Innovation

Avala Launches Platform For Ethical AI Deployment

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 28, 2023

Avala AI - a San Francisco-based AI company pioneering a radically different approach to ethical AI deployment - announced its official launch. And the company is revolutionizing how people can contribute to, develop, and benefit from AI with a collaborative marketplace of datasets, labelers, and models in an ecosystem of products and services that directly address the challenges of AI alignment. Avala delivers market-relevant upskilling and reliable income that can be learned and earned anywhere, anytime.

Cemex Ventures Kicks Off Construction Startup Competition 2023 With July 2 Deadline

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 27, 2023

Cemex Ventures - Cemex’s corporate venture capital (CVC) and open innovation unit - announced it has kicked off its Construction Startup Competition 2023, which is the largest competition in the construction industry for startups. And Cemex Ventures is joined in its 7th Competition edition by prominent leaders like Black & Veatch, Dysruptek by Haskell, Ferrovial, Hilti, VINCI Group’s Leonard, NOVA by Saint-Gobain, Trimble and Trimble Ventures, and Zacua Ventures.

ALTR Launches Snowflake Native Format-Preserving Data Protection With Snowpark

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 27, 2023

ALTR - an innovator of automated data governance and data security solutions - announced at Snowflake’s annual user conference Snowflake Summit 2023 the expansion of its SaaS data access control and tokenization solution with Snowflake.

Meta Reveals Quest+ VR Subscription For $7.99 Per Month

By Annie Baker ● Jun 27, 2023

Meta has announced the new Quest+ VR subscription service, which will make it easier to explore the Meta Quest catalog. For $7.99 USD per month or $59.99 USD annually (a savings of more than 37%), users get access to two hand-picked VR titles every month. And when you sign up now through July 31, you will get your first month for $1 USD.

Wolfspeed: $1.25 Billion Secured Note Financing Led By Apollo Credit Funds Received

By Dan Anderson ● Jun 27, 2023

Wolfspeed - a global leader in silicon carbide technology - announced a $1.25 billion secured note financing from an investment group led by Apollo with an accordion feature for up to an additional $750 million. This financing supports the company’s previously announced U.S. expansion efforts and is a significant step toward achieving the company’s $6.5 billion global capacity expansion plan.

Advantus Health Partners: $2.9 Billion Strategic Collaboration With Medline Announced

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 27, 2023

During a grand opening of Medline’s new distribution center in West Jefferson, Ohio, Advantus Health Partners President Dan Hurry spoke this week about the significance of Medline’s unique strategic relationship with Advantus - which will support the improvement of quality patient care and operating performance of Advantus’s growing client base of more than 200 hospitals, 1,700 sites of care and over 600 clinics in 46 states.

Insilico Medicine Completes First Dose In Patients In Phase II Clinical Trial For INS018_055

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 27, 2023

Insilico Medicine - a generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven clinical-stage biotech company - announced that it has completed the first dose in patients in the Phase II clinical trial of INS018_055, which marks the world's first anti-fibrotic small molecule inhibitor discovered and designed by generative AI, initiating Phase II clinical trials for further evaluation.

Databricks Buying MosaicML In $1.3 Billion: Details

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 27, 2023

Databricks recently announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MosaicML, a leading generative AI platform. Combined, Databricks and MosaicML is looking to make generative AI accessible for every organization, enabling them to build, own and secure generative AI models with their own data. The deal is valued at approximately $1.3 billion, inclusive of retention packages.

IBM Buying Apptio In $4.6 Billion Deal: Details

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 26, 2023

IBM announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Vista Equity Partners to buy Apptio, a leader in financial and operational IT management and optimization (FinOps) software, for $4.6 billion. The acquisition of Apptio is going to accelerate the advancement of IBM's IT automation capabilities and enable enterprise leaders to deliver enhanced business value across technology investments.

Temple Health Integrates AI-Based Medication Management Solutions In Its Epic EHR

By Annie Baker ● Jun 26, 2023

One of the problems in health systems has been issues with inefficient medication reconciliation processes and the lack of price transparency, which often leads to patients abandoning prescriptions at the pharmacy counter after being surprised by the costs. Health technology company DrFirst recently announced that the 900-bed Temple University Health System (Temple Health) is answering these challenges by integrating AI-powered medication history and real-time prescription benefit checking solutions into its Epic electronic health record (EHR) system.

Purdue University And High Alpha Partnering To Base Programs In Downtown Indianapolis

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2023

Purdue University’s Executive Education programs from the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business and some Purdue Innovates programs in Indianapolis will be housed at High Alpha in the burgeoning Bottleworks District of Indianapolis. The recent announcement builds on Purdue’s commitment announced last week to expand the university’s academic and research excellence to the state capital while investing in and partnering with the city to create new knowledge, build startups, and connect talents with industry.

Aite-Novarica Group And RBR Rebrands To Datos Insights

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 23, 2023

Aite-Novarica Group and RBR announced its rebranding as Datos Insights. These companies - both global leaders in financial services technology research and data - merged in February 2022. This new brand represents an expanded vision for the combined company, which builds on its collective reach and resources. And together under the Datos Insights name, they will continue their journey with a new web presence and product enhancements to help clients achieve the most significant possible business impact.

