AI Startup Roundup: Where the Google CEO is Investing
Also, AI that helps telemarketers and a Cambridge University spin out
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Startup: Arta Finance - The startup offers a ‘Digital Family Office’ that uses AI and ML tools to bring wealth management services − usually available only to the very rich − to the masses. Its clients can access alternative assets such as private equity, venture capital, private debt and real estate funds. BNY Mellon is the broker-dealer and custodian of Arta, which is based in Mountain View, California.
Latest funding: $90 million, series A
Notable investors: Google CEO Sundar Pichai, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Bancorp CEO Betsy Cohen
Other investors: Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, Coatue
Funding plans: Having just emerged from stealth, the startup said it plans to scale its services first to U.S. accredited investors and later to other countries and more investors.
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Startup: Zest AI - Burbank, California-based startup offering AI-powered software for credit underwriting. Its ZAML platform enables lenders to analyze non-traditional credit data to increase approval rates and reduce the risk of credit decisions.
Latest funding: $50 million, venture round
Lead investors: Insight Partners, CMFG Ventures
Other investors: Suncoast Credit Union, CU Direct, NorthGate Capital, Golden1 Credit Union, Hawaii USA Federal Credit Union
Funding plans: Zest plans to use the new funding to expand access to AI-automated credit underwriting for all lenders.
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Startup: Orum - San Francisco-based AI-powered sales platform that lets users dial multiple numbers in parallel and identify humans when they answer.
Latest funding: $22 million, series B
Lead investor: Tribe Capital
Other investors: Craft Ventures, Unusual Ventures
Funding plans: “This additional capital will allow us to continue to invest in our product capabilities, expand our team and enable more conversations for organizations of all sizes,” Orum CEO Jason Dorfman wrote in a blog post.
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Startup: Unito -Based in Montréal, Canada, the startup offers a workflow management platform to sync tasks and documents across several applications. The platform boasts integrations across Azuree DevOps, Trello, HubSpot, GitLab and Zendesk, among others.
Latest funding: $20 million, series B
Lead investor: CDPQ’s Equity 253 fund
Other investors: Rainfall Ventures, Investissement Québec, Bessemer Venture Partners
Funding plans: To increase its team size and invest more in product development
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Startup: Insite AI- The startup offers AI-driven category and revenue growth management solutions for consumer brands. Its platform helps brands intelligently create assortment, space, pricing and trade promotion strategies. Founded in 2019, Insite is based in Bentonville, Arkansas with satellite offices in New Zealand, Eastern Europe and South America.
Latest funding: $19 million, series A
Investors: NewRoad Capital and M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund.
Funding plans: Co-founder Shaveer Mirpuri told TechCrunch that the funding is used to onboard customers and hire industry experts to work on the company's product initiatives.
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Startup: Carbon Re - A spin out of Cambridge University and UCL, the climate tech startup is building AI tools for decarbonizing energy-intensive industries. Carbon Re’s cloud-based Delta Zero platform analyzes manufacturing data to enable plant operators to optimize production processes. It is based in London.
Latest funding: $4.8 million, seed funding
Lead investor: Planet A Ventures
Other investors: Clean Growth Fund, UCL Technology Fund, Cambridge Enterprise
Funding plans: The new investment will enable product rollout into the global cement market and expand into other energy-intensive industries, such as steel and glass, the company said.
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Startup: BlueSkeye AI - a U.K.-based startup offering face and voice analysis technology that can be used to read people's facial expressions, head actions and social gazes to gauge their mental health.
Latest funding: $3.8 million, seed round
Lead investors: XTX Ventures
Other investors: Foresight Group, Praetura Ventures, the University of Nottingham and angel investors
Funding plans: The funding will further accelerate BlueSkeye AI’s expansion across both clinical and non-clinical health and wellbeing markets to transform patient pathways at scale, BlueSkeye said.
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