Top tech startup news for today, Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Good morning! Below are some of the top tech startup news for today, Wednesday, August 7, 2019.

Nike acquires AI platform startup Celect to better predict shopping behavior. Nike has acquired Celect, a leading retail predictive analytics and demand sensing firm based in Boston. The total amount of the deal was not disclosed. Founded in 2013, Celect A cloud-based predictive analytics SaaS platform that helps retailers optimize overall inventory portfolios. Celect is Nike’s latest acquisition fueling its Consumer Direct Offense strategy, serving consumers personally at a global scale.  The acquisition will also accelerate Nike’s ability to anticipate consumer needs.

Airbnb acquires hospitality and travel startup Urbandoor. Airbnb announced it has acquired Urbandoor, a startup that connects traveling and relocating professionals with the right apartment every time, anywhere. The total terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 2015 by Benjamin Renaud, Erik Eccles, and Zack Chandler, Urbandoor helps people to  find and experience serviced apartments. The acquisition will bolster and accelerate Airbnb’s mission to create a seamless, global online corporate housing marketplace.

Co-living startup Tripalink lands $10 million Series B at $100 million valuation. Tripalink, a Los Angeles-based startup providing an open co-living community for all millennials in US , has secured the $10 million series B funding to be mainly used for market expansion. The financing, which now values the company at $100 million, brings the total funding to date to $20 million. Backers include old investors, Calin SJG Fund, L.P, K2VC, Tekton Ventures, and a new investor, Oriza Venture. Tripalink, founded in 2016 by CEO Donghao Li, is a youth community based in Los Angeles. It is an open co-living community for all millennials in US , sharing information and resources. It is our mission to establish a truly co-living neighborhood, to redefine the experience of living, enhancing the quality of life.

SignalWire Secures $11.5M in Series A financing to accelerate its platform development. SignalWire, a Palo Alto, California-based provider of an open-source enterprise communication platform, has closed an $11.5m Series A funding round to accelerate the development of its Cloud communication platform, a new offering that allows developers to embed voice, messaging, and video capabilities into applications using advanced real-time APIs. The round was led by Storm Ventures with participation from Samsung NEXT and Sequoia Capital (Sequoia Scouts) and other investors. Led by CEO Anthony Minessale and COO Sean Heiney, SignalWire delivers a cloud platform for building advanced communications products, applications, or enterprise infrastructure.

Toronto artificial intelligence startup BlueDot secures $7 million in Series A funding. BlueDot, a digital health startup that uses big data analytics to track and anticipate the spread of the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases, closed a $7M Series A financing to develop its AI-driven product suite, grow its sales and commercialization efforts in government, healthcare, and insurance, and expand into new global markets. The round, which brings BlueDot’s total funding to $9.5M, was co-led by The Co-operators and BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund, with participation from existing investor Horizons Ventures.

Toyota partners with AI startup Preferred Networks to accelerate goal of robots for the home. World’s largest automaker, Toyota, is partnering with Tokyo-based Preferred Networks Inc to carry out joint research to develop so-called service robots that are “capable of learning in typical living environments”, the two companies announced today. As part of the collaborative agreement, Toyota will first loan several dozen HSRs to PFN; over the next three years, the two companies will then collaborate in research and development.