<div>
  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>
        Embark Trucks, an autonomous truck manufacturer, has announced plans to go private in a USD 71 million, all-cash merger with Applied Intuition, a California-based developer of autonomous vehicles technology.
      </p>
    </li>
    <li>
      <p>
        Following the merger, Embark will delist from the Nasdaq. The Embark brand will continue to operate under Applied as a subsidiary. Embark will retire its fleet of 24 trucks as a part of the transaction and an unknown number of Embark&rsquo;s employees will join Applied.&nbsp;
      </p>
    </li>
    <li>
      <p>
        Applied also expects to enhance its own product offering by integrating Embark&rsquo;s internal tools, data, and software assets into its trucking and automotive solutions.
      </p>
    </li>
    <li>
      <p>
        Embark Trucks was founded in 2016 and has accumulated more than 1.5 million miles of supervised autonomous highway driving during its time of operation. The company initially went public in November 2021 in a USD 5 billion reverse merger.
      </p>
    </li>
    <li>
      <p>
        <b>Analyst QuickTake</b>
        : In 
        <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17013">
          March
        </a>
        , Embark laid off 70% of its workforce and closed down two of its offices. The company announced that it will focus on winding down its operations and that it is in the process of exploring strategic alternatives available to the company, such as the identification of alternative uses of Embark&rsquo;s assets to commercialize its technology, additional sources of financing, and dissolution or liquidation of the company&rsquo;s assets.
      </p>
    </li>
  </ul>
  <p>
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/embark-technology-goes-private-71m-225309394.html">
      Press release
    </a>
  </p>
  <p>
  </p>
</div>


Truck Industry Tech

Embark Trucks to go private in a USD 71 million merger with Applied Intuition

Managing employee health-related benefits

Health Benefits Platforms

<div>
 
 <p>Paytient, a company specializing in a care navigation platform for employee health benefits, has welcomed Joe Gabler into the role of chief growth officer (CGO). This role is considered crucial to the expansion of the company's strategic partnerships with major employers, payers, and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Overall, Gabler's appointment is expected to drive substantial company growth.</p>
 <p>The company highlights Gabler’s extensive career, noting his 20 years of experience in building successful companies and innovating healthcare payment solutions. Gabler's previous roles include a 13-year tenure at SPS Commerce, and a leading role at Solutran, where he was instrumental in the creation of a significant payment network that served a large portion of the Medicare Advantage market. </p>
 
</div>

Paytient appoints Joe Gabler as chief growth officer

AI-based solutions for evolving digital threats

Next-gen Cybersecurity

The cloud security company, Wiz, has raised $1 billion in a Series E funding round. This funding was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Thrive Capital, valuing Wiz at $12 billion. The total amount raised by the company now stands at $1.9 billion. 

Wiz plans to use this new funding to further its acquisitions, product development, and talent acquisition. The company reported an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $350 million for 2023 and boasts 40% of Fortune 100 companies as its customers. 

Wiz is also planning for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) once it reaches an ARR of $1 billion.

Wiz raises USD 1 billion for acquisitions

INCUMBENTS_PRESENT

<div>
 <p>Akamai, a company offering cloud services and security, has purchased Noname Security, an API protection startup, for 450 million. Despite its latest funding round valuing it at USD 1 billion, Noname sold at a significant markdown.</p>
 <p>Having been founded just a year before, in 2020, Noname Security has created a platform that scrutinizes API traffic, configuration, and code to unearth various vulnerabilities. It takes pride in being the first API security startup to accomplish a unicorn status.</p>
 <p>Akamai’s acquisition of Noname will facilitate the broadening of its existing API security solutions and enhance its sales and marketing resources. The combined resources will result in a comprehensive suite that includes shadow APIs, vulnerability, and the detection of attacks.</p>
 
</div>

Akamai acquires Noname Security to expand API security solution

Disrupting the traditional financial system using blockchain

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

<div>
 
 <p>Bitcoin layer-2 infrastructure provider, Botanix Labs, has raised USD 8.5 million in seed funding from a number of major investors, including Polychain Capital, Placeholder Capital, Valor Equity Partners, and ABCDE. This brings the company's total funding to USD 11.5 million.</p>
 <p>Botanix Labs plans to utilize this funding to expand its team as well as to enhance its product offering, specifically its Bitcoin-native layer-2 network.</p>
 <p>The company offers a product called Spiderchain, a Bitcoin layer-2 network that enables the running of Ethereum applications directly on Bitcoin. It achieves this using randomized multi-signature wallets to secure funds from the Bitcoin base layer. Not only can users withdraw from mainstream crypto exchanges such as Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken to a DeFI wallet connected to a layer-2 network like MetaMask, but they can also do this without having to use wrapped tokens or leave the Bitcoin network.</p>
 
