Innovation

Lendbuzz: $235 Million Asset-Backed Securitization Completed

By Dan Anderson ● Oct 25, 2023

Lendbuzz - a fintech company utilizing AI to provide auto loans to a broad spectrum of borrowers - recently announced that it has closed a $235 million securitization collateralized by a pool of retail automobile contracts made to obligors and secured by new and used automobiles, light duty trucks, and vans.

University Of Alberta: New Fund Launched To Invest In Startups

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 25, 2023

The University of Alberta recently launched a new fund to invest in startup ventures to solve the world's complex challenges and diversify Alberta’s economy, providing much-needed funding and more support for innovators and entrepreneurs. And the University of Alberta Innovation Fund - which private donors and public partners support - will work with startups to mobilize the university’s research expertise, innovation, and creativity.

Butler University, gener8tor, And TechPoint Unveil Education And Workforce Innovation Accelerator

By Annie Baker ● Oct 25, 2023

Five startup companies will receive $100,000 each thanks to a new accelerator program focused on transforming education and workforce learning, especially with advanced technology. And this funding will be provided through a new partnership between Butler University, gener8tor (a global venture firm that operates accelerator programs), and TechPoint.

Feinstein Institutes Granted $6.1 Million For Funding Bipolar Disorder Patient And Research Hub

By Noah Long ● Oct 24, 2023

The researchers at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research received a $6.1 million grant from Breakthrough Discoveries for Thriving with Bipolar Disorders Foundation (BD2) to serve as a hub of six other sites across the country. And each site will evaluate patients and collectively offer the best treatment and clinical trial options using cutting-edge biotechnology, big data analytics and an unprecedented data ecosystem to address bipolar disorder in an innovative, equitable, and rigorous way.

Honda, GM, And Cruise Planning To Launch Driverless Ride Service In Japan

By Dan Anderson ● Oct 19, 2023

Honda Motor announced it is planning to set up a joint venture with General Motors and Cruise to start a driverless ride service in Japan in early 2026. The three companies are planning to launch the joint venture in the first half of 2024, assuming regulatory approval.

Netflix Increases Prices As Subscriber Count Rises

By Noah Long ● Oct 19, 2023

Netflix announced it is increasing the prices for some customers while also reporting an increase in its subscriber base.

Buoyant Reveals Linkerd Enterprise, The First-Ever Commercial Distribution Of The Open-Source Service Mesh

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 17, 2023

Buoyant - the creator of Linkerd - has announced Linkerd Enterprise, the first commercial distribution of Linkerd designed to meet the unique demands of today's enterprise adopters. Linkerd Enterprise extends the popular open-source Linkerd project with more enterprise-only capabilities, including zero trust and FIPS 140-2 compliance, which is a powerful new cost-aware load balancer, lifecycle automation, etc.

Indiana University To Invest $111 Million In Advancing Microelectronics Sector

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 16, 2023

Indiana University (IU) recently announced it will invest at least $111 million over the next few years to advance its national leadership in microelectronics and nanotechnology. IU's investment will boost the growth of the microelectronics industry in Indiana and across the U.S. and accelerate innovative solutions to significant national security challenges through enhanced collaboration with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division.

How TeachMe.To And Swimply Are Making Pickleball Courts More Accessible

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 13, 2023

TeachMe.To (the nation's premier marketplace for finding and booking in-person sports and skills instruction) and Swimply (a marketplace that connects owners of underutilized spaces — swimming pools, pickleball and tennis courts, and basketball courts, with people looking to escape locally) recently announced that they have teamed up to make it easier for pickleball players, coaches and enthusiasts to find a place to play, and the expert instruction to get going or to sharpen skills.

Betterworks Launches New Generative AI Capabilities To Help Managers Work Efficiently

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 12, 2023

Betterworks has recently taken a significant step in its mission to rethink performance management and help companies cultivate more productive employees and teams. The company recently announced the next generation of its Intelligent Performance Management solution featuring three new generative AI capabilities that make creating clear goals, giving impactful employee feedback, and having meaningful and productive performance conversations easier.

Blackdot: Automated Tattooing Platform Company Launches Out Of Stealth

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 12, 2023

Blackdot - a company introducing A New Way to Tattoo - announced its official launch out of stealth and unveiled its patented automated tattooing platform, opening up bookings for the first Blackdot tattoos at its flagship studio in Austin, Texas.

Insilico Medicine And University Of Cambridge: New Way To Discover Targets For Alzheimer’s And Other Diseases

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 12, 2023

Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, and the University of Cambridge jointly published a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), presenting an approach to identify therapeutic targets for human diseases associated with protein phase separation (PPS). This represents a significant research milestone in their collaboration, launched in September 2021.

SugarCRM Launches Generative AI For Midmarket CRM And Advancing Sales, Marketing, And Customer Service

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 12, 2023

SugarCRM - a provider of the award-winning AI-driven CRM platform - recently announced it is harnessing the power of generative AI to bring newfound out-of-the-box value and productivity gains to its thousands of midmarket customers worldwide, advancing the customer relationship management platform for sales representatives, marketers, and customer service professionals.

Paytient Launches Platform To Expand Suite Of Health Plan Affordability Solutions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 11, 2023

Paytient recently announced the launch of their Paytient Health platform to expand their suite of health plan affordability solutions for employers and their employees to save money on care and pharmaceuticals.

