Top 10 tech startup news stories you need to know this Wednesday, December 13

Good morning! Here are top 10 tech startup news stories you need to know this Wednesday, December 13

Godfather of AI wants to build a factory using AI to mass-produce stem cells to fight disease

Professor Geoffrey Hinton is leading a government-backed research facility in Toronto who wants to create a partially automated factory that would mass-produce transplantable stem cells into disease-fighting cells using Artificial Intelligence (AI).  Professor Geoffrey Hinton comes from family of geniuses and inventors. His great-great grandfather was the logician George Boole, who invented Boolean algebra, whose Boolean Logic is the basis of binary code and a foundation of modern computing. Professor Geoffrey was hired by Google to make AI a reality. He also engineering fellow for the Google Brain Team. He and his two graduate students, Alex Krizhevsky and Ilya Sutskever, were hired by Google to develop Android voice search.

Facebook partners with India Startup Village Collective to launch virtual reality program for Indian students

Facebook today announced a virtual reality (VR) program in partnership with India-based Startup Village Collective (SV.CO)  to help students in India build their ideas into globally marketable products and services.

This Startup is giving away DNA editing enzyme for free

A Boulder, Colorado-based startup, Inscripta, announced it has discovered a new CRISPR enzyme for editing DNA, one of the hottest areas in biotech and it is going to give it away for free. “This is a true gift we’re giving to the community because I truly believe this technology is so important that holding it or restricting it is not the company that Inscripta wants to be,” says Kevin Ness, the startup CEO.

Microsoft Ventures and Floodgate invested in SaaS ‘Active Strategy Management’ startup Workboard

Workboard, a SaaS platform startup that helps companies execute their strategies, today announced a $9 million Series A round that included participation from Microsoft’s formal venture fund.  Microsoft Ventures was launched last year. So far, it has now invested in more than 40 startups. Workboard was founded by Deidre Paknad. Her last startup was acquired by IBM.

Dreamscape Immersive, a VR startup receives backing from Dubai Billionaire and Nickelodeon

Dreamscape Immersive, which is developing virtual-reality arcades for shopping malls, announced Wednesday it has  completed a $30 million funding round in Series B funding.  Investors include AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., Viacom Inc.’s Nickelodeon, Dubai billionaire Majid Al Futtaim, VRSense Solutions Ltd. and Image Nation Abu Dhabi. Original investors include Steven Spielberg.

MakersValley is connecting local designers with manufacturers around the world

MakersValley, an online B2B platform startup based in Italy, is making it easier for people to get started in creating their own label, by matching Italian apparel manufacturers and artisans with emerging designers and boutiques. Through its platform, designers can connect to factories in Italy that produce for high-end brands

Simility raises $17.5 million round for its fraud-fighting AI

The three-year-old fraud detection startup today announced that it has raised a $17.5 million funding round led by venture capital powerhouse Accel. Part of the funding will be used to hire more data scientists to support its development efforts.

A small Chicago-based startup is quietly creating safer roads using big data and predictive analytics

Arity is a one-year old Chicago-based startup. Arity has achieved what many startup could not have achieved in their one year of operation.  The company has already has 300 employees. Arity is using big data and predictive analytics to help companies more accurately assess an individual’s driving risk. “We believe the transportation system is broken and that it will change dramatically over the next 30 years,” said president Gary Hallgren.

Upstream Security secures $9 million to keep hackers out of your car

Upstream yesterday announced the completion of a $9 million financing round led by Charles River Ventures (CRV). The startup will use the new capital to continue adding features, hire more security researchers to help identify cyber threats and open new sales offices. CRV also invested in major startups such as Twitter Inc.

Brazilian startup Creditas is solving high interest rates problem in the world’s third largest lending market

Borrowers in Brazil are paying more than 200 percent in interest rate. Creditas founder Sergio sees this as a problem and decided to do something to address it. His startup is offering consumer lower interest rates ranging from 17 percent to as 50 percent. So far, his startup has originated about $100 million in collateralized loans. Furio’s company charges anywhere from 17 percent to 25 percent for home equity loans and between 23 percent and 50 percent for auto equity loans.