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
- The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced a new research and development funding opportunity aimed at developing the first FDA-authorized, agentic artificial intelligence technology that can provide 24/7 specialty care for the deadliest chronic disease in the United States
- IBM announced IBM Sovereign Core, an AI-ready sovereign-enabled software for enterprises, governments and service providers to build, deploy and manage AI-ready sovereign environments
- NBC Sports introduced an AI-powered player tracking system that lets viewers on mobile devices zoom in and focus on their favorite athletes by using viztrick AiDi technology, which uses facial recognition to identify and track the movements of individual players
- F5, a multi-cloud application services and security company, announced general availability of F5 AI Guardrails and F5 AI Red Team, two solutions that secure mission-critical enterprise AI systems
- Google introduced TranslateGemma, a new collection of open translation models built on Gemma 3, helping people communicate across 55 languages, no matter where they are or what device they own
- Apple and Google partnered on multi-year collaboration under which the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology
- Howard University and Bowie State University partnered on ASCEND-AI (Advancing Student and Collaborative Educator Networks for Digital AI Integration), an initiative aimed at preparing students and faculty to work responsibly with artificial intelligence
- Thermo Fisher Scientific partnered with NVIDIA to power AI-based solutions and laboratory automation at scale, leveraging the NVIDIA Artificial Intelligence platform and Thermo Fisher Scientific solutions to progressively increase the automation, accuracy and speed of laboratories
- The New Jersey state government, the New Jersey AI Hub, Rutgers University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Stevens Institute of Technology, and NJ Council of County Colleges partnered with NVIDIA to create an AI development hub
- Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm, partnered with Bain Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures, ICONIQ, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, and NEA to drive AI innovation opportunities for clients as part of its Venture Ecosystem to connect startups with corporate leaders seeking to explore disruptive technology
- Five9, a cloud-based call center software company, expanded its partnership with Google Cloud and launched a new joint Enterprise CX AI solution that helps large enterprises connect with their customers so they can deliver seamless, intelligent, and AI-driven customer experiences
- SAP SE and Syngenta, an agriculture company providing products and solutions to help farmers achieve global food security for a growing population, partnered to accelerate AI-assisted innovation across Syngenta’s global operations.
Strategic and AI Startup Collaborations
- AZIO AI, an artificial intelligence infrastructure platform, partnered with Envirotech Vehicles, a company focused on innovative approaches to power utilization, modular infrastructure, and next-generation deployment models across energy-adjacent sectors, for a joint immersion-cooled energy infrastructure pilot
- Symbolic.ai, a native AI platform built specifically for professional communicators in news, corporate communications, and public relations, partnered with News Corp to begin using the company’s AI-native publisher platform in its newsrooms to augment research, writing and publishing
- Bunkerhill Health, which helps health systems use generative AI to understand each patient’s full clinical context, partnered with the University of Texas Medical Branch to deploy its Carebricks platform, enabling UTMB clinicians and operators to design AI agents around their own clinical judgment and operational priorities
- Moonshot Energy, a manufacturer of critical electrical and modular infrastructure for AI, and QumulusAI, a provider of inference-optimized GPU-as-a-Service, partnered with Connected Nation Internet Exchange Points, a developer of neutral, physical real estate to facilitate low-latency network interconnection in unserved and underserved markets
- OFA Group, a company focused on advancing digital transformation in the architecture, engineering, and construction sector, announced the deployment of QikBIM, its AI-powered platform for automated Building Information Modeling production
- Sabre Corporation, a provider of enterprise SaaS solutions for travel, and BizTrip AI, an agentic AI travel platform, partnered to develop and bring to market a suite of AI-powered corporate travel assistants that utilize natural language processing to handle booking workflows, real-time itinerary management, and intelligent policy automation
