Tech update featuring DataRobot, LinkedIn and Sensetime

Reports of DataRobot raising $200 million for AI software development
Data science company DataRobot is rumored to be in talks to raise nearly $200 million. The investment is expected to be used to develop its artificial intelligence (AI) software and automated machine learning (ML).

Facebook is helping to map roads with deep learning and AI-focused tools
Social media giant, Facebook has been working towards creating computer and AI systems to assist road mapping around the world. Most maps are created for developed road and not necessarily for unpaved paths or gravel. Google Maps and Apple have done well in providing road maps and navigation of bigger cities.
Facebook is going a step ahead to facilitate the less travelled upon roads in association with OpenStreetMap. For instance, Facebook has mapped over 300,000 miles in Thailand, in turn creating RapiD, a machine learning enhanced labelling tool that boosts computer-readable roads onto satellite images. RapiD is an open-source extension of the web-based iD map editor that allows human reviewers to work on the maps.

LinkedIn moving to Microsoft Azure, switching away from its own datacenters
LinkedIn will make the big shift to Microsoft Azure over several Years via ZDNet. The workcentered social media network has until now used its own servers following its acquisition by Microsoft in 2016, but a recent LinkedIn Engineering blog has stated that LinkedIn has plans to move over to Azure. The massive amount of data on LinkedIn that has run for about seven years on its own cloud will now take several to process the migration.

IBM expands its storage management software to support competitor products
IBM has plans to expand its Spectrum Discover metadata management software to support competitive storage products. Spectrum Discover is a metadata management software that provides data insight for petabyte-scale unstructured storage. It was designed for IBM Cloud to rapidly ingest, consolidate and index metadata for billions of files and objects.
Its metadata layer facilitates efficient managing, classifying and gaining insights from amounts of unstructured data while helping to mitigate risk and boost large scale analytics. IBM has also added new content-based data classification and tagging capabilities that can extract metadata from multiple varied file types.

SAS fulfills pledge to support HBCUs with free software and partnerships
Software suite, SAS has pledged to back HBCU’s with free software and partnerships. From pre-K expansion and early literacy, to free analytics software training, SAS is reaching out to most youngsters. SAS has joined forces with American Statistical Association (ASA) Committee on Minorities in Statistics to increase diversity in the field of statistics.
SAS also attends local and national events to recruit HBCU students where more than 400 HBCU students network with potential employers. From pre-K to adult learners, SAS education programs create stronger basics and brighter futures for all learners. It has also been instrumental in creating many initiatives and partnerships to represent women, veterans and people with disabilities in analytics fields.

Facebook readies WhatsApp Pay for Indian launch
Mobile messaging application, WhatsApp is soon going to roll out its P2P payments systems first in India before releasing it to its 1.5 billion users globally. The Facebook-owned messaging app has been testing the system in India for the last year. WhatsApp Pay is solely being rolled out to make transferring cash as easy as sending a message. According to Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg, in the payments industry sending money should be as easy as sending a photo.

Finastra sells cloud-based core model to regional startup revverbank
Manchester-based new bank Revverbank has chosen Fusion Essence in the cloud to power its end-to-end core banking capabilities. The bank aims to provide financial and business services to regional SMEs and differentiating itself from the London-centric big banks focusing on the cause of regional economic development. It will function under an on-demand software model, enabling low cost of entry and the ability to scale up with the business.

Sensetime to open Middle Eastern R&D center
AI unicorn Sensetime will set up a research center in the United Arab Emirates with plans to hire hundreds of employees with a focus on AI in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). With this research center, the company will mark the beginning of its expansion in the Middle east. This center will develop AI for industries including healthcare, remote sensing and education, it also aims to reach out to regional industries and governments using AI. The company is present in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. Its focus is image recognition technology.

SA fintech Akiba Digital launches savings app for SA millennials
Software company, Akiba Digital has plans to launch savings app for South African millennials who struggle to meet their financial goals and have a lack of knowledge to make financial decisions. It is working towards becoming a data-driven personalised financial marketplace, offering two digital solutions. The first solution is a gamified savings tool (mobile app) enabling users to save towards their lifestyle goals and get rewarded for it.
The second solution will be a web-based financial literacy platform with existing content created by financial providers. This platform will offer fun-financial curated content that is personalised to the consumers money personality along with a rewards programme as an incentive for the users.

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