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Google and its flagship search portal opened the door to the possibilities of how to build a business empire on the back of organising and navigating the world’s information, as found on the internet. Now, a startup that’s built a search engine tailored to the needs of enterprises and their own quests for information has raised a round of funding to see if it can do the same for the B2B world.

AlphaSense, which provides a way for companies to quickly amass market intelligence around specific trends, industries and more to help them make business decisions, has closed a $50 million round of funding, a Series B that it’s planning to use to continue enhancing its product and expanding to more verticals.

Today, the company today counts some 1,000 clients on its books, with a heavy emphasis on investment banks and related financial services companies. That’s in part because of how the company got its start: Finnish co-founder and CEO Jaakko (Jack) Kokko he had been an analyst at Morgan Stanley in a past life and understood the labor and time pain points of doing market research, and decided to build a platform to help shorted a good part of the information gathering process.

“My experience as an analyst on Wall Street showed me just how fragmented information really was,” he said in an interview, citing as one example how complex sites like those of the FDA are not easy to navigate to look for new information an updates — the kind of thing that a computer would be much more adept at monitoring and flagging. “Even with the best tools and services, it still was really hard to manually get the work done, in part because of market volatility and the many factors that cause it. We can now do that with orders of magnitude more efficiency. Firms can now gather information in minutes that would have taken an hour. AlphaSense does the work of the best single analyst, or even a team of them.”

(Indeed, the “alpha” of AlphaSense appears to be a reference to finance: it’s a term that refers to the ability of a trader or portfolio manager to beat the typical market return.)

The lead investor in this round is very notable and says something about the company’s ambitions. It’s Innovation Endeavors, the VC firm backed by Eric Schmidt, who had been the CEO of none other than Google (the pace-setter and pioneer of the search-as-business model) for a decade, and then stayed on as chairman and ultimately board member of Google and then Alphabet (its later holding company) until just last June.

Schmidt presided over Google at what you could argue was its most important time, gaining speed and scale and transitioning from an academic idea into full-fledged, huge public business whose flagship product has now entered the lexicon as a verb and (through search and other services like Android and YouTube) is a mainstay of how the vast majority of the world uses the web today. As such he is good at spotting opportunities and gaps in the market, and while enterprise-based needs will never be as prominent as those of mass-market consumers, they can be just as lucrative.

“Information is the currency of business today, but data is overwhelming and fragmented, making it difficult for business professionals to find the right insights to drive key business decisions,” he said in a statement. “We were impressed by the way AlphaSense solves this with its AI and search technology, allowing businesses to proceed with the confidence that they have the right information driving their strategy.”

This brings the total raised by AlphaSense to $90 million, with other investors in this round including Soros Fund Management LLC and other unnamed existing investors. Previous backers had included Tom Glocer (the former Reuters CEO who himself is working on his own fintech startup, a security firm called BlueVoyant), the MassChallenge incubator, Tribeca Venture Partners and others. Kokko said AlphaSense is not disclosing its valuation at this point. (I’m guessing though that it’s definitely on the up.)

There have been others that have worked to try to tackle the idea of providing more targeted, and business focused search portals, from the likes of Wolfram Alpha (another alpha!) through to Lexis Nexis and others like Bloomberg’s terminals, FactSet, Business Quant and many more.

One interesting aspect of AlphaSense is how it’s both focused on pulling in requests as well as set up to push information to its users based on previous search parameters. Currently these are set up to only provide information, but over time, there is a clear opportunity to build services to let the engines take on some of the actions based on that information, such as adjusting asking prices for sales and other transactions.

“There are all kinds of things we could do,” said Kokko. “This is a massive untapped opportunity. But we’re not taking the human out of the loop, ever. Humans are the right ones to be making final decisions, and we’re just about helping them make those faster.”

via TechCrunch
AlphaSense, a search engine for analysis and business intel, raises $50M led by Innovation Endeavors

Icertis, welcome to the unicorn club.

The Bellevue, Wash. contract management startup announced a whopping $115 million investment round, the second biggest funding round for a Seattle-area startup so far this year, to push its valuation over $1 billion. The 10-year-old company has now raised $211 million to date as it aims to fend off an ever-growing list of competitors.

RELATED: Recent startup funding deals in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest

Icertis builds software that helps companies keep track of deals with suppliers and customers that require extensive contracts. Given how the legal system works, that’s a lot of contracts, and Icertis’ software also helps companies negotiate better contracts by highlighting ways to save money or move faster.

