AI startup roundup: Blockbuster fundraises for Chinese, Canadian startups

Also, Altada files patents for tech that it says solves a common data-gathering problem.

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Funding blitz

Startup: Laiye is an RPA developer.

Latest funding: $160 Million, series C

Lead investors: HOPU Magnolia

Other investors: VMS Group, Youshan Capital, Lightspeed China Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners

Funding plans: China-based Laiye plans to deploy the new capital to accelerate expansion in APAC, the Americas and EMEA.

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Startup: OSF Digital is a digital transformation firm that specializes in content management systems, online shop management and cloud application development.

Latest funding: $100 million, series C

Lead investors: Sunstone Partners

Other investors: Delta-v Capital, Salesforce Ventures

Funding plans: Canada-based OSF seeks to use the funds for mergers and acquisitions, accelerate expansion and boost sales and marketing.

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Startup: Mutiny is a no-code AI platform for marketers to personalize websites and advertising.

Latest funding: $50 million, series B

Lead investors: Tiger Global, Insight Partners

Other investors: Cowboy Ventures, Uncork Capital, Sequoia Capital

Funding plans: San Francisco-based Mutiny is looking to double its team in 12 months as well as expand its AI tech

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Figure 1: Source: Unlearn

Startup: Unlearn offers its TwinRCT solution that creates digital twins of patients in clinical trials in a bid to predict outcomes in drug trials.

Latest funding: $50 million, series B

Lead investors: Insight Partners

Other investors: Radical Ventures, 8VC, DCVC, DCVC Bio, Mubadala Capital Ventures.

Funding plans: The San Francisco company intends to scale its digital twin solution to make clinical trials better for patients.

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Startup: d-Matrix works to enable high-efficiency AI compute for data centers.

Latest funding: $44 million,

Lead investors: Playground Global

Other investors: M12, Marvell Technology

Funding plans: The Santa Clara, California-based company plans on building out its product roadmap, as well as growing its teams across the  U.S., India and Australia.

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Startup: Prezent.ai is an ML-enabled presentation platform designed to encourage productivity in enterprise teams.

Latest funding: $20 million, series A

Lead investors: Greycroft

Other investors: Emergent Ventures, WestWave Capital

Funding plans: The Los Altos, California-based company intends to grow its team to more than 100 members by the end of 2022.

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Startup: Umba is a digital banking platform.

Latest funding: $15 million, series A

Lead investors: Costanoa Ventures

Other investors: Streamlined Ventures, Palm Drive Capital, Banana Capital, Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield

Funding plans: Nigeria-based Umba will look to expand its offerings to new markets, including Egypt, Ghana and Kenya.

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Startup: Soter Analytics develops AI-powered wearables to prevent workplace injuries.

Latest funding: $12 million,

Lead investors: AV8 Ventures

Other investors: OTB Ventures, btov Industrial Technologies Fund, Verve Ventures

Funding plans: London-based Soter plans to use the funds to expand into new markets, including France, Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

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Startup: Mytaverse develops a platform designed to allow businesses to launch metaverse applications.

Latest funding: $7.6 million

Lead investors: Blumberg Capital

Other investors: Baselayer Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Accelerator Ventures

Funding plans: The Miami, Florida company will use the funds to accelerate product development and expand its sales and technology teams.

Figure 2: Source: Mytaverse

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Startup: Futr is a chatbot developer designed to augment uses in call centers.

Latest funding: $2.6 million, seed funding

Investors: Blackfinch Ventures, Praetura Ventures, the British Robotics Fund

Funding plans: The London-based startups intends to use its newly secured funds for extending its AI chatbots to a wider range of service teams.

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And in other news

Altada files for patents that solve key data-gathering problem

Altada develops AI solutions that helps companies make better data-driven solutions. It recently applied for three U.S. patents that the company said solve a well-known problem in computer vision and process automation: machines having trouble reviewing complex documents that have text, images and tables.

The patents cover a computer-implemented method, a data processing system and a computer program product for training a natural language processing model.

Allan Beechinor, Altada’s CEO, said there are several data processing applications in the market that scan and extract data from simple documents such as invoices.

However, his company has created an AI platform “with the power and scalability to ingest and analyze complex data and image-rich documents and deliver an array of accurate, nuanced and targeted analytics.”

The filings were made under Track One - a scheme from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that gives an applicant fewer requirements. The office wouldn’t have to undertake a pre-examination search. Only 15,000 Track One applications are available during a calendar year.

Senegalese fintech firm Wave Digital Finance secures e-money license

The license from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) lets Wave offer financial services with partners in countries that are members of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).

This means the company now has access to markets in Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Togo, among others.

“We will now be able to compete with other mobile money providers on an equal footing,” Wave General Manager Coura Sène said.

Investors acquire stake in Singapore startup for $690 million

Coda Payments, which helps digital content providers monetize their products and services in more than 40 markets, said it has sold an undisclosed “minority” stake in the company for $690 million.

Smash Capital, Insight Partners and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC were the investors.

The Singapore-based firm operates Codashop, a games purchasing platform that also offers in-game currencies globally.

Speech-to-text provider Rev unveils rebrand

The San Francisco-based firm – boasting customers including The Home Depot and Spotify -- showcased a new logo, website and other changes that it said were “outward manifestations of the broader changes we’re continually working toward to reimagine the future of speech technology.”

“A rebirth − a Rev-naissance, if you will − was the natural next step for us in our pursuit of helping the world understand the human voice,” the blog post reads.

Figure 3: Source: Rev

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