Also, smarter security cams that make finding specific footage easier

Ben Wodecki, Jr. Editor

November 21, 2022

5 Min Read

Every week, AI Business brings you the latest startup news.

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Startup: Advanced Navigation - Australia-based company providing AI-powered inertial navigation systems and robotics technologies for sea, land and air, including underwater drones at sea.

Latest funding:$68 million, series B

Investors: AI Capital, Main Sequence, In-Q-Tel, Our Innovation Fund

Notable investors: Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Former CIA director Gen. David Petraeus will chair a new advisory committee that targets support for the company’s global expansion efforts.

Funding plans: Advanced Navigation plans to use the funding to accelerate R&D programs focused on transformative robotic, navigation, photonic and quantum sensing solutions, and enhance its global sales and marketing capabilities to reach new customers.

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Startup: MotherDuck - Seattle-based startup that just emerged from stealth. MotherDuck is developing data analytics tools built on the open source platform DuckDB.

Latest funding: $47.5 million ($35 million, series A and $12 million, seed round)

Lead investors: Andreessen Horowitz (series A), Redpoint Ventures (seed round)

Other investors: Amplify Partners, Madrona Venture Group, SV Angels and Altimeter Capital.

Funding plans: MotherDuck is currently in a private preview but plans to release a public beta in March 2023.

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Startup: Spot AI - Based in San Francisco, Spot is developing AI solutions for smarter security cameras that can analyze video footage for insights. For example, a car wash uses the camera system to pinpoint whether damage was done to a customer’s car to help resolve claims.

Latest funding: $40 million, series B

Lead investor: Scale Venture Partners

Other investors: Redpoint Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, StepStone Group, Modern Venture Partners

Funding plans: “This investment allows us to accelerate our expansion and help businesses continue to unlock the value of video data with industry-first AI products,” said Tanuj Thapliyal, co-founder and CEO of Spot AI.

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Startup: Cambridge GaN Devices - A fabless semiconductor company, CGD designs, develops and commercializes GaN transistors and integrated circuits. The company was spun out from Cambridge University in 2016.

Latest funding: $19, million, series B

Lead investors: Parkwalk Advisors, BGF

Other investors: IQ Capital, CIC, Foresight Williams Technology, Martlet Capital

Funding plans: “The investment will enable CGD to begin mass production of its range of GaN transistors for power applications,” the startup said.

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Startup: Loops AI - Applies proprietary machine learning models that analyze millions of data points, allowing businesses to identify trends. The company is based in San Francisco.

Latest funding: $14 million, seed round

Lead investor: Scale Venture Partners

Other investors: Cardumen Capital, Reforge CEO Brian Balfour

Funding plans: With the backing of investors, Loops wants to build a solution that “ instantly delivers meaningful value,” said CEO Tom Laufer.

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Startup: Quix - an event-driven data engineering platform for building real-time applications. It is based in London.

Latest funding: $12.9 million, series A

Lead investor: MMC Ventures

Other investors: Project A Ventures, Passion Capital.

Funding plans: With the new funding, Quix said it plans to grow its team to accelerate investments in product, partnerships, community and open-source initiatives.

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Startup: Kristal.AI - Based in Singapore, the startup is offering a digital private wealth platform.

Latest funding: $10 million, pre-series B

Investors: Chiratae Ventures, Stride Ventures, Sanadhya family, Desai Family Office

Funding plans: Kristal.AI is looking to expand into the United Arab Emirates and is currently applying for a license to operate there.

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Startup: Private AI - Toronto, Canada-based startup developing data privacy solutions. Private AI’s solution is deployed within the customers’ own environment so their data is not transferred to a third-party data processor.

Latest funding: $8 million, series A

Lead investor: BDC Capital

Other investors: GIT1K, Panda Angel Partners, Microsoft’s Venture Fund (M12), Differential Ventures, Forum Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Parliament Angels

Funding plans: Private AI will use the cash to fund its expansion across Europe, as well as investments in product enhancements, such as a forthcoming self-service platform.

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Startup: Dema.ai - A Stockholm-based company developing no-code tools designed to deliver actionable insights for e-commerce.

Latest funding: $4.1 million

Lead investor: J12 Ventures

Other investors: Framtid

Funding plans: The funds will go towards hiring new data scientists and engineers.

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Startup: Vektor AI - London-based platform that assists startup employees as they interact in real time with a mentor experienced in a chosen role and field.

Latest funding: $2.4 million, pre-seed round

Lead investors: Mosaic Ventures, Cherry Ventures

Other investors: GoFundMe CTO Ujjwal Singh, Deborah Liu, Meta’s VP for Marketplace, Google product VP Bradley Horowitz

Funding plans: Vektor just launched its platform following six months of beta testing.

About the Author(s)

Ben Wodecki

Jr. Editor

Ben Wodecki is the Jr. Editor of AI Business, covering a wide range of AI content. Ben joined the team in March 2021 as assistant editor and was promoted to Jr. Editor. He has written for The New Statesman, Intellectual Property Magazine, and The Telegraph India, among others. He holds an MSc in Digital Journalism from Middlesex University.

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