More AI funding: London-based LoopMe has raised $17 million for AI-driven ad placement, attribution and optimization. The new round brings total funding to $32 million and will fund expansion in the U.S. market.
CDP vendor Zylotech announced a $5.5 million funding round. Zylotech adds automated predictive analytics to its core CDP database. This the first publicly-announced funding for Zylotech, which began as a MIT student project in 2013.
Let’s go in a different direction: this New York Times report that Internet-connected thermometer start-up Kinsa sold customer data to Clorox, which used it to target disinfectant advertising at areas with high fever rates. The data was aggregated to the Zip code level, so it’s hard to see this as a privacy violation. But it’s easy to see it as anti-tech sensationalism.
The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that could potentially ban TikTok in the U.S. if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell its holdings within a year. The bill now goes to the President Biden, who has said he will sign it. Court challenges are likely to follow.