This week in Software: Sharp demand for AI solutions drives strategic mergers among key software players
Latest Industry Insights from Draup Braindesk
Quantum AI, AI Chips, AIOps, Hybrid AI, and AIoT are fueling breakthrough innovations in the Indian AI Market
Talentica joined Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program as a Service Partner. The intent is to simplify cloud adoption and AI/ ML integration for startups.
Affle acquired Bobble AI, the Conversation Media Platform, to develop speech-to-text capabilities in approximately 100 international languages and AI-based contextual recommendations to enhance their consumer intelligence platform.
Lucideus has launched SAFE Me, a mobile application that scans the smartphone to provide real-time cybersecurity assessment through breach likelihood scoring algorithm and AI with cyber risk analytics.
Tech Giants such as Google and Microsoft are actively taking sustainability initiatives to make their data centers energy-efficient
Google is leveraging machine learning to improve the energy efficiency and renewable energy consumption of its data centers
Microsoft successfully experimented with liquid cooling technologies in sealed containers inside an ocean as a potential solution to offset huge data center power demands in the future
Vmware developed Carbon Avoidance Meter (CAM) to help data center operators monitor their carbon footprint and energy usage
More companies are investing in customer experience, talent, and strategy, which might mean using CX for existing strategies or a more fundamental shift
Facebook AI has built and open-sourced BlenderBot, the largest-ever open-domain chatbot. It outperforms others in terms of engagement and also feels more human, according to human evaluators
Deepmind developed an AI-based ‘General Query Network’ system that can create scenes in 3D after observing 2D images
IgnitionOne, a global marketing technology and services leader, has partnered with digital signage software company Enplug to enable brands to leverage Customer Intelligence to personalize the in-store experience.
Latest Reports Published in Draup
Roku Account Intelligence Report: Roku focuses on enhancing business through innovative streaming products, so it introduced a new category of streaming devices called the Roku Streambar, in the US, UK, Canada, and Mexico. Read More>>
Adobe Systems Account Intelligence Report: Adobe focuses on providing connected data solutions for the enterprises to enable seamless connected experience and enable effective workflow between applications. Read More>>
Key Funding Alert
Solidus Labs raises USD 20 Mn from VCs, ex-regulators to fight crypto market manipulation
Solidus’ USD 20 Mn Series A was led by Evolution Equity Partners and included Hanaco Ventures, which led the startup’s USD 3.75 Mn seed round in early 2019. The Solidus approach, which employs machine learning to understand how a large matrix of trading accounts behaves, enables detection and prevention of potential fraud. Read More>>
Startup Spotlight
Company – Comet.ml HQ Location – Greater New York City, USA Total Funding – USD 19.8 Mn Year of Establishment – 2017 About: Comet is doing for ML what GitHub did for Code. It allows data scientists to automatically track their datasets, code changes, experimentation history, and production models creating efficiency, transparency, and reproducibility. Read More>>
Key Signals in Enterprise Software
Mergers and Acquisitions Unisys to acquire Unify Square for USD 152.5 Mn Unify Square is an experience management provider for secure collaboration and communications platforms. The transaction will enable Unisys to leverage Unify Squares Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) offerings to help advance its experience-focused digital workplace services solution set. Read More>> Tyler Technologies to snap up VendEngine for USD 84 Mn
VendEngine is a privately held cloud-based software provider. VendEngines cloud-based platform will help Tyler to expand offerings in its corrections suite. Read More>> GitLab acquires UnReview to further AI ambitions
David DeSanto, senior director for product management at GitLab, said the acquisition of UnReview is the latest step in an AI strategy that, in addition to optimizing DevOps processes, will also eventually unify machine learning operations (MLOps) and DevOps workflows. Read More>>
Xebia Group acquires Appcino to accelerate digital transformation
Appcino is a low-code technology and consulting company with nearly a decade of experience delivering enterprise applications on low-code platforms that enables efficient and accelerated digital transformation. Read More>>
Sumo Logic acquires Sensu to expand observability suite
Log management and data analytics service provider Sumo Logic said it will acquire monitoring software maker Sensu, Inc. to add key elements to its observability platform. Sumo Logic’s secure software gathers and interprets large amounts of data and makes it usable for business operations, security, and compliance intelligence. Read More>>
