Producing solar power on demand is precisely what a US startup, Reflect Orbital, aims to achieve. They intend to utilize mirrors in orbit to redirect excess sunlight back to Earth.
The goal isn’t to make the entire planet sunnier; rather, it’s to extend the hours during which solar power plants can generate electricity each day.
The initial plan involves launching two satellites in 2026 to serve as a proof of concept. These satellites will be equipped with deployable mirrors measuring 18 m x 18 m (59 x 59 ft) and will orbit at a low Earth altitude of about 600 km (373 miles).
Each satellite can illuminate a 6 km (3.73 mile) diameter patch of the Earth’s surface, almost as bright as a full moon.
This illumination level may not be sufficient for solar power generation, but the plan is to deploy numerous satellites all oriented in the same direction, stacking their beams to achieve a total of 5,000 by 2030 and over 50,000 by 2035.
US startup Reflect Orbital proposes using mirrors in orbit to reflect excess sunlight back to Earth – Image credit: Robin Boyden
Under optimal conditions regarding mirror reflectance and precision, certain areas on the ground could experience brightness approaching that of dusk.
However, this isn’t a constant illumination; the mirrors travel at a speed of 7.5 km/s (4.66 mi/s), meaning they can only light up the same area for a few minutes at a time. This technology is mainly beneficial for solar power plants operating just after sunset or just before dawn, as dusk does not provide sufficient brightness.
In contrast, areas receiving adequate natural light will not require enhancement since the satellites may also be in darkness.
This indicates that the economics of this venture might be less viable compared to simply expanding solar power capacity and storage on the ground.
This article addresses the question by Samantha Barker of the University of Oxford: “Can we create sunlight on demand?”
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AI-Powered Laundry Folding Robot by Physical Intelligence
Credit: Physical Intelligence
In San Francisco, freshly brewed coffee is being crafted by robots in a state-of-the-art facility, showcasing the rising integration of robotic technology in our everyday lives. Although robots have been serving coffee for years, the advanced AI behind this process offers a broad skill set beyond just brewing. These robots are capable of performing various tasks, such as folding laundry, peeling vegetables, and even kitchen cleaning, which is remarkable for technologies still in their infancy.
Founded in 2024, Physical Intelligence is leading the charge towards a future where robots seamlessly integrate into daily routines. The startup focuses on creating versatile control systems that enhance productivity across multiple tasks and different machines, similar to the humanoid robots developed by Tesla and Boston Dynamics, as well as Amazon’s industrial robots.
The concept of general robotic intelligence has long been an aspiration within the robotics community. Yet just as large language models (LLMs) revolutionized AI chatbots in the early 2020s through advanced computing techniques, breakthrough innovations in physical intelligence promise to elevate robotics to new heights.
Sergei Levin from the University of California, Berkeley, a co-founder of Physical Intelligence, remarked, “In many fields, having more data complicates matters. However, in AI, it facilitates learning from a diverse array of information, making the development process smoother.”
The evolution of LLMs has given rise to the Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model, significantly influencing Physical Intelligence’s research direction. Instead of learning tasks individually, VLA capitalizes on LLMs to convert general commands into actionable steps, empowering robots to execute a multitude of tasks. According to Ingmar Posner from Oxford University, “[VLAs] represent an exciting frontier in robotic learning, as they predict necessary movements instead of simply anticipating the next word in a conversation.
One of the critical obstacles in programming robots lies in the vast array of real-world scenarios that require adaptability. Conventional methods often struggle to amass sufficient data for learning effectively. Levine notes that while automating learning seems ideal, developers commonly avoid it due to the substantial data-gathering efforts required: “In theory, automation could simplify the process, but in practice, obtaining enough application-specific data often outweighs the manual work needed.”
By leveraging VLA capabilities, Levine and his team aim to minimize the data required for robots to thrive. In a boardroom setting, staff members were instructing robots on mundane tasks like folding shirts and organizing gifts. Adjacent to their main lab are two extensive warehouses designed like a faux supermarket and living spaces, facilitating real-world training scenarios for the robots. Additionally, they have begun introducing robots to actual homes to evaluate their capabilities in unpredictable environments.
Physical Intelligence’s Headquarters in San Francisco
Credit: Alex Wilkins
This immersive training environment is crucial for progress, with robots learning generalization techniques that allow them to tackle tasks they’ve never encountered before. For instance, a recent AI model named π0.7 successfully prepared sweet potatoes using an air fryer, simply by following step-by-step verbal directions—including methods the AI had never been explicitly trained on.
Levine expressed astonishment at the rapid advancements made in just two years since launching Physical Intelligence. “The progress has exceeded our expectations,” he noted.
Interest from other companies is growing, with many well-funded startups and industry giants like Amazon and Google DeepMind working on their own general-purpose robotic solutions.
Although the field is advancing quickly, predicting the speed of future developments remains challenging. While AI entities such as OpenAI and Anthropic are notably progressing, robotics innovation typically occurs at a more gradual pace. This is exemplified by Moravec’s paradox: while robots can excel at strategizing in games or IQ tests, they often struggle to acquire fundamental perceptual and motor skills akin to those of a toddler.
