This week, we’re tracking new funds for Boston-area software companies, looming job cuts at the state’s biggest tech company, the latest on the clashes between daily fantasy sports companies and state governments, and more. Read on for details.
—RapidMiner raised $16 million in a round led by Nokia Growth Partners, with participation by previous investors Ascent Venture Partners, Earlybird Venture Capital, Longworth Venture Partners, and Open Ocean Capital. The Cambridge, MA-based analytics software company has now raised about $36 million in total, including a $15 million Series B round announced in February.
RapidMiner could hire 50 people this year, bringing its staff to 150 employees, the Boston Business Journal reported.
—Erecruit, a Boston-based enterprise staffing software company, raised $3.5 million in a possible $5 million funding round, according to an SEC filing.
—EMC provided more details about its previously announced plan to cut jobs as it seeks to slash $850 million in annual costs. In an SEC filing on New Year’s Eve, the Hopkinton, MA-based data storage company said it will eliminate an unspecified number of jobs this year that will result in a $250 million charge, including $220 million in cash payments.
The $850 million cost-cutting plan was revealed in July, three months before Dell announced it would buy EMC for $67 billion.
—An experimental pack mule-like robot developed by Google-owned Boston Dynamics for the U.S. military has reportedly been shelved, in part because of noise concerns, according to a Military.com article. Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert subsequently defended the robot in an interview with BetaBoston.
—Culver City, CA-based NantWorks and its subsidiary NantHealth have acquired Boston-based healthcare technology company NaviNet for an undisclosed price. NaviNet’s software helps healthcare providers and insurers quickly access and share patient billing and health information.
—Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed an opinion stating that she considers daily fantasy sports sites like Boston-based DraftKings and New York-based FanDuel to be illegal gambling operations under state law. The two companies responded with lawsuits in which they seek to continue operating in Illinois, their third-largest market, Fortune reported.
Meanwhile, in a new court filing, New York’s attorney general demanded that DraftKings and FanDuel refund all the money they have collected from users in the state, a sum in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Boston Globe.
