Sep 21, 2016

AI + Health Tech Love; Marketplaces --> Funding

Revue

September 21 · Issue #2 · View online

Hi There,

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So after a few months of quiet. I am excited to launch our daily digest. The focus will be on tech trends, industries of tomorrow, Venture Capital and Startups that catch our eye. With the odd bit of data and subscriber participation thrown in. Today’s is a light hearted digest.

Yet we will of course throw in beta access to digital products once we move to release stage of development.

Currently we are crafting two digital products. One is focused on Real Estate Search and the other is a Virtual Assistant for e-commerce. Natural language and machine learning will be playing a big part in both products. More detailed information I hope to release soon.

We will be working with prospective customers through the early stages of this experimental development . So as to makesure we find a market-fit and develop a product with features you will want. If you are curious minded and happen to be in real estate or the e-commerce market. I would as always be most delighted to have a friendly chat. You can reach me here –> hello[at]cappui.com

In other news around the world. Read our first hand-curated overview of what has caught my eye today below.

- Duncan, Founder of Cappui 😊

Q/ For shoppers + those in e-commerce.

We’ve been thinking about product and content recommendation systems. And how the experience could be improved or designed to be more personalised.

How would you improve or personalise e-commerce product recommendations? Go head and answer this weeks question here. You know you want to. :-)

Top News Today.

Apple are in talks with British supercar maker McLaren Technology Group for a strategic investment or potential acquisition. According to Bloomberg, More info here.

Markets Moves.

AI-Based Healthcare Startups Deals Are On A Record High In 2016.

Funding in the healthcare market has risen lately. Especially outside of the US according to CBInsights. Where there have been notable investments in Israel (Zebra Medical Vision, Intendu, MedaSense), Canada (Deep Genomics, Imagia), China (iCarbonX), South Korea (Lunit), Ireland (Nuritas) and the United Kingdom (Benevolent.ai [Formerly - Stratified Medical], Desktop Genetics, clinithink, YourMD, Babylon Health) where the largest number of deals have occurred.

Fascinating Things.

Microsoft develops AI for doctors to that they can find the right treatments for their cancer patients.

Is an editable Blockchain something we need? Accenture believes so. according to Reuters. They have patented a system that will allow data to be processed and edited. This has caused much debate obviously. Since many believe the concept of immutability and the Blockchain should not be fiddled with here and here.

We are all curious to see what Google’s smart messaging app Allo has in-store for us. Can’t wait to get testing it myself. Though according to a few it is not as smart some had expected. Smart does not necessarily mean intelligent though we will add.

So I learned today that in North Korea have reportedly only 28 registered Top-Level Domains. So think about when you are browsing the Internet and suddenly find yourself in a loop or bored. We are simply spoilt for choice.

Todays Fundings.

A number of funding announcements today were marketplaces and insurance startups. It does show both continue to be markets with growth potential and continued interest. Which are going to continue to track ourselves. Along with AI and Real Estate based startups. In a future digest and blog post will discuss more about these areas in detail.

Troops a slack bot that uses data intelligence to allow sales professionals to make more informed decisions has raised $8m. From Aspect Ventures, GV, Accel Partners, and StartX. More info here.

Cogobuy Group a publicity listed company on the 400:HK. An ecommerce company dedicated to serving the electronics manufacturing industry raised $260m equity. More info here.

PepperFry an Indian Ecommerce marketplace has raised $31.3m in debt through The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), Norwest Venture Partner and Zodius. More info here.

GameTime has a marketplace for selling last minutes tickets to nearby concerts or sporting events has raised a $20m Series-B led by Evolution Media Partners. With GV, StartX, Accel Partners and Jeff Mallet join the round. More info here.

Allset who reducing the time spent dining and enabled a user to book a reservation and order before arriving at the restaurant has raised $2.35 in seed funding led by Metamorphic Ventures. With Andreessen Horowitz, FJ Labs and SMRK VC participating this round. More info here.

Nested a platform that enables home owners to sell their property within a limited period of time has raised £1.2m equity from Passion Capital and Global Founders Capital. More info here.

FinanceFox a mobile app that lets users manage their existing insurance brokerage raised $28m in Series-A funding through Target Global Idinvest, Saleforce Ventures, SeepInvest, SeedCamp, AngelList and Victory Park Capital. More info here.

Infinity Tracking a cloud based analytics + call tracking and business support solution for businesses has raised $13m led by Smedvig Capital. More info here.

TrueFacet an online marketplace to to buy and sell pre-loved designer Jewellery and watches has closed on a $6m Series-A round led Maveron . More info here.

Nucleus a home intercom startup has raised $5.6m led by Alexa Fund with participation from BoxGroup, Graylock Partners, Foundes Fund, Fox. More info here.

InfluxData a time series, events and metrics database startup has raised a $16m Series-B round led by Battery Ventures. With Mayfield, Trinity Ventures and Bloomberg Beta also participating in the round. More info here.

Sonder an online marketplace that allows users to search for online rental and bookings has raised $10m in Series-A from Spark Capital, Thayer Ventures and Real Ventures. More info here.

Tealium an enterprise tag management and real-time marketing startup has raised $35m in a growth round from Georgian Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures, Tenaya Capital, Presidio Ventures and Silverlake. More info here.

Metromile a pay-per mile insurance startup has disclosed that it has raised a $191.5m equity and debt funding round. They are backed by Intact Financial, China Pacific Insurance, New Enterprise Associates, Index Ventures, First Round Capital, SV Angel and Mitsui & Co. Part of this round is to be used acquire insurance carrier Mosaic Insurance. More info here.

Heliatek a developer of solar cells has raised $89m in Series-D funding from ENGIE, BNP Paribas, CEE Group, BASF, eCapital, INNOGY Venture Capital. More info here.

DailyRounds a social network and medical journal for doctors raised an Undisclosed round led by Accel and Powerhouse Ventures. More info here.

d.light a decade old startup that provides solar powered lanterns and lights to millions of customers in rural off-grid areas in Sub-Saharan African. To households and small businesses in remote and emerging markets has raised $22.5m in new funding. $15m of this funding was in the form of equity by KawiSafi Ventures Fund, Energy Access Ventures, Omidyar Network and NewQuest Capital Partners. With $5 million in grants from the Shell Foundation, USAID that was from its Development Innovation Ventures, and the United Nations Capital Development Fund. More info here.

Bell Education Group and education O2O (Online-to-Offline) startup focused on children between 3 - 13 years has raised $12m Series-A. Led by Qualcomm Ventures with angel investor Yang Xiangyang also participating in the round. More info here.

OurCrowd an equity crowdfunding platform startup based in Jerusalem has raised $72m in a Series-C funding round from an undisclosed financial institutions, family offices and private investors. More info here.

…

Happy Wednesday.

I love you.

Duncan –> @duncanaforbes

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