Posner remains cautious, suggesting that the amount of data needed for practical robot deployment in real-world settings is still an open question. “We see early signs indicating potential breakthroughs, but whether this will yield viable applications in the near future is uncertain.”
Prominent researchers like Posner acknowledge the intrinsic challenges posed by human interaction with robots. “Humans tend to push robots to their limits, largely for entertainment,” he stated. “Is a scalable business model for such technology feasible? At this stage, it seems highly improbable.”
As energy demands soar in data centers and the need for chips intensifies, could biological cells offer a solution? Australian startup Cortical Labs is pioneering this concept by establishing two innovative biological data centers in Melbourne and Singapore. These facilities will utilize chips populated with reproducible neurons for data processing.
Cortical Labs stands out as a leader in the emerging field of biological computing, using nerve cells linked to microelectrode arrays to both stimulate and record cellular responses during data input. Recently, the company showcased its flagship computer, the CL1, demonstrating its ability to learn to play games like Doom within a week.
The Melbourne data center is set to feature approximately 120 CL1 units, while a collaboration with the National University of Singapore will launch with 20 units, aiming for a total of 1,000 CL1s, pending regulatory approval. This ambitious expansion is designed to enhance their cloud-based brain computing services.
Michael Barros from the University of Essex remarks, “Biological computers like CL1 have been developed by multiple research teams globally but pose construction challenges for widespread adoption.” He continues, “Cortical Labs is making biocomputers more accessible, set to be the first company to do this at scale.”
These biological systems can be trained for tasks like playing Doom, although understanding the optimal training methods for neurons remains a complex issue. Reinhold Scherer, also from the University of Essex, notes, “Having access can facilitate explorations in learning and programming, yet neurons cannot be programmed as traditional computers.”
Moreover, Cortical Labs asserts that its biological data centers are significantly more energy-efficient than conventional computing systems, with each CL1 unit consuming just 30 watts compared to thousands of watts used by state-of-the-art AI chips.
Paul Roach from Loughborough University highlights that scaling up these systems to function like traditional data servers could lead to remarkable energy savings, even if they require nutrients to sustain the neuron chips. However, the cooling requirements are expected to be much lower than in traditional setups, indicating considerable power conservation according to Cortical Labs’ estimates.
Yet, the technology is still nascent. Tjeerd Olde Scheper, who has collaborated with a competitor, FinalSpark, poses questions about efficacy, stating, “We’re still in early development stages.” He emphasizes that transitioning from a small network managing simple tasks to a larger-scale language model is a substantial leap.
A primary challenge remains: the capacity to save training outcomes and utilize these neurons for computational algorithms beyond specific tasks like gaming. Retraining these neurons after their life cycle is another hurdle, as Scherer points out, “If retraining is needed every month, longevity of use becomes an issue.”
A small number of companies are developing biological computers
Floriana/Getty Images
Data centers consume vast amounts of energy while the demand for computer chips continues to soar. Could utilizing brain cells be the solution?
Australian startup Cortical Labs is pioneering this field, planning to establish two innovative “biological” data centers in Melbourne and Singapore. These cutting-edge data centers will feature chips integrated with reproducible neurons. Pon vs. Doom.
Cortical Labs stands out as one of the few firms creating biological computers that link nerve cells to microelectrode arrays, enabling the stimulation and measurement of cell responses during data input. Recently, the company successfully showcased that its primary model, the CL1, can learn to play games like Doom within just a week.
The first data center in Melbourne is set to accommodate around 120 CL1 units, while a second facility in collaboration with the National University of Singapore will initially support 20 CL1 systems, with plans to expand to 1,000 pending regulatory approval. This initiative aims to enhance cloud-based brain computing services.
According to Michael Barros from the University of Essex, UK, while biological computers have been constructed and tested globally, they remain challenging to build and use. He states, “We invest a lot of time and resources developing these systems.”
Barros further elaborates that Cortical Labs is democratizing access to biocomputers at scale, pioneering an accessible approach in the industry.
These systems can be trained for simple tasks, such as playing Doom, yet there are challenges in understanding how neurons function and training them for more complex tasks like machine learning. Reinhold Scherer, also from the University of Essex, notes, “When you access this technology, it opens doors to exploration in learning, training, and programming, but neurons cannot be programmed like standard computers.”
Cortical Labs asserts that its biological data centers use significantly less energy than traditional computing systems, with each CL1 requiring only 30 watts compared to thousands needed by leading conventional AI chips.
Paul Roach from Loughborough University, UK, emphasizes that scaling biocomputers into entire rooms, akin to traditional data servers, could yield substantial energy savings. Notably, while biological data centers may necessitate nutrients to sustain neuron chips, they require less cooling energy than conventional computing infrastructures, suggesting significant potential for energy conservation.
