DataRobot automates the data science process. The system lets you upload your data and tell it what you want to predict. It automatically and instantly creates hundreds of models. Earlier this year, the company raised 33 million in a round led by New Enterprises Associates that included Intel Capital, Accomplice, and IA Ventures.

Tamr, a machine learning-driven company for procurement analytics and media analytics, has won financial backing from big guys such as HP Ventures and Google Ventures. The company applies machine learning technologies to traditional areas of the enterprise such as procurement. The company's founders, Michael Stonebraker and Andy Palmer, previously started database company Vertica, which HP acquired in 2011. Tamr customers include Cisco, GE, Toyota, and Thomson Reuters.

Machine learning is technology which trains software so developers don't have to code it by hand. The number of new companies in the category has grown exponentially over the past few years. Here are 10 machine learning startups worth a closer look. Machine learning companies are being snapped up in droves by tech giants cognizant that these startups represent a new wave of technology innovation. This month alone, Intel announced plans to acquire deep learning startup Nervana Systems.

Lukas Biewald, a former lead data scientist at Yahoo, founded CrowdFlower to build training data for machine learning. Training data is used by data scientists to teach their algorithms to learn. The company website says it is focused on making data useful by helping teams collect, clean, and label data at scale. Crowdflower raised a new 10 million round of funding in June 2016 that included Microsoft as an investor. The funding will be used to fuel adoption of CrowdFlower AI, launched last year, which enables machine learning algorithms to go beyond prediction to provide judgment on how likely the prediction is to be correct -- known as a confidence level.

Machine learning companies are being snapped up in droves by tech giants cognizant that these startups represent a new wave of technology innovation. This month alone, Intel announced plans to acquire deep learning startup Nervana Systems. Apple confirmed it would acquire Turi. Earlier this year, Twitter acquired Magic Pony Technology, Salesforce acquired PredictionIO, ESI Group acquired Mineset, and Apple acquired Emotient, among other deals. PricewaterhouseCoopers said 29 machine learning companies have been acquired so far this year by companies large and small, and total deals in 2016 will likely exceed the 37 such buyouts made last year.

Machine learning companies are being snapped up in droves by tech giants cognizant that these startups represent a new wave of technology innovation. This month alone, Intel announced plans to acquire deep learning startup Nervana Systems. And Apple confirmed it would acquire Turi inc. Earlier this year, Twitter acquired Magic Pony Technology, Salesforce acquired PredictionIO, ESI Group acquired Mineset, and Apple acquired Emotient, among other deals. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said 29 machine learning companies have been acquired so far this year by companies large and small, and total deals in 2016 will likely exceed the 37 such buyouts made last year.