- Rilla, an AI-powered platform for field team performance, partnered with The Home Depot, which will use Rilla’s AI tools to enable The Home Depot’s service and sales professionals across the country to coach and develop their teams more effectively by identifying patterns in communication and service delivery
- ScreenPoint Medical, a developer of Deep Learning and image analysis technology for automated reading of mammograms, partnered with Ferrum Health,, a clinical AI Governance Suite purpose-built for health systems to move from fragmented, one-off AI deployments to a governed enterprise intelligence program, to deploy the its Transpara Breast AI Suite on Ferrum Health’s Model Hub
- Curately.ai, an AI-powered recruiting platform built for staffing firms and enterprise talent acquisition teams, partnered with LaborEdge, a healthcare staffing technology company, to bring recruiting automation to healthcare staffing agencies using LaborEdge’s NexusATS platform
- Clutch, a consulting firm specializing in human-centered modernization, partnered with Google Public Sector to help California state and local government entities responsibly adopt advanced AI capabilities across their operations
- Rapid Ai4 Learning, a company with a mission to elevate AI literacy, competency, and fluency across education and learning sectors, partnered with Nexx AI, a provider of AI consulting, implementation, and ongoing support services, and Bells Institute of Higher Learning, giving Rapid Ai4 Learning access to in demand industry aligned AI courses to suit all levels of learners
AI Startup Acquisitions
- Cloudflare acquired Human Native, an AI data marketplace that connects creators and AI developers
- Teamworks, a platform for data-driven talent acquisition, operations, and performance development, acquired Sportlogiq, a provider of AI-powered hockey analytics
- Phenom, a provider of applied AI that helps organizations hire faster, develop better, and retain longer, acquired Included, an AI-native agentic people analytics platform
- Pavonis Group, a provider of commercial real estate technology integration, acquired CRE Marketing Hub, an AI platform designed specifically for the commercial real estate industry
- Jewelers Mutual Group acquired EventGuard, an AI-powered insurance technology solution for event and wedding coverage
- Filevine, a provider of AI-powered legal practice management services, acquired Pincites, an AI-powered drafting and contract redlining tool built for Microsoft Word
- ClickHouse, an open-source real-time analytics database, acquired Langfuse, an open-source platform focused on large language model observability
- Usercentrics, a provider of privacy-led marketing solutions, acquired MCP Manager, a governance platform for the Model Context Protocol, built by a team with deep expertise in AI infrastructure
- JWX, a company that empowers media businesses to connect their content with consumers across every platform, acquired Aug X Labs, the startup behind Augie Studio, an all-in-one AI-assisted commercial video studio
- GlobalFoundries, a manufacturer of semiconductors, acquired Synopsys’ ARC Processor IP Solutions business, including its teams of engineers and designers, to accelerate its physical AI roadmap and strengthen its capabilities in custom silicon solution
- Diligent, a provider of AI-based governance, risk, and compliance SaaS solutions, acquired 3rdRisk, an AI-native third-party risk management platform
- Infoblox, a provider of hybrid, multi-cloud networking and preemptive security, acquired Axur, a provider of AI-powered security solutions
- ProductPlan, an enterprise and mid-market software platform for product lifecycle management, acquired Winware.ai, an AI-native customer and market research platform
- Information Services Group, a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm, acquired the AI Maturity Index, a SaaS platform that allows organizations to assess the AI readiness of their workforces and improve their employees’ ability to leverage AI technology
- Affinity Group, a sales and marketing agency, acquired Mascari NXT, an AI and data integration company
AI Outtakes
- According to Google’s AI model, next year is not going to be 2027. “No, 2027 is not next year; 2027 is two years away from the current year (2026),” it explains, “meaning next year is 2028, and the year after that is 2027, which is a common year starting on a Friday.” In another instance, Google’s AI says it’s currently 2025. Reddit posts flagging this issue show that the AI Overview has been giving the wrong answer for well over a week. Google’s AI isn’t the only ones having this problem, though, as OpenAI’s ChatGPT also struggles when asked if 2027 is next year, though ChatGPT does quickly catch the mistake
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.