Nevertheless, experts like Tjeerd Olde Scheper, who holds a PhD from Oxford Brookes University, recognize that the technology remains nascent. “Will it perform as expected? We are still in the early developmental phase,” he comments.
Although direct comparisons between the sizes of biological and silicon AI systems remain complex, it’s notable that the envisioned biological data center would integrate hundreds of biological chips in contrast to the hundreds of thousands of GPUs typically found in large-scale AI data centers.
“We have a long way to go before these systems are production-ready. Transitioning from a small network playing games to a large language model is a substantial leap,” says Steve Furber from the University of Manchester, UK.
A pressing concern is the lack of clarity on how to store training outcomes within neurons as memory, or how to execute computational algorithms beyond specific tasks, such as video gaming.
Additionally, retraining neurons post-task completion poses challenges, as their training and learning may be lost upon the end of their lifespan. “Proper retraining is essential,” Scherer states. “If retraining is required every 30 days, it may hinder technological continuity.”
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Innovative Weather Conditioning Equipment by Rain Enhancement Technologies
Rainfall Enhancement Technology
Utah and several western states are grappling with severe snow droughts, raising urgent concerns about escalating wildfires and declining water levels in the critical Colorado River. A pioneering startup claims that by releasing negatively charged aerosols into clouds, it has managed to boost snowfall by 20% across some Utah mountain ranges.
Rain Enhancement Technologies conducted a comparative study of snowfall between the La Sal Mountains and the Abajo Mountains, located 70 kilometers to the south, during five recent dry winters. In January, while operating a high-voltage ionization array upwind of the La Sal Mountains, the company noted an unexpected nine centimeters more snow than anticipated based on the snowfall data from the Abajo Mountains.
However, scientists urge caution, indicating that these observed results might be coincidental and that it is premature to assess the technology’s overall effectiveness.
“While cloud seeding methods have been implemented for years, our approach offers an alternative to enhance precipitation without the need for chemicals,” explains the company’s meteorologist, Jeff Chagnon. “You can activate it from anywhere in the world without needing to fly into the clouds, typically running it for about 48 hours.”
The United Nations has signaled that the world is approaching an era of “water bankruptcy,” with three out of four individuals potentially facing water scarcity or pollution issues. In contrast, countries like Iran, grappling with severe water shortages that have incited protests, are attempting to induce rainfall by dispersing salts like silver iodide from aircraft. Currently, nine U.S. states are known to conduct cloud seeding programs.
Nonetheless, public apprehension about potential health risks linked to the substantial amounts of silver iodide released, along with conspiracy theories surrounding “chemtrails,” contribute to a growing distrust of climate modification initiatives. In fact, cloud seeding is either banned or under scrutiny for potential bans in ten U.S. states.
Rain Enhancement Technologies employs a system that passes 10,000 volts of electricity through coiled wires suspended between two 8-meter pylons. Tiny aerosols, such as dust, soot, and salt, acquire electrons as they pass near these wires, similar to how static electricity builds up on your body when you walk on a carpet. Wind subsequently carries these ionized particles into the clouds.
In the clouds, water naturally condenses around aerosols, forming droplets that can collide and coalesce. When they stick together, they fall as rainfall. However, many smaller droplets typically remain suspended due to upward air currents.
Charged droplets can interact even when they possess the same charge. The negative side of one droplet attracts the positive side of another, creating an electric polarity that enhances collision rates. When droplets coalesce around the negatively charged aerosols from Rain Enhancement Technologies, their increased interactions lead to enhanced rainfall, Chagnon explained.
Although this technique cannot create clouds or induce upward air movement, “we can effectively extract additional water from existing clouds,” notes Chagnon.
Evidence from the Cold War indicates that electrical charges can enlarge cloud droplets. A 2020 study revealed a 24% increase in precipitation day over day in the Shetland Islands, UK, attributable to ionized air resulting from a nuclear bomb test. When radioactive ionization occurred, cloud dynamics were altered.
“It’s fascinating that their findings align with observable changes in cloud behavior,” remarks Edward Grispeed from Imperial College London. “However, factors influencing precipitation, including snowfall and rainfall, are highly variable; thus, the chances of their results being coincidental cannot be dismissed.”
Rain Enhancement Technologies acknowledges that the five dry winters used as a baseline for assessment may not adequately represent the natural variability in snowfall from season to season, says Jeff French from the University of Wyoming.
“I recommend awaiting further experimental investigations and more extended data to confirm the viability of ionization as a snowfall catalyst,” adds Ibrahim Oloud from Mutah University in Jordan.
On Tuesday, Amazon filed a lawsuit against a well-known artificial intelligence startup over a feature in its browser that enables users to automate purchases. Amazon alleged that Perplexity AI had illicitly accessed customer accounts and disguised the AI’s actions as human browsing.
“The misconduct by Perplexity must cease,” Amazon’s legal representatives stated. “Perplexity has no permission to act where it is forbidden. The intrusion involves a code rather than a lockpick, rendering it equally illegal.”
