Israeli artificial intelligence (AI) peptide drug discovery company Pepticom announced today that it has raised $5 million in a Series A financing round from the Chartered Group. The Jerusalem-based company's AI technology streamlines and significantly accelerates the ability of researchers to discover advanced peptide-based drug candidates. Peptides are used in various therapies, and are recognized for being highly selective and efficacious as well as relatively safe. The pharma industry has recently shown an increased interest in peptide research and development, leading to a resurgence of peptide drug candidates. The process of discovering new peptides with lifesaving potential, however, is still costly and time consuming.

McDonald's has failed to lure customers in with new technology, bringing the firm's third-quarter earnings down by two percent and dropping net income to $1.6 billion. Although the firm's net income experienced dipped, it was able to show a 5.9 percent increase in global comparable sales, including a decent rise in the US. However, Investors have put pressure on profits following the fast-food giant's increased spending on a variety of technologies including artificial intelligence and voice recognition. McDonald's has failed to lure customers in with new technology, bringing the firm's third-quarter earnings down by 2% and dropping net income to $1.6 billion. Although the firm's net income dipped, it was able to show a 5.9% increase in global comparable sales, including a decent rise in the US Quarterly earnings for McDonalds were flat at $2.11 per share, while Wall Street was looking for at least $2.21 of earnings per-share, according to analysts polled by FactSet. The Chicago company said its third-quarter revenue was $5.4 billion, again missing Wall Street's mark, which was forecasted to be $5.49 billion.

Newswire) GBT Technologies Inc. (OTCPINK: GTCH) ("GBT", or the "Company"), a company specializing in the development of Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled networking and tracking technologies, including its GopherInsight wireless mesh network technology platform for both mobile and fixed solutions, announced that it has entered into a Joint Venture ("JV") Agreement with BitSpeed LLC ("BitSpeed"), a software development company located in the Los Angeles area. BitSpeed is currently partnered with a major Cloud Platform (GCP) and has an agreement to supply its software through GCP's Partner Advantage program, where their customers can buy certified solutions directly from GCP. BitSpeed's Concurrency application competes in the Extreme File Transfer market, which is a subset of the larger Managed File Transfer or MFT market. "Managed file transfer is a type of software that allows the transfer of files inside an organization or between multiple organizations. This method is a fast, secure, reliable, and a transparent way of exchanging files, with additional features such as tracking and monitoring. As a result, one can discover the loss of data from a specific point, and also receive an acknowledgement after successful completion of a file transfer process. With the advent of digitalization, companies are becoming heavily dependent on the successful transmission of digital files bearing critical information. Hence, this transmission should be secure, reliable, and quick to run the business process smoothly in real time. The demand for efficient and effective file transfer has been increasing in the past few years."

I'm publishing this series to discuss a topic that I follow closely - cloud stocks, trends, strategy, acquisitions, and more. Please subscribe to my Cloud Stock Analysis series and never miss an article. Earlier this week, IBM (Nasdaq: IBM) declared its third quarter results that exceeded earnings expectations despite missing revenue estimates. The stock fell nearly 5% post the result announcement in the after-hours session. Revenues for the third quarter fell 3.9% over the year to $18.03 billion, missing the Street's forecast of $18.23 billion for the quarter.

A Greek maritime environmental engineering company has merged with a well known local shipping IT firm with the pair vowing to develop green digital solutions for the industry. Erma First, best known for its ballast water treatment systems, has bought out METIS Cyberspace Technology from the Germanos–led Olympia Group. Established in 2016, METIS is specialised in electronic engineering, IoT, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, offering a platform that enables shipping companies to acquire and analyse data to improve performance over a wide range of operational aspects. "With technology playing an increasingly critical role in every aspect of the industry, both companies recognize that they need to accelerate the development of green digital solutions to ensure they remain in the competitive vanguard," the companies said in a statement. Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world's oldest newspaper, Lloyd's List.

A Greek maritime environmental engineering company has merged with a well known local shipping IT firm with the pair vowing to develop green digital solutions for the industry. Erma First, best known for its ballast water treatment systems, has bought out METIS Cyberspace Technology from the Germanos–led Olympia Group. Established in 2016, METIS is specialised in electronic engineering, IoT, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, offering a platform that enables shipping companies to acquire and analyse data to improve performance over a wide range of operational aspects. "With technology playing an increasingly critical role in every aspect of the industry, both companies recognize that they need to accelerate the development of green digital solutions to ensure they remain in the competitive vanguard," the companies said in a statement. Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world's oldest newspaper, Lloyd's List.

Cognex CGNX recently announced the acquisition of Seoul-based SUALAB, a developer of deep learning-based vision software. Although the financial terms of the acquisition have been kept under wraps, per a Pulse article the transaction price is estimated to be $168.6 million. Deep learning allows Cognex to solve the most complex vision application operations in factories faster, easier and in a cost-effective manner. The addition of SUALAB's Intellectual property and highly skillful engineering team, which specializes in deep learning, is expected to strengthen the company's product portfolio. The latest acquisition will help Cognex to reap benefits from strong prospects of the global deep learning system software market.

Oct 18: AI and the Evolution of Cloud Computing: Evaluating How Financial Data is Stored, Protected, and Maintained by Cloud Providers Congressional Hearing Friday, Oct 18, 9:30am EDT. Financial Services Committee Hearing -- Task Force on Artificial Intelligence: AI and the Evolution of Cloud Computing: Evaluating How Financial Data is Stored, Protected, and Maintained by Cloud Providers. Oct 17: US Stocks were UP Thursday, driven by solid Q3 earnings reports from Netflix, Morgan Stanley and others, as well as reports of a UK-EU Brexit deal. More than one-tenth of all the companies in the S&P 500 have reported Q3 earnings results so far, and most are coming in above analysts' expectations. Oct 16: US stocks end slightly lower after weak U.S. retail sales and tension with China offsets good corporate earnings, e.g., IBM (pdf): IBM reports solid earnings, but Q3 sales mixed, other info here; Netflix Q3 results (pdf) and other info here. Netflix $NFLX rises after earnings show subscriber ...

Umbo Computer Vision, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup that offers autonomous video security systems to businesses, has raised $8 million in what it's calling a "post-A" round of funding. The round was co-led by Translink Capital and Susquehanna International Group, with participation from Shin-Kong Capital and Shin-Kong Security, among other existing investors. Founded in 2014, Taiwan- and San Francisco-based Umbo develops software, hardware, and AI smarts that can detect and identify human behaviors related to security, such as intrusion, tailgating (when an unauthorized individual follows someone into private premises), and wall-scaling. In addition to its hubs in Taipei, Taiwan and San Francisco, Umbo recently opened its first European office in the U.K., a country renowned for its love affair with security cameras. Umbo's offering incorporates three components.

The evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most important trends to watch for tech investors. More companies are jumping into the space every day, and while stock pickers still have to exercise caution and shouldn't embrace a business just because it touts an AI connection, the players that cement leading roles in this computing shift could enjoy forefront positions in the overall technology space for decades to come. Pure sales and earnings contributions aren't always front and center in earnings reports, but AI is already a big part of the growth story at many top technology companies. Investors looking to get a jump on big news in the artificial intelligence space this month might want to pay attention to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX), and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) -- three AI leaders that are expected to report earnings before October draws to a close. Microsoft has been one of the market's biggest large-cap winners in recent years, climbing roughly 200% over the last half-decade and quadrupling the S&P 500 index's rise over the stretch.