The founder of Google Brain research lab, Andrew Ng, has raised $57 million in Series A funding for his startup -- Landing AI, led by McRock Capital, the first investment firm focused exclusively on the Industrial IoT. AI pioneer Andrew Ng's startup provides tools that make building and deploying AI systems in manufacturing faster and easier. "I'm thrilled LANDING AI has closed a $57M Series A for our Data-centric MLOps platform for computer vision. Industrial AI needs a different recipe than Internet companies. It's time to make cutting-edge AI fast and easy for anyone to use," said Andrew Ng, Founder & CEO of Landing AI in a post.

Racetrack.ai, an artificial intelligence startup providing solution for sales and support to businesses, has raised around $5 million (33.5 crore) in pre-Series A funding from a clutch of Indian and global investors including Murali Krishna, former President and founding member of Biocon. The Bangalore-based company plans to use the funds to expand its operations in the US, Mauritius and Singapore by tapping business verticals such as BFSI, health and hospitality. "This move will help us delve into newer business verticals like retail, banking and healthcare. This boost in our physical presence will open new doors for us to partner with intercontinental brands and decision makers while helping us to create global footprint in the AI industry,"Subrat Parida, Founder and CEO Racetrack.ai, in a statement. Racetrack offers has two flagship products: Marvin and Tu ring.

The company, founded in 2012, initially focused on consumer electronics devices such as headphones. The new artificial intelligence product, similar to Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa, marks a sharp departure for the firm, which now employs about 300 people. Its most recent funding round, an $89 million investment by a group including Salesforce Ventures, closed in March but had not been previously announced. Will.i.am, who rose to prominence as a member of The Black Eyed Peas, said the corporate market offered the company an opportunity to quickly deploy and develop its assistant, called Omega. "I wanted to create something that allows us to do many things," said will.i.am,