Perplexity, which has experienced significant growth in light of the AI assistant boom, previously accused Amazon of leveraging its dominant market position to suppress competition and dismissed Amazon’s allegations.
“Bullying occurs when larger companies employ legal threats and intimidation to stifle innovation and negatively impact people’s lives,” the company expressed in a blog post.
This dispute underscores new conversations regarding the regulation of the increasing use of AI agents, AI-powered autonomous digital assistants, and their interactions with websites.
In its legal action, Amazon accused Perplexity of secretly accessing Amazon’s private customer accounts via the Comet browser and associated AI agents, misrepresenting automated actions as human browsing. Amazon asserted that Perplexity’s systems endangered customer data and ignored repeated calls to shut them down.
“Instead of being transparent, Perplexity deliberately configures its CometAI software to mask Comet AI agent activity on Amazon’s platforms,” the company stated.
Amazon’s complaint also claimed that Perplexity’s Comet AI agent undermined the shopping experience for customers and hindered Amazon’s ability to guarantee that users benefiting from the agent receive the personalized shopping experience it has developed over decades.
In a previous statement, Amazon indicated that third-party applications making purchases on behalf of users should operate transparently and respect companies’ preferences for participation.
Perplexity had earlier revealed that it received legal threats from Amazon aimed at preventing Comet AI agents from shopping on its platform, asserting that this action poses a wider threat to user choice and the future of AI assistants.
Perplexity is among several AI startups that are restructuring web browsers to incorporate artificial intelligence, aiming to enhance user autonomy and simplify everyday online tasks, from composing emails to completing purchases.
Amazon is also developing similar functionalities, including Buy For Me, which enables users to shop across various brands within the app, and Rufus, an AI assistant that recommends products and manages shopping carts.
The Comet browser’s AI agent from Perplexity acts as a purchasing and comparison assistant for users. The company contends that user credentials are stored locally and not on its servers, asserting that users have the right to select their own AI assistant and framing Amazon’s actions as an attempt to safeguard its business model.
“Simplified shopping leads to more transactions and greater customer satisfaction,” Perplexity remarked. “However, Amazon is less focused on that and more on serving ads.”
The artificial intelligence system has outperformed numerous prediction enthusiasts, including a number of experts. A competition focused on event predictions spanned events from the fallout between Donald Trump and Elon Musk to Kemi Badenok being dismissed as a potential Conservative leader.
The UK-based AI startup, established by former Google DeepMind researchers, ranks among the top 10 in international forecasting competitions, with participants tasked with predicting the probabilities of 60 events occurring over the summer.
Manticai secured 8th place in the Metaculus Cup, operated by a forecasting firm based in San Francisco aiming to predict the futures of investment funds and corporations.
While AI performance still lags behind the top human predictors, some contend that it could surpass human capabilities sooner than anticipated.
“It feels odd to be outperformed by a few bots at this stage,” remarked Ben Sindel, one of the professional predictors who ended up behind the AI during the competition, eventually finishing on Mantic’s team. “We’ve made significant progress compared to a year ago when the best bots were ranked around 300.”
The Metaculus Cup included questions like which party would win the most seats in the Samoan general election, and how many acres of the US would be affected by fires from January to August. Contestants were graded based on their predictions as of September 1st.
“What Munch achieved is remarkable,” stated Degar Turan, CEO of Metaculus.
Turan estimated that AI would perform at par or even surpass top human predictors by 2029, but also acknowledged that “human predictors currently outshine AI predictors.”
In complex predictions reliant on interrelated events, AI systems tend to struggle with logical validation checks when interpreting knowledge into final forecasts.
Mantic effectively dissects prediction challenges into distinct tasks and assigns them to various machine learning models such as OpenAI, Google, and DeepSeek based on their capabilities.
Co-founder Toby Shevlane indicated that their achievements mark a significant milestone for the AI community, utilizing large language models for predictive analytics.
“Some argue that LLMs merely replicate training data, but we can’t predict such futures,” he noted. “We require genuine inference. We can assert that our system’s forecasts are more original than those of most human contenders, as individuals often compile average community predictions. AI systems frequently differ from these averages.”
Mantic’s systems deploy a range of AI agents to evaluate current events, conduct historical analyses, simulate scenarios, and make future predictions. The strength of AI prediction lies in its capacity for hard work and endurance, vital for effective forecasting.
AI can simultaneously tackle numerous complex challenges, revisiting each daily to adapt based on evolving information. Human predictors also leverage intuition, but Sindel suggests this may emerge in AI as well.
“Intuition is crucial, but I don’t think it’s inherently human,” he commented.
Top-tier human super forecasters assert their superiority. Philip Tetlock, co-author of the bestseller SuperForecasting, recently published research indicating that, on average, experts continue to outperform the best bots.
Turan reiterated that AI systems face challenges in complex predictions involving interdependent events, struggling to identify logical inconsistencies in output during validation checks.
