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Canada needs to do better on leading AI innovation, says Trudeau (BETAKIT)
“We’re going to see an increasing reliance on technology, computer programming, and artificial intelligence. These are the things we need to continue to invest in and focus on.”
Driverless truck startup TuSimple raises $95 million at $1 billion valuation (VENTUREBEAT)
For the better part of four years, the China-based startup has been developing trucks at its R&D lab in San Diego and test operations facility in Tuscon that can drive depot-to-depot without human intervention.
Only one Canadian company places on list of top 100 AI companies in the world (BETAKIT)
Despite Canada’s rising reputation as a global leader in the artificial intelligence community, it appears Canadian companies are not making as much of an impact on the international AI scene.
AIStorm raises $13.2M for its analog data-reading sensor chips (SILICONANGLE)
AIStorm, a maker of specialized computer processors for sensors that detect events or changes in their environments, is emerging from stealth mode with a $13.2 million early-stage round of funding.
Alberta commits $100 million to AI companies (BETAKIT)
The five-year plan will support both Alberta Innovates and the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) to leverage partnerships with Alberta’s research universities.
C2A raises $6.5M for its in-car cybersecurity platform (TECHCRUNCH)
Israel’s C2A Security, which offers an end-to-end security platform for vehicles, announced that it has raised a $6.5 million Series A funding round.
11 Canadian tech companies to watch in 2019 (BETAKIT)
Last year, Lightspeed made the list; this year, the company IPOs. Is your Canadian tech company one to watch in 2019?
Pinpoint grabs $13.5M Series A to bring data discipline to engineering (TECHCRUNCH)
The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from seed investors Storm Ventures, Boldstart Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Slack Fund, Social Capital and Cherubic Ventures.
Former Scotiabank managing director leaves to join Receptiviti (BETAKIT)
Toronto-based Receptiviti, a corporate culture analytics company, has announced that Mike Friedman is the company’s new chief analytics officer and head of product.
90,000-square-foot MILA AI institute opens in Mile-Ex (MONTREALGAZETTE)
While the facility will host corporate labs and startups, Pisano said MILA will continue to focus on fundamental research, particularly in the areas of deep learning and reinforcement learning.
IBM brings Watson to any cloud (TECHCRUNCH)
With this decision, IBM wants to give businesses the option to bring AI to their data, which is significantly harder and costlier to move.
AI-powered venture capital fund InReach Ventures raises €53M ($79.5M Canadian) (SILICONREPUBLIC)
London-based venture capital firm InReach Ventures has closed a new fund worth €53m to invest in European tech firms, ahead of the original €50m target.