Microsoft’s Reading Progress makes assessing reading levels easier for kids and teachers
Among the many, many tasks required of grade school teachers is that of gauging each student’s reading level, usually by a time-consuming and high-pressure one-on-one examination. Microsoft’s new Reading Progress...
Personalized nutrition startup Zoe closes out Series B at $53M
Personalized nutrition startup Zoe — named not for a person but after the Greek word for ‘life’ — has topped up its Series B round with $20M, bringing the total raised to $53M. The latest close of the B round was led by Ahren Innovation Capital, which the startup notes counts two Nobel laureates as science partners. Also participating are two former American football players, Eli Manning and Ositadimma “Osi” Umenyiora;...
alt.bank, Brazil’s latest fintech targeting the unbanked, raises $5.5M
It looks like everyone and their mother is trying to reinvent the Brazilian banking system. Earlier this year we wrote about Nubank’s $400 million Series G, last month there was the PicPay IPO filing and today, alt.bank, a Brazilian neobank, announced a $5.5 million Series A led by Union Square Ventures (USV). It’s no secret that the Brazilian banking system has been poised for disruption, considering the sector’s little...
Vectra AI picks up $130M at a $1.2B valuation for its network approach to threat detection and response
Cybersecurity nightmares like the SolarWinds hack highlight how malicious hackers continue to exploit vulnerabilities in software and apps to do their dirty work. Today a startup that’s built a platform to help...
RapidDeploy raises $29M for a cloud-based dispatch platform aimed at 911 centers
The last year of pandemic living has been real-world, and sometimes harrowing, proof of how important it can be to have efficient and well-equipped emergency response services in place. They can help people remotely if...
Kaia Health grabs $75M on surging interest in its virtual therapies for chronic pain and COPD
New York headquartered Kaia Health, which offers AI-assisted digital therapies via a mobile app for chronic pain related to musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders and for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), has raised a $75 million Series C. The round was led by an unnamed leading growth equity fund with support from existing investors, including Optum Ventures, Eurazeo, 3VC, Balderton Capital, Heartcore Capital, Symphony Ventures...
Kenya’s Ajua acquires WayaWaya to consolidate consumer experience play in African SMEs
Kenyan consumer experience platform for businesses in Africa, Ajua today announced that it has acquired WayaWaya, a Kenya-based AI and ML messaging and payments company. WayaWaya’s customers and partners include the...
SLAIT’s real-time sign language translation promises more accessible online communication
Sign language is used by millions of people around the world, but unlike Spanish, Mandarin or even Latin, there’s no automatic translation available for those who can’t use it. SLAIT claims the first such tool...
Filing: Snap paid $124M for Fit Analytics as it gears up for a bigger e-commerce push
Earlier this year we reported on how Snap had acquired Berlin-based Fit Analytics, an AI-based fitting technology startup, as part of a wider push into e-commerce services, specifically to gain technology that can help prospective online shoppers get a better sense of how a particular item or size would fit them. A 10-Q filing from Snap today has now put a price tag on that deal. Snap paid a total of $124.4 million, covering...
EU’s top data protection supervisor urges ban on facial recognition in public
The European Union’s lead data protection supervisor has called for remote biometric surveillance in public places to be banned outright under incoming AI legislation. The European Data Protection Supervisor’s (EDPS) intervention follows a proposal, put out by EU lawmakers on Wednesday, for a risk-based approach to regulating applications of artificial intelligence. The Commission’s legislative proposal includes a partial ban on...
5 emerging use cases for productivity infrastructure in 2021
Gleb Polyakov Contributor Gleb Polyakov is co-founder and CEO of Nylas, which provides productivity infrastructure solutions for modern software. Gleb studied Physics at Georgia Tech and enjoys chess, motorcycles and space. Previously, he worked in finance and founded an IoT coffee company. When the world flipped upside down last year, nearly every company in every industry was forced to implement a remote workforce in just a...
Tribal Credit, which provides credit cards to startups in emerging markets, raises $34.3M
The B2B payments space has seen an explosion in demand, and investor interest, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as businesses try to figure out how to pay each other digitally. The challenges become even more...
