Bay Area Tech Wire - Sept. 6

[Bay Area Tech Wire]

	========================= BAY AREA TECH WIRE -- Sept. 6 ========================= To subscribe: https://bayareatechwire.com  o NY Attorney General To Lead Antitrust Investigation into Facebook o WSJ Report: Two Buyout Firms Make Bid for Symantec’s Consumer Division o SF-Based Grove Collaborative Raises $150 Million in Financing o Cisco Completes Acquisition of Mountain View-Based Voicea o Virginia Tech Launches University-Wide "Tech for Humanity" Initiative o Briefly Noted: Guidewire Software __________________________ Want to post an ad? Click Here. __________________________ o NY Attorney General To Lead Antitrust Investigation into Facebook New York -- New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Friday that her office will lead a coalition of attorneys general looking into possible antitrust violations by Facebook. “We will use every investigative tool at our disposal to determine whether Facebook’s actions may have endangered consumer data, reduced the quality of consumers’ choices, or increased the price of advertising,” said James in a statement announcing the coalition. Joining New York are the attorneys general of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia. The investigation will focus on Facebook’s market dominance and potential anticompetitive conduct stemming from that dominance. https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/ag-james-investigating-facebook-possible-antitrust-violations __________________________ o WSJ Report: Two Buyout Firms Make Bid for Symantec’s Consumer Division Mountain View, Calif. -- Following last month’s blockbuster deal for Mountain View-based Symantec to sell its enterprise operations to Broadcom, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that two private equity firms have offered to buy the consumer division of Symantec. The company’s stock jumped 4.5% on the news on Friday. The Wall Street Journal reported that the buyout firms are Permira and Advent International. Their proposed deal would value Symantec at $26 to $27 a share, according to the story. The offer would only involve the cybersecurity firm’s consumer operations, leaving its enterprise business to still be acquired by Broadcom. Symantec agreed in August to sell its enterprise business to Broadcom for $10.7 million. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/06/symantec-symc-pops-on-private-equity-buyout-report.html https://www.wsj.com/articles/buyout-firms-permira-advent-seek-to-acquire-symantec-11567794962 __________________________ o SF-Based Grove Collaborative Raises $150 Million in Financing San Francisco -- Grove Collaborative, the San Francisco-based consumer goods company focused on environmental health, announced on Friday that it has raised $150 million in Series D financing. The company has now raised more than $250 million and has a valuation above $1 billion. The funding was co-led by Lone Pine Capital, General Atlantic, and Glynn Capital with participation from Greenspring Associates as well as from existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, NextView Ventures, MHS Capital, and Heron Rock Capital. “We believe in a world in which sustainability is scalable and that, rather than simply reducing waste, we can use consumer products as vehicles for widespread, long-lasting, positive human and environmental impact,” said Stuart Landesberg, co-founder and CEO. https://www.grove.co/ https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190906005041/en/Grove-Collaborative-Announces-150-Million-Series-Fundraise __________________________ o Cisco Completes Acquisition of Mountain View-based Voicea San Jose, Calif -- Cisco said on Friday that it has completed its acquisition of Mountain View-based Voicea, a privately held company that develops software using AI for meetings. Voicea provides meeting transcription, voice search, and meeting highlights. “With Voicea technology, Cisco will enhance its Webex portfolio of products with a powerful transcription service that blends AI and Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) to unlock the power of any collaboration, like meetings and calls,” Cisco said in a statement. Financial terms of the deal were not released. https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=2016299 https://www.voicea.com/ __________________________  o Virginia Tech Launches University-Wide "Tech for Humanity" Initiative Blacksburg, Va. -- Acknowledging technology's increasing impact on areas such as ethics, policy, culture and politics, Virginia Tech said it has launched a new university-wide initiative that aims to explore the widening gap between what's technologically possible and whether that's in the best interest of society. The initiative, called Tech for Humanity, will produce research and convene thought leaders and decision-makers on critical issues, with the goal of helping students prepare to lead societies increasingly shaped by innovation. “Failures to address the pitfalls of technologies have already created tremendous problems, some of which threaten to undermine privacy and democracy,” said Sylvester Johnson, Virginia Tech’s assistant vice provost for the humanities, who will serve as executive director of the initiative. “Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, human-machine interfaces and synthetic biology are increasingly showing that technology isn’t only technical; it’s also social, cultural, political and economic." The university said Tech for Humanity will touch each of its nine colleges, as well as a range of centers and institutes across its campuses in Blacksburg, Roanoke and Northern Virginia. https://www.provost.vt.edu/destination_areas/tech-for-humanity.html __________________________  o Briefly Noted:  (San Mateo, Calif) Guidewire Software, the San Mateo-based provider of software for the insurance industry, announced that it has appointed Margaret Dillon, Michael Keller, and Catherine Lego to its Board of Directors. The company also announced that Guy Dubois and Peter Gassner will retire from the board.  https://www.guidewire.com/about-us/news-and-events/press-releases/20190905/guidewire-appoints-margie-dillon-mike-keller-and                                        ============== Job/Event/Services Listings:  ============== To Post in Job/Event/Marketplace: http://www.bayareatechwire.com  7,000 Readers: 5 day ad: $120--10 day ad: $175--20 day ad: $300                      > Advertising on Bay Area Tech Wire Post jobs, events, webinars, white papers or service ads on Bay Area Tech Wire and grow your business. Reach more than 7,000 business and technology professionals from the Bay Area. http://www.bayareatechwire.com/ =================== Subscribe to other newsletters from Tech Wire Media Group: Potomac Tech Wire: http://www.potomactechwire.com  Bay Area Tech Wire: http://www.bayareatechwire.com Advertising: If you are interested in advertising in our newsletters, call  Paul Sherman at 1-301-656-0057 or send email to pa...@techwiremedia.com   News tips, press releases. Send email to: edit...@bayareatechwire.com  Tech Wire Mailing Address: P.O. Box 15180 Washington, DC 20003 Copyright 2019

 

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