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        TurtleTree Labs, a food startup based in Singapore that uses cellular agriculture technology to produce animal-free milk, has secured USD 30 million in a Series A finance round led by VERSO Capital.
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        According to the startup, the funds will be used to commercialize its novel products, created using its cell-based dairy ingredients in the US, through several B2B collaborations. Furthermore, the newly raised capital will also fuel TurtleTree Labs&rsquo; continued development of IP technologies, research on new applications, and team expansion to include world-class scientists, product management and business development associates.
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  <p>
    <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/douglasyu/2021/10/29/turtletree-raises-30-million-in-series-a-to-expedite-full-commercialization-of-cell-based-milk/?sh=276869301249">
      Forbes
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Plant-based Dairy & Egg

TurtleTree Labs raises USD 30 million in Series A funding

Empowering Tomorrow's Innovations with Generative AI Infrastructure

Generative AI Infrastructure

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

<div>
 <p>Snowflake, a company specializing in cloud-based data and AI infrastructure, has agreed to acquire Datavolo, a provider of multimodal data pipelines for AI, for an undisclosed sum.</p>
 <p>Datavolo uses Apache NiFi, an open-source project initiated by the NSA, to develop a platform that streamlines data flows between enterprise data sources. Datavolo's technology is designed to process, extract, clean, transform, and enrich data for GenAI applications.</p>
 <p>In the wake of the acquisition, Snowflake intends to integrate Datavolo into its own platform, thereby enhancing its data engineering capacities. This will allow customers to swap out complex, direct connectors for more flexible and reusable pipelines. Snowflake also plans to continue maintaining the Apache NiFi project, while also aiming to expand its presence in the public sector.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> This strategic acquisition aligns with Snowflake's focus on the public sector and follows its previous acquisition of <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/33819"> Night Shift Development </a> in September 2024. This move aimed to enhance decision-making for government agencies by establishing a dedicated entity for the US public sector, enabling new methods of collaboration with public organizations.</p>

Snowflake acquires Datavolo to enhance data integration capabilities for undisclosed sum

Data Infrastructure & Analytics

<div>
 <p>Snowflake, a company specializing in cloud-based data and AI infrastructure, has announced its intentions to acquire Datavolo, a firm that provides robust data pipelines for AI applications. The financial details of the agreement remain undisclosed.</p>
 <p>Datavolo makes use of Apache NiFi, an open-source project originally developed by the NSA, to design a platform that automates the movement of data between various enterprise data sources. Their technology handles processing, extraction, cleansing, transformation, and enrichment of data for GenAI applications.</p>
 <p>Post-acquisition, Snowflake intends to absorb Datavolo into its platform in a move to bolster its data engineering capabilities. This merger will enable Snowflake's customers to substitute complicated point-to-point connectors with versatile, reusable pipelines. Furthermore, Snowflake plans to continue the upkeep of the Apache NiFi project and looks forward to expediting its growth in the public sector.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> This strategic acquisition aligns with Snowflake's focus on the public sector and follows its previous acquisition of <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/33819"> Night Shift Development </a> in September 2024. This move aimed to enhance decision-making for government agencies by establishing a dedicated entity for the US public sector, enabling new methods of collaboration with public organizations.</p>

Travel Tech

INCUMBENTS_PRESENT

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

Uber releases five new features for holiday travel season

<div>
 <p>Apaleo, a property management platform, has secured a growth equity funding of approximately USD 21 million led by PSG Equity. Other participators in the funding are Redalpine, FOMCAP IV, and Rockaway Ventures.</p>
 <p>This funding will help Apaleo to accelerate its international expansion, acquire a stronger presence across Europe and other global regions, and expand its team. The fund will also assist in further platform development and in expanding its reach in the accommodation and serviced living industries.</p>
 <p>Apaleo provides a cloud-based property management system (PMS) specially designed for the hospitality industry. The open platform includes features for managing reservations, accounting, and customers, and it is integrated with APIs and a marketplace of third-party applications.</p>
</div>

Apaleo raises EUR 20 million in growth equity funding to accelerate expansion

<div>
 <p>Acai Travel, an AI-focused travel startup, has collaborated with travel platform, Hopper. The aim of this partnership is to enhance efficiency in customer service operations.</p>
 <p>Through the partnership, Acai's AI technology will be leveraged to bolster the efforts of Hopper's call center representatives. The ultimate goal is to simplify processes and boost operational efficiency.</p> 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake</b> :<br>
 This collaboration follows Acai's recent USD 3.7 million seed funding in <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/35789"> November 2024 </a> and adds to its existing customer base, which includes Globespan Travel Management.</p>

Acai Travel partners with Hopper to enhance call center operations with AI technology

Using AI to automate, enhance and optimize marketing activities

Marketing Automation

<div>
 <p>BrightEdge, a company specializing in AI-driven organic search and digital marketing automation, has incorporated new AI functions into its Data Cube X solution. Through this platform, clients can track and examine their brand's presence in Google AI Overview (AIO) search results.</p>
 <p>Data Cube X enables users to have real-time insight into their brand presence in Google AIO search outcomes. It observes changes in the digital footprint, pinpoints consumer touchpoints via search, and empowers content optimization for relevance and freshness. The solution is designed to work in conjunction with BrightEdge Copilot for crafting content and BrightEdge Autopilot for content structuring.</p>
 <p>BrightEdge explains that these fresh capabilities offer brands the opportunity to identify and respond to prospects in Google AIO, observe their AI presence development, and modify to the ever-changing AI search environment.</p>
</div>