“The contract governs every dollar that comes in to the company and every dollar that you spend, and if you don’t have the contracts right … you can get into trouble over a long period,” Icertis CEO Samir Bodas said in an interview with GeekWire.

Contract lifecycle management will be a $20 billion market over the next five years, per a recent report from MGI Research, growing at more than 30 percent per year.

Icertis’ milestone represents another feather in the cap of Seattle’s tech scene and its status as an enterprise software hub. Just three months ago, fast-growing sales automation company Outreach also reached unicorn status after a huge funding round. Other recent notable investments for Seattle enterprise companies include a $103 million round for Auth0; a $60 million round for Highspot; a $50 million round for Zenoti; and a $43 million round for Flexe.

A number of Seattle-area enterprise software companies have also recently gone public, including Smartsheet and Avalara. Anchor tech giant Microsoft is at the heart of the region’s ascension as a software hub, spinning out leaders of roughly a quarter of the startups in the GeekWire 200 ranking. Bodas is a Microsoft vet, having spent seven years there in the 1990s, where he gave presentations directly to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.

Icertis’ wide range of competition includes products from tech giants including DocuSign, SAP and Oracle and smaller firms with more of a microscope on contracts such as Conga and ContractWorks. Contract management is one of the few enterprise software categories still up for grabs, Bodas said, without an incumbent giant in control. Bodas claims Icertis is the first $1 billion contract management company, putting it in position to lead the way.

Icertis stands out because its platform is a one-stop shop when it comes to contracts, Bodas said. It manages contracts for items companies both buy and sell, where most companies only cover one side of that equation.

Icertis also employs advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning that can read into the contracts and actually understand what they mean for the companies’ balance sheets. It allows one hand of the company to know exactly what the other one is doing.

“It connects itself to all the systems around it,” Bodas said of the company’s contract management platform. “It connects itself to your procurement system, your purchase order system, your delivery system, and it becomes the nerve center of your commerce.”

In total, customers manage 5.7 million contracts on Icertis’ platform, valued at more than $1 trillion. The company has focused primarily on selling to the biggest companies, or those with more than $5 billion in annual revenue. But Icertis strives to be the “contract management platform of the world,” and that means gaining ground with smaller businesses as well.

Icertis has grown to 2 million users across the world, and it counts some of the most prominent companies in the world, including Microsoft, Google, 3M and Airbus, as customers. It has traction in a variety of industries, including retail, airlines and manufacturing.

The company is approaching $100 million in annual revenue, Bodas said. Roughly 40 percent of its revenue comes from the U.S., 40 percent is from Europe and the remaining 20 percent comes from Asia Pacific.

Icertis is not yet profitable as it continues to grow, but Bodas said the company is “cash efficient.” Bodas isn’t thinking about going public right now, as that opens up the company to host of macro-economic factors out of its control that could impact its growth and success.

The Series E funding round was led by Greycroft and Premji Invest with participation from additional investors including B Capital Group, Cross Creek Advisors, Eight Roads, Ignition Partners, Meritech Capital Partners and PSP Growth.

Icertis will use the cash infusion to build out more business applications, beef up its AI technology, grow sales and marketing initiatives to reach more companies in more areas and finance potential future acquisitions. With this round, Icertis will also double down on blockchain, the trendy but controversial technology that could make for an interesting development in contract management.

Bodas cited Icertis’ recent deal with automotive giant Daimler as an example of blockchain’s potential. With a sprawling supply chain, the Mercedes-Benz parent company has to work with a huge group of subcontractors. Through the blockchain, which is meant to create a more publicly viewable ledger of transactions, Daimler can ensure that deals down the chain with subcontractors meet its standards in areas like privacy, sustainability and labor treatment.

Icertis also recently partnered on a blockchain-related deal with Microsoft.

Icertis today has 900 people in 12 offices across the globe, including 150 employees at its Bellevue headquarters just down the street from Microsoft.

Bodas, whose company today sits at No. 11 on the GeekWire 200, still draws on his time at Microsoft, which ended in 2000, nine years before he started Icertis. He aims to apply the same level of detail and scrutiny that Gates, Ballmer and other executives gave his presentations and replicate their ability to think about how each new product or initiative would fit in with the larger organization.

“How they brought it all together was a tremendous learning for me,” Bodas said. “It really trained me well to think about the business holistically, end to end, in all its depth and breadth.”

via GeekWire
Contract management startup Icertis hits $1B valuation with massive $115M funding round

This video tells the tale of Ka-Bar knives, in documentary style complete with actors and professional-quality production.

The story really begins with a name any “knife guy” will recognize: Case.

