Google quietly acquired AI startup Alter, previously branded as Facemoji, for about $100M, according to TechCrunch. The acquisition was reportedly completed about two months ago but not made public at the time. More: - Alter provides a software development kit for developers to create and place 3D avatars in apps, websites, and games.
- A year ago, the company — then known as Facemoji — announced a $3M seed round that was led by Play Ventures, which also included participation from Twitter, Roosh Ventures, and angel investors.
- Based in the U.S. and the Czech Republic, Alter relies on AI to generate avatars of people, clothing, and accessories, which could integrate into the metaverse and gaming.
- A source informed TechCrunch of the startup's acquisition by Google, saying it would help the tech giant bolster its content and compete with TikTok and others.
- A Google spokesperson has confirmed the deal but declined to provide financial details.
TECHCRUNCH 
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Meta plans to significantly expand its AI capacity and will see AI investments drive nearly all of its capital expenditure growth next year, according to CFO David Wehner. He made the comments during the company's third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday. More: - Wehner said Meta is building more data centers to support its next generation of AI hardware.
- The company believes the investments will give it a technological edge and improve many key initiatives, such as ads, feeds, and Reels, he said.
- "First, we are significantly expanding our AI capacity," Wehner said. "These investments are driving substantially all of our capital expenditure growth in 2023."
Zoom-out: - Q3 marked the second consecutive quarter of declining revenue for Meta. It posted quarterly revenue of $27.71B, down 4% from the $29B it brought in a year earlier.
- The company continues to invest in its Reality Labs AR/VR unit for its larger metaverse ambitions. The unit has so far lost $9.4B in 2022, and Meta expects the unit's operating losses to grow "significantly year-over-year."
- Moving forward, Meta plans to make "significant changes," including slowing down hiring and keeping headcount flat, to operate more efficiently over the next year, Wehner noted.
CFO DIVE
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AI edge chip startup SiMa.ai extended its Series B1 funding round to raise a total of $67M. The company brought in $37M from MSD Partners and other investors, adding to the $30M Series B round it closed in May. SiMa.ai's total capital raised has now reached $187M. More: - The Series B1 round was led by MSD Partners, with participation from Fidelity Management & Research Company, Amplify Partners, Dell Technologies Capital, Wing Venture Capital, and others.
- The previous $30M investment was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company.
- California-based SiMa.ai specializes in edge hardware for machine learning applications. Its ML system-on-chip platform enables customers to integrate AI inference in embedded edge applications in areas like robotics and smart vision.
- The platform is optimized for computer vision applications but can also support other ML workloads like natural language processing.
AIM
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Meta AI and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) have forged a new research collaboration that will see the university launch a joint Ph.D. program with the tech giant. Under the partnership, Meta AI will provide mentors, scholarships, facilities, and computational infrastructure access to doctoral students at the HUJI School of Engineering and Computer Science. More: - The resulting research will have the opportunity to be published in journals for the larger industry and AI community.
- Meta says the mentorship opportunities will help doctoral deepen their knowledge of AI and machine learning.
- Students can gain a further understanding of the real-world impacts of their research, said professor Sara Cohen, dean of the Benin School at HU's Computer Science and Engineering department.
- Students can "test their ideas in Meta's industry-leading AI laboratory," Cohen added.
- The partnership also includes HUJI's technology transfer company, Yissum.
THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
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The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA) has appointed Jeff Farrah, formerly general counsel of the National Venture Capital Association, to be its first executive director. Farrah told Reuters that he believes it's critical to support policies for self-driving vehicles, citing benefits such as curbed vehicles emissions and increased mobility. More: - He also cited the increase in U.S. traffic-related deaths. In the first three months of 2022, more than 9,500 people were killed in accidents, a 7% increase over the same period in 2021.
- Farrah said autonomous vehicles "are never drunk, distracted, or drowsy – driver conditions that cause thousands of crashes."
- Prior to his role at the National Venture Capital Association, Farrah served as counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, advising former Chairman and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and committee members.
- AVIA's members include Argo AI, which is now shutting down operations, along with GM's Cruise, Aurora, Waymo, Ford, Uber, TuSimple, and others.
REUTERS
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M&A Roundup: - IT security and compliance platform Qualys acquired Blue Hexagon's AI/ML technology to integrate into its cloud platform.
- Deloitte US announced its acquisition of Boston-area-based SFL Scientific. The consulting firm is focused on AI strategy and helps companies and agencies design and manage AI systems and explore areas for AI investments.
- AI-powered e-discovery provider Reveal acquired tech services firm Technically Creative, which specializes in governance automation and unification for organizations. Financial terms were not disclosed.
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- Ask-AI, a platform that summarizes long-form text into one or several understandable sentences, raised $9M in seed funding led by Vertex Ventures and State of Mind Ventures.
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 |  | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
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