BrightEdge releases AI capabilities to monitor and analyze brand presence in Google AI Overview search results

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

AI Drug Discovery

<div>
 
 <p>Drug discovery company Converge Bio has amassed USD 5.5 million in seed funding, with TLV Partners leading the round. The company plans to utilize these funds to further develop its large language model (LLM) platform.</p>
 <p>The LLM platform is capable of breaking down and interpreting biological and chemical data, thus significantly speeding up the drug development process. With this platform, Converge Bio helps biotech and pharmaceutical companies create more effective drugs in a shorter time frame.</p>
 <p>Their GenAI platform, which employs LLMs trained in the analysis of biological and chemical data like DNA, RNA, protein sequences, and small molecules, includes a library of base models for different biological languages. These models can be improved through a proprietary data enrichment pipeline. Hence, the platform offers solutions for designing improved antibodies, identifying new drug targets, and creating optimized mRNA vaccines.</p>
 
</div>

Converge Bio raises USD 5.5 million in seed funding to develop LLM model for drug discovery

<div>
 
 <p>Verge Genomics, a company specializing in AI-based neurological therapeutics, has hit a development milestone in its collaboration with Eli Lilly & Company. The partnership focuses on the development of treatments against two validated drug targets for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). These potential drug targets were identified and validated through Verge's AI-enhanced tool, CONVERGE.</p>
 <p>CONVERGE, Verge's platform, utilizes AI and human data to discover and verify potential ALS drug targets. It provides insights into the disease and pinpoints potential targets for complex medical conditions, merging computational predictions with solid experimental data. In addition, Verge continues to progress its principal ALS drug candidate VRG50635, which is presently under evaluation in a Phase Ib proof-of-concept study in Canada and several European countries.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> The partnership between Verge Genomics and Eli Lilly was first established in <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/7418"> July 2021 </a> . The partnership aimed to research and develop novel therapies for treating ALS. Under the partnership, Verge agreed to use its all-in-human platform to discover and validate new targets for ALS, and Eli Lilly agreed to choose up to four targets to be advanced to clinical development and commercialization.</p>

Verge Genomics to develop two ALS drug targets chosen by Eli Lilly ALS Therapeutics

Conservation Tech

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 <p>OceanWell, a forward-thinking desalination startup, has garnered USD 11 million in Series A funding. Prominent contributors include Kubota Corporation, Jon Hemingway's family office of Carrix Ports, and Charles McGarraugh, who previously headed Goldman Sachs Metals Trading.</p>
 <p>The investment is intended to support the scale-up of the company's revolutionary modular deep-sea water farm technology. An initial water farm pilot in cooperation with Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD) in California is also on the cards. OceanWell's ambitious plan is to construct 15 water farms across the world.</p>
 <p>The novel technology developed by OceanWell harnesses the hydrostatic pressure at depths of 400 meters to facilitate reverse osmosis desalination. Each of the company's pods has the capacity to generate up to one million gallons of fresh water every day. This method provides a 40% reduction in energy usage compared to traditional desalination techniques, and it offers additional benefits in terms of marine life preservation.</p>
 </div>

OceanWell raises USD 11 million in Series A funding to build water farms

Foundation Models

<div>
 
 <p>H, a Paris-based AI startup created by former employees of Google, has introduced Runner H, a platform leveraging Artificial Intelligence for business automation.</p>
 <p>This platform, Runner H, is developed on a unique, compact LLM with 2 billion parameters. It is designed to address three primary use cases: RPA (Robotic Process Automation), quality assurance, and business process outsourcing. The design of the platform permits users to either choose from already built agents or design their own using API's.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> This news follows its funding round of <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/29664"> USD 220 million </a> in June this year to acquire datasets and compute power to advance artificial general intelligence (AGI). The company claims its compact model outperforms Anthropic's "Computer Use" by 29% based on WebVoyager benchmarks, as well as models from Mistral and Meta. H states the smaller parameter count makes the platform more efficient in terms of cost and operations.</p>

All Updates

TurtleTree Labs raises USD 30 million in Series A funding

Snowflake acquires Datavolo to enhance data integration capabilities for undisclosed sum

Snowflake acquires Datavolo to enhance data integration capabilities for undisclosed sum

Uber releases five new features for holiday travel season

Apaleo raises EUR 20 million in growth equity funding to accelerate expansion

Acai Travel partners with Hopper to enhance call center operations with AI technology

BrightEdge releases AI capabilities to monitor and analyze brand presence in Google AI Overview search results

Converge Bio raises USD 5.5 million in seed funding to develop LLM model for drug discovery

Verge Genomics to develop two ALS drug targets chosen by Eli Lilly ALS Therapeutics

OceanWell raises USD 11 million in Series A funding to build water farms

H launches Runner H, an AI agent for business automation

Plant-based Dairy & Egg

TurtleTree Labs raises USD 30 million in Series A funding

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