^ That’s all I gotta say. Let’s finish strong folks. Catch you in the new year 😎.
Stuff I’m Reading:
SEC Finally Approves NYSE’s Direct Listings w/ Capital Raise — Axios
Oscar Winner Made Khashoggi Doc: Streaming Services Didn’t Want It — NYT
Chatroulette is on the Rise Again, With Help from AI — WIRED
A feed that highlights VC & startup content from 190+ writers — Sandhill.io
The North Carolina Kid Who Cracked YouTube’s Secret Code — Bloomberg
Investors Pour $1bn into Buying up Small Merchants on Amazon — FT
Boston VC Financing Deals:
Netra 📷
Netra, an MIT CSAIL spinout building a video intelligence API, just raised a $912K seed round. With a simple API call including a video’s URL, they provide anyone with the ability to understand context behind an archived or live stream video. It can summarize activities, identify objects, and flag unsafe content in real time.
Originally run by Richard Lee during the Company’s time in Techstars ‘15, the CEO left to run Indigo Ag’s commercialization and customer experience team in 2018. It’s now run by Amit Phansalkar, who’s also on the board of Botlab, an advisor to Entromy, and a founder of Two Degrees Adapt. Their CTO, Shashi Kant, worked under Sir Tim Berners-Lee during his time at MIT.
Worth reading alongside WIRED’s latest piece on video chat content moderation, which covers how an SF-based company called Hive revived Chatroullete from a lewd corner of the internet to its original promise of being a neat way to meet strangers on the online via webcam.
Meanwhile Facebook employs ~15K contractors to review content on its platform, and paid a $52M settlement this year for those suffering PTSD from the job. Algorithmic content moderation is far from being cracked…something to keep an eye on.
Back in 2016, they raised $1.85M from Launchpad and NXT Ventures after graduating from Techstars. At that time, the product was focused on organizing and analyzing content to help marketers understand buying intent. Other previous investors include Zelkova Ventures, Berwind Group, and Mark Cuban. According to LinkedIn, they’re also backed by AI Capital as of 2017.
Unstack 🖥️
Missed this one earlier in December, but a Form D shows that no-code web developer platform Unstack raised $3.1M (a Series A according to Crunchbase). Not sure who filled the whole round, but investors include LA-based El Cap Holdings and Boston-based TBD Angels. They’re building a new way for businesses to launch and scale full-stack websites with digital marketing teams in mind. The platform focuses on built in A/B testing tools to simplify iterating and integrations with existing popular tools.
Dive Technologies 🌊
Robotics company Dive Technologies just raised $4M led by Tanis Venture Management and joined by VTC Ventures, Mill Town Capital, Cavalier Angels, and Charlottesville Angel Network. The two-year-old company develops autonomous underwater vehicles for commercial and defense-related data collection.
ConnectM Technology Solutions 📡
ConnectM, a four-year-old developer of a monitoring software for electro-mechanical assets, just raised $4M. They offer software and hardware products that help users monitor the health of HVAC and plumbing equipment to reduce maintenance inefficiencies — because apparently there’s a 600:1 equipment to technician ratio in the industry. They also have a similar solution for electric vehicles and indoor spaces. This comes about a year after they acquired Keen Home to bolster their offering.
CloudZero ☁️
CloudZero, a company focusing on cloud cost management for engineering teams, just raised $8M in new funding. They’ve previously raised $15.6M from investors including Matrix Partners and Underscore VC. They offer a SaaS product that uses machine learning to detect instances of overspending on cloud computing costs.
Tour24 🏘️
Tour24, a mobile application that lets property managers set up self-guided tours, raised $1M per a Form D. I last mentioned them in July when they raised $2M in debt. The Medfield-based company integrates with keyless access entry systems used in modern buildings and uses audio and visual cues to help prospective renters tour a facility solo.
Superpedestrian 🛴
After raising $15M in growth equity from Edison Partners back in June, durable scooter fleet developer Superpedestrian has now raised $60M from investors including Citi Impact Fund, OurCrowd, and Winthrop Square Capital.
More from BostInno.
Ampion ☀️
Six-year-old renewable energy software company Ampion just raised $6M, according to a Form D. They’re a broker for solar farm companies, making it easier for them to gain new customers through the platform by letting anyone easily pay a portion of their utility bill with solar energy credits.