<div>
  <p>
    &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;DealHub, a sales collaboration platform, raised USD 60 million in a funding round led by Alpha Wave Ventures, with participation from existing investors. The round follows its 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/2329">
      USD 20 million Series B funding in June 2021,
    </a>
     bringing its total funding to USD 90 million.&lt;/ul&gt;
  </p>
  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>
        The company intends to use the funds for platform development, to expand the partnership ecosystem, and for its global expansion plans.
      </p>
    </li>
  </ul>
  <p>
    &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;
    <b>Analyst QuickTake:</b>
     Startups such as DealHub, which assists sales teams in managing proposals, price quotes, subscriptions and contracts, and document generation that streamlines and personalizes the quotation process, are gaining popularity over standard sales engagement platforms that fail to identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities that come with providing personalized quotations for sales representatives. As a result, investor interest has increased in platforms that provide an in-house CPQ (configure, price quote) solution or are integrated with CPQ software. A case in point was Logik.io, a proprietary configuration engine that integrates with Salesforce CPQ tools, which secured 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6897">
      USD 10 million in November 2021.
    </a>
    &lt;/ul&gt;
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    <b></b>
    <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220614005673/en/DealHub.io-Raises-60-Million-to-Accelerate-Growth-and-CPQ-Innovation">
      Press release
    </a>
  </p>
</div>


Sales Engagement Platforms

DealHub raises USD 60 million in funding to fuel global growth and development

Making banking work, without the paperwork

Neobanks

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

<div>
 
 <p>UK-based neobank, Monzo, has successfully raised an additional USD 190 million in venture funding, leading to a total funding of USD 1.7 billion. This funding round was primarily led by Hedosophia, and saw participation from CapitalG, Alphabet's growth fund, and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.</p>
 
 <p>Monzo plans to utilize these funds to broaden its reach across the US and Europe, as well as for product development. The company has plans to launch a pension product within the next six to nine months in the UK, and a mortgage product is also projected for the longer term.</p>
 
 <p>Monzo has been profitable since the previous year and has a customer base, in the UK, of over 9 million retail clients. Last year alone, an additional 2 million customers joined the ranks. The company also caters to more than 400,000 businesses.</p>

</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> The company’s previous funding round was in <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/27295"> March 2024 </a> , during which it raised USD 430 million at a USD 5 billion valuation. The funds were earmarked to develop new products and expand into the US market.</p>

Monzo raises USD 190 million in venture funding for global expansion

New insurance models are disrupting a centuries-old industry with a focus on personalization and convenience.

Neo Insurance

<div>
 
 <p>An Israeli-based digital life insurer, Sproutt, has filed for insolvency in the District Court in Tel Aviv.</p>
 <p>The company's insolvency filing follows its failure to pay its debts to an Israeli bank and various creditors.</p>
 <p>Before making the announcement, Sproutt had shifted its focus to a B2B model, offering a life insurance quotation platform for agents. In March 2023, the firm added The Reder Agency, an entity renowned for life insurance marketing, to its portfolio. Amid these changes, Sproutt had also carried out several redundancy waves.</p>
 
</div>

Life insurance startup Sproutt declares insolvency

Empowering efficiency, visibility and collaboration throughout supply networks

Supply Chain Tech

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
<p>Bitsight has introduced the Discovery and Attribution Engine, a new technology designed to provide enterprises with an updated overview of their Internet-based assets, relations with third and fourth parties, and overall risk levels. This engine achieves this by analyzing billions of security data points to offer valuable insights to customers.</p>
<p>This AI-powered engine includes several features, such as the creation of a dynamic map for an organization's Internet-connected assets. This feature is designed to streamline and speed up the process of viewing exposure across extended attack surfaces, evaluating risk, and prioritizing remediation efforts.</p>
<p>Bitsight asserts that this novel solution can reveal an external organizational risk overview and swiftly and accurately share recommendations. It also allows risk and security leaders to keep up with changes on an internet scale.</p>

</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> In February 2024, Bitsight <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/26871"> launched </a> a solution for managing third-party risk, which aimed to protect the digital supply chain by merging vendor risk management and continuous monitoring. The platform is capable of conducting vendor health assessments, management of onboarding processes, oversight of vendor security hygiene, and more. The new Discovery and Attribution Engine adds more capabilities to its solutions suite.</p>

Bitsight launches AI-powered Discovery and Attribution Engine for risk assessment

<div>
 <p>Avetta has launched Supplier Analytics, a solution designed to help suppliers and prime contractors identify and address issues, meet compliance requirements, and enhance safety measures. It is available on the Avetta platform.</p>
 <p>The offering combines safety, ESG compliance, business, and cybersecurity risks in one platform. Its main features are efficient compliance assessments, effective usage of analytics, and clear collaboration among suppliers, clients, and subcontractors.</p>
 <p>Avetta asserts that the new solution can dramatically reduce business costs tied to compliance management. The company also says that the product has become their most adopted solution since its introduction, due to its effectiveness in simplifying compliance processes and fostering collaboration.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> In January 2024, Avetta <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/26014"> launched </a> "AskAva," an AI-powered risk assistant for contractor safety. The solution expands Avetta’s Connect platform, allowing firms to automate risk management for contractors on a larger scale.</p>

Avetta introduces Supplier Analytics solution for enhanced compliance management

Artificial intelligence is identifying and testing new therapies faster than ever.

