// M&A, Strategies, Alliances // Internet of Things Inc is acquiring Weather Telematics, a data science specialist that uses AI-based analytics to predict road and weather conditions – for $2.53m. Weather Analytics has acquired Athenium, and will now merge with the company to create Athenium Analytics. A $25m investment is planned to boost AI, ML, and CV. Vodafone says its IoT revenue grew 7.2% in the past year, rising to €747m from €697m. IoT SIM connections were up 31.2% – with 68m now active, inc. 14.4m cars. Microsoft has acquired Semantic Machines, a startup focused on conversational AI systems that is based in Berkeley, CA – where Microsoft will now build a CoE. // Forecasts, Surveys. Reports, & Blue-Sky Thinking…