[Corrected 1/26/18, 2:18 pm. See below.] Here are some of the latest technology industry headlines from the Boston area and across New England:
—Cybereason plans to hire 300 people over the next two to three years, bringing the Boston-based cybersecurity company’s total number of employees to about 700, according to a spokesman. Cybereason—which also has offices in Israel, Australia, Japan, and the U.K.—raised a $100 million Series D funding round in June. [An earlier version of this paragraph misstated the hiring time frame, based on a report from Calcalist. We regret the error.]
—Freight Farms announced it acquired Cabbige, combining two Boston-based agricultural technology companies. Freight Farms sells shipping containers filled with hydroponic farming systems that can grow lettuces, herbs, and other greens. It also developed software, called Farmhand, that integrates with sensors and other hardware inside the container farms, enabling growers to monitor and control environmental settings, track production, and place orders for more supplies. Freight Farms will now expand Farmhand’s capabilities by integrating Cabbige’s software tools for managing inventory, pricing crops, and analyzing business data, according to a press release.
The purchase price wasn’t disclosed. Cabbige’s three employees will not be joining Freight Farms, but CEO Jessica Angell will advise Freight Farms as it integrates her company’s technology into its products, according to a company statement e-mailed to Xconomy.
—In other Boston agtech news, American Robotics raised $2 million from investors, according to an SEC filing. The startup is developing automated drone systems for monitoring crops. It secured $1.1 million in seed funding in May.
—Venture Hall, a startup accelerator in Portland, ME, has shut down after the resignation of its co-founder and president, Jess Knox, who reportedly admitted in an e-mail to the Portland Press Herald that he had behaved inappropriately toward two female colleagues. A $475,000 grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to the Portland accelerator has been cancelled as a result of its closure, and an entrepreneurship program led by the Maine Technology Institute said it will no longer work with Knox or his consulting business, Olympico Strategies, the Press Herald reported.
—Nuance Communications CEO Paul Ricci will retire by the end of March, the Burlington, MA-based speech and interface technology company said in a press release. The company said it expects to announce its next chief executive by March 31.