Hun School Of Princeton Students On Working With New Jersey Beekeepers

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2023

The Hun School of Princeton - an all-gender private day and boarding school - announced that through NextTerm - which is a three-week mini-semester designed to offer Hun students an experiential and interdisciplinary academic experience with real-world implications. The Hun students are exploring how the honey bee is deeply connected to human culture and how humans can work to preserve its existence.

Boox And ReturnBear Partnering For Enabling More Sustainable E-Commerce Packaging

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2023

Boox - a sustainable e-commerce platform providing zero-waste, circular packaging solutions - announced the expansion of its services to the Canadian market through support by Canada’s first package-free returns network ReturnBear. The Boox x ReturnBear partnership started off with rhode’s entry to Canada, as well as Kiehl’s Canada, through a shared goal to transition the e-commerce industry to a more circular economy.

uniQure: $100 Million Milestone Achieved With Hemophilia B Gene Therapy

By Noah Long ● Jun 22, 2023

uniQure N.V. - a leading gene therapy company advancing transformative therapies for patients with severe medical needs - recently announced the achievement of a $100 million milestone associated with the first commercial sale of HEMGENIX in the United States by its partner CSL.

WAVs AI: $20 Million In Funding Raised From Regal Investments

By Annie Baker ● Jun 22, 2023

Regal Investments announced recently its strategic investment of $20 million in the AI music streaming platform WAVs AI. And this significant investment underscores Regal Investments' commitment to leveraging AI technologies and staying ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving music industry.

PayPal And KKR Sign €40 Billion Multi-Year European Pay Later Receivables Deal

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 22, 2023

PayPal and KKR announced recently the signing of an exclusive multi-year agreement for a €3 billion replenishing loan commitment under which private credit funds and accounts managed by KKR will purchase up to €40 billion of buy now, pay later (BNPL) loan receivables originated by PayPal in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Spike: Conversational Email App Company Launches End-to-End Email And Team Chat Service

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2023

Spike - a leading conversational email app - has announced the launch of Spike for Teams, which is an end-to-end email and team chat service that delivers an exceptional unified communication and collaboration experience for small-to-medium-sized businesses, including agencies, law firms, IT companies, development agencies, and anyone who needs to collaborate efficiently.

Peninsula Fiber Network: $61 Million Federal Grant Awarded

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 21, 2023

Peninsula Fiber Network (PFN) announced recently that it has been awarded a major federal grant to install broadband infrastructure in 3 areas across the state of Michigan. And the project includes routes that traverse Michigan’s lakes and unserved/underserved counties and towns, bringing much-needed “middle mile" broadband infrastructure to improve the state’s broadband connectivity.

QuickBlox Improves Video Consultations Using OpenAI Integration

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 20, 2023

QuickBlox - a cloud-based communication platform as a service (CPaaS) provider - announced the integration of OpenAI with its new video consultation service Q-Consultation Lite.

PLOT Communications: Construction Job Management Platform Company Secures $2 Million

By Noah Long ● Jun 19, 2023

PLOT Communications - a SaaS management platform for construction job sites - announced just over $2 million in fresh funding to continue its mission to enhance Jobsite Coordination.

iCapital Deploys Marketplace To Connect Wealth Managers To Alternative Investment Opportunities

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 19, 2023

iCapital - a global fintech platform driving access to alternative investments for the wealth management industry - announced the launch of iCapital Marketplace.

Pecan Street And Local Partnering To Expand Its Energy Equity Research Network

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 19, 2023

A three-year $2.5 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to Pecan Street and university and local community partners are going to expand Pecan Street’s household energy research network to four new regions focused on equitable energy: Oklahoma City, central Pennsylvania, Atlanta, and Portland, Oregon. And over 200 homes in traditionally underserved communities will be equipped with Pecan Street’s energy research equipment, addressing a critical data gap for low-income communities and households of color.

Astra And Alloy Are Partnering To Streamline Payment Integrations

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 19, 2023

Astra (a leading provider of infrastructure for faster payments) announced a partnership with Alloy (an identity risk management company) to streamline the onboarding process for existing Alloy customers to leverage Astra’s advanced transfer technology in their applications.

Google Utilizes AI To Show How Clothes Look Virtually On People

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2023

Going to a clothing store and trying out various sets of outfits can be a tedious process. This is a problem that Google is solving by bringing the fitting room experience to you.

Google Adding New Features To Lens, Including Skin Condition Search

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 15, 2023

Google Lens is an image recognition technology that makes it easier to search what you see and a few new features are being added to it.

J.Crew Launches Immersive Virtual Store Through Partnership With Obsess

By Noah Long ● Jun 14, 2023

J.Crew recently announced the launch of an immersive virtual store powered by experiential e-commerce platform Obsess. And the 3D shoppable experience celebrates the company’s 40th anniversary and takes the form of a beach house that features 6 unique rooms and a separate boathouse.

Bryant University Expanding Campus With Donation From Fidelity Investments

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 11, 2023

Bryant University announced a significant campus expansion due to a generous real estate donation from neighboring Fidelity Investments. Fidelity donated 100 Salem Street, which is part of their Smithfield corporate campus just across the street from the existing Bryant campus entrance.

Building Your Kids’ Credit Score

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 7, 2023

This is how you build your kids' credit score

Lightmatter: Photonic Processor Leader Company Raises $154 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jun 6, 2023

Lightmatter - a leader in photonics - announced recently that it raised a $154 million Series C investment round from SIP Global, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Viking Global Investors, GV (Google Ventures), HPE Pathfinder and existing investors.