“We’ve witnessed substantial effort and investment,” remarked Warren Hatch, CEO of Good Judgement, a forecasting firm co-founded by Tetlock. “We anticipate AI excelling in specific question categories, such as monthly inflation.
Or, as Lubos Saloky, the human forecaster who placed third in the Metaculus Cup, expressed, “I’m not retiring. If you can’t beat them, I’ll collaborate with them.”
Humanity, an artificial intelligence firm, has agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement in response to a class action lawsuit filed by the author of a specific book, who alleges that the company used a pirated copy of their work to train chatbots.
If a judge approves the landmark settlement on Monday, it could signify a significant shift in the ongoing legal conflict between AI companies and writers, visual artists, and other creative professionals who are raising concerns about copyright violations.
The company plans to compensate the author approximately $3,000 for each of the estimated 500,000 books involved in the settlement.
“This could be the largest copyright restoration we’ve seen,” stated Justin Nelson, the author’s attorney. “This marks a first in the era of AI.”
Authors Andrea Burtz, Charles Greber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, who were litigated against last year, now represent a wider group of writers and publishers whose works were utilized to train the AI chatbot Claude.
In June, a federal judge issued a complex ruling stating that training AI chatbots on copyrighted books is not illegal. Unfortunately, Humanity acquired millions of books from copyright-infringing sources inadvertently.
Experts predict that if Humanity hadn’t settled, they would likely have lost the lawsuit as it was set to go to trial in December.
“We’re eager to see how this unfolds in the future,” commented William Long, a legal analyst at Wolters Kluwer.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco is scheduled to hear the terms of the settlement on Monday.
Why are books important to AI?
Books are crucial as they provide the critical data sources—essentially billions of words—needed to develop the large language models that power chatbots like Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Judge Alsup’s ruling revealed that Anthropic had downloaded over 7 million digitized books, many of which are believed to be pirated. The initial download included nearly 200,000 titles from an online library named Books3, created by researchers other than OpenAI to build a vast collection utilized for training ChatGPT.
Burtz’s debut thriller, The Lost Night, served as the lead plaintiff in this case and was also part of the Books3 dataset.
The ruling revealed that at least 5 million copies had been ingested from around 2 million instances found on Pirate websites like Library Genesis.
The Author Guild informed its thousands of members last month that it anticipated losses of at least $750 per work, which could potentially be much higher. A sizeable settlement award of about $3,000 per work could indicate a reduced pool of impacted titles after taking duplicates and non-copyrighted works into account.
On Friday, Author Guild CEO Mary Raysenberger stated that the settlement represents “a tremendous victory for authors, publishers, and rights holders, sending a strong message to the AI industry about the dangers of using pirated works to train AI at the expense of those who can’t afford it.”
Elon Musk’s AI startup, Xai, has initiated legal action against OpenAI and Apple, accusing them of anti-competitive practices. This lawsuit, submitted on Monday in a Texas court, alleges a “conspiracy to monopolize the smartphone and generative AI chatbot market.”
Earlier this month, Musk had hinted at legal action against Apple and OpenAI, criticizing ChatGPT and claiming that other AI companies faced barriers to reaching the top of the App Store. Musk’s Xai has developed a chatbot called Grok.
The lawsuit challenges a significant collaboration between Apple and OpenAI. That partnership was announced last year, allowing Apple to integrate OpenAI’s AI functionality into its operating system. Musk’s legal action aims to disrupt one of Apple’s major ventures into AI and OpenAI’s standout partnership, accusing them of “restricting the market.”
According to the complaint, “The defendants have engaged in unlawful agreements and conspiracies to exploit Apple’s monopoly in the US smartphone industry while upholding OpenAI’s dominance in generative AI chatbots.” They are also seeking “billions in damages.”
OpenAI has dismissed Musk’s claims, characterizing the lawsuit as part of his ongoing vendetta against the company. An OpenAI representative stated, “This latest filing is indicative of Musk’s persistent pattern of harassment.”
Apple has not yet responded to inquiries for comment.
This lawsuit marks a new chapter in the longstanding feud between Musk and Altman. The two tech titans co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but have increasingly drifted apart, frequently engaging in legal disputes.
Musk departed from OpenAI after expressing interest in taking control of the organization in 2018, subsequently launching several lawsuits concerning its transition to a for-profit model. Altman and OpenAI have consistently rebuffed Musk’s criticisms, portraying him as a vindictive former associate.
“It’s unfortunate to see this from those we’ve held in high regard. He urged us to push our limits, but when we indicated we might fail, he formed competitor companies and made significant strides towards OpenAI’s mission without him.”
Tensions between Altman and Musk escalated earlier this month following Musk’s accusations directed at Apple. Musk claimed that Apple was manipulating App Store rankings to disadvantage other AI competitors, prompting a public exchange of challenges between the two tech leaders.
“It’s an unexpected assertion given that Elon claims to manipulate X for personal gain while undermining individuals he opposes,” Altman wrote in response to Musk’s claims about Apple’s favoritism toward OpenAI.
