Maria Deutscher
Latest from Maria Deutscher
U.S. officials detail plans to build a national quantum internet
The U.S. Department of Energy wants to develop a national quantum internet to enable more secure communications and advance scientific research in areas such as gravitational wave detection. Officials presented a blueprint strategy for the effort in a Thursday press conference at the University of Chicago. The 38-page paper outlines key goals, as well as ...
AWS launches AI-powered Contact Lens analytics features for contact centers
Amazon Web Services Inc. today announced the general availability of Contact Lens, a set of artificial intelligence features to help optimize the contact centers of enterprises using its Amazon Connect service. The launch comes eight months after AWS first previewed the technology at its re:Invent conference. In recent years, enterprises have started modernizing how they ...
Talkdesk becomes $3B+ unicorn after landing $143M to cloudify the contact center
Cloud contact center software startup Talkdesk Inc. disclosed a big valuation bump today, announcing that it has raised an outsize $143 million funding round valuing it at more than $3 billion. The round continues a recent trend of investors backing startups whose technology helps companies remotely engage customers. Talkdesk previously raised $125 million in funding. This latest ...
AI fintech startup Quantexa closes $64.7M round
Quantexa Ltd., a London-based startup that uses artificial intelligence to help financial institutions detect fraud and find sales opportunities, has raised a $64.7 million funding round led by Evolution Equity Partners. The round, announced today, also saw “major participation” from existing investors according to the startup. Quantexa has raised $87 million to date. The company provides an ...
Jamf raises $468M in IPO as its Apple-focused software business continues growth
Jamf Holding Corp. floated on the Nasdaq stock exchange today after raising $468 million in a bigger-than-expected initial public offering that exceeded multiple price targets. Jamf, which provides software products enterprises use to manage employees’ Apple Inc. devices, had originally planned to put its shares up for grabs at $17 to $19 apiece. It increased the ...
Huddl.ai launches from stealth mode to take on Zoom
Collaboration startup Huddl Inc. exited stealth mode today with $8.7 million in funding and an artificial intelligence-infused videoconferencing service that aims to provide an alternative to Zoom. Huddl, which does business as Huddl.ai in a nod to its AI features, is backed by investors including Bain Capital Ventures and Bloomberg Beta. It’s the latest in a series ...
Solo.io pitches unified control layer for application traffic with Gloo Federation
Solo.io Inc. today introduced a new product, Gloo Federation, that allows enterprises to enable central management of how traffic flows to their cloud applications and other backend workloads. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Solo.io is backed by more than $11 million in funding from investors, including Redpoint Ventures. The startup is behind a popular open-source tool called Gloo ...
In antitrust complaint, Slack accuses Microsoft of illegally boosting Teams
Slack Technologies Inc. today filed an antitrust complaint in the European Union accusing Microsoft Corp. of illegally boosting Teams, the software giant’s competing team communications service. The move comes two months after Slack Chief Executive Officer Stewart Butterfield said the technology giant is “unhealthily preoccupied with killing us.” Microsoft Teams is a communications service that has ...
AI takes center stage in Amazon’s latest big update to the Alexa developer toolkit
Amazon.com Inc. today announced a major update to its Alexa voice assistant’s developer toolkit that brings artificial intelligence improvements, as well as features that will give consumers new ways of using the service. The update was unveiled during the company’s virtual Alexa Live event. Since its launch in 2014, Amazon’s voice assistant has shipped with ...
Microsoft’s LinkedIn to lay off 6% of its global workforce
Microsoft Corp.-owned LinkedIn today said that it is laying off about 960 employees, or approximately 6% of its global workforce, amid reduced demand for its recruiting solutions among business customers. Microsoft acquired LinkedIn four years ago in a $26.2 billion deal that propelled it to a key position in the social media landscape. Since the ...