More than 30 cutlery operations connected to the Cases branch out over the span of a few decades. This dynasty begins with Job Case…

One of Job’s grandsons, Wallace Brown, became a traveling knife salesman, learning the ropes of the business, then started The Union Razor Company, a mail-order cutlery business, in 1894. His brother Emerson joined the company as well, expanding into the warehousing business as well as selling razors made for them by local companies and sold under the company name Brown Brothers Razor. It was a flop.

Some years later, Wallace bought out a struggling knife company in Tidioute, PA. Before long, the company’s name was changed to The Union Razor Company, hearkening back to his earlier effort. Down the road, they began making more knives and changed the name again. In 1909 it was renamed The Union Cutlery Company.

When approached by the Chamber of Commerce of Olean, NY, who offered bribes such as tax breaks, land, and even a building if he would move to Olean from Tidioute, Wallace accepted. The company was successful and their hunting knives became popular. Then one fateful day, an interesting package was received by Wallace Brown.

In the package was the skin of a Kodiak bear and a letter written by an Alaskan hunter who wished to thank the Union Cutlery Company for “their outstanding knives.” This morphed into a legend that the original of the Ka-Bar was based on “kill a bear (or b’ar).”

The current company owners heard this legend when they purchased Ka-Bar, but never knew for sure until they found some old documents…

The truth was never really totally known until recently. Twenty years after we purchased the company we unearthed a document… a manual written by the grandson of one of the original owners of Union Cut[lery]. In there, it specifically references the letter…

This corroborated the story, although the manual excerpt leans more towards “Kodiak” as the source of the “K.”

At any rate, the Ka-Bar name became a registered trademark in 1924.

In the midst of the Great Depression, leadership of the company was left in the hands of 26-year-old Danforth Brown after his father and uncle both died young. Union Cutlery made it through, and was ready and able when World War 2 came around with its many manufacturing jobs.

The most famous combat knife to emerge at this time was the 1219C2, or USMC Fighting Utility Knife, which was designed by USMC Capt. (some sources say Maj.) Howard America, USMC Col. John Davis — and Danforth Brown.

At this time, Danforth made the fateful decision to mark products made for the war with the Ka-Bar name, rather than “Union Cutlery.”

Most 1219C2 knives were made by other companies, but most troops seemed to agree that a Ka-Bar branded 1219C2 was better than the rest. The name gained such popularity that Union eventually changed the company name to Ka-Bar.

When hard times came again, Danforth agreed to the same sort of “relocation bribery,” this time moving the company to Dawsonville, Georgia. It was a huge mistake, and two years later he was back in New York where an established factory and skilled workforce stood ready to make more Ka-Bars.

Danforth passed away in 1970, and the company was bought & sold numerous times, eventually going bankrupt. After being saved a time or two, Ka-Bar was purchased by a large conglomerate who used the brand on cheap imported knives. It was a sad time for anyone who really cared about the Ka-Bar name.

Cutco, then known as Alcas, bought Ka-Bar in the mid-1990s. Alcas had been making the old classic Ka-Bar-branded fighting knife for a couple of decades, so it was a natural fit as far as that goes. With the surge of warfare in the early 2000s, a new generation of soldiers began using Ka-Bar knives. Working with independent knife designers has also been lucrative for them in recent years.

In April 2018, the company celebrated “120 years in the Ka-Bar story.”

The post Watch: The KA-BAR Story appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.

via All Outdoor
Watch: The KA-BAR Story

SQL Merge Statement Tutorial With Example is today’s topic. SQL MERGE STATEMENT is the combination of INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statement. Merge Statement can perform all these operations in our main target table when the source table is provided. MERGE is very useful when it comes to loading the data warehouse tables, which can be very large and require the specific actions to be taken when the rows are or are not present.

SQL Merge Statement

The syntax is following.

MERGE <target_table> [AS TARGET]
USING <table_source> [AS SOURCE]
ON <search_condition>
[WHEN MATCHED 
THEN <merge_matched> ]
[WHEN NOT MATCHED [BY TARGET]
THEN <merge_not_matched> ]
[WHEN NOT MATCHED BY SOURCE
THEN <merge_matched> ];

#How to use SQL MERGE STATEMENT

1. Identify the target table which is going to be used in that logic.
2. Next step is to identify the source table which we can use in the logic.
3. Next step is to determine the appropriate search conditions in the ON clause to match the rows.
4. Implement logic when records are matched or not matched between the target and source.
5. For each of this comparison, conditions write the logic, and When matched, generally an update condition is used and When not matched, then insert or delete statement is used.