Currently, OpenAI is concentrating on a $500 million valuation, poised to become the most valuable private entity at $350 billion, surpassing Musk’s SpaceX, which holds the current title.
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OpenAI is set to acquire an innovative startup for $6.4 billion, marking its largest acquisition to date. The hardware startup, named IO, was established by Apple design legend Jony Ive, who is widely recognized as a key architect behind the iPhone. Sam Altman, the CEO of both IO and OpenAI, highlighted in a blog post that their partnership is expected to span two years.
“Our collaboration, rooted in friendship, curiosity, and aligned values, has rapidly expanded in ambition,” they noted in their blog, offering minimal specifics about the forthcoming devices. “Initial concepts and explorations have refined into tangible designs.”
The acquisition of IO by OpenAI is its most notable to date. According to the blog post, Ive and other alumni from Apple co-founded IO a year ago as part of a larger initiative called Lovefrom, which they describe as a “creative collective” of architects, artists, engineers, designers, musicians, and writers.
Ive departed from Apple in 2019 after spending 27 years as a leading product designer. He is celebrated for his minimalist aesthetics and meticulous attention to details such as packaging and typography. One of his early acclaimed designs was the vibrant, bubble-shaped iMac computer, followed by iconic products like the iPod, iPhone, MacBook Air, Apple Watch, and AirPods.
For his contributions to distinctive product design, Ive was knighted by Princess Anne at Buckingham Palace in 2012.
In a blog post shared on Wednesday, Altman and Ive stated that the IO team will integrate with OpenAI to foster closer collaboration with their research, engineering, and product divisions. Although Ive will not join OpenAI as an employee, his company will manage all of OpenAI’s design aspects, including software. Bloomberg.
Since launching Lovefrom and leaving Apple, Ive has largely remained low-profile, and IO has yet to unveil any hardware. However, reports suggest that the company has clients such as Christie’s, Airbnb, and Ferrari. Another venture IVE is pursuing is the design of Lovefrom’s headquarters in San Francisco. The New York Times detailed that Ive is tasked with creating the headquarters for the entity he is developing at OpenAI.
While OpenAI hasn’t yet revealed any hardware products, it indicates a future direction in that realm. The company has hired hardware and robotics experts, including Caitlin “CK” Karinovsky, who previously led Meta’s Augmented Reality Glasses initiative. In her LinkedIn announcement, Karinovsky mentioned that her new focus at OpenAI will be on “robotics projects and partnerships aimed at integrating AI into the physical realm.” OpenAI is also investing in robotics startups including Physical Intelligence, stating, “We intend to bring general AI into the physical world.”
Investors have been actively funding OpenAI in recent years, with a current valuation of $300 billion, according to Bloomberg. In March, OpenAI completed a $400 billion funding round led by the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. Microsoft holds a 49% stake in the AI company after its $13 billion investment in 2023.
In addition to the acquisition of IO, OpenAI has also pursued other significant purchases in the past year. Earlier this month, it acquired the AI-assisted coding tool Windsurf for $3 billion, and last summer, it purchased Rockset, a real-time analytics database, for an undisclosed amount.
Immerse yourself in the vibrant ethos of San Francisco, where the future of cyberpunk is already unfolding. Self-driving vehicles? Boring. A venture aiming to resurrect woolly mammoths? Absolutely, why not! Summoning a god-like AI capable of eradicating humanity? Why not.
Just like you did on Wednesday evening, you might find yourself in a bustling venue in the Marina district, gazing at a luminous white sphere, commonly referred to as an orb, as it scans your eyes in exchange for your cryptocurrency and World ID.
The event was organized by World, a startup based in San Francisco, co-founded by the enterprising Sam Altman, known for his ambitious (or depending on your perspective, unsettling) technological initiatives.
This is essentially the core proposition of the company. The internet is on the brink of being overwhelmed by a multitude of realistic AI bots, making it nearly impossible to discern real individuals on social networks, dating platforms, gaming sites, and other digital realms.
To address this issue, World developed a program called World ID, akin to Internet clearance or TSA Precheck, enabling users to authenticate their humanity online.
To sign up, users gaze into the orb, which captures their iris scans. Following that, they complete a few prompts on a mobile app to attain a unique biometric identifier, stored on their device. The system includes built-in privacy features, assuring that no iris images are retained, only a numeric code linked to the user.
In return, participants earn a cryptocurrency named WorldCoin. (As of Wednesday night, the sign-up bonus was estimated to be valued at around $40.)
During the event, Altman framed the initiative as a response to a dilemma he termed “trust in the AGI era,” as artificial general intelligence is on the horizon and increasingly human-like AI systems are coming to fruition.
“We wanted to ensure that humans remain unique and pivotal in a landscape brimming with AI-generated content online,” Altman explained.
Ultimately, Altman and World’s CEO Alex Blania contend that a solution like WorldCoin is essential for redistributing wealth generated by powerful AI systems to humans, potentially in the form of a universal basic income. They delved into varied methods for establishing a “real human network,” merging proof-of-human verification with financial systems enabling validated individuals to transact with one another.