Partnerships Snow Software enhances integration with BMC for comprehensive data visibility With the combination of Snow’s comprehensive data visibility and the BMC Helix Platform, the two companies will help IT teams create agility, maintain stability and foster growth. Read More>> Huawei and Temenos announce technology partnership agreement Temenos and Huawei will jointly go-to-market with leading-edge financial services offerings in the cloud to drive scalability, operational efficiency, time-to-market, and innovation. The partnership brings together the extensive cloud hosting, implementation, and integration strengths of Huawei and the power of Temenos’ industry-leading banking software. Read More>> Barracuda expands its scalable IoT connectivity solution with support for powerful analytics capabilities from Crosser Barracuda’s scalable IoT hardware connectivity solution running the Crosser node application addresses the need for both secure connectivity in large, distributed environments and accurate analytics at scale. Modern IoT analytics and edge intelligence solutions depend on the data collected on the edge. Barracuda Secure Connector provides scalable and secure connectivity in industrial IoT environments. Read More>> Wipro and Finastra partner to accelerate digital transformation in transaction banking The companies will create a unique offering that combines Wipro’s comprehensive services catalog with Finestra’s front-to-back trade finance and cash management solutions. Read More>>Executive Movement Fortinet CISO and trusted Customer Adviser Phil Quade leaves Fortinet Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Phil Quade has departed after spending nearly a half-decade helping government and large enterprise customers formulate their cybersecurity strategy. Fortinet tasked Quade with driving the company’s information security strategy, expanding its federal business and serving as a strategic advisor to customers. Read More>> DataBank welcomes key executives to expand infrastructure ecosystem Phil Rosenthal joins DataBank as Vice President of Product and Engineering, bringing over twenty years of experience as an entrepreneur in the Internet Infrastructure sector. Christian Koch joins DataBank as Senior Director of Interconnection Product Strategy, further developing Databank’s open, neutral interconnection platform. Read More>> IDEMIA appoints Donnie Scott as Chief Executive Officer I&S North America A 20-year veteran of the public security and IT solutions industry, Scott was elevated from his current position as Senior Vice President and General Manager of IDEMIAs North America Public Security division. Read More>> Applied Systems names Tom Needs as CEO of Applied Systems Europe Needs will lead Applied’s European business unit to drive expansion and delivery of innovation to the market at speed and scale. Read More>>Centre setup and Expansion Switch Inc. buys land in Metro Austin from Dell for development of 1.5 MSF Data Center Campus The Rock, Switch Inc’s new data center facility near Dell’s global headquarters campus in Round Rock will span 1.5 million square feet. The property will be Switch Inc.’s fifth data center campus in Texas and will be known as The Rock. Read More>> Equinix to open a facility in Silicon Valley campus Equinix, Inc. EQIX announced that it will unveil an International Business Exchange (IBX) data center in Silicon Valley, located at its Great Oaks campus in San Jose, with an investment of USD 142 Mn. The new facility will be named SV11 and marks the company’s 14th facility in the Silicon Valley region. Read More>> IBM to open cybersecurity center in DC, stresses opportunities for its cloud portfolio IBM is opening a Center for Cybersecurity in DC, aiming to provide services to government agencies that face ongoing threats from hackers. It’s also another expansion of efforts to capitalize on cloud computing technology– the underlying reason for IBMs USD 34 Bn acquisition of Raleigh-based Red Hat two years ago. Read More>> Amazon Web Services to open new cloud region in UAE The new AWS Middle East (UAE) Region will consist of three data centers and will become AWS’s second region in the Middle East, with the existing one in nearby Bahrain having been opened in 2019. With the new region organizations of all sizes will be able to innovate faster and serve end-users with even lower latency across the region, said DeSantis. Read More>>Deals and Deal Renewals Abu Dhabi Terminals inks AI-focused deal with Microsoft The landmark partnership will enable enhanced container tracking and autonomous shuttle capabilities across Abu Dhabi Terminals Khalifa Port terminal through the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) services of Microsoft’s cloud solutions. Read More>>
Key Signals in Consumer Software
Mergers and Acquisitions Etsy acquires Depop for USD 1.625 Bn Depop is a privately held, community-led and purpose-driven marketplace for unique fashion. The transaction is currently expected to close during the third quarter of 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including an antitrust review in the United States and the United Kingdom. Read More>> Pluralsight to acquire A Cloud Guru
