Bengaluru-based cab aggregator unicorn Ola has acquired Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence platform Pickup.ai. As part of the deal, the co-founders and employees of Pikup.ai will join the Ola team. When it comes to technology, Ola has been leveraging a lot and has been scaling volumes of success and growth. Its Electric Vehicle arm Ola Electric Mobility became one of the fastest unicorns in India last month. The company too highlighted its commitment and intent of investing in technology especially AI and ML to build futuristic mobility solutions for India and the world.

PROS, a provider of AI-powered solutions that optimize selling in the digital economy, today announced it has acquired Travelaer SAS, a digital innovator for the travel industry, for approximately $12 million. With Travelaer, PROS further extends its comprehensive portfolio to enable airlines to transform the traveler's digital experience across all retail channels: airline.com, "We are thrilled to welcome Travelaer to the PROS family," said President and Chief Executive Officer Andres Reiner, at PROS. "With Travelaer, PROS is uniquely positioned to provide an end-to-end solution that transforms the digital selling experience for airlines, from revenue management, through offer personalization and optimization, to supporting excellence in retail channels. This acquisition accelerates our ability to deliver airlines flexible, configurable retail capabilities yielding an optimal customer experience every time. Our combined teams will drive even greater innovation, accelerating the digital transformation our airline customers need today."

Many people perceive the development of artificial intelligent positively for the overall economy, in relatively any industry. For businesses, these AI technologies involve reducing long-term production costs with more reliable systems. AI structures in business only make sense when targeting objectives such as customization, trouble-shooting, chain efficiency, or flexibility. As happens with all programs, adapting software to your company is about moving from absolute chaos to maximum order. At first, it is expected to have unreliable systems that need constant revisions, and it becomes more complex the more innovative updates we present.

WASHINGTON – Looking for that perfect recipe, or a new flavor combination that delights the senses? Increasingly, players in the food industry are embracing artificial intelligence to better understand the dynamics of flavor, aroma and other factors that go into making a food product a success. Earlier this year, IBM became a surprise entrant to the food sector, announcing a partnership with seasonings maker McCormick to "explore flavor territories more quickly and efficiently using AI to learn and predict new flavor combinations" by utilizing data collected from millions of data points. The partnership highlights how technology is being used to disrupt the food industry by helping develop new products and respond to consumer preferences and offer improved nutrition and flavor. "More and more, food companies are embracing digitization and becoming data-driven," said Bernard Lahousse, co-founder of Foodpairing, a startup with offices in Belgium and New York that develops digital food "maps" and algorithms to recommend food and drink combinations.

Data Science has become one of the most powerful technologies in the retail sector by providing fact-based and data-driven insights. Data Science technologies help retailers in enhancing their marketing strategies, operations, and financial performance. Retailers today are searching for ways to derive more customer intelligence and operational insights from their overflowing databases which are currently fulfilled by Data Science technologies. Data science plays a vital role in almost all sectors of retail such as assortment, recommendation, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Demand Forecasting, Price Optimization for products, Predictive Maintenance, Churn prediction, and Data-Driven Product Management. Other products that are bought together with the required products by the customers lead to increase in sales.

Roku blew away its numbers in style as the US streaming company surpassed 30 million active users in Q2 2019 – comprehensively extending its native dominance in the connected TV space. But while Roku's second quarter results are a milestone for the company, they also signify significant tailwinds in a broader field – advertising. Revenue growth of 59% year on year to $250.1 million was primarily driven by growth in advertising as Roku managed to more than double the number of monetized video ad impressions.

After years of scooping up brands like Converse and Hurley, Nike is shifting its focus toward buying start-ups that help it behind the scenes. Nike announced on Tuesday it has acquired Boston-based predictive analytics company Celect, marking its latest acquisition in a string of deals to bolster its direct-to-consumer strategy. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. With Celect's technology integrated into Nike's mobile apps and website, the shoemaker should be able to better predict what styles of sneakers and apparel customers want, when they want it and where they want to buy it from, Chief Operating Officer Eric Sprunk explained in an interview. "Our goal is to serve consumers more personally at scale," he said. "We have to anticipate demand.

SoftBank Group Corp. said Wednesday its group net profit in the April-June period jumped more than threefold to a record ¥1.12 trillion ($10.6 billion) from a year earlier -- marking the best quarter for a Japanese firm since 2004 -- boosted by a special profit from selling part of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. SoftBank Group said its operating profit fell 3.7 percent to ¥688.82 billion in the three months that ended June 30 on sales of ¥2.34 trillion, up 2.8 percent on a consolidated basis. The company logged the largest group net profit on a quarterly basis among 400 major firms listed on bourses operated by Japan Exchange Group Inc. since Nomura Holdings Inc. started compiling such data in 2004. The investment giant said it booked a one-time gain of ¥1.22 trillion in the quarterly period following the completion of the partial sale of the stake in Alibaba. The company's profit was also boosted by gains from investments in technology startups made by its Vision Fund, through which SoftBank made investments in 81 companies as of the end of June. "It is remarkable for us to mark a (group net) profit of more than ¥1 trillion in a quarter for the first time," said Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son at a news conference in Tokyo.

In acquiring Vertex.AI for its Movidius unit, Intel is envisioning a tomorrow where deep learning will feature in many aspects of business. Chip giant Intel has acquired Vertex.AI, a Seattle start-up that is developing deep learning for every platform. The start-up will join the Movidius group, which is focused on self-learning and artificial intelligence (AI) technology on a myriad of devices. Intel acquired Movidius in 2016 for an undisclosed sum, rumoured to be in the region of $300m. This was part of a $1bn spending spree on AI tech companies, including Mighty AI, DataRobot, Lumiata, AEye and others.

WASHINGTON - Looking for that perfect recipe, or a new flavor combination that delights the senses? Increasingly, players in the food industry are embracing artificial intelligence to better understand the dynamics of flavor, aroma and other factors that go into making a food product a success. Earlier this year, IBM became a surprise entrant to the food sector, announcing a partnership with seasonings maker McCormick to "explore flavor territories more quickly and efficiently using AI to learn and predict new flavor combinations" by utilizing data collected from millions of data points. The partnership highlights how technology is being used to disrupt the food industry by helping develop new products and respond to consumer preferences and offer improved nutrition and flavor. "More and more, food companies are embracing digitization and becoming data-driven," said Bernard Lahousse, co-founder of Foodpairing, a startup with offices in Belgium and New York that develops digital food "maps" and algorithms to recommend food and drink combinations.