Advsr AI Spotlight
Highlighting notable AI moves at the intersection of strategic operating companies and emerging startups. Big ideas in the works.
Strategic Deployments of AI
- Maryland Governor Wes Moore partnered with Anthropic, an AI safety and research company, and Percepta, which uses proprietary AI technology to analyze existing security camera feeds, and alerts employees of shoplifting incidents, to harness artificial intelligence in tackling child poverty, expanding housing access, and modernizing Maryland’s government
- Anthropic partnered with the Government of Rwanda and African tech training provider ALX to bring Chidi—a learning companion built on Claude—to hundreds of thousands of learners across Africa
- Rackspace Technology, an end-to-end hybrid cloud and AI solutions company, announced Rackspace AI launchpad, a secure managed service designed to enable organizations to evaluate, pilot and deploy AI workloads
- ZTE Corporation, in partnership with China Mobile Group Research Institute, implemented the AI Agent-driven 5G personalized experience solution — dubbed the “User-Centric Intelligent Network Service Solution” — at China Mobile Anhui
- GAC Group and Alibaba Cloud expanded their partnership into full-stack AI, combining GAC Group’s manufacturing expertise with Alibaba Cloud’s capabilities in cloud computing and AI to build digital infrastructure for the auto sector and accelerate real-world deployment of AI across vehicle development, production, and user scenarios
- Amazon announced a number of new AI-powered solutions including the Amazon Business Assistant to help organizations discover savings, automate routine tasks, and make spending easier and more efficient, and Savings Insights, a new Amazon Business Analytics feature that reduces time spent uncovering buying trends and discovering savings
- Tesla, Volvo and Mercedes-Benz were selected as the first foreign carmakers approved to deploy artificial intelligence chatbots in their vehicles in China, marking a potential acceleration of Beijing’s vetting process for AI services
- Purdue University and Google partnered to accelerate AI research while preparing the next generation of students to tackle society’s most pressing challenges
- Land O’Lakes and Microsoft expanded their partnership to focus on co-developing AI-powered tools including a digital assistant called “Oz” to help farmers make informed decisions that aim to optimize operations, maximize yield potentials and mitigate risk
- Credem, an Italian banking groups, and Google Cloud expanded their partnership to provide the bank’s employees with Google Workspace with Gemini, integrating generative AI into daily productivity tools
- Palantir and FTAI Aviation, a provider of aircraft engine maintenance, partnered to allow FTAI to leverage Palantir’s Artificial Intelligence Platform across FTAI’s global maintenance footprint
- Miles College partnered with NVIDIA to weave artificial intelligence into every corner of campus life—from classroom instruction and faculty research to local community engagement
- General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics, expanded its partnership with Google Public Sector to bring secure AI and cloud solutions to the tactical edge for defense and intelligence agencies, and modernizing citizen services for civilian agencies
- ABB expanded its partnership with Applied Digital, a builder and operator of high-performance data centers, to supply power infrastructure for the company’s second AI Factory campus in North Dakota
- Georgia State University partnered with Google to establish The AI Innovation Lab, designed to expand access to computer science and AI education for more students in the local community
- The Harvey Law School Program, which partners with top law schools to embed generative AI in legal education and professional training, expanded to the United Kingdom through partnerships with Oxford University Faculty of Law, The University of Law, The Dickson Poon School of Law at King’s College London and BPP University Law School
Strategic and AI Startup Collaborations
- Prime Data Centers, a developer and operator of hyperscale and purpose-built data centers, partnered with AI cloud startup Lambda to deploy high-density NVIDIA AI infrastructure optimized for large-scale AI training and inference at Prime’s flagship LAX01 AI-ready data center campus in Vernon, California
- AlphaTON Capital Corp., a digital asset company focused on growing the Telegram ecosystem, partnered with SingularityNET, a decentralized AI platform enabling anyone to create, share, and monetize AI services at scale; CUDO Compute, a GPU infrastructure provider and an official NVIDIA Cloud Partner; and Vertical Data, which delivers full-stack AI for enterprises, to accelerate the development and deployment of Telegram’s Cocoon AI network
- VAST Data, an AI Operating System company, expanded its partnership with Google Cloud, the first fully managed service for the VAST AI Operating System, enabling customers to deploy the AI OS and extend a unified global namespace across hybrid environments
- Philippine Veterans Bank partnered with Clari5, a financial crime management platform that was developed to protect banks against fraud and money laundering, to deploy its AI-powered enterprise fraud and risk management solution
- RapidAI, developer of Deep Clinical AI and intelligent imaging and workflow integration, partnered with Saudi Health Holdings Company, and will serve as HHC’s enterprise provider of deep clinical AI across its 20 health clusters network of hospitals and clinics
- Columbia University Athletics partnered with Cache AI, a company involved in athlete analytics and Name, Image, and Likeness technology to launch with a pilot program involving the Columbia men’s and women’s basketball teams, leveraging Cache AI’s artificial intelligence platform to help student-athletes understand, measure and maximize their personal brand value
- Cassava Technologies, an information technology company, partnered with Google to expand access to Google’s AI, Gemini, across the African continent
- USLAW NETWORK, a law firm that offers white-collar defense, business transactions, and legal services partnered with Legaltech Hub, a global insights & analysis platform dedicated to connecting the legal industry with the world of technology and artificial intelligence
