Above the Trend Line: your industry rumor central is a recurring feature of insideBIGDATA. In this column, we present a variety of short time-critical news items grouped by category such as M&A activity, people movements, funding news, industry partnerships, customer wins, rumors and general scuttlebutt floating around the big data, data science and machine learning industries including behind-the-scenes anecdotes and curious buzz. Our intent is to provide you a one-stop source of late-breaking news to help you keep abreast of this fast-paced ecosystem. We’re working hard on your behalf with our extensive vendor network to give you all the latest happenings. Heard of something yourself? Tell us! Just e-mail me at: daniel@insidebigdata.com. Be sure to Tweet Above the Trend Line articles using the hashtag: #abovethetrendline.
So much big data scuttlebutt, where to start? Let’s dive in with some new funding news … ZEDEDA, a leader in edge orchestration, announced that it has closed $26 million in Series B funding, capping a period of exponential growth. The broad range of new and existing investors — including Coast Range Capital, Lux Capital, Energize Ventures, Almaz Capital, Porsche Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, Juniper Networks, Rockwell Automation, Samsung Next and EDF North America Ventures — signals the importance of edge computing to companies across all industries and verticals … Sympatic, a data collaboration platform that allows users to create and manage safe data sandboxes in their cloud of choice, announced that it has raised a pre-seed round of funding led by Saltagen Ventures with participation from ScaleGood Fund.
In new M&A activity we have … Leading enterprise automation software company, UiPath (NYSE: PATH), announced it has acquired Re:infer, a London-based natural language processing (NLP) company for unstructured documents and communications. Founded in 2015 by Ph.D. scientists from the AI research lab at University College London, Re:infer uses machine learning (ML) technology to mine context from communication messages and transform them into actionable data with speed and accuracy … mParticle, a leader in customer data infrastructure, announced that it has acquired Vidora, an AI personalization platform for customer data. With the acquisition, teams can now easily create and deploy models across mParticle’s partner ecosystem of 300+ API integrations to improve decisioning, segmentation, and personalization … ClaimLogiq, a leading technology enabling payment integrity platform, announced that it has acquired SyTrue, the pioneer in healthcare natural language processing technology, creating a seamless and cohesive solution for clinical, coding and medical record reviews … Knoema, a premier data platform which makes data discoverable and actionable, announced the acquisition of Seek Data, a leading cloud data and analytics consultancy across industries, including retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG). The onboarding of Seek Data’s analytics professionals and engineers will accelerate Knoema’s goal to meet end-user demand for solutions that are tailored to specific industry verticals, starting with retail and CPG. Effective immediately, Erik Mitchell will join the Knoema team full-time as Chief Strategy Officer overseeing commercial and product strategy at the combined firm.
We also learned of some new partnerships, alignments and collaborations … APARAVI®, the company behind the Aparavi Data Intelligence and Automation Platform, announced a new partnership with Quantum Corporation to accelerate the adoption of automated, intelligent solutions designed to efficiently manage, protect, and gain business value from growing volumes of unstructured data. The companies’ combined solutions leverage the Aparavi Data Intelligence and Automation Platform with Quantum ActiveScale™ Object Storage software and platforms to enable cost-effective curation, protection, and use of unstructured data … TruEra, which provides the first suite of AI Quality management solutions for managing model performance, explainability, and societal impact, announced a new collaboration with Intel that will help enterprises improve AI model quality and accelerate the business impact of AI. The combination of TruEra software and Intel hardware helps enterprises assess AI model quality quickly and collect critical data to refine models over time for optimal performance … Cogniteam, the developers of a leading drag n’ drop robotics operating system Nimbus, is partnering with a leading designer and manufacturer of industrial IoT and Edge AI solutions AAEON to develop ready-to-build robotic hardware. Companies who recognize a new market demand can immediately choose the AAEON system, device, or hardware that’s right for them and know that it’s fully supported with the Nimbus no-code integration. This means companies can quickly develop and deploy advanced GPS, light, and other sensors using field-tested software solutions … Datafold, a data reliability company, and Hightouch, a leading data activation provider, announced an integration to quickly provide data engineers with visibility into how dbt model changes impact activated data … D-Wave Systems Inc., a leader in quantum computing systems, software, and services, and the company building both quantum annealing and gate-based quantum computers, and Mastercard (NYSE: MA) announced a multi-year strategic alliance to champion the acceleration and adoption of quantum computing solutions. Mastercard and D-Wave will collaborate on the research and development of quantum-hybrid applications in areas such as consumer loyalty and rewards, cross-border settlement and fraud management. The collaboration will use D-Wave’s annealing quantum computers and quantum hybrid solvers through the Leap™ quantum cloud service to deliver real-time access to quantum applications safely and securely powered by Mastercard’s network.
