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SpecterOps, a security startup selling technology to secure Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD) and Azure AD deployments, has raised an unusually large $75 million Series B funding round to accelerate the growth of its BloodHound Enterprise platform.  The company said the investment was led by Insight Partners. Venture capital outfits Ansa Capital, M12, Ballistic Ventures, Decibel and Cisco Investments also took equity positions. SpecterOps has now attracted $108 million in venture capital funding. The company said the new capital comes amidst rapid adoption of its flagship BloodHound Enterprise platform, with SpecterOps reporting 100% annual recurring revenue (ARR) growth in 2024 and…

Quantexa, a global provider of AI-driven decision intelligence solutions, has successfully closed a $175m Series F funding round.The funding round was led by Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG), part of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, with ongoing support from existing investors such as British Patient Capital.Other backers in Quantexa include Warburg Pincus, Dawn Capital, BNY, Evolution Equity Partners, AlbionVC, and HSBC.The fresh investment values the London-based company at $2.6bn.Founded in 2016, Quantexa specialises in decision intelligence technology, which helps both public and private sector organisations make data-driven operational decisions with greater confidence. Its platform applies advanced AI to connect, unify, and…

Anthropic has quietly removed from its website several voluntary commitments the company made in conjunction with the Biden administration in 2023 to promote safe and “trustworthy” AI. The commitments, which included pledges to share information on managing AI risks across industry and government and research on AI bias and discrimination, were deleted from Anthropic’s transparency hub last week, according to AI watchdog group The Midas Project. Other Biden-era commitments relating to reducing AI-generated image-based sexual abuse remain. Anthropic appears to have given no notice of the change. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Anthropic, along with…

Grain, a FinTech company focused on optimising foreign exchange (FX) for cross-border transactions, has secured over $50m in new funding to advance its AI-powered platform.The funding includes a $33m Series A round led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from Aleph, Vessey Ventures and Hanaco Ventures. This follows an earlier $18m seed round, bringing Grain’s total funding to date above $50m.Grain specialises in providing embedded FX solutions for B2B platforms, marketplaces, and payment providers. Its technology is designed to mitigate currency risk in real time while helping businesses dynamically price transactions at the point of sale. By integrating directly into…

CoverForce, an InsurTech platform focused on enhancing infrastructure and connectivity within the commercial insurance sector, has raised $13m in a Series A funding round.The funding round was led by Insight Partners, a global software investor, with additional participation from Nyca Partners.Founded by Cyrus Karai, Behram Dinshaw, and Kaivan Wadia, CoverForce operates a marketplace that facilitates seamless digital interactions between insurance carriers, agencies, and wholesalers. The platform serves as a central hub for quote-and-bind API connections, enabling brokers, wholesalers and agencies to access instant quotes and bind policies with a single click.CoverForce plans to use the new capital to expand its…

Microsoft threat hunters warned Wednesday of a significant shift in tactics by Silk Typhoon, a Chinese government espionage group linked to recent US Treasury hacks. The group is now targeting companies in the global IT supply chain, including IT services, remote monitoring and management firms and managed service providers. Instead of going after high-profile cloud services, Microsoft said it caught the threat actor using stolen API keys and compromised credentials to breach a range of companies in the IT supply chain to extend their reach to downstream customer environments.  According to documentation from Redmond’s threat intelligence team, the Chinese government-backed…

Just a few years ago, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) had a spike in hype and many investors and firms started to explore opportunities in the space. However, sentiment might be changing, particularly as new governments show scepticism towards the space. How will this impact the future of the sector in 2025?Despite all regions potentially benefiting from a strong ESG space, the next few years might see just a selection of countries becoming bastions of the sector. Tamara Kostova, CEO at Velexa, explained, “The future of ESG investing is becoming increasingly region-specific.“In the U.S., political resistance and regulatory pushback are leading…

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from drastically cutting medical research funding that many scientists say will endanger patients and cost jobs.The new National Institutes of Health policy would strip research groups of hundreds of millions of dollars to cover so-called indirect expenses of studying Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease and a host of other illnesses — anything from clinical trials of new treatments to basic lab research that is the foundation for discoveries.Separate lawsuits filed by a group of 22 states plus organizations representing universities, hospitals and research institutions nationwide sued to stop the cuts, saying they…

Two trailblazing computer scientists have won the 2024 Turing Award for their work in reinforcement learning, a discipline in which machines learn through a reward-based trial-and-error approach that lets them adapt within constrained or dynamic environments. Andrew G. Barto, a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; and Richard S. Sutton, a professor at the University of Alberta, developed key algorithms and theories through a seminal series of papers starting in the 1980s. This includes work on a reinforcement technique called temporal difference learning; the duo later published an academic textbook called “Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction.” Esteemed mathematician Alan…

On Wednesday, Google announced the launch of a new AI image feature for its Shopping tab, designed to help users find clothing items they envision by allowing them to search using their own words. The company is also expanding its AR beauty and virtual try-on tools. The new feature, “Vision Match,” is now available in the search experience on mobile for U.S. users. It lets shoppers describe a garment they’re imagining, and then the AI suggests ideas based on the description, along with the best available matches that users can purchase. To try this feature, type an idea into the…