Let’s Clear this by seeing an example:

Consider Table Products: (This will be considered as Target Table).

ID	NAME	PRICE
101	Tea	5.00
201	Chips	10.00
301	Coffee	15.00

Updated_Products: (This will be Considered as SOURCE Table).

ID	NAME	PRICE
101	Tea	5.00
201	Biscuits	20.00
301	Coffee	25.00

 

#QUERY

MERGE PRODUCTS AS TARGET
USING UPDATED_PRODUCTS AS SOURCE
ON (TARGET.ID=SOURCE.ID)
THEN MATCHED AND TARGET.NAME SOUCE.NAME
OR TARGET.PRICE SOURCE.PRICE THEN
UPDATE SET TARGET.NAME=SOURCE.NAME,
TARGET.PRICE=SOURCE.PRICE
WHEN NOT MATCHED BY TARGET THEN
INSERT (ID, NAME, PRICE)
VALUES (SOURCE.ID, SOURCE.NAME, SOURCE.PRICE)
WHEN NOT MATCHED BY SOURCE THEN
DELETE;

#Output

So, after running the above query Products table will be replaced by the Updated_products table.

You can see the table below.

ID	NAME	PRICE
101	Tea	5.00
201	Biscuits	20.00
301	Coffee	25.00

 

So, in this way, we can perform all three operations together using MERGE clause.

NOTE:

We can use any name other than source and target we have used these names to give you a better explanation.

#Some basic Key Points

1. The MERGE SQL statement requires the semicolon (;) as a statement terminator Otherwise Error 10713 will be raised.
2. At least one of three MATCHED clauses must be specified when we are using the MERGE statement.
3. The user using the MERGE statement should have SELECT permission on the SOURCE table and INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE permissions on a TARGET table.
4. While inserting, deleting or updating using merge statement in SQL Server fires any corresponding AFTER triggers defined on that target table, but it does not guarantee which action to fire triggers first or last.

Finally, SQL Merge Tutorial With Example is over.

The post SQL Merge Statement Tutorial With Example | Merge In SQL appeared first on AppDividend.

via Planet MySQL
SQL Merge Statement Tutorial With Example | Merge In SQL

Features
* Using raw SQL queries
– you can use all the capabilities of your database to describe the structure and changes
– easy work with procedures and functions
– easy data migrations (INSERT/UPDATE)
– IDE native syntax support
* Running migrations within a transaction with automatic rollback in case of an error (if your database supports it, PostgreSQL for example)
* Dynamic output running the SQL-queries
* Automatic rollback after switching the branch (for reviewing, testing, demo, building at permanent/staging database)
* Auto-update the migration after editing
* Apply with rollback testing – UD-DOWN-UP
* Rollback or Reload any selected migration
via Laravel News Links
An intelligent alternative version of Laravel Database Migrations

A package that provides the essential elements for running a Laravel app on AWS Elastic Beanstalk with HTTPS.
via Laravel News Links
Running Laravel on AWS Elastic Beanstalk with HTTPS

via Gizmodo
Picard Has a Dog Now

There’s a constant debate of whether or not Macs can get viruses. If you’re still wondering: “Do I need antivirus for my Mac?” The answer is yes.

Although Macs are less likely to become a victim of a virus, it’s important to stay on the safe side. You don’t have to go overboard with the antivirus tool that you choose. In fact, you have many free options that you should consider. Here are some of the best free antivirus for Mac—don’t worry, they don’t come with any gimmicks!

1. Avast Security

Avast’s free antivirus for Mac is considered one of the best options for Mac users. It comes loaded with features that constantly work to block any ransomware, viruses, or malware that compromise your Mac’s security.

When browsing the web, Avast Security will let you know when you come across a potentially dangerous site, and will also keep out any web trackers. Avast even prevents malicious emails and lets you know if there are any security holes in your Wi-Fi connection.

Since Avast Security is completely free on its own, it withholds some extra features for the paid Premium plan. Just be careful when you install the Free plan. Avast will try to throw in some costly extra features during installation that you probably don’t want.

2. Bitdefender Virus Scanner

Bitdefender doesn’t come with many bells and whistles, but it’s still a viable option as a free antivirus software for Mac. This antivirus is especially great for scanning specific files or apps. It also allows you to omit files, making for a speedy scanning process. If it does happen to find a threat, Bitdefender will quarantine or remove it.

Bitdefender doesn’t run by itself, so you’ll need to manually prompt Bitdefender to perform scans. Fortunately, virus signatures are automatically updated every hour to ensure that you have the latest protection.

