Jul 3, 2018

Silicon Valley company raises $250 million to automate "mundane" jobs

Dan Primack

Automation Anywhere, a 15 year-old robotic process automation company, raised $250 million in Series A funding at a $1.8 billion post-money valuation.

Why it's a big deal: Because the San Jose, Calif.-based company is a test case for the labor force replacement debate, with an outsourced, cognitive bot army that helps global enterprises automate rote tasks like processing insurance claims and mortgage applications.

Per Bernadette Tansey, Xconomy:

"Part of Automation Anywhere’s mission, CEO Mihir Shukla says, is also to use the power of automation to 'remove the mundane from everybody’s life,' allowing human workers to focus on higher-order tasks. From his own observations, he says, the transformation doesn’t shrink the human workforce at client companies. Such companies attract more applicants, Shukla says, because they move fast and create more jobs."

NEA and Goldman Sachs co-led the round, and were joined by General Atlantic and World Innovation Lab.

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  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 1 p.m. ET: 691,867 — Total deaths: 32,988 — Total recoveries: 146,613.
  2. U.S.: Leads the world in cases. Total confirmed cases as of 1 p.m. ET: 125,433 — Total deaths: 2,201 — Total recoveries: 2,612.
  3. Federal government latest: The first federal prisoner to die from coronavirus was reported from a correctional facility in Louisiana on Sunday.
  4. Public health updates: Fauci says 100,000 to 200,000 Americans could die from virus.
  5. State updates: Louisiana governor says state is on track to exceed ventilator capacity by end of this week — Cuomo says Trump's mandatory quarantine comments "really panicked" people
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Keep ReadingArrowUpdated 42 mins ago - Politics & Policy
Jacob Knutson

Cuomo: Trump's mandatory quarantine comments "really panicked people"

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a press conference Sunday that President Donald Trump's unexpected Saturday announcement of a possible "short-term" quarantine of New York, New Jersey and parts of Connecticut to curb the spread of the coronavirus "really panicked people."

Why it matters: Though Trump ruled out the mandatory quarantine later that day, Cuomo said people still called "all night long" asking about the comments and many likely fled the New York area — possibly spreading the virus further.

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Rebecca Falconer, Orion Rummler, Marisa Fernandez

U.S. coronavirus updates: Fauci suggests death toll could top 100,000

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on CNN Sunday that models suggest COVID-19 will infect millions of Americans and could kill 100,000–200,000, though he stressed that the projections are "such a moving target."

The big picture: With more than 121,000 people infected, the U.S. has the most COVID-19 cases in the world, exceeding China and Italy, per data from Johns Hopkins. A second wave of American cities, including Boston, Detroit, New Orleans and Philadelphia, reported influxes of cases on Saturday.

Go deeperArrowUpdated 2 hours ago - Health