Primer helps governments and corporations monitor and understand the world’s information

 When Google was founded in 1998, its goal was to organize the world’s information. And for the most part, mission accomplished — but in 19 years the goal post has moved forward and indexing and usefully presenting information isn’t enough. As machine learning matures, it’s becoming feasible for the first time to actually summarize and contextualize the world’s… Read More Continue reading Primer helps governments and corporations monitor and understand the world’s information

Feedzai closes $50M Series C to help banks and merchants identify fraud with AI

 Feedzai is announcing a $50 million Series C this morning led by an unnamed VC with additional capital from Sapphire Ventures. The six year old startup builds machine learning tools to help banks and merchants spot payment fraud. In today’s rapidly maturing world of fintech, Feedzai is trying to thread the needle between turnkey solution and customizable platform. With 60 clients… Read More Continue reading Feedzai closes $50M Series C to help banks and merchants identify fraud with AI

ROSS Intelligence lands $8.7M Series A to speed up legal research with AI

 Armed with an understanding of machine learning, ROSS Intelligence is going after LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters for ownership of legal research. The startup, founded in 2015 by Andrew Arruda, Jimoh Ovbiagele and Pargles Dall’Oglio at the University of Toronto, is announcing an $8.7 million Series A today led by iNovia Capital with participation from Comcast Ventures Catalyst Fund,… Read More Continue reading ROSS Intelligence lands $8.7M Series A to speed up legal research with AI

Petuum secures $93M Series B to push AI into the mainstream

 With a shortage of machine learning developers bearing down on the industry, startups and big tech companies alike are moving to democratize the tools necessary to commercialize artificial intelligence. The latest startup, Petuum, is announcing a $93 million Series B this morning from Softbank and Advantech Capital.
Founded last year by Dr. Eric Xing, a Carnegie Mellon machine learning… Read More Continue reading Petuum secures $93M Series B to push AI into the mainstream

Butterfly nabs $2.4M Seed round to improve managers with targeted tips

 Nobody likes corporate trainings. Nobody. In fact one of life’s puzzles that eludes me most is how a person could enjoy corporate trainings enough to spend their time designing and running them. Perhaps only with distain for the status quo can a startup create something that people not only don’t hate, but find helpful. The idea for Butterfly, founded by David Mendlewicz, Simon… Read More Continue reading Butterfly nabs $2.4M Seed round to improve managers with targeted tips

Rasa Core kicks up the context for chatbots

 Context is everything when dealing with dialog systems. We humans take for granted how complex even our simplest conversations are. That’s part of the reason why dialog systems can’t live up to their human counterparts. But with an interactive learning approach and some open source love, Berlin-based Rasa is hoping to help enterprises solve their conversational AI problems. The… Read More Continue reading Rasa Core kicks up the context for chatbots

Accela gets acquired by Berkshire Partners as it looks to move govtech services to the cloud

 Boston-based private equity shop Berkshire Partners announced this afternoon that it is acquiring Accela — a nearly 20 year old startup that sells regulatory management solutions to government clients. Accela has gone through a troika of CEOs in the last year. Previously acting CEO Mark Jung replaced Maury Blackman last October who had managed the company for about a decade. We… Read More Continue reading Accela gets acquired by Berkshire Partners as it looks to move govtech services to the cloud

Our favorite pitches from Alchemist Accelerator’s 16th batch

 Alchemist Accelerator, known for its specialty in working with enterprise startups, held its 16th demo day at Microsoft’s offices in Mountain View, California. 18 startups pitched ideas ranging from more traditional marketplaces to frontier aerospace technology. Addressing the packed auditorium before the pitches began, Ravi Belani, managing partner at Alchemist, reasserted his core… Read More Continue reading Our favorite pitches from Alchemist Accelerator’s 16th batch

Pluralsight IQ allows engineers to compare skills and proficiencies

 Pluralsight is announcing a new tool this morning to help satiate our innate desire to compare ourselves against one another. Pluralsight IQ is designed to assist developers in assessing their competencies and determining their proficiencies relative to their peers. Engineers taking the test are assigned scores between zero and 300 along with an indicator of attainment — novice,… Read More Continue reading Pluralsight IQ allows engineers to compare skills and proficiencies

Google Cloud’s Natural Language API gets content classification and more granular sentiment analysis

 Google Cloud announced two updates this morning to its Natural Language API. Specifically users will now have access to content classification and entity sentiment analysis. These features are particularly valuable for brands and media companies … Continue reading Google Cloud’s Natural Language API gets content classification and more granular sentiment analysis