</div>

Botanix Labs raises USD 8.5 million in seed funding

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

<div>
 
 <p>Scaling infrastructure provider for Ethereum, ZKM, has garnered USD 5 million in a pre-Series A funding round. The round, headed by OKX Ventures, saw participation from Amber, Metis Foundation, Crypto.com, and others. </p>
 <p>The funds will be used to aid in the development and launch of ZKM's Bitcoin layer-2 network. This network will make use of a proof-of-stake decentralized sequencer architecture. This will allow Bitcoin holders to earn rewards from staking and will enable cross-chain transfers. Users will also be able to use Bitcoin in order to access DeFi functions on other blockchains, such as Ethereum, Cosmos, and Tron.</p>
 <p>The company currently provides a Consolidation solution termed "Entangled Rollup Network" based on zero-knowledge (zk) proof. This system allows for consolidating data across various blockchains, and assures security without the need for any additional consensus. This is achieved through the use of zkMIPS, a computing platform with verifiable properties. This generates proofs which can be confirmed on a transaction settlement layer based on Ethereum. Users can use this network to instantly withdraw and bridge liquidity across different layer-2 networks.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> The Bitcoin layer-2 space has seen a large influx in investor interest, with ZKM becoming the second Bitcoin layer-2 network developer to raise funding this week alongside Botanix Labs (which raised USD 8.5 million). Moreover, similar startups such as <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/3547172"> Atomiq </a> ( <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/28784"> USD 3 million </a> ), <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/606656"> Portal </a> ( <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/26200"> USD 34 million </a> ), <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/1930376"> BabylonChain </a> , and <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/3480652"> BounceBit </a> have also raised funding in the last few months. Notably, ZKM aims to differentiate itself by providing developers access to its zk technology to ensure security on the Bitcoin blockchain without compromising privacy.</p>

ZKM raises USD 5 million in pre-Series A funding

Leveraging personal data for custom-fit diagnosis and treatment

Precision Medicine

<div>
 <p>Myriad Genetics has recently transferred its EndoPredict business to Eurobio Scientific as a part of its European operations restructuring. The specifics of the financial transaction have not been made public.</p>
 <p>Eurobio has been granted the rights by Myriad to market Prolaris in vitro diagnostic kits outside the US, while Myriad will sustain its production and sales of EndoPredict, an in-house developed test (LDT) in the US. This LDT is a key element of its proprietary Precise Oncology Solutions designed for various cancer types. EndoPredict offers critical prognostic information that helps predict the likelihood of a patient's breast cancer recurrence and informs decisions about the prudence of omitting chemotherapy. </p>
 <p>Eurobio Scientific, based in France, is an in vitro diagnostics company, specifically involved in the creation, growth, and marketing of diagnostic and life sciences products. It offers diagnostic tools for transplantation, infectious diseases, and cancer, among others. In order to broaden its market impact in Europe and the US, Eurobio purchased GenDx in October 2022. </p>  
</div>

Myriad Genetics sells EndoPredict business to Eurobio Scientific in realignment of European operations

<div>
 <p>Think Bioscience recently secured USD 6 million in a seed funding round, with contribution from existing investors and YK Bioventures. This latest funding round brings the company's total funds to USD 26 million.</p>
 <p>The new capital will be invested in accelerating the company's drug discovery pipeline and expanding its unique process of identifying new functional pockets on challenging targets.</p>
</div>

Think Bioscience raises USD 6 million in seed expansion funding to expand pipeline

<div>
 <p>Medical diagnostics firm, Lucid Diagnostics, recently closed a Series B-1 Preferred Stock offering that raised $11.6 million. This fundraising effort was led by a long-term institutional investor and brought the total gross funds raised by in the Series B/B-1 rounds to $29.8 million. Lucid plans to use the new funds as working capital for executing its business strategies.</p>
 <p>As a subsidiary of PAVmed, Lucid Diagnostics specializes in early detection and prevention of esophageal cancer, in particular, esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Its primary market consists of patients suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Lucid offers two proprietary diagnostic solutions: EsoCheck and EsoGuard.</p>
 <p>EsoCheck is a non-invasive device that acquires cell samples from the esophagus. EsoGuard, on the other hand, is a DNA test performed in a lab setting on the samples procured by EsoCheck. Its purpose is to diagnose Barrett’s Esophagus, a condition known to precede EAC.</p>
</div>

Lucid Diagnostics raises USD 11.6 million in Series B-1 Preferred Stock funding to execute business strategies

Foundation Models

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 
 <p>Amazon has introduced a new model named Titan Text Premier. This model is specially designed for tasks related to text, such as summarizing, creation, classification, and information extraction. Titan Text Premier will be accessible through Amazon Bedrock.</p>
 
 <p>With its versatile capabilities, the Titan Text Premier can perform an array of tasks. These include efficient text generation, improvement of applications such as AI assistance, and acting as an interface for APIs and documents. It comes with specific features like RAG on Knowledge Bases and Function Call on Agents, tailored for use on Amazon Bedrock.</p>
 
</div>

Amazon unveils Titan Text Premier for enhanced text-related tasks in Bedrock

<div>
 
 <p>OpenAI has announced a strategic partnership and licensing agreement with Dotdash Meredith (DDM), a leading digital and print publisher. The agreement aims to improve the accuracy and reliability of OpenAI's ChatGPT through the inclusion of verified content from DDM.</p>
 <p>The partnership will integrate diverse content from DDM, including trusted recipes, expert-backed health and financial data, popular style and entertainment content, and product evaluations from over 40 media brands. Some of these brands are PEOPLE, Better Homes &amp; Gardens, FOOD &amp; WINE, Verywell, InStyle, and Investopedia.</p>
 <p>In addition to sourcing content from DDM, OpenAI will also include content and links acknowledged to DDM in relevant responses generated by ChatGPT. OpenAI also plans to work with Dotdash Meredith to gain insights from their historical and present data to further enhance the performance of its machine learning model.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
&nbsp; </b> OpenAI has been entering numerous partnerships recently with news content publishers. Last month, OpenAI partnered with <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/28934"> Financial Times </a> to incorporate news content into ChatGPT, and the month before, it formed strategic partnerships with <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/27567"> French newspaper Le Monde and Spanish media company Prisa Media </a> to access news content through ChatGPT. OpenAI has also made deals with other news organizations to license content to train AI models, including Axel Springer, Politico, and European publications Bild and Welt and The Associated Press.</p>

All Updates