In people movement news we learned … real-time data analytics and decision intelligence platform KX announced the appointment of Ashok Reddy as CEO. Reddy will report directly to FD Technologies Group CEO Seamus Keating. He joins KX as they accelerate growth of the company, following a transformational year for the business. Reddy joins KX with over 20 years of experience in building and growing global technology businesses, including IBM, CA Technologies and Broadcom … Zilliant, a leader in end-to-end pricing and revenue operations and intelligence software, announced the appointment of Pascal Yammine as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Yammine, who most recently served as the Senior Vice President & General Manager of Salesforce Revenue Cloud, brings unique qualifications and more than 20 years of leadership experience in enterprise software and technology consulting … IntelliProp, a leading innovator of composable data center transformation technology, announced the appointment of John Spiers as Chief Executive Officer and President. Spiers, a seasoned executive and entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience pioneering breakthrough data center innovations and leading fast-growth organizations, will drive new CXL advances for the data center. He succeeds co-founder and long-time CEO Hiren Patel, who will serve the company as Chief Technology Officer … Cohesity, a leader in next-gen data management, announced the appointment of Sanjay Poonen as CEO and President. He will also join the Cohesity Board of Directors. Poonen was formerly Chief Operating Officer (COO) of VMware and President of SAP. Mohit Aron, who has been CEO since founding the company in 2013, will accelerate Cohesity’s product innovation and roadmap as Founder and Chief Technology and Product Officer. Aron will continue to lead the company’s research and development (R&D), support and services, as well as the Office of the CTO. He will remain on the Cohesity Board of Directors … GridGain® Systems, provider of enterprise-grade in-memory computing solutions powered by the Apache® Ignite® distributed database, announced that Eoin O’Connor has been named as President and Chief Executive Officer. O’Connor succeeds Abe Kleinfeld, who retired after more than eight years at GridGain. O’Connor has been with GridGain since 2016, serving as CFO and more recently as COO. He has been central in transforming the company into a leader in distributed in-memory computing solutions. O’Connor will drive GridGain’s next stage of growth, broadening the customer base and enhancing the product offering … Starburst announced David Freeman as its first ever CFO. David previously served as VP of Finance and Operations at Starburst and is now transitioning into the CFO role after just over a year at the company. David’s first year with Starburst has been packed with many accomplishments as Starburst tripled revenue, doubled headcount to over 400 employees and raised $250M in Series D financing at a $3.35B valuation. Now, he’s excited to take on new opportunities and challenges as CFO … Kensu, the data observability company, announced that the Company’s Board of Directors has appointed Eleanor Treharne-Jones as Chief Executive Officer to accelerate its global growth and U.S. expansion. Eleanor’s appointment enables founder Andy Petrella to take the role of Chief Product Officer and focus on developing the Data Observability Driven Development (DODD) Method that he created, the Kensu data observability platform that delivers it, and the authoritative text on Data Observability … Lynceus, a leader in artificial intelligence (AI)-powered predictive process control, announced that it has appointed electronic design automation (EDA) industry veteran David Park as its vice president (VP) of marketing. Park will build the company’s marketing organization and drive its marketing activities to educate the industry on the value and benefits Lynceus delivers through its AI solutions … Domino Data Lab, provider of a leading Enterprise MLOps platform, has hired Nathan Greenhut as its new General Manager of Financial Services and Insurance. In this role, Greenhut will lead the financial services and insurance team at Domino to scale data science and MLOps best practices rapidly for competitive advantage. He will help customers in these industries get more data, more modes and more business value, while reducing risk and resources needed to get there. Greenhut is joining Domino from Cognizant, and has previously held roles at IBM and E&Y working in BFSI in software, solutions and services as a consultant, salesperson and commercial leader … SafeAI, a global leader in autonomous solutions for heavy machinery, announced Sudhanshu Singh has joined the company as Senior Vice President (SVP) of Global Operations. Backed by decades of experience in heavy industry, Sudhanshu will oversee SafeAI’s best-in-class operations and customer success team to support the scaling and growth of SafeAI’s business and customers … Mezmo, a leading observability data platform, announced the expansion of its executive team, including Buddy Brewer as chief product officer (CPO) and Ajay Khanna as chief marketing officer (CMO). Their expertise in enterprise software, engineering, and scaling rapid-growth companies will be instrumental in guiding product and brand strategies as Mezmo expands its offerings within the observability market … MariaDB® Corporation announced the appointment of Christine Napoli as chief financial officer, and Christine Russell as a new board member … Armored Things, a leading provider of AI software for smart space planning, announced the appointment of Richard Scannell as CEO and Board Member as co-founder Julie Roberts moves into the role of Chief Strategy Officer. The announcement comes on the heels of accelerating performance for Armored Things and a large, growing opportunity to help college and corporate campuses optimize their use of physical spaces.