The only downside to Bitdefender is that it lacks the tools to protect your Mac online. For protection against dangerous websites or tricky phishing emails, you’ll have to look into a more well-rounded antivirus software instead.

3. Avira Free Antivirus for Mac

Avira doesn’t just think about the security of your Mac, but it considers the security of Windows-users as well—this makes it one of the best free antivirus programs for both Mac and Windows. It detects malware that can damage a Mac or Windows computer. This way, you don’t accidentally pass on any malware to any PC-using friends.

Despite the fact that Avira is free, it still has tons of useful features. The real-time scanner is capable of scanning your entire computer or just specific files. If you want a more hands-off approach, you can even schedule the scanner to run at certain times.

The full system scan can take a long time and tends to slow down your computer. You’ll have to perform less-involved quick scans if you want to keep your Mac’s performance up.

4. Sophos Home Free

By default, Sophos’ Home Free plan comes with a 30-day trial of Sophos’ Home Premium. You don’t have to buy the Premium version once the trial ends, but you’ll lose a couple of Premium features you might’ve gotten used to. Either way, you can still get by with just the Free plan.

Sophos Home constantly keeps tabs on the status of your Mac. It searches and detects any ransomware, malware, viruses, Trojans, worms, bots, and more that can harm your computer.

Sophos Home also comes outfitted with parental controls that allow you to prevent your children from accessing certain websites. You can have up to three devices (both Mac or Windows) on the Free plan, ensuring that everyone in your family has protection.

5. AVG

AVG’s free protection is powerful enough to secure your Mac from malware, and protect you when you’re online. It can also prevent you from acquiring and passing on any PC or Android viruses. AVG automatically updates its virus database, so you’ll always have the most effective security.

That said, you won’t need to open AVG on a daily basis. It runs in the background, and covertly deflects any threats, such as malicious emails, websites, and downloads.

If you’re looking for any parental controls or webcam blockers, the free version of AVG won’t have it. It just offers scanning and detection features, which is just good enough for basic security needs. Unfortunately, the full system scan does cause your computer to perform slowly, and you can expect it to take several minutes (or hours) to complete.

6. Malwarebytes

Malwarebytes promises to scan a typical Mac in just under 30 seconds. If it finds anything suspicious, it’ll provide you with a list of potential threats. You can either choose to have Malwarebytes ignore it, or place the files into quarantine and delete them.

The Free version of Malwarebytes can help you detect malware threats quickly, but it doesn’t offer enough protection to use on its own. You’ll also get a 14-day trial of Malwarebytes Premium, so you’ll have to pay if you want access to all of its features in the future. By itself, the Free plan is just a bare-bones antivirus software—it simply identifies and erases any malicious threats.

7. Comodo Antivirus

Komodo offers an easy-to-use interface and free protection for your Mac. Checking a file or app for viruses is as simple as dragging and dropping it into Comodo. It comes with a quick scan that finishes in minutes, and a total system scan that might take an hour or two to complete. The scheduler lets you pick and choose the times you want to perform scans so your computer won’t get bogged down at the wrong time.

Like some of the other antiviruses on this list, Comodo also stays up-to-date on the latest virus signatures to protect you from all types of viruses. Just remember that Comodo doesn’t automatically protect you online. You’ll have to download the free browser extension Comodo Online Security if you want to block any dangerous websites.

Finding the Best Free Antivirus for Mac

Many Mac users think that their device is resistant to viruses, however, that’s just not the case. Even if your Mac is less likely to contract a virus, it’s still possible for you to pass along malware to Windows and Android users. It doesn’t hurt to install a free antivirus for your Mac to prevent any security breaches.

If you’re looking to protect your Windows PC as well, check out our list of the best antivirus for Windows 10.

Read the full article: The 7 Best Truly Free Antivirus Software for Mac

via MakeUseOf.com
The 7 Best Truly Free Antivirus Software for Mac

Link

Animator Ian Wilkins is working on a new Star Wars-inspired series, a fan film project based on Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy’s beloved Dark Empire comics, in which Palpatine returns from the dead and Luke struggles with his dark side. The awesome music in the trailer comes from composer Daniel Ciurlizza.

via The Awesomer
Dark Empire (Trailer)

An alternative to spatie’s media library and plank’s mediable package.
This package allows you to upload attach media to your eloquent models via a "many to many" relationship. It also has image manipulation is built in which makes use of intervention/image under the hood.
The perfect engine for CMS applications which require a media manager.
via Laravel News Links
A new laravel media manager