While US-based Associated Press is investing in CGC provider Automated Insights, a company it has just sold out of has been picked up by Newscycle owner Vista Equity Partners.

Big money is hovering around what are seen as the hot technologies of publishing’s future. Vista last year brought together newspaper systems providers Saxotech and DTI, later adding Atex US and Mediaspan to the mix. Now it has bought STATS – a company which delivers player performance analytics and content – from Fox Sports and Associated Press, adding it to a high tech portfolio. STATS, meanwhile has announced a deal with Australian company Catapult – which has had Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban as an investor and advisor since last February – which will see the Melbourne firm’s wearable-technology systems and software integrated with STATS software.

Computer-generated content producer Automated Insights meanwhile, is benefiting not only from a new content deal with Associated Press, but from having the news agency cooperative as part of a new $5.5 million round of funding.

From this month, Automated Insights will provide Associated Press with up to 4400 earnings reports a quarter, taking over a job previously done by reporters but increasing the volume produced substantially. AP director of media relations Paul Colford says using technology the technology will free journalists to “do more journalism and less data processing”, and is not about eliminating jobs.

Journalists will focus on reporting and “writing stories about what the numbers mean and what gets said in earnings calls on the day of the release, identifying trends and finding exclusive stories we can publish at the time of the earnings reports,” he says.

How it works: A “before and after” example from the Automated Insights website