Top startup news for today, Wednesday, November 28

Good morning! Here are some of the top technology startup news stories for today, Wednesday, November 28.

HP subsidiary, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, acquires big data and machine learning startup BlueData. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is buying BlueData, a startup whose software makes deploying infrastructure for big data and machine learning easier for enterprises. The total amount of deal were not disclosed. The acquisition will help HPE to accelerate its AI, big data offerings. HPE’s goal is to create a turnkey big data solution customers can use in their own data centers, in the cloud, or in hybrid scenarios. Founded in 2012 by Kumar Sreekanti and Tom Phelan, BlueData provides the leading container-based software platform for AI, machine learning, data science, and big data analytics. It helps enterprises to accelerate their deployments, with faster time-to-value and lower TCO. “AI and machine learning are transforming enterprises into smarter enterprises. HPE gets that and is adding to its lead,” said LAN Infotech CEO Michael Goldstein. “There are so many data points that you have to make sure customers have a way of reading and managing them all.”

Ex-Snap exec Imran Khan raises $17.5 million for new startup aimed at millennials. Imran Khan, former chief strategy officer at Snap Inc., has raised $17.5 million for his new a multi-brand retailer e-commerce startup aimed at millennials, according to Axios citing a source familiar with the deal. The goal is that someday the new startup will be able to take on Amazon. Khan’s wife Cate, who recently stepped down as head of retail for Amazon-owned Quidsi, will join the startup as a co-founder. The funding was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Khan’s friends and family.

Real-estate tech startup VTS to create online office marketplace. VTS, a real estate tech startup backed by Blackstone Group LP today announced plans to launch a service focused on less complicated leases of less than 5,000 square feet in 2019. The service, expected to launch early next year, would enable landlords and tenants to negotiate commercial real-estate leases online without a traditional broker. Founded in 2011 Brandon Weber, Donald DeSantis, Karl Baum, Niall Smart, Nicholas Romito, and Ryan Masiello,VTS is the commercial real estate industry’s leading leasing and asset management platform. Landlords use VTS to maximize portfolio performance by transforming their leasing and asset management process, enabling them to acquire the right tenants faster, sign the right deals at the best economics, and optimize the renewal process—reducing costly downtime. Brokers can manage their deal pipeline and get tenants into empty spaces faster, collaborate across teams and work easily with their landlord clients using VTS for Brokers. The VTS platform manages more than 9 billion square feet of commercial real estate and a user base exceeding 34,000.

Skype co-founder raises $105m for Southeast Asian fintech startup Oriente. Skype co-founder Geoffrey Prentice has raised a massive $105 million in funding round for his latest venture startup called Oriente, a microlending business in Southeast Asia, intensifying the battle for the region’s vast unbanked population. Oriente aims to reach the unbanked Indonesians, Filipinos and Vietnamese. Oriente was founded in 2017 by the co-founders of revolutionary internet companies Skype and LU.com who saw an opportunity to build a better, more equitable financial system for underserved consumers in Asia’s fastest-growing economies.

Microsoft venture fund M12 teams up with DFF to empower tech startups in UAE. M12, Microsoft Corp’s venture fund has joined forces with Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) AREA 2071 to promote entrepreneurial opportunities and economic growth for technology startups in UAE. The agreement took place during the M12 Innovation Summit: Leveraging Data and AI, at DFF. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Abdulaziz Al Jaziri, Deputy CEO, Dubai Future Foundation and Sayed Hashish, general manager, Microsoft Gulf. “We are excited to hold the M12 Innovation Summit here in the UAE.” said Sayed Hashish, regional general manager, Microsoft Gulf. “Microsoft has long been a key player in promoting startup and SME success and growth in the region, and in helping businesses innovate by attracting global talent to the UAE.