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Startup Helping Companies Get Data ‘AI Ready’ Valued at $750 Million
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By Marc Vartabedian, WSJ Pro
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Good day. Data startup Atlan raised a $105 million funding round valuing the company at $750 million, demonstrating investor appetite to back technology that helps companies prepare their data for artificial intelligence adoption.
Singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC and Meritech Capital led the Series C round, and existing investors Salesforce Ventures and Peak XV Partners also participated. Atlan previously was valued at $480 million in a Series B round in 2022.
Atlan’s software offers data management, security and data quality services to get companies AI-ready. Customers include tech giant Cisco Systems, fashion company Ralph Lauren and consumer goods company Unilever.
“Most of these chief information officers and chief technology officers realize their problem is not the actual models,” said Atlan co-founder and Chief Executive Prukalpa Sankar. “It’s their data. The data is just not ready for AI.”
A survey last year of 3,000 CEOs worldwide found 69% see broad benefits of generative AI across their organizations, but only 29% of their executive teams feel they have the in-house expertise to adopt it. International Business Machines and Oxford Economics conducted the survey.
Read the full article.
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And now on to the news...
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ByteDance is seeking a court order blocking a bipartisan law signed by President Biden last month. PHOTO: HOW HWEE YOUNG/SHUTTERSTOCK
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TikTok sues to block U.S. ban. TikTok filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging the constitutionality of a new law that requires a sale or ban of the popular social-media app, setting up a court showdown over national security and free speech in the age of global information wars, The Wall Street Journal reports. The suit, filed directly with a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., seeks a court order preventing the U.S. from enforcing the bipartisan law signed by President Biden last month. The measure bans Chinese-backed TikTok in the U.S. unless its parent company, ByteDance, divests itself of the platform by mid-January.
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$2,834
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The average credit-card balance for 22- to 24-year-olds in the last quarter of 2023, compared with an average inflation-adjusted balance of $2,248 in the same period in 2013, according to TransUnion.
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Cyber Startup Wiz Raises $1 Billion on Path to IPO
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Wiz said Tuesday it raised $1 billion in a deal valuing the fast growing cloud security startup at $12 billion, WSJ reports. Wiz said the funding round, which brings the company’s total funding to $1.9 billion, was led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Thrive Capital. Greylock Partners, Wellington Management and existing investors Cyberstarts, Greenoaks, Index Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital and former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz also participated.
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Co-founder and Chief Executive Assaf Rappaport said Wiz expects 2024 to be a year of consolidation in cybersecurity and the company would use the round to fund acquisitions as well as for product and talent development.
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Lone Pine Capital Resumes Private-Market Investments
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Investment firm Lone Pine Capital resumed backing private companies, more than two years after shifting its focus to publicly traded businesses, WSJ Pro reports. The Greenwich, Connecticut-based firm has backed Spotnana Technology and Canva, the first private investments in new portfolio companies since December 2021, according to a letter to investors seen by The Wall Street Journal.
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Lone Pine said that it had “effectively paused” in the last two years private-market investment activity, seeking more attractive relative valuations and liquidity in the public markets.
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Hedge-fund firms have increasingly turned to the private markets and the longer-term investments typically preferred by private equity, to help boost returns.
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People
Tendo Technologies, a gas and liquid handling and inventory technology provider, appointed Lindsay Cardoso as chief executive officer. She previously held positions at Overhaul and Worldwide Express.
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Nivoda, a London-based diamond and gemstone marketplace, raised a $30 million Series B funding round led by Avenir Growth Capital.
Nudge Security, a provider of software-as-a-service security and governance, said it has increased its seed funding to $16.5 million. The company, founded in 2021, says it helps organizations manage SaaS security and governance.
Panax, a New York-based cash flow management startup, raised $15 million from Team8 and TLV Partners.
Numeric, an artificial intelligence-powered automation company founded in 2020, said it raised $10 million in seed financing.
Altera, a Los Angeles-based AI company, raised a $9 million seed round led by Patron and First Spark Ventures.
PAXAFE, an Indianapolis-based AI logistics startup, raised a $9 million Series A funding round led by Framework Venture Partners.
Acclinate, a Birmingham Ala.-based health startup, raised a $7 million Series A financing round led by Cencora Ventures.
Niobium, a Dayton Ohio-based chip startup, raised a $5.5 million seed fundraising round led by Fusion Fund.
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Disney+, home to movies such as ‘Wish, ’ added more than six million customers in the March quarter. PHOTO: DISNEY
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Crypto? AI? Internet co-creator Robert Kahn already did it… decades ago (TechCrunch)
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Quantum computing breakthroughs draw investment back to sector (Financial Times)
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How many of the U.K.’s best-funded scaleups are profitable? (Sifted)
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