The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is poised to put a damper on Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) IPOs and mergers: it deepened its investigation into potential conflicts of interest in SPAC underwriting processes, and brought charges against prominent SPACs. Find below an analytical digest of the AI SPAC's state of affairs. A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is a company with no commercial operations that is formed strictly to raise capital through an IPO for the purpose of acquiring an existing company. IPO investors have no idea what company they ultimately will be investing in.) SPACs seek underwriters and institutional investors before offering shares to the public.

Qualcomm said Monday that it recently acquired the assets of Twenty Billion Neurons, a Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence/computer vision startup that develops avatars that can see and interact with people in a human-like way. The San Diego mobile technology company declined to say how much it paid for TwentyBN, which has locations in Berlin and Toronto. But it is likely a relatively small deal. Qualcomm said the company has under 20 employees. It raised about $10 million in venture capital from M12 -- Microsoft's venture capital fund-- and others since it was founded in 2015 by Chief Executive Roland Memisevic. Memisevic was the co-head of MILA, a well-respected AI research institute in Montreal.

Financial institutions are using AI-powered solutions to unlock revenue growth opportunities, minimise operating expenses, and automate manually intensive processes. Many in the financial services industry believe strongly in the potential of AI. A recent survey by NVIDIA of financial services professionals showed 83% of respondents agreeing that AI is important to their company's future success. The survey, titled'State of AI in Financial Services', also showed a substantial financial impact of AI for enterprises with 34% of those who replied agreeing that AI will increase their company's annual revenue by at least 20%. The approach to using AI differed based on the type of financial firm.

Netcracker Technology announced that GlobalData has named Netcracker as the sole leader in its first competitive landscape assessment of the network service orchestration market. The analyst firm evaluated 11 companies on a wide range of criteria, including portfolio scope, third-party solution integration, lifecycle management and real-world deployments. Comm100, a global provider of omnichannel customer engagement solutions that connect brands with their customers, announced an integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM that will allow users to see and update customer information directly inside the Comm100 agent console – giving them the tools to deliver personalized and contextualized customer experiences. This integration makes it easy for agents to tailor their live chat conversations based on current customer data without needing to toggle between multiple applications while chatting. LivePerson, Inc., a global leader in conversational AI, announced the acquisition of German conversational AI company e-bot7.

Its comprehensive explainable machine learning software is unique in that it provides plant operators, with little to no data science background, access …

VANCOUVER, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ZoomInfo (NASDAQ: ZI), a global leader in modern go-to-market software, data, and intelligence, today announced it has agreed to acquire Chorus.ai, More than 20,000 global revenue teams trust ZoomInfo to power their go-to-market motions and drive efficient results. The planned acquisition of Chorus will add a new category of actionable insights to ZoomInfo's world-class intelligence layer, unlocking workflows and driving engagement informed by conversations. The acquisition expands ZoomInfo's total addressable market to $70 billion, and is expected to be accretive to growth immediately, generate positive adjusted operating income within 12 months, and be accretive to cash flow in the second half of FY 2022. Chorus uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to capture and analyze prospect and customer calls, meetings, and emails.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s software and technology arm plans to embark on an ambitious hiring and acquisition spree as automakers globally jostle for pole position in the race to develop smart cars that will one day drive themselves. James Kuffner, CEO of Woven Planet Holdings Inc. -- the unit charged with leading the world's largest carmaker through an era in which the lines between technology and automobiles are increasingly blurred -- said he's looking to "double or quadruple the size of the company in the next couple of years." "And so that means organic and inorganic hiring, and when it makes sense, strategic acquisitions," Kuffner said on Wednesday. "We need a lot more people to deliver our mission faster and so I'm always looking for ways to attract, partner with and acquire top talent in that area." Acquisitions are already being made rapidly.

The sudden outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has created a drastic effect on all types of businesses since March 2020. There are several Artificial Intelligence mergers and acquisitions that happened or yet to happen within hi-tech companies. The tech giants are always ready to acquire small companies that can help in earning better revenue and customer engagement with new products and services in the global market. This provides a competitive edge for the hi-tech companies in the tech-driven market across the world. Let's explore the top 10 Artificial Intelligence mergers and acquisitions in 2021 for the welfare of society.

The Software Report is pleased to announce The Top 100 Software Companies of 2021. This year's awardee list is comprised of a wide range of companies from the most well-known such as Microsoft, Adobe, and Salesforce to the relatively newer but rapidly growing - Qualtrics, Atlassian, and Asana. A good number of awardees may be new names to some but that should be no surprise given software has always been an industry of startups that seemingly came out of nowhere to create and dominate a new space. Software has become the backbone of our economy. From large enterprises to small businesses, most all rely on software whether for accounting, marketing, sales, supply chain, or a myriad of other functions. Software has become the dominant industry of our time and as such, we place a significance on highlighting the best companies leading the industry forward. The following awardees were nominated and selected based on a thorough evaluation process. Among the key criteria considered were ...

Enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) is an emerging industry. Offering software-as-a-service (SaaS) is now incredibly common among technology companies, but C3.ai (NYSE:AI) has blazed a new trail by providing its customers with foundational AI tools on a subscription basis. With 4.8 million artificial intelligence models delivering 1.5 billion predictions per day, it's the biggest player in what is still a small game. However, its impressive customer list suggests the company is punching well above its weight. C3.ai serves dozens of industries, but oil and gas is one of the most notable -- and a collaborative effort with Baker Hughes (NYSE:BKR) might be a looking glass into what this company is really capable of. In a world where many investors are shunning industries known to cause social or environmental harm, it's not surprising that oil and gas companies have fallen out of favor.