Top tech startup news of the week (startup weekend roundup – June 23)
Nickie Louise
Posted On June 24, 2018
Happy weekend! Here is a roundup of the top startup news of the past week. Please subscribe to the TechStartups Newsletter using the form at the right corner of this page, if you want this weekly update in your inbox every week.
Tessian raises $13 million to secure enterprise email using machine learning.
Tessian (formerly CheckRecipient), the UK-based machine intelligence startup, has raised $13 million (£9 million) in a Series A round to make enterprise email safe with machine learning. The latest round was led by Balderton Capital and existing investors, Accel. Amadeus Capital Partners, Crane, LocalGlobe, Winton Ventures with participation from Walking Ventures. Founded in 2013 by a team of mathematicians, engineers and data scientists who spent their early careers working in the investment banking industry,the London-based Tessian prevents highly sensitive information being sent to the wrong people over email.
Decision platform startup Pulse Q&A raises $4 million seed round led by True Ventures.
Pulse Q&A, a platform dedicated to helping C-Suite executives make better decisions on strategy, innovation and enterprise technologies, has raised a $4 million seed round led by True Ventures with participation from Y-Combinator and angel investors including Steve Norall, former CPO at Survey Monkey. Pulse Q&A is a platform dedicated to helping C-suite executives make better strategy, innovation and enterprise technology decisions – starting with CIOs.
Elucidata Corporation, a data science startup focused on developing tools and software solutions for drug discovery, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding to transform drug discovery and accelerate growth. The latest financing round was led by Hyperplane Venture Capital along with several prominent angels participating. The company was founded in 2015 by Abhishek Jha and Swetabh Pathak, Elucidata’s mission is to use data analytics to transform decision-making processes in R&D labs in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
Tableau acquires MIT spinoff Empirical Systems.
Data visualization software maker, Tableau Software, has acquired Empirical Systems, a pioneering artificial intelligence startup that spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Probabilistic Computing Project in 2016. The project seeks to build “a new generation of probabilistic computing systems that integrate probability and randomness into the basic building blocks of software and hardware. With Empirical Systems’ automated statistical analysis technology integrated into the Tableau platform, Tableau customers will more easily gain insight into their data, without needing to manually build the complex underlying data models that would otherwise be necessary. The total amount of the deals were not disclosed.
Enterprise SaaS startup DigiFi launches AI-powered decision automation platform.
DigiFi, an enterprise SaaS company building the next generation of decision automation technology, has launched its AI-powered decision automation platform. The technology enables business users to easily create automated processes that gather data, execute rules, send communications and leverage machine learning. The company is addressing the growing demand for process automation and artificial intelligence with an innovative platform built for non-technical users and accessible by businesses of all sizes.
TinyTap has secured a $5 million funding round to enable limitless learning for children while helping teachers get paid. The latest financing round was led by Aleph venture capital fund with participation from previous investors, including Inimiti, Radiant and ReInvent.
Many parents today are worried that their kids are increasingly glued to screens. The Tel Aviv, Israel-based TinyTap helps turn that screen time into an active learning experience. TinyTap provides learning opportunities for children worldwide with over 150,000 learning games handmade by teachers.
Health and wellness startup Aaptiv has raised $22 million in Series C funding to further the company’s technology innovation, product growth, and customer acquisition. The round was led by Millennium Technology Value Partners, a growth equity firm that has previously invested in Spotify, Facebook, Alibaba, among others. Joining them is 14W, a venture capital firm with a portfolio that includes Wallapop, Glossier, Lyst, and Goop. Existing investor Insight Venture Partners also participated in the financing, bringing Insight’s total investment in Aaptiv to over $30 million.
Viva Republica, Korea’s foremost fintech startup and maker of financial services app Toss, has raised $40 million round of funding to gain significant momentum in accelerating its growth and enhancing product development. The latest round is led by GIC and Sequoia China, bringing the company’s total amount of funding raised to $116 million. The funding is GIC’s first investment in a startup in Korea and Sequoia China’s first investment in a Korean company.
Immuta, the world’s first data management platform for data science, has raised $20 million in Series B funding to accelerate global customer growth and extend product leadership for Immuta’s data management platform for artificial intelligence (AI). The latest funding is led by DFJ Growth, with participation from new investors, Dell Technologies Capital and Citi Ventures, and existing investors, Drive Capital and Greycroft. This latest investment comes on the heels of tremendous momentum for the company. Immuta grew more than 260 percent YoY in customer revenue in 2017, adding new Global 1000 customers across government, insurance, financial services, and healthcare verticals