In the new customer wins department we heard … SingleStore, the cloud-native database built for speed and scale to power data-intensive applications, announced it has selected AppDirect to power SingleStore Connect, a subscription commerce platform that removes the complexity of building a recurring business model. SingleStore Connect is an interactive marketplace for partners and customers to collaborate, discover new use cases and locate complementary technologies to maximize their SingleStore solution investments. … The Israeli Ministry of Defense (MoD) has selected Mona’s intelligent monitoring solution to provide proactive insights in their AI systems. Mona is the leading intelligent monitoring solution for AI / ML-driven systems, providing complete visibility into the behavior and performance of data, models and processes. As an interoperable solution, Mona easily integrates into existing workflows and is compatible with any AI use case or any intelligent automation process … Wallaroo Labs announced that they have been selected by SPACEWERX, the innovation arm of the US Space Force (USSF), to solve edge model deployment challenges specific to On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (OSAM) missions. This fully funded Phase 1 project in collaboration with Catalyst Campus (CCTI) will look at edge model deployment challenges for use cases like satellite life extension, on-orbit refueling, active debris removal, and the reuse & recycling of materials to build the foundation for assembly and manufacturing in space … Iguazio, the MLOps platform provider, and Sense, a market leader in artificial intelligence (AI) driven talent engagement for recruiting, announced that the Iguazio MLOps platform has been selected to power a wide range of AI products aimed at increasing the efficiency and scalability of Sense’s AI operations. Sense is leveraging automation and AI to speed up the recruitment process, while delivering a hyper-personalized candidate experience … Gradient AI, a leading enterprise software provider of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in the insurance industry announced that Builders, a leading mutual insurance company, has adopted its solution to streamline and improve its underwriting process to support future expansion … Domo (Nasdaq: DOMO) announced that HelloFresh, the world’s leading integrated food solutions group, chose Domo to power its growing HR operations with transparent and efficient access to BI and analytics … Speedb, maker of a next-generation data engine that helps organizations evolve their hyper-scale data operations, announced that its customer XM Cyber improved metadata memory performance up to 10x by implementing Speedb’s drop-in replacement for the RocksDB key value storage engine. With efficient metadata processing becoming critical to service levels, XM Cyber’s platform used Speedb to overcome memory bottlenecks and free developers from sharding, tuning and other operational tasks so they can spend time creating new features … WeCare tlc, a provider of onsite and near-site workplace health centers, is taking its dedication to data and analytics to a whole new level thanks to a new partnership. The company has signed an exclusive contract with data analytics firm TURBOARD, with the goal of increasing the quality of healthcare at its health and wellness centers across the country through data analytics.
Deep Learning Patent Update – provided by Nelson E. (Nick) Brestoff, J.D., M.S. Exec. Manager & Chief Inventor, Intraspexion LLC. As of August 2 this year, the number of patents with either “deep learning” or “deep neural” or “multi-layer neural” in the claims has increased to 743. At this rate, for seven months, the projection for the year has gone up to 1,274, which will handily beat the 1,104 “deep learning” patents in 2021.
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