As 2020 finally winds down and potential vaccines promise emergence from COVID reality, Israel's startup ecosystem showcases its MedTech prowess, AI dominance, and data magic in this week's recap of the Israel tech sphere. Investments keep on coming, VCs keep on funding, multinational organizations recognize the innovative potential in Israeli startups, and a recap of the ecosystem's fundraising efforts for the month of November. Aquarius Engines develops a smart miniature sustainable combustion engine that can help scale the big machines down to size. Aquarius recently announced a $10 million funding round, led by TPR, a Japanese automotive parts manufacturer. To date, the Israeli startup has raised $37 million from Paz Oil, Marius Nacht, Honda Group's Musashi Seimitsu, and others.

Because of their ability to detect, track, and follow objects of interest while maintaining safe distances, drones have become an important tool for professional and amateur filmmakers alike. This being the case, quadcopters' camera controls remain difficult to master. Drones might take different paths for the same scenes even if their positions, velocities, and angles are carefully tuned, potentially ruining the consistency of a shot. In search of a solution, Carnegie Mellon, University of Sao Paulo, and Facebook researchers developed a framework that enables users to define drone camera shots working from labels like "exciting," "enjoyable," and "establishing." Using a software simulator, they generated a database of video clips with a diverse set of shot types and then leveraged crowdsourcing and AI to learn the relationship between the labels and certain semantic descriptors.

Gatik, a Palo Alto and Toronto based autonomous technology company deploying autonomous vehicles for B2B short-haul middle-mile logistics, announced today it has raised $25 million in Series A funding. The round was co-led by Wittington Ventures and Innovation Endeavors with participation from FM Capital and Intact Ventures. Existing investors like Dynamo Ventures, Fontinalis Partners, AngelPad and others participated as well. Gatik's investors bring a wealth of deep experience in automotive, artificial intelligence and supply chain, making them a strong strategic fit for the company's rapid growth. Gatik will use the funding to further expand its operations across North America, its team size in Silicon Valley and growing presence in Canada.

Onit, a workflow software company based in Houston with a legal component, announced this week that it has acquired 2018 TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield alum McCarthyFinch. Onit intends to use the startup's AI skills to beef up its legal workflow software offerings. The companies did not share the purchase price. After evaluating a number of companies in the space, Onit focused on McCarthyFinch, which gives it an artificial intelligence component the company's legal workflow software had been lacking. "We evaluated about a dozen companies in the AI space and dug in deep on six of them. McCarthyFinch stood out from the pack. They had the strongest technology and the strongest team," Eric M. Elfman, CEO and co-founder of Onit told TechCrunch.

Boston-based DataRobot, a startup developing an end-to-end enterprise AI platform, today raised $270 million in an equity funding round led by Altimeter Capital. DataRobot says the pre-IPO round -- which included new and existing investors T. Rowe Price, Blackrock, Silverlake, NEA, and Tiger -- values the company at over $2.7 billion. The benefits of AI and machine learning can feel intangible at times, but surveys show this hasn't deterred enterprises from adopting the technology in droves. Business use of AI grew a whopping 270% over the past four years, according to Gartner, while Deloitte says 62% of respondents to its corporate October 2018 report deployed some form of AI, up from 53% a year ago. But adoption doesn't always meet with success, as the roughly 25% of companies that have seen half of their AI projects fail will tell you.

