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D-Wave lists on New York Stock Exchange following close of SPAC deal (BETAKIT)
D-Wave had hoped the deal would bring in $340 million USD in gross proceeds, however, SEC filings show that the company’s shareholders redeemed just more than $291 million USD worth of shares at a price of $10.01 USD per share.
Hyundai announces $400M AI, robotics institute powered by Boston Dynamics (TECHCRUNCH)
The pairing has, thus far, been something of a mixed bag. As Boston Dynamics looks to pragmatic applications to commercialize robots like Spot and Stretch, Hyundai has used the technology for some wild sci-fi demos, including one at this year’s CES featuring Spot hanging out on Mars as a metaverse avatar.
Bootstrapped since 2008, Evidence Partners closes $20 million to tackle automated literature review market (BETAKIT)
The Canadian tech firm helps organizations streamline the medical research process with its literature review automation platform, DistillerSR. Evidence Partners currently serves over 300 research organizations, and claims to cater to more than 60 percent of the world’s largest pharma and medical device companies.
Rise Of The Robots—Geek+ Raises $100M At $2B Valuation (CRUNCHBASE)
“Thanks to the successful implementation of our global business strategy, the transformative value of our products, and the surge of the smart logistics market, Geek+ is well-positioned to further capture the outsized growth opportunities,” said founder and CEO Yong Zheng.
Alberta Innovates has been here from the start, investing in the next big thing.
Twenty years ago, Alberta Innovates planted seeds for the future by funding artificial intelligence research at the University of Alberta.
For most people, it was the realm of science fiction. Some, however, had a sense of what it could become.
Lucid closes $3 million to turn music into medicine for Alzheimer’s patients (BETAKIT)
After completing its first randomized controlled clinical trial earlier this year, Lucid has now secured $3.14 million CAD in seed financing led by Canadian impact investment fund Amplify Capital with support from other investors in the health and music technology space.
DataRobot’s CFO, Three Other Senior Execs Depart Amid Fallout Over Share Sales (THE INFORMATION)
The chief financial officer and several other senior executives at artificial intelligence startup DataRobot have resigned as the company prepares a second round of layoffs this year, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
The changes, announced internally in a meeting, are the latest sign of an ongoing leadership shakeup following last month’s resignation of CEO Dan Wright amid an internal outcry following a report in The Information about executives quietly selling shares last year when the 1,200-person company hit a peak valuation, these people said.
Sloppy Use of Machine Learning Is Causing a ‘Reproducibility Crisis’ in Science (WIRED)
A series of papers described astonishing results from using machine learning, the technique beloved by tech giants that underpins modern AI. Applying it to data such as a country’s gross domestic product and unemployment rate was said to beat more conventional statistical methods at predicting the outbreak of civil war by almost 20 percentage points.
Accenture continues Canadian tech acquisition spree with Solvera Solutions, Eclipse Automation (BETAKIT)
Founded in 2005, Solvera’s team of more than 450 provides consulting and services across the ServiceNow, Microsoft, and SAP platforms. Solvera works with clients in the public sector, health, financial services, utilities and energy, and agriculture industries.
Police can use facial recognition again after ban in New Orleans, home to sprawling surveillance (PROTOCOL)
Less than two years after passing an ordinance that outlawed facial recognition technologies, the New Orleans city council voted on Thursday to hand the keys to the controversial surveillance tool back to the city’s police department. The quick reversal illustrates the fragility of laws attempting to restrict increasingly pervasive surveillance tech in the face of violent crime.
BrainBox AI’s Series A round reaches $30 million following EDC top-up (BETAKIT)
This close adds an additional $6 million USD to the Series A round, which had an initial close in October of $24 million USD. When it raised the $24 million, BrainBox said at the time that it was working to raise a “top-up” within six to eight weeks from additional investors on the same terms and valuation as its first Series A close.
Deep learning can almost perfectly predict how ice forms (MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW)
“The properties of matter emerge from how electrons behave,” says Pablo Piaggi, a research fellow at Princeton University and the lead author on the study. “Simulating explicitly what happens at that level is a way to capture much more rich physical phenomena.”
