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Boosted.ai raises $43.7 million CAD to scale AI platform for investment managers (BETAKIT)
Boosted.ai currently has a client base of over 40, attracting global asset managers as well as hedge funds and ETF providers.
Highspot raises $248M to bolster sales enablement using AI (VENTUREBEAT)
Highspot’s Amazon Web Services-hosted tools leverage AI to generate playbooks as well as custom seller and buyer experiences.
Future Fertility secures $7.6 million CAD for AI-powered in vitro fertilization (BETAKIT)
Future Fertility CEO Diana Olusanmi told BetaKit that many of the other firms operating in the fertility space have focused on the embryo, while Future Fertility is “the first company to offer non-invasive egg assessment for patients through their fertility clinics.”
BigPanda transforms into a unicorn after $190M raise (CRUNCHBASE)
The new round was led by Advent International and Insight Partners, with participation by other existing investors. Founded in 2012, the company has raised more than $310 million, according to Crunchbase data.
Review of 11 Canadian tech companies to watch in 2021 (BETAKIT)
Kevin Sandhu reviews his list of the 11 Canadian tech companies to watch in 2021 to check in on how they fared over the past year. In 2021, Sandhu tagged Bluedot, Clutch, Symend, Ollie Order, Craver Solutions, Synctera, Showbie, Elastic Garage, Synex Medical, Lufa Farms, and LifeSpeak as worth watching.
Ecopia lands $3.39 million federal government contract for broadband mapping (BETAKIT)
Ecopia plans to use its AI mapping systems to mine a variety of geospatial datasets, and identify service locations for broadband across rural Canada, including in many locations in remote and Indigenous communities.
This private equity firm is amassing companies that collect data on America’s children (THE MARKUP)
Vista Equity Partners has been buying up software used in schools. Parents want to know what the companies do with kids’ data.
VC economics: why startup valuations are art while dilution is a science (BETAKIT)
Lewis Hower, Managing Director at Silicon Valley Bank, explains the investor mindset and how it can impact startup valuations.
SoftBank invests in artificial-intelligence startup Qraft Technologies (WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Qraft, which manages $1.7 billion for Asian banks and insurance companies and through its lineup of U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds, built a software platform that mines market data for promising stocks.
Tech leaders call on Toronto Police Service Board to strengthen proposed AI policy (BETAKIT)
The letter’s recommendations include revising the proposed AI policy to better account for compromised data, bolstering the approval and review process of new technologies, and adjusting its risk categorization of certain tools.
Feds’ spending on facial recognition tech expands, despite privacy concerns (CYBERSCOOP)
The FBI on Dec. 30 signed a deal with Clearview AI for an $18,000 subscription license to the company’s facial recognition technology.
TrojAI secures $3 million in seed funding to protect AI solutions against security threats (BETAKIT)
TrojAI CEO James Stewart told BetaKit that the company has already added four people to its team of eight, and over the next six months plans to bring on two or three more new staff.