AI Drug Discovery

<div>
 <p>Google DeepMind, in collaboration with Isomorphic Labs, has launched an updated version of its AlphaFold AI tool known as AlphaFold3. This technology is designed to help scientists understand the behaviors of microscopic mechanisms within human body cells. The original AlphaFold was launched in 2018 and then released for protein studies in 2023.</p>
 <p>AlphaFold's main purpose is to examine the processes of protein twisting and folding, as well as their communication with other human cells. The updated version, AlphaFold3, can also predict the behaviors of other microscopic biological features such as DNA and RNA.</p>
 <p>Isomorphic Labs, a subsidiary of Alphabet based in the UK, is dedicated to improving traditional drug discovery techniques through the use of AI. Employing Google DeepMind’s AI research, the company is also partnering with pharmaceutical firms like Eli Lilly and Novartis to bolster their AI-led drug discovery efforts.</p>
 
</div>

Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs unveil updated AlphaFold technology

Leveraging personal data for custom-fit diagnosis and treatment

Precision Medicine

<div>
 <p>RCE Technologies revealed their new advancements in wearable-enabled biomarker studies at the Annual Biomarker Symposium. They showcased their patented wearable device, the Infrasensor, which is designed for collecting biochemical data. </p>
 <p>The Infrasensor employs infrared technology and offers a non-invasive method for monitoring cardiac conditions by delivering real-time analysis in conjunction with AI. It was put through a trial that involved 840 individuals from 10 US hospitals, where blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis as the device was used for three minutes.</p>
 <p>As a specialist in non-invasive infrared-based wearable monitoring devices, particularly for cardiovascular health, RCE Technologies offers services powered by their proprietary technology. The key products include the Infrasensor, which is a transdermal device for measuring cardiac conditions; infra-mind AI/ML platform that is capable of predicting heart attacks; and Infra-weave cloud service, a platform that hosts, processes, and analyzes both clinical and research data.</p>
 </div>

RCE Technologies presents insights on biomarker study based on Infrasensor wearable device

Foundation Models

INCUMBENTS_PRESENT

<div>
 
 <p>Google's AI arm, DeepMind, has unveiled AlphaFold 3, an upgraded version of its AI model designed to predict life molecules like DNA, RNA and smaller molecules referred to as "ligands", in addition to protein structures. </p>
 <p>The AI model employs a diffusion technique to produce intricate 3D representations of molecular structures. As it stands, its use is solely restricted to academic and non-commercial applications in fields like medicine, agriculture, materials science, and drug discovery.</p>
 <p>In addition to this, the research platform known as AlphaFold Server, along with the AI model itself, will be accessible to a selection of researchers at no cost.</p>
 <p>The accessibility of AlphaFold Server, boosted by the AlphaFold 3 model, claims to enhance prediction accuracy by 50% in comparison to earlier variations, even with limited computational power.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> This news comes just a week after Google and DeepMind introduced <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/29007"> Med-Gemini </a> , an AI model focusing on medicine to enhance the understanding and processing of medical data. It has also developed other medical models like MedLM that cater to healthcare needs. These developments could potentially assist medical researchers and clinicians by improving efficiency, enhancing communication, streamlining workflows, supporting research endeavors, and offering flexibility in addressing specific healthcare challenges.</p>

Google’s DeepMind introduces enhanced AI model "AlphaFold 3" for molecular structure prediction

<div>

<p>IBM has grown its cooperation with SAP to incorporate the Granite model series into SAP's selection of cloud solutions and applications. This growth is part of the Value Generation partnership initiative.</p>
 <p>This partnership will also enable IBM's Consulting to create extensions with the model via the GenAI hub for selected customers.</p>
 <p>The intention of the Value Generation partnership initiative is to implement AI within various industry-specific cloud solutions and functional applications. This will be accomplished through collaborations with emerging communities to attract fresh talent, enhance the SAP solution experience, and establish social impact programs.</p>

</div>

IBM partners with SAP to make Granite model series accessible across SAP portfolio

Additive manufacturing makes objects by systematically adding material via a CAD program

Additive Manufacturing

<div>
 
 <p>Rapid Liquid Print (RLP), a 3D printer manufacturer, recently secured USD 7 million in a Series A funding round. This funding round was led by Germany's HZG Group and saw participation from BMW i Ventures and MassMutual.</p>
 <p>RLP plans to utilize this funding for their business expansion that includes boosting their production, augmenting their team, and exploring more business areas.&nbsp;</p>
 <p>Born out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Rapid Liquid Print specializes in manufacturing large-scale 3D printers. These printers use a unique printing method known as “rapid liquid print." This method entails the injection of a liquid material mixture into a gel-filled container via a nozzle; this results in the creation of a 3D object. According to the company, this process is not only rapid but also doesn't warrant the printing of additional support structures. Additionally, the objects that are printed through this process can apparently be put to use instantly as they require no post-processing.</p>
 
</div>

Rapid Liquid Print raises USD 7 million in Series A funding to expand production and team

Biometric Payments

<div>

<p>IDEX Biometrics is partnering with a South Asian smart card manufacturer to globally distribute smart cards, mainly in Asia. These smart cards will be distributed to various governmental agencies, banks, telecom and transport companies, and corporate enterprises, using the partner company's approved status with Visa, Mastercard, and RuPay. The aim is to have the IDEX Pay card launched and commercialized by 2024 end.</p>

</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> Notably, IDEX has looked to expand its presence in the South Asian region and has established multiple partnerships in Bangladesh. This includes partnering with <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/28175"> Mutual Trust Bank </a> last month, <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/24991"> Eastern Bank PLC </a> last November, and <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/18774"> Bangladesh’s DoelPay </a> last May.</p>

All Updates