Top tech startup news for today, Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Good morning! Below are some of the top tech startup news stories for Tuesday, May 21.

Chinese live streaming platform Huya is planning US expansion. The global e-sports economy is expected to hit more than $1 billion in revenue this year. Huya, the Chinese live streaming platform for gamers is looking to expand into the US market and increase its international presence as the company looks to tap the fast-growing e-sports market internationally. Huya’s Nimo TV, is already available in parts of Latin America and Asia. Founded in 2016 by Li Xueling, Huya is China’s interactive broadcast platform with live products that cover PC, Web, and mobile. It’s Nimo TV is a global game live streaming platform that provides live streaming of PUBG, PUBG Mobile, Fortnite, and other hottest PC and mobile games.

Amazon to acquire bankrupt startup Sizmek to take on Google’s DoubleClick. Amazon is planning to bankrupt advertising tech provider startup Sizmek as it looks to bolster its advertising opportunities to compete with Google and Facebook, according to Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the deal. According to the report, the deal could be announced as early as this week. Before the company filed for bankruptcy in March 2019, Sizmek provides a demand side and data management platform for programmatic ad purchases. It originally sold some assets to Zeta for $36 million. However, it estimated its assets to be worth up to $500 million. Analysts believe Amazon is acquiring Sizmek to take on Google’s DoubleClick.

Ivalua raises $60 million valuing the startup at over $1 billion. Ivalua, a Paris, France- and Redwood City, CA–based provider of global Spend Management cloud solutions, has raised $60m in growth equity funding to make future investments in organic product innovation, global expansion and possibly strategic acquisitions. The funding, which values the company at more than $1 billion, was led by investors including Tiger Global Management and Ardian Growth. Founded in France by David Khuat-Duy, CEO, Ivalua provides a procurement empowerment platform used by over 300 companies across the globe to manage over $500 Billion in direct and indirect spend.

People.ai, the artificial intelligence (AI) platform for enterprise revenue, raises $60M at around $500M valuation. People.ai, creators of the only Revenue Intelligence System, today announced a $60M Series C funding round led by ICONIQ Capital with participation by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, GGV Capital and Y Combinator. Founded in 2016 Oleg Rogynskyy, People.ai helps sales, marketing and customer success teams uncover every revenue opportunity from every customer, by capturing all customer contacts, activity and engagement to drive actionable insights across all revenue teams. People.ai provides an AI platform for enterprise sales, marketing, and customer success that uncovers every revenue opportunity from every customer.

Amazon led a $575 million Series G investment in unicorn food delivery startup Deliveroo. Deliveroo, a unicorn food delivery startup and U.K.’s largest online food delivery company, has raised $575 million Series G funding investment led by Amazon. The latest round of latest investment, which was also backed by existing investors T Rowe Price, Fidelity Management and Research Company, and Greenoaks, brings total funding raised to date to $1.53 billion. Deliveroo is an international competitor to Uber Eats. Uber shareholders are already concerned that prospect of ordering delivery from Alexa may take a bite out of Uber’s international Uber Eats business.

Cala Health raises $50 million in Series C funding. Cala Health, a bioelectronic medicine startup that develops wearable therapies for chronic disease, has closed a $50m Series C financing to introduce its Cala TrioTM to the market as well as expand its therapeutic pipeline. The new capital infusion was backed by new investors including Novartis, Baird Capital, LifeSci Venture Partners, TriVentures, and others, with participation from all existing investors. Founded by CEO Kate Rosenbluth, PhD, Cala Health has developed Cala Trio, a breakthrough therapy for hand tremors in people with essential tremor. The company is preparing for the limited release of the prescription Cala Trio therapy.