The combination provides the deepest and most effective hands-on learning solutions to drive cloud certifications and business cloud maturity and aims to bridge the growing gap in cloud skills. Read More>> Bison Trails to support Helium network update
Bison Trails, a blockchain infrastructure platform-as-a-service company acquired by Coinbase, revealed that it will support the Helium Networks blockchain upgrade to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. Bison Trails will be offering its secure infrastructure for participants so they’re able to operate (transactions) validators in the network. Read More>>
SNAP back into AR
SNAP made its largest acquisition ever, plunking down USD 500 Mn to acquire WaveOptics, a critical AR display technology supplier. WaveOptics acquisition coincides with the release of Snaps third version of its AR glasses, known as Spectacles. Read More>>
Partnerships Apple teams up with Google, Mozilla, and Microsoft to improve browser extensions Apple has brought some great updates to Safari with macOS Big Sur, including a new design, support for WebP images, HDR videos, and more. Now, the company is teaming up with Google, Mozilla, and Microsoft to improve universal browser extensions for Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. The idea is that these universal extensions work effortlessly in Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Read More>> Byju’s ties up with Google for an online learning platform for schools in India India’s top edutech player Byju’s is partnering with Google to aid schools in India in online learning. The tie-up will basically make Google Workspace for Education available on Byju’s Vidyartha platform. Read More>> Perfect Corp. helps over 40 brands integrate Google AR interactive beauty try-ons Perfect Corp., the world’s leading augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) beauty tech solutions provider and developer of the YouCam Makeup app, announces an integration with Google for the launch of an AR interactive beauty try-ons. The one-click experience invites web users to virtually try on thousands of eye and lip beauty SKUs from more than 40 different beauty brands. Read More>>Executive Movement Marne Levine joins Facebook as its first Chief Business Officer. In a post, Marne Levine said she would oversee Facebook’s advertising business and global partnerships. Levine was vice president of global public policy for Facebook from 2010 to 2014, then she became Instagram’s first COO. Read More>> Dropbox taps its own Senior Product Design to lead Israeli R&D center As part of her new responsibilities, Keren will lead the Tel Aviv-based research and development center, join Dropbox’s European executive team, and represent Israel at Dropbox global. Keren replaces the outgoing Head of R&D, Jonathan Seroussi, who held the position for a relatively short period. Read More>> ByteDance founder set to pass the CEO baton to HR Head ByteDance founder and CEO Zhang Yi-ming announced he is stepping down from his current role and has appointed Head of Human Resources Liang Ru-bo as his successor. The transition is expected to take place at the end of the year, in an internal letter to employees shared on the company’s blog. Zhang will remain as the chairman of the company, but he will not handle day-to-day duties anymore. Read More>> Amazon loses another high-profile executive Larry Augustin, Amazon Web Services’ VP of applications, left the company in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. The departure is a major loss for its expansion into the business applications and open-source software space. Read More>>Centre setup and Expansion Google buys land in Uruguay for its second LatAm Data Center Google has acquired 30 hectares of land at a duty-free tax zone in Canelones, Uruguay to build a data center. The search engine giant has confirmed that it bought the land through its local subsidiary Eleanor Applications SRL without disclosing how much it paid for the property. Read More>> Tencent Cloud grows APAC footprint Tencent Cloud has expanded its footprint in the Asia-Pacific region with new datacentres and cloud availability zones in Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. With the new data centres, Tencent Cloud now operates in 27 regions and 66 availability zones worldwide, including a second zone in Bangkok and Tokyo, and a third zone in Hong Kong. Read More>> Cloud payment provider Checkout.com to expand operations into Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece Checkout.com, a Cloud payment provider, revealed on Thursday (May 27, 2021) that it has established a business office in Barcelona in order to serve as its headquarters for operations across Southern European markets. Checkout.com’s key markets for Checkout.com will include Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece. Read More>> Apple’s China data center starts operation The data center, jointly built by Apple and Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry Co Ltd in Gui’an New Area, commenced operation on Tuesday. With a contracted investment of USD 1 Bn, the data center plans to offer iCloud services on the Chinese mainland. Read More>>
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