in the small business… Read More Continue reading UK’s Tide raises $14M to challenge big banks with a mobile-first service for SMBs

Illumio, a specialist in segmented security, raises $125M at $1b+ valuation

 Another day, another major round of funding for a security startup, underscoring just how active the area of IT protection is right now — both in terms of business need and as an investment opportunity. Today, Illumio — a startup that provides data center and cloud security services, monitoring and protecting individual applications and processes within an enterprise network by… Read More Continue reading Illumio, a specialist in segmented security, raises $125M at $1b+ valuation

Cloud security broker Netskope raises $100m more led by Lightspeed and Accel

Digital security key concept background with binary data code As enterprises continue to move more of their computing to the cloud, and across an ever-expanding range of devices from computers to phones and tablets and more, hackers continue to find ways to break into those systems — resulting an unprecedented number of breaches globally. Now, one of the more prominent security startups has raised a significant round of funding to help tackle… Read More Continue reading Cloud security broker Netskope raises $100m more led by Lightspeed and Accel

Report: Microsoft to buy security firm Hexadite for $100M as Cloudyn still in progress

 While we wait to get more news on Microsoft closing a reported acquisition of Cloudyn, another report has emerged of one more enterprise startup that the software giant is buying in Israel. Calacalist reported earlier today that Microsoft is paying $100 million to acquire Hexadite, a cybersecurity company that uses AI to sort through and address smaller network attacks — which can… Read More Continue reading Report: Microsoft to buy security firm Hexadite for $100M as Cloudyn still in progress

Collaboration platform Smartsheet nabs $52M at $800M valuation

 Cloud-based communication and collaboration platforms are the name of the game today in enterprise software, and now one of the still-independent leaders in that space is announcing a significant round at a hefty price to ride the wave of growth. Smartsheet, the Bellevue, Washington-based startup that has built spreadsheet software that lets people set and manage tasks and work across teams… Read More Continue reading Collaboration platform Smartsheet nabs $52M at $800M valuation

CrowdStrike, the firm investigating Russian hacks, raised $100M, now valued around $1B

 The business of hacking has dealt a huge blow to our democracy, not to mention a plethora of organizations and individuals, and our collective sense of sanity. One silver lining, however, has been that it has led to the emergence of a number of security startups that are building and deploying a range of tools to try to track and stop the nefarious activity. One of the bigger of… Read More Continue reading CrowdStrike, the firm investigating Russian hacks, raised $100M, now valued around $1B

Symphony, a messaging app backed by Wall St, gets $63M at a $1B+ valuation

 Symphony, a secure messaging app that counts 15 of the world’s biggest banks among its investors and 200,000 paying customers, has raised a new tranche of funding to fuel its expansion into new markets. Symphony has closed in on $63 million; and according to sources close to the company, the startup is now valued at over $1 billion — confirming our reporting from December. This… Read More Continue reading Symphony, a messaging app backed by Wall St, gets $63M at a $1B+ valuation