“Our initial concept seemed quite radical,” Altman remarked. “Then we embraced our craziness and evolved into World.”
Launched globally two years ago, the project initially gained traction in developing regions such as Kenya and Indonesia, where individuals queued for ORB scans in exchange for cryptocurrency incentives. The company has secured about $200 million from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures.
However, challenges arose. The global collection of biometric data has drawn criticism from privacy advocates and regulatory bodies, leading to the company being banned or investigated in locations like Hong Kong and Spain. Reports of fraud and worker exploitation tied to the project’s crypto-based reward mechanism have also surfaced.
Despite these issues, the venture appears to be expanding swiftly. According to Blania, approximately 26 million individuals have signed up for the app worldwide since its debut, with more than 12 million undergoing ORB scans to confirm their humanity.
Initially, the world was kept separate from the US due to regulatory concerns, but the Trump administration’s crypto-friendly policies created an opportunity.
On Wednesday, World announced plans to launch in the US, with retail outlets slated to open in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Nashville. They aim to install 7,500 orbs across the country by year-end.
The company also unveiled a new version of the ORB, dubbed the Orb Mini. This device resembles a smartphone, yet performs the same function as the larger orb. World has established partnerships with gaming company Razer and the dating conglomerate Match Group.
Uncertainty lingers about the potential for profitability, or whether privacy-conscious Americans are inclined to share their biometric data for cryptocurrency, as many in developing regions have done.
Moreover, it remains to be seen if the world can overcome the inherent skepticism surrounding the peculiar and foreboding aspects of the initiative.
For my part, I recognize the necessity for a method to distinguish bots from humans. However, the proposed solution—a global biometric registry sustained by volatile cryptocurrencies and monitored by private entities—might resemble a “Black Mirror” episode that struggles to achieve widespread acceptance. Even during Wednesday’s event, I observed numerous attendees hesitating to approach the orb amidst a crowd of eager early adopters.
“You can’t easily discard your personal data. It’s essentially your eyeball data at stake,” remarked one tech worker.
Altman’s global affiliations are also under scrutiny. Attendees noted that, through his role at OpenAI, he might be perpetuating the very issue World aims to rectify (an internet flooded with engaging bots).
Nevertheless, Altman’s connections could potentially accelerate World’s growth, especially if collaborations with OpenAI come to fruition or if it becomes integrated with an AI product. Perhaps OpenAI is planning a social network feature with a “Verified Humans Only” setting. Additionally, users who contribute beneficially to OpenAI’s products might one day earn WorldCoin.
(Note: The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement regarding news content related to AI systems, a claim which both companies deny.)
Furthermore, societal norms regarding privacy may shift in favor of the initiative, and what seems unusual today could become the norm tomorrow. (Think back to when seeing an airport biometric kiosk felt bizarre—did you vow to never share your biometric details?)
When my turn arrived to approach the orb, I removed my glasses, opened the World app, and adhered to its instructions (Look this way, adjust my position). The orb’s camera recorded the details of my iris and paused for a moment. The rings surrounding the orb glowed yellow, accompanied by a cheerful chime.
Minutes later, I had secured WorldCoin Tokens alongside a World ID and had around 39.22 tokens (valued at $40.77 at current rates). If I manage to transfer them from my phone, I will donate to charity.
My ORB scan was swift and painless, but I felt a subtle sense of vulnerability throughout the night. Conversely, many attendees appeared unfazed.
“What’s the big deal? What am I concealing?” remarked social media influencer Hannah Stocking as she prepared for her orb scan. “Who really cares? I’m all in.”
Canadarm2, ISS robot arm built by the Canadian Space Agency
ESA/NASA
The most accurate clock in space will start within a few days and start building highly synced networks from the best clocks on the planet. However, the project will only work for a few decades, and only a few years before it burns out as hair removal for the International Space Station at the end of the decade.
Atomic Clock in Space (ACES) is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission that generates time signals with unprecedented accuracy and transmits them to nine ground stations via lasers as they pass over the overhead at 27,000 km/h. This watch network is very closely synchronized and provides extremely accurate timekeeping around the world.
As a result, ACES can test Einstein’s theory of general relativity. This states that the passage of time is influenced by the strength of gravity and is very accurately affected. It also supports all research, from dark matter to string theory.
ACES is scheduled to be released on April 21st for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Upon reaching the ISS, the Canadarm2, the Canadian Space Agency’s robotic arm, attaches it to the outside of ESA’s Columbus Laboratory, where it remains in a vacuum in the space.
The package actually consists of two clocks. One is called SHM, which can be kept stable for a short period of time. Together, these watches are extremely accurate, losing less than a second for over 300 million years. It is 10 times more accurate than a GPS satellite clock.
Pharaohs are basically modeled on Paris’ atomic clocks that occupy the entire room. Its technology was no more than a cubic meter, miniaturization to something that could allow rocket launches and survive the harshness of living in space was by no means a feat.
