The year 2020 will be set apart as a phenomenal year in history because of the unfavorable impact of Covid around the world. This pandemic has begun acquiring phenomenal changes in some key areas. The advancements of faster drug development, powerful remote care, productive supply chain, and so forth, will proceed into 2021. In the midst of the Covid, 2020 was flighty in a bigger number of ways than anybody would have anticipated. Yet, one thing that remained consistent was the consistent progression of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) across the tech sector.

Montreal-based Heyday announced today that it has raised $6.5 million Canadian ($5.1 million in US dollars) in additional seed funding. Co-founder and CEO Steve Desjarlais told me that the startup's goal is to allow retailers to support more automation and more personalization in their online customer interactions, while co-founder and CMO Etienne Merineau described it as an "all-in-one unified customer messaging platform." So whether a customer is sending a message from Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Google's Business Messages or just via email, Heyday brings all that communication together in one dashboard. It then uses artificial intelligence to determine whether it's a customer service or sales-related interaction, and it automates basic responses when possible. Heyday chatbots can provide order updates or even recommend products (it integrates with Salesforce, Shopify, Magento, Lightspeed and PrestaShop), then route the conversation to a human team member when necessary.

Zeni, an AI-powered finance concierge for startups, today announced it has raised $13.5 million in a series A round led by Saama Capital. The company says this will bolster the launch of its new product, Zeni, an intelligent bookkeeping, accounting, and CFO service available to startups across the U.S. Studies show the vast majority of day-to-day accounting tasks can be automated with software. That may be why over 50% of respondents in a survey conducted by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants said they anticipate the development of automated and intelligent systems will have a significant impact on accounting businesses over the next 30 years. Zeni, which was founded by twin brothers Swapnil Shinde and Snehal Shinde in 2019, combines AI with a team of finance experts to perform bookkeeping while managing finance functions -- including taxes, bill pay and invoicing, financial projections, budgeting, payroll administration, and more -- on behalf of customers. The Shinde brothers started Zeni after selling their last startup, Mezi, to American Express in 2018 for $125 million and the Indian music streaming service they cofounded, Dhingana, to Rdio in 2014.

Cipher Skin, a startup developing a network of wraparound sensors that can deliver big data diagnostics, today announced it has raised $5 million in a series A round led by Boyett Group. The company says the funds, which bring Cipher's total raised to date to $7.8 million, will bolster development of the company's existing product line and new products in markets like oil, gas, and winemaking. After his career in the U.S. special operations forces, Cipher CEO Phillip Bogdanovich started training in the gym with Craig Weller, a physical coach he met when serving in Baghdad. Bogdanovich says that as soon as he was separated from Weller, he noticed his recovery began slowing. While back in the U.S., Bogdanovich and Weller began brainstorming how the training process could be scaled to allow people at home to experience the equivalent of a coach watching and providing feedback.

Gatik, a startup developing an autonomous vehicle stack for B2B short-haul logistics, today announced it has raised $9 million, with $1 million coming from a partnership with Ontario's Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN). Gatik says the AVIN collaboration -- part of an Ontario government program providing R&D, business, technical, and talent support, as well as vehicle test tracks -- will help it understand how inclement weather affects its vehicles' movements Some experts predict the pandemic will hasten adoption of autonomous vehicles for delivery. Self-driving cars, vans, and trucks promise to minimize the risk of spreading disease by limiting driver contact. This is particularly true with regard to short-haul freight, an estimated 30% of which takes place in snowy and icy conditions. The producer price index for local truckload carriage jumped 20.4% from July to August, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, most likely propelled by demand for short-haul distribution from warehouses and distribution centers to ecommerce fulfillment centers and stores.

Demand for some of Nvidia's chips has been so hot that it has outpaced the company's ability to increase production, adding to chip-supply shortages riling the semiconductor industry. Nvidia's newest graphics cards were a holiday sensation, Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said during an earnings call. She added that some inventories are likely to remain low in the first quarter even as Nvidia increases supply. "Throughout our supply chain, stronger demand globally has limited the availability of capacity and components," Ms. Kress said. President Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order directing a broad review of supply chains for semiconductors and other critical materials.

Nvidia reported revenues of $5.0 billion for its fourth fiscal quarter ended January 31, up 61% from a year earlier. The revenues and non-GAAP earnings per share of $3.10 beat expectations as new gaming hardware and AI products generated strong demand. A year ago, Nvidia reported non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.89 on revenues of $3.1 billion. The Santa Clara, California-based company makes graphics processing units (GPUs) that can be used for games, AI, and datacenter computing. While many businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic, Nvidia has seen a boost in those areas.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp will streamline technology, close offices and rely more on machines to prepare for a post-pandemic world, the news and information group said on Tuesday, as it reported higher sales and operating profit. The Toronto-headquartered company will spend $500 million to $600 million over two years to burnish its technology credentials, investing in AI and machine learning to get data faster to professional customers increasingly working from home during the coronavirus crisis. Thomson Reuters' New York- and Toronto-listed shares each gained more than 8%. It aims to cut annual operating expenses by $600 million through eliminating duplicate functions, modernizing and consolidating technology, as well as through attrition and shrinking its real estate footprint. Layoffs are not a focus of the cost cuts and there are no current plans to divest assets as part of this plan, the company said.

Hanover, Germany – Continental has acquired a minority stake in Recogni, a German-US start-up working on a new chip architecture for AI-based object-recognition in real time. The San Jose, California-based tech firm's chips are intended for use in Continental's vehicle computers, for example to perform rapid processing of sensor data for automated and autonomous driving. As an investor – percentage stake not disclosed – the Hanover-based group is contributing financial support and expertise in the field of AI, vehicle sensors and advanced driver assistance systems to Recogn's chip design work. Continental said volume production featuring the new chip application could begin as early as 2026: the new processors serving as "ultra-economical data boosters: with minimal energy consumption." The development, it added, will enable vehicle computers to gain a rapid sense of the vehicle's immediate surroundings, thus creating the basis for automated and autonomous driving.

Much about the SoftBank 9984 -0.14% of two decades ago would look familiar to investors today, starting with its guiding principle of betting big on the next tech revolution. Then, as now, global stock markets were on a tear, startups were listing at eye-popping prices, and SoftBank was building a huge stable of private companies. "Structurally, we're at the beginning of the AI [artificial intelligence] revolution, just as we were at the beginning of the internet revolution" in 2000, SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said at a press conference in Tokyo last week where the company reported around $11 billion in quarterly profit. The differences are important, too. Analysts say today's SoftBank, known for its $100 billion Vision Fund, is more capable of withstanding market turbulence, even if stocks take a dive again.