Laudio Ramps Up Marketing And Sales With New Leadership Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 10, 2023

Laudio - an innovator in frontline leader solutions that drive efficiency and engagement for health systems - recently announced the appointment of Emma Smith as Chief Marketing Officer. And the company also hired Michael Vipond as Executive Vice President of Sales.

Federal Reserve: FedNow Service Now Has Over 100 Participating Organizations

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 10, 2023

The Federal Reserve recently announced that the FedNow Service has experienced strong growth following its launch in July 2023, with 108 institutions now sending and receiving on the network.

CTERA Launches Fusion To Provide Unified File And Object Data Access

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 10, 2023

CTERA - a leader in distributed cloud file services - recently announced CTERA Fusion, a new capability built into the CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform - providing unified file and object data access. CTERA is the first to introduce a global file system to the marketplace with simultaneous SMB, NFS, and S3 access to the same data set.

Why Tenable Is Buying Ermetic

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 10, 2023

Tenable Holdings - an Exposure Management company, recently announced it has closed its acquisition of Ermetic, an innovative cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) company and a leading provider of cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM). The deal combines two cybersecurity innovators and marks an essential milestone in Tenable’s mission to shift organizations to proactive security.

Mirakl And Havas Partnering To Accelerate E-Commerce And Retail Media

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 9, 2023

Mirakl (a pioneering and leading SaaS solution to empower businesses in their digital transformation through platform innovation) and Havas (one of the world's largest global communications networks) recently announced a unique global partnership to accelerate e-commerce and retail media growth.

Cyara Reveals Expansion In Leadership Team

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 5, 2023

Cyara - a leading AI-led Customer Experience (CX) Transformation Platform provider - recently announced the appointment of Jeff Romano as Chief Customer Officer (CCO) and the promotion of Cyara’s Executive Vice President of Product, Max Lipovetsky, to Chief Product Officer.

Passage: Event Ticketing Company Hits 8 Million Tickets Told

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 5, 2023

Passage - a cutting-edge event ticketing company launched in Detroit in 2014 - recently announced it has sold 8 million tickets, with customers in all 50 US states and as far afield as Australia and Canada. Last year, the company powered over $40 million in ticket sales across 3,327 events and generated $2.8 million in revenue.

Gritstone bio Receives BARDA Contract Valued At Up To $433 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 5, 2023

Gritstone bio - a clinical-stage biotechnology company working to develop the world’s most potent vaccines - recently announced that it was awarded a contract by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to conduct a Phase 2b comparative study evaluating Gritstone’s self-amplifying mRNA (samRNA) vaccine candidate containing Spike plus other viral targets to protect against COVID-19.

How Fairmarkit Is Utilizing Generative AI For Simplifying Strategic Sourcing

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 5, 2023

Fairmarkit - an autonomous sourcing solution transforming the procurement of goods and services for enterprises - recently announced the launch of a new generative AI-powered tool that automates the process from intake to sourcing, thus saving an immense amount of time for enterprise procurement teams and unlocking a seamless end-user experience for buyers, suppliers, and business requesters.

VDO.AI Launches Dexter To Redefine Brand Engagement

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 4, 2023

VDO.AI - a leader in the advertising tech industry recently unveiled Dexter, a creative feature poised to redefine brand engagement by harnessing the power of innovative Generative AI algorithms. Dexter was designed to change how brands connect with their audiences.

How Hitachi Is Helping Organizations Achieve Critical Environment And Decarbonization Goals

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 4, 2023

Hitachi Vantara - the modern infrastructure, data management, and digital solutions subsidiary of Hitachi - recently announced new Sustainability Solutions and Services to aid organizations in achieving critical environmental and decarbonization goals.

Newegg Now Offers A Graphics Card Trade-In Program

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 4, 2023

Newegg Commerce - a global e-commerce leader for technology products - recently announced the launch of Newegg’s GPU Trade-In program, enabling customers to trade in an eligible GPU device and receive a trade-in value credit toward the purchase of a new qualifying graphics card, also known as a graphics processing unit (GPU).

Withings Confirms Average Heart Rate Decreases As Daily Steps Increase

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 4, 2023

French connected health pioneer Withings recently conducted a comprehensive study in which they analyzed the nighttime heart rate (NHR) of over 160,000 Withings users worldwide between the ages of 18 and 70 over a year between 2022 and 2023.

ACMI Federal: $75 Million DoD Contract Secured For Munitions Campus

By Dan Anderson ● Oct 4, 2023

An affiliate of the American Center for Manufacturing and Innovation (ACMI) recently announced that it has been awarded a $75 million contract through a competitive process.

Human8: Camille Nicita Named As New Global CEO

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 2, 2023

Human8 (previously called InSites Consulting) - the new human-driven consultancy - recently announced that Camille Nicita, currently Managing Director for North America, will accept the CEO role from current CEO and co-founder Kristof De Wulf.

airSlate Study Unveils SMBs Are Ready To Utilize AI And Automation

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 2, 2023

airSlate - a leader in document workflow automation solutions - announced that it had released new research that reveals that small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are ready to tap into the power of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to scale and compete effectively in today's business landscape.