“All kinds of automation are great, BUT a city is about satisfying the quality of life of its residents before everything. Integrated dashboards with AI and robots, and tech-supported decision makings are a life-long technical dream of all generations of urban professionals, engineers, architects, but most of the people would agree that there would not be worse governance than the one of scientist government. For the simple reason that humans are sensitive entities more than rational ones, highly unpredictable and so far never completely understood by any science.”
Tech
Geopipe Raises $2.4M for its Platform That Provides 3D Models of Cities Powered by AI
3D geospatial models are superior to 2D models when it comes to planning purposes as 3D is able to effectively capture terrain, sites, buildings, vegetation, infrastructure, and landscape elements. These can also be layered with additional data sets for use in presentations, planning, exploration, analysis, and management applications in a dynamic format that can readily adapt to changing conditions. However, building these 3D models has traditionally been expensive and time-consuming. Geopipe is a deep learning-powered engine that creates what the company calls “digital twins” that are constructed from raw sensor data and then combined with data processed through a semantic engine to add further context to create the Metaverse, a “massively multi-use environment that replicates our real world”. The platform is versatile as it can be applied to a variety of use cases including training simulations, city planning, coastal resiliency planning, construction, and even gaming. Geopipe’s models can be integrated into existing workflows that use 3D software or gaming/VR engines and can be accessed for as low as $100/mo for commercial use. AlleyWatch caught up with Geopipe CEO and Cofounder Christopher Mitchell, Ph.D. to learn more about the genesis of the company, future plans, latest round of funding from investors that include Village Global, Matrix Partners, the Alexa Fund, and AME Cloud Ventures.
echo3D Raises $4M for its Cloud Platform That Makes Deploying 3D, VR, and AR Content Seamless
One of the key challenges preventing the widespread use of 3D, VR, and AR technologies is that achieving scale efficiently is difficult when development teams have to account for tailoring their projects for a growing ecosystem of specific devices and then maintaining these siloed experiences. echo3D is a content management system and content delivery network that gives developers the tool to confidently build using its back-end platform technology and ensure that the user experience will be fluid throughout. Similar to what headless architecture has done for commerce, echo3D decouples the back-end from the front with server-side infrastructure, providing the tools and a network platform. By essentially streamlining the creation of and offloading the maintenance of the back end for emerging technology development, like AWS has done for servers, echo3D allows developers to get to market faster and focus on building greater user experiences on the front end. The company, which just rebranded from echoAR, already has 12,000+ developers using the platform to build, maintain, and distribute their applications through a freemium model. AlleyWatch caught up with echo3D CEO Alon Grinshpoon to learn more about how a unified cloud infrastructure for 3D/AR/VR applications will foster widespread creation of tomorrow’s cutting edge applications, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding from investors that include Konvoy Ventures, Space Capital, and Remagine Ventures.
Materialize Raises $60M to Make Streaming Data Accessible to Businesses Just Using SQL
SQL stands for Structured Query Language and it has been the gold standard used to communicate with databases since it was pioneered at IBM in the 1970s. Materialize, a streaming SQL database company, allows businesses to take the already known SQL commands and apply them directly to datasets in real-time, instead of querying databases. Unlocking insights straight from data results in fewer steps, making the data more valuable as there are no lags and results are provided continuously instead of a single point in time as with traditional querying. Materialize is best suited for instances when the same query is repeatedly asked as found in dashboards, reports, automation, and most application code across any setting or industry. The company’s developer community is nearing 1000 members and employee count has grown 63% in the last six months as the company prepares to move into its new headquarters at the old Slack New York offices. AlleyWatch caught up with Materialize CEO and Cofounder Arjun Narayan to learn more about how the company is making streaming data accessible without specialized knowledge, future strategic plans, and latest round of funding led by Redpoint Ventures.
Parsec Acquired by Unity for $320M in Cash
Parsec, a platform that allows users to remotely access virtual machines and their powerful PCs from any device without any noticeable latency, has been acquired by Unity Technologies, a publicly traded platform for creating and operating real-time 3D content. The transaction is structured as an all-cash deal totaling $320M. “
Genvid Technologies Raises $113M to Create a New Category of Entertainment: Massive Interactive Live Events
When the live game-show HQ debuted in 2017 it was an instant hit with millions of users signing on concurrently to take a chance at winning in trivia. Although the company did not ultimately survive, the success of a new form of interactive entertainment did not go unnoticed. This NYC startup takes it a step further by focusing on the intersection of gaming, streaming, game shows, and broadcasting. Genvid is a technology infrastructure provider and now publisher focused on what the company calls massive interactive live events (MILEs). The company initially focused on building infrastructure tools for interactive streaming but saw there was a significant opportunity on the publishing side. For its first experience, it partnered up with Pipeworks Studios for Rival Peak, a 24/7 interactive reality show with AI characters participating in an elimination-style competition that was broadcasted on Facebook. Following the popularity of this new format, the company is now planning on building more MILEs both internally and with licensed IP owners as partners. Genvid will also continue to provide the infrastructure tools through its SDK for others to build their own MILEs.
AlleyWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Jacob Navok to learn more about the inspiration for the business, how the company has created a new category of entertainment, strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, Galaxy Interactive, Horizons Ventures, OCA Ventures, and Makers Fund, Valor, Atreides, Third Point, Cobalt Capital, LightShed Ventures, XN, and Lux Capital.
omniX Labs Raises $2.9M to Bring Vehicle Analytics to Businesses
The pandemic has accelerated innovation for drive-thru experiences. Before the pandemic, drive-thrus at quick-serve restaurants (QSR0) accounted for 50-75% of a store’s revenue. The pandemic caused that to jump to 90-95%. Technology is now focused on addressing the velocity of traffic and optimizing capacity. omniX Labs is an analytics platform for vehicle traffic for businesses to better understand customer behavior in and around their vehicles. Without the need for additional hardware, the platform takes a location’s existing camera systems and uses the video feeds to analyze vehicular activity using machine learning and AI. omniX can be used for things like upselling, improving conversion, optimizing efficiency, detecting fraud, and forecasting. The company has focused on servicing car washes, with over 1200 locations using omniX, but the technology is versatile enough to be used in other settings like car repair shops and restaurants. AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Anoop Kanthan to learn more about how omniX Labs is focused on making vehicle analytics accessible without hardware, the company’s strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include C2 Ventures, EverWash, and Newark Venture Partners.
Claroty Raises $140M for its Industrial Cybersecurity Platform that Protects our Most Critical Infrastructure
Just last month, shutdowns at Colonial Pipeline and meat producer JBS as a result of cyberattacks show how vulnerable our society is to these increasingly sophisticated attacks, leading to a greater emphasis on safeguarding critical infrastructure. Claroty is an end-to-end cybersecurity platform that’s focused on protecting the industrial economy from cybersecurity incidents. The company focuses on visibility, detection, risk and vulnerability management, and secure remote access in three areas operational technology (OT), Internet of Things, (IoT), and industrial IoT (IIoT) with solutions that integrate directly with an organization’s existing cybersecurity infrastructure. Claroty’s customers are some of the leading industrial organizations covering an array of use cases in applications like chemical manufacturing, airport management, oil & gas, utility companies, consumer goods, mining, and pharmaceuticals. In fact, Claroty is working with Pfizer to safeguard the supply chain for COVID-19 vaccine production. Through the pandemic, from the first half of 2020 to the first half of 2021 the company is expected to grow new ARR by 133% and grow the team by 50% by the end of the year. AlleyWatch caught up with CEO Yaniv Vardi to learn more about how Claroty is safeguarding the most critical infrastructure, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding from investors that include Bessemer Venture Partners’ Century II fund, 40 North, LG, I Squared Capital’s ISQ Global InfraTech Fund, Temasek, Team8, Rockwell Automation, Siemens, and Schneider Electric.
Rasgo Intelligence Raises $20M to Be the GitHub for Data Science and Machine Learning
Data science is highly coveted and championed because its use extracts insights that transform data into tangible value. But accessing and indiscriminately using data ends up creating complex systems that need to be managed, which is a task in and of itself. Rasgo Intelligence is a platform that empowers data scientists to easily use raw data to build models rather than spending an inordinate amount of time processing data for use. The company uses a community-based and repository approach, similar to GitHub for developers, that allows users to explore, clean, join, and transform data using a library of preset blocks and functions. Users then can share features across different models and with colleagues and deploy to production directly from Rasgo with a single API and versioning capabilities. The company operates on a freemium model with access to a robust repository with a paid enterprise option available to users with larger-scale needs. AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Founder Jared Parker to learn more about transforming the engineering process in data science with Rasgo, the company’s future plans, and latest round of funding led by Insight Partners.
Moth+Flame Raises $2.5M for its Immersive VR-Powered Training Technology Platform
The market for VR training is expected to surpass $294B globally by 2030. VR learning to train people is more cost-efficient and effective than training in classrooms and online learning. In a recent PWC study, VR learners completed training 4x faster than classroom learners; VR learners were 4x times more focused than online learners and 1.5x more than classroom learners. Moth+Flame is a specialist in providing immersive VR training for the public and private sectors. The company focuses both on soft and hard skills focusing on things like workforce programs for diversity and inclusion and suicide prevention through conversational and role-play simulations; physical training simulations include pilot training and aircraft maintenance training for military applications. AlleyWatch caught up with Founder and CEO Kevin Cornish to learn more about how is time working with Taylor Swift inspired the business, the company’s strategic plans, and recent round of funding from investors that include Bee Partners, First In, Meeting Street Capital, Service Provider Capital, and Spacecadet.
Robotic Startup Now Cuisine Takes On Ghost Kitchens and Drone Deliveries
The robotics industry is at an inflection point where the baton is being passed from the scientists to the practitioners. In historical terms, we are witnessing the Edisons of the world harness the innovations of the likes of Faraday to create life-changing businesses and wealth. Automation has moved from smart manufacturing and logistics to fry cooking and salad tossing.