- IFS Nexus Black and Anthropic partnered to accelerate and scale the impact of AI in the world’s most critical industries, with IFS launching Resolve as the first of many new IFS solutions that puts industry-specific AI directly into the hands of frontline workers to transform work and rapidly deliver value
- Storyblok, a content management system that specializes in the management of content experiences, and OtterlyAI, an AI Search monitoring and optimization platform, partnered, integrating content management with AI search monitoring capabilities
- INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, a brain-computer interface therapeutics company developing graphene-based neural technologies, partnered with Microsoft to explore the use of agentic AI powered by Microsoft’s cloud and data infrastructure to advance real-time precision neurology and next-generation brain-computer interface therapeutics
- Global technology and IT services provider FPT and E.ON Optimum, a digital solutions arm of E.ON UK, under E.ON Group, extended their partnership to drive AI-powered energy management innovation
- Liquid AI partnered with Shopify to license and deploy Liquid AI’s flagship Liquid Foundation Models across quality‑sensitive workflows on Shopify’s platform, including search and other multimodal use cases where quality and latency matter
- Circuitry.ai, an AI-native provider in service and warranty decision intelligence, and Service Xcelerator, an AI-powered software company that automates claims, improves accuracy in dispatch, and provides real-time customer insights, partnered to deliver a service and warranty platform for Consumer product manufacturers, OEMs, and TPAs
- Moneyball.ai, developer of an AI-Investment Banker, and Regiment Securities, a boutique investment bank based in Chicago, partnered to bring AI to the investment banking industry
- Team Velocity, which provides the automotive industry with technology that automates the car-buying and ownership processes, and VINCUE, a Vehicle Lifecycle Management company, partnered to co-develop a solution designed to automate the vehicle trade cycle
AI Startup Acquisitions
- Cloudflare acquired Replicate, an AI platform that makes it easy for developers to deploy and run AI models
- Salesforce acquired Doti, an agentic enterprise search company
- Cognizant acquired 3Cloud, an independent Microsoft Azure services provider and a provider of Azure-dedicated AI enablement solutions
- BigBear.ai acquired Ask Sage, a generative artificial intelligence platform designed for secure deployment of AI models and agentic systems across defense, national security and other highly regulated sectors
- Emergence, an enterprise backed by The Pritzker Organization, acquired MedEvolve, a developer of AI-powered revenue cycle automation and analytics
- Rumble, an online video platform, web hosting, and cloud services business, acquired Northern Data AG, a provider of AI and high-performance-computing infrastructure
- DataCamp, an online learning platform for data and AI skill building, acquired Optima, an AI-native learning platform for building data and AI skills
- Veritas Capital, an investor at the intersection of technology and government, acquired MetroStar Systems, an AI-enabled digital transformation services and software provider serving the U.S. Defense and National Security communities
- Cisco acquired NeuralFabric, a startup that makes back-end software for companies to build and run their own generative AI models
- FutureProof Technologies, an insurtech company providing AI-driven underwriting, acquired Terrafuse AI, a provider of wildfire risk analytics
- ClickUp, a Converged AI Workspace, acquired Qatalog, an AI-powered work hub with enterprise search and AI agents
- BigPanda, a provider of Agentic IT Operations, acquired Velocity, an AI-powered SRE company with deep expertise with SRE and major incident response teams
- RadNet, a provider of diagnostic imaging services and digital health solutions, acquired CIMAR UK, a provider of cloud-native healthcare image management solutions
- Zoom acquired BrightHire, an AI-powered hiring intelligence platform
- Wolters Kluwer, a provider of information, software solutions and services for professionals in healthcare; tax and accounting; financial and corporate compliance; legal and regulatory; corporate performance and ESG acquired Libra Technology GmbH, a provider of AI technology for legal professionals
- QAD, a company transforming manufacturing and supply chains with intelligent, adaptive solutions, acquired Kavida Technologies, a provider of agentic AI for industrial companies
- Snowflake acquired the technology powering the software migration solution from Datometry, a database virtualization technology that makes databases interchangeable by translating apps & results in real-time
- Cisco acquired EzDubs, a provider of real-time, AI-driven speech-to-speech translation
- YOOBIC, an AI-powered retail operations platform, acquired Humanitics, a provider of AI-driven retail analytics
- Kaltura, an AI Video Experience Cloud, acquired eSelf.ai, a multimodal AI lab developing technology for agentic interactions with live avatars
- Intellect, a provider of AI-powered Quality Management System software, acquired Zaptic, a Connected Frontline Worker platform that empowers manufacturing and operations teams through AI-enabled workflows
AI Outtakes
- Russia’s first humanoid robot with artificial intelligence fell on stage during its official debut at a technology event in Moscow, prompting staff to cover the machine from public view while attempting to fix the malfunction. The robot, named AIdol, was introduced by developers as an advanced example of anthropomorphic robotics built largely from domestic components. As the robot was being led on stage by two staff members to the soundtrack from the film Rocky, and looking a little more like Drago, it lost balance and fell, leaving several pieces behind on the stage.
Disclaimer: This information is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute any form of endorsement, recommendation, or advice. Links to third party websites are provided for reference and convenience purposes. This information has not been independently verified.
