S|W: The SaaS Weekly – Betting big on voice tech

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The SaaS Weekly is a weekly newsletter covering major SaaS news from Canada and around the globe.

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Wattpad raises $61.25 million to continue investment in machine learning, interactive storytelling(BETAKIT)

Investors included Tencent, BDC, Globe Telecom’s Kickstart Ventures, Peterson Group, and Raine.


Google, Amazon bet big on voice technology(CBC)

Smart speakers and the digital assistants that power them are bringing us closer to the concept of ambient computing, where most of our electronics can be controlled by voice. With everyone racing to integrate voice assistants, are they matching consumers’ actual needs?


Okta teams up with ServiceNow to bring identity layer to breach containment(TECHCRUNCH)

Okta, a cloud identity management company, and ServiceNow have developed an app that helps ServiceNow customers using their security operations tools find issues related to identity and take action immediately.


With $3.5 million seed round, Vention launches platform that automates industrial design (BETAKIT)

Vention wants to democratize the process of building industrial parts.


CircleCI raises $31 million to improve software development with big data (VENTUREBEAT)

Top Tier Capital Partners led the round, with participation from Scale Venture Partners, Harrison Metal Ventures, DFJ Ventures, Baseline Ventures, Heavybit, and Industry Ventures.


Report: 60% of enterprises to rely on cloud SaaS by 2019(DIGITALJOURNAL)

Thirty-five percent of organisations expect Microsoft to become their most strategic partner by 2019, with 17 percent saying they’ll be allied with Amazon, according to a new report.


Nyansa lands $15 million led by Intel Capital to grow user performance management (TECHCRUNCH)

The round was led by Intel Capital with participation from Formation 8.


Ask @StartupCFO: Should I consider a buyout? (BETAKIT)

Historically, PE funds have focused on more traditional industries. But in the last few years, they have turned their attention to software and SaaS.


Reduce healthcare security risks with SaaS-based applications (TECHTARGET)

SaaS applications are hosted by external providers and can remain functional if other applications in a healthcare organization are compromised, mitigating the risk of an attack.


Google and Salesforce unveil first elements of partnership (TECHCRUNCH)

For starters, Google Analytics 360 users can now import data from the Salesforce CRM tool such as leads and opportunities, allowing marketers to have a more complete view of the customer journey from first contact to sale.


5 Kitchener-Waterloo tech companies to watch in 2018 (BETAKIT)

Here’s a roundup on the Waterloo Region companies set to make strides this year.


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Amira Zubairi

Amira Zubairi is a staff writer and content creator at BetaKit with a strong interest in Canadian startup, business, and legal tech news. In her free time, Amira indulges in baking desserts, working out, and watching legal shows.

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