Balto Software of St. Louis, which uses artificial intelligence to make call-center representatives more effective, announced Thursday that it has raised $1.2 million in capital. Chris Kontes, president and founder, said that with the money in hand, Balto is "aggressively hiring" for sales and engineering positions. The firm currently employs 13 people.

The solution, he decided, was to create a direct-to-consumer model that cut out the middleman—in this case, the audiology clinician. Audicus, based in Chelsea, is part of a wave of companies capitalizing on the shift toward what Freuler calls DIY diagnostics. Anyone with a mobile phone can track their blood-glucose levels, take a vision exam or even attempt to self-diagnose a skin condition. Why not take a hearing test?

“We were going through so many cans of LaCroix every day it was ridiculous,” Aaptiv’s employee-experience manager, Kate Blain, recalled. She discovered Bevi, the company that makes the new water coolers, at a networking event, and campaigned to have her office acquire one. “It was a little sad how excited I was to get it,” she said. “I did a post on Instagram: ‘I finally got my Bevi!’ ”

TeamSupport, the industry's top B2B (business to business) customer support software solution, today announced it has obtained a significant growth investment from Level Equity. The investment will enable the company to accelerate the expansion of its technology, customer success, sales, and marketing initiatives.

LeafLink, an online B2B cannabis commerce platform that connects more than 600 brands to more than 2,100 retailers, has just expanded to the East Coast and expects even more growth in the near future. Cofounder and CEO Ryan Smith spoke with New Cannabis Ventures about the company’s early days, growth expectations, and recent funding.

Eight, (www.eightsleep.com) the technology company focused on improving the way we sleep — today announced a $14M Series B round of financing led by Khosla Ventures. The round of funding was also supported by Y Combinator and Yunqi Partners. This latest round of capital brings the total amount raised to $27M from investors including Khosla, Yunqi Partners, Azure Capital, Y Combinator, and Stanford StartX fund.

Eight is thrilled to announce that it was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2018; joining list veterans like Apple, Amazon and Sony.

True innovation in sleep has been their dream since their founding 4 years ago, and today, they are recognized for it.

Fast Company has nominated LeafLink to it’s list of most innovative companies of 2018. They were ranked 10th in the ‘Enterprise’ division; Amazon was #1 this year.

Leaflink is the first cannabis-facing company on such a list, alongside industry dominating companies with tens of thousands of employees. Fast Company reached out to let LeafLink know they were chosen last week.

Exciting stuff with so much more ahead!

LeafLink, an online wholesale marketplace that connects cannabis dispensaries with marijuana product manufacturers and distributors, closed a $10 million Series A funding round to help the company expand further into the massive California cannabis market. The Golden State is getting ready to launch adult-use sales on January 1, 2018.

The company, which helps restaurant owners quickly build full-featured websites for their restaurants, has just closed a $4.8 million Series A funding round. The round was led by Bullpen Capital, with participation from Launch Capital, Seamless founders Jason Finger and Paul Appelbaum, RiverPark Ventures, and Invision CEO Clark Valberg, alongside existing seed investors.

About three years ago, Boston-based startup Bevi launched its tech-enabled take on the traditional water cooler by installing an initial batch of about a dozen of its machines at local offices. Since then, the company says around 1,000 of the Internet-connected beverage kiosks have been deployed in the offices of approximately 370 companies, including Apple, AT&T, Fidelity, GE, and Netflix.

Hydration Labs, the maker of an environmentally-friendly water cooler called Bevi, landed more than $6 million in new funding last week, much of which will go toward expansion.

Sean Grundy, the startup’s co-founder, said the proceeds will help company expand its footprint geographically, moving beyond its home base of Boston to other cities like New York City.