Baidu, Inc., a leading search engine, knowledge and information centered Internet platform, and AI company, announced that the Company had entered into definitive agreements with JOYY Inc. Pursuant to the agreements, Baidu will acquire JOYY's domestic video-based entertainment live streaming business in China ("YY Live"), which includes YY mobile app, YY.com website, and PC YY, among others, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately US$3.6 billion in cash, subject to certain adjustments. The closing of the transaction is subject to certain conditions and is currently expected to occur in the first half of 2021. "Baidu has built a vibrant mobile ecosystem in the past few years to enable the fast growth of our non-advertising revenues by increasing log in users, adding social engagement to our platform and expanding non-advertising offerings, including membership, live streaming and online games. This transaction will catapult Baidu into a leading platform for live streaming and diversify our revenue source," said Robin Li, Co-Founder, and CEO of Baidu. "YY Live comes to Baidu bringing great synergy. YY Live stands to benefit from Baidu's large traffic and thriving mobile ecosystem, while Baidu will receive immediate operational experience and know-how for large-scale video-based social media development, as well as an enviable creator network that will further strengthen Baidu's massive content provider network. Together with the team from YY Live, Baidu hopes to explore the next-generation live streaming and video-based social media that can expand beyond entertainment into the diversified verticals on Baidu platform."

Acquisition Expands Medtronic's Artificial Intelligence and Data Capabilities, Becoming the First Company to Offer an Integrated Spine Solution Including AI-Driven Surgical Planning, Personalized Spinal Implants and Robotic Assisted Surgery DUBLIN, Nov. 16, 2020 /CNW/ -- Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT), the global leader in medical technology, today announced that it has completed its friendly tender offer for France-based Medicrea International (Euronext Growth Paris: FR0004178572 – ALMED Medicrea; OTCQX Best Market – MRNTF), a pioneer in the transformation of spinal surgery through artificial intelligence (AI), predictive modeling and patient specific implants. On July 15, 2020, the parties announced a friendly voluntary all-cash tender offer at the price of €7.00 per Medicrea share. As a result of completion of the tender offer, Medtronic currently owns in excess of 90% of Medicrea's share capital and voting rights and will shortly request the implementation of a squeeze-out procedure under French law, which will result in Medicrea becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Medtronic. This is Medtronic's seventh acquisition completed in 2020 and furthers Medtronic's strategic expansion into AI, machine learning and predictive analytics. Medicrea's product portfolio consists of 30 510(k) cleared or CE Marked implant technologies, utilized in spinal surgeries for adult deformity, pediatric deformity and degenerative disease.

This year, more than ever before because of the COVID-19 pandemic, huge droves of workers and consumers have been turning to the internet to communicate, get things done and entertain themselves. That has created a huge bonanza for cybercriminals, but also companies that are building tools to combat them. In the latest development, an Israel-hatched, Mountain View-based enterprise startup called SentinelOne -- which has built a machine learning-based solution that it sells under the brand Singularity that works across the entire edge of the network to monitor and secure laptops, phones, containerised applications and the many other devices and services connected to a network -- has closed $267 million in funding to continue expanding its business to meet demand, which has seen business boom this year. Its valuation is now over $3 billion. Given the large sums the company has now raised -- $430 million to date -- the funding will likely be used for acquisitions (cyber is a very crowded market and will likely see some strong consolidation in the coming years), as well as more in-house development and sales and marketing.

Microsoft and the US Department of Energy grabbed headlines by announcing a partnership to develop AI-powered applications to help first responders reacting to natural disasters. One of the first AI prototypes in development will employ computer vision to detect and predict the frontiers of active wildfires and floods. The second application uses an AI tool that should be in every risk manager's toolbox: simulation. This simulator will aid teams in running mock scenarios to better plan and prepare for the next big natural disaster. Many companies were caught flat-footed by COVID-19, perhaps the largest disruption to global trade in a hundred years.

Atlanta-based Kobiton, a mobile testing platform that allows developers and QA teams to test their apps on real devices, both on their own desks and through the company's cloud-based service, today announced that it has acquired Mobile Labs, another Atlanta-based mobile testing service. To finance the acquisition of its well-funded competitor, Kobiton raised a $14 million extension to its $5.2 million Series A from its existing investor BIP Capital and new investor Fulcrum Equity Partners. As Kobiton CEO Kevin Lee told me, we shouldn't take that as the acquisition price, but it's probably a fair guess that the real price isn't too far off. The companies declined to disclose the exact price, though. Mobile Labs, which was founded in 2011, had raised about $15 million before the acquisition, according to Crunchbase.