10 things in tech startups you need to know today Thursday, November 30

Good morning! Here’s what you need to know this Thursday in tech startup news.

Alibaba seeking biggest stake in AI start-up SenseTime. Chinese Internet giant, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is in discussions to invest about $227 million to become the largest backer of Chinese facial recognition startup SenseTime. SenseTime develops face recognition technology that can be applied to payment and picture analysis, which could be used, for instance, on bank card verification and security systems. Ranked fifth in China Money Network’s China AI Top 10 Ranking in 2017,

Uptake closes $117M Series D at $2.3B valuation. The Chicago-based startup, Uptake just raised $117 million Series D funding round at a valuation of $2.3 billion. This comes two weeks after the startup announced a renegotiation of its partnership with Caterpillar. Uptake provides industrial analytics platform that delivers products to major industries to increase productivity, security, safety and reliability.

Anti-aging startup ResTORbio gets $40M to fuel Phase IIb study. ResTORbio, the startup which was set up earlier this year as a subsidiary of Boston-based PureTech Health, has raised $40 million in a Series B round to speed its anti-aging program through the clinic.

Video Marketing Platform Innovid Buys Marketing Intelligence Startup Taykey. Israel-linked video marketing platform Innovid announced Thursday it has agreed to buy real-time data intelligence company Taykey, Inc.

Open Banking platform Deposit Solutions raises $20 million to accelerate the international expansion. The Hamburg Germany-based startup, Deposit Solutions  just closed a new investment round led by existing shareholders e.ventures and Greycroft.  The startup operates the first Open Banking platform for savings deposits. Its APIs allow any bank to easily connect to and benefit from its unique solution.

3D-printing startup Rize names Dassault Systemes exec as CEO. The Woburn-based startup came out of stealth mode last year with a new approach to 3D printing and an experienced founding team. The new CEO wants to take it to the next level.

Finnish startups are finally getting outside investment. The Finnish government has been funding the country’s startups. For the first time, Finland is finally open to outside funding for its early stage companies. This year, outside investors invested more money into Finnish startups than  the government.

Vera Songwe launches the women and girls startup challenge to promote digital entrepreneurship. The Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Ms. Vera Songwe has called on countries to give female creativity and innovation “all the opportunities required in order to bear fruits and achieve sustainable and inclusive development.”

Intellibrand comes up with a new solution to help brands and retailers expose products to online stores. Intellibrand is a startup that helps brands evaluate the exposure of their products in online shop windows and e-commerces, monitoring visibility, pricing and competition.

Vegea, the thirty startup among the most innovative of the new millennium. Vegea has just been selected as one of the  “European 50 startups” competition from thousands of other startups in Europe.