Santa Clara, California-based CLARA Analytics, a developer of AI-based solutions focused on claims operations for the property and casualty and disability insurance industries, has raised $11.5 million in Series A funding. Oak HC/FT led the round. CLARA enables the $800 billion global commercial property and casualty market to improve financial performance by decreasing the billions of dollars in claims leakage that occurs annually. Today, solutions from CLARA empower workers' compensation claims organizations to improve the medical management of claimants while simultaneously reducing the costs of claims with easy-to-use AI-based solutions, CLARA providers and CLARA claims. CLARA's advanced analytic solutions incorporate the latest in AI technology to reduce claims leakage and frictional costs for insurance companies and self-insured corporations by: Detecting (early) potential litigation and optimizing legal representation to improve outcomes and reduce defense expenses.

Does a robot manage your money? For many of us, the answer is yes. Online and algorithmic investment and financial advice is easy to come by these days, usually under the moniker of "robo-advisor." Startups such as Wealthfront, Personal Capital, and Betterment launched robo-advisors as industry disruptors, and incumbents, such as Schwab's (Intelligent Advisor), Vanguard (Personal Advisor Services), Morgan Stanley and BlackRock have joined the fray with their own hybrid machine/advisor solutions. It's clear that robo-advisors and AI play an important and growing role in the financial services industry, but a question remains. Will robo-advisors disrupt corporate capital allocation the same way they have personal capital allocation?

Lisbon-headquartered Unbabel, a startup that has developed what it describes as an "AI-powered, human-refined" translation platform that makes it more cost effective to conduct business globally, has raised $23 million in Series B funding. The round is led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from Microsoft Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Samsung Next, Notion Capital, Caixa Capital, and Funders Club. It follows a $5 million Series A round in October 2016. A graduate of Y Combinator's 2014 Winter Batch, Unbabel uses AI/machine learning, augmented with a network of around 55,000 human translators, to power translations across multiple text-based content and communication, such as email, chat, websites and more. This is delivered via an API and integrations with the likes of Salesforce, Zendesk, WordPress, Mailchimp, and other enterprise software.

Does a robot manage your money? For many of us, the answer is yes. Online and algorithmic investment and financial advice is easy to come by these days, usually under the moniker of "robo-advisor." Startups such as Wealthfront, Personal Capital, and Betterment launched robo-advisors as industry disruptors, and incumbents, such as Schwab's (Intelligent Advisor), Vanguard (Personal Advisor Services), Morgan Stanley and BlackRock have joined the fray with their own hybrid machine/advisor solutions. It's clear that robo-advisors and AI play an important and growing role in the financial services industry, but a question remains. Will robo-advisors disrupt corporate capital allocation the same way they have personal capital allocation?

Decades in the making, Canadian research in fields such as neural networking and machine learning is now coming into its own, as centres like the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms and Toronto's Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence are propelling vibrant ecosystems and startup communities, while government is doing its part through immigration policies geared towards attracting new talent and programs like the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which will devote $125 million in federal dollars to AI research over the next five years. We've seen significant investment from venture capital, too, with the current boom in VC funding for Canadian tech companies having a lot to do with movements in the AI space. And as more and more companies start to incorporate AI technologies, the field keeps growing. But where are the AI investment winners, you ask? Here are five stocks that analysts say have significant upsides.

TD Bank Group has announced the acquisition of Layer 6 Inc. ("Layer 6"), a world-renowned artificial intelligence (AI) company based in Toronto, Ontario. Layer 6 has emerged as a global thought-leader and pioneer in the delivery of responsive, personalized and insight-driven experiences for the financial services industry. Layer 6 founders Tomi Poutanen and Jordan Jacobs are also co-founders of the Vector Institute, a world leader in AI research and education that TD also supports. "Anticipating and meeting customer needs are at the heart of our promise, and we are excited to further accelerate our innovation agenda to deliver well into the future. As we deploy new solutions, we will extend our deep relationship with customers across all of our platforms and offer personalized, connected and legendary experiences for our customers in the digital age."

TORONTO, Jan. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ – TD Bank Group (TD) (TSX and NYSE: TD) today announced the acquisition of Layer 6 Inc. ("Layer 6"), a world-renowned artificial intelligence (AI) company based in Toronto, Ontario. Layer 6 has emerged as a global thought-leader and pioneer in the delivery of responsive, personalized and insight-driven experiences for the financial services industry. Layer 6 founders Tomi Poutanen and Jordan Jacobs are also co-founders of the Vector Institute, a world leader in AI research and education that TD also supports. "Anticipating and meeting customer needs are at the heart of our promise, and we are excited to further accelerate our innovation agenda to deliver well into the future. As we deploy new solutions, we will extend our deep relationship with customers across all of our platforms and offer personalized, connected and legendary experiences for our customers in the digital age."

TORONTO, Jan. 9, 2018 /CNW/ – TD Bank Group (TD) (TSX and NYSE: TD) today announced the acquisition of Layer 6 Inc. ("Layer 6"), a world-renowned artificial intelligence (AI) company based in Toronto, Ontario.

Camera maker GoPro Inc. is getting out of the drone business, laying off more than 20% of its workforce and losing two executives after predicting a sharp decline in its fourth-quarter revenue and disclosing weak holiday-season demand for its cameras. The disappointing outlook sent shares plummeting nearly 30% to an all-time low of $5.32 in morning trading Monday. The company went public at $24 a share in June 2014. The company announced cost-cutting measures that it said would help it save $80 million. Among them are slashing its global workforce from 1,254 employees to fewer than 1,000; reducing GoPro Chief Executive Nicholas Woodman's cash compensation to $1 (it was $800,000 in 2016); and ending production of its aerial drone, named Karma.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and data science company, CLARA Analytics, has announced a $11.5 million Series A funding round led by OAK HC/FT, a venture growth-equity fund investing in Healthcare Information & Services and Financial Services Technology. CLARA builds AI-based solutions that are focused on claims operations for both the property & casualty and disability insurance sectors, and aims to support the improvement of the international commercial property and casualty market by reducing the billions of dollars in claims leakage that occurs every year. Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CLARA, Jayant Lakshmikanthan, commented; "CLARA brings together a combination of the latest in AI technology, extensive insurance industry expertise, and a design thinking approach to rapidly drive meaningful value for our customers. We are excited to welcome Oak HC/FT to the team and look forward to leveraging their extensive insurance and insurtech expertise." "CLARA is a first mover in utilizing AI to dramatically improve claims outcomes for the P&C industry. Their technology is highly advanced and has already driven strong ROI for its customers by reducing up to 10 percent of claims indemnity and loss adjustment expenses. We look forward to partnering with CLARA in building their business and to continue to develop and mature solutions for other property and casualty lines of business," said Andrew Robinson, executive in residence at OAK HC/FT.