To generate an accurate clock signal, the pharaoh expels a fountain of cesium atoms cooled to absolute zero and observes its interaction with the microwave field. On Earth, devices of 3 meters are required, but at microgravity, these atoms move slowly and are sprayed into smaller fountains, making them much smaller.
Simon Weinberg The ESA says that simply placing a teaspoon close can create an electromagnetic field strong enough to destroy the watch. “Just putting it in context, it’s better than the 100 million seconds we’re trying to measure here,” says Weinberg. “So it’s one hell of challenging work.”
The ACES concept dates back to the 1990s and was originally scheduled to be released at the Space Shuttle, which retired in 2011. Once you reach space, the first signal will not reach the Earth-bound clock for a year and a half. It takes about six months to outsource the device.
The ACES then operates until 2030, after which the ISS intentionally crashes into the Earth’s atmosphere and burns out. By that point, the new ultra-precision watch known as optical watches likely have created an atomic clock that has become obsolete on Earth, but by then it may not be small or robust enough to be used in space.
At one point, Weinberg says the ESA is aiming to launch a new generation of ACEs to replace what was lost in the ISS, whatever the technology was most appropriate back then. “We’ll go a long way from doing it, and we have to gather support, fundraising and more to make sure that happens.”
Elon Musk announced on Friday that his social media company, X, sold its artificial intelligence startup, Xa, in a rare financial arrangement within the business empire of the world’s wealthiest man.
The total stock trading valued Xai at $80 billion and X at $30 billion. X’s price fell from the $44 billion it paid to social media companies in 2022, but it was still higher than the $12 billion valuation given by some X investors recently. Xai’s final valuation in the December funding round was about $40 billion.
The two companies are private and already share important resources such as engineers. Xai’s chatbot, Grok, is trained with data posted by X users and is available in X. A banker at X for X informed investors that a portion of the social media company’s revenue came from Xai.
In his post, Musk wrote, “The future of Xai and X are intertwined. Today, we have officially taken a step towards combining data, models, calculation, distribution, and talent. The total company will provide a smarter, more meaningful experience to billions of people, while still remaining true to our core mission of improving knowledge in search of truth.”
The deal highlights Musk’s ability to manipulate different parts of his business empire. He merged the company that had lost value, X, with the company that had gained value, Xai, in a strategic move. Musk previously executed a similar strategy in 2016 when he used Tesla’s stocks to acquire SolarCity.
While Tesla is publicly traded, most of Musk’s other companies, like SpaceX, The Boring Company, and Neuralink, are private and less transparent. Musk often reallocates resources and employees among his businesses, operating them as a single entity.
X’s CEO, Linda Jaccarino, expressed concerns about the future, indicating a downturn in fortunes. X and Xai operate in different orbits, with X being more widely known. Since Musk’s acquisition, X has struggled financially due to controversial decisions and a decline in advertiser confidence.
According to Fidelity, X’s valuation plummeted to $12 billion in December. Some advertisers have returned to X recently, hoping for Musk’s favor, but the company has not yet achieved financial stability.
Xai was founded by Musk in 2023 to compete with OpenAI. Musk’s strategic moves and financial decisions have had a significant impact on X’s performance and revenue generation.
Despite challenges, the company remains resilient and continues to work towards its revenue targets. X’s focus on innovation and growth reflects its commitment to delivering value in the tech industry.
Musk’s vision for Xai and X reflects a strategic alignment of data, technology, and talent. The convergence of these resources aims to revolutionize the user experience and enhance knowledge discovery.
With Musk at the helm, X and Xai are poised to unlock new potentials and drive growth in the tech ecosystem. The integration of their capabilities will redefine the boundaries of innovation and propel the companies to new heights.
As Musk continues to navigate the complexities of business and technology, his visionary leadership will shape the future trajectory of X and Xai. The synergy between these entities promises a transformative journey towards excellence and impact in the digital landscape.
News of the trading deal on Friday was met with enthusiasm within X. Jaccarino’s message to employees underscores the excitement and optimism surrounding the company’s future prospects.
As X and Xai embark on a new chapter of growth and innovation, the resilience and determination of the team will drive them towards success. Musk’s strategic vision and leadership will guide the companies towards a future filled with limitless possibilities and achievements.
The company has collaborated closely with the UK government on artificial intelligence safety, the NHS, and education. They are also working on AI development for military drones.
Their defense industry partners note that Faculty AI has experience in developing and deploying AI models on UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles).
Faculty is one of the most active companies offering AI services in the UK. Unlike other companies like OpenAI and Deepmind, they do not develop their own models, focusing instead on reselling models from OpenAI and providing consulting services on their use in government and industry.
The company gained recognition in the UK for their work on data analysis during the Vote Leave campaign before the Brexit vote. This led to their involvement in government projects during the pandemic, with their CEO Mark Warner participating in meetings of the government’s scientific advisory committee.
Under former chancellor Rishi Sunak, Faculty Science has been testing AI models for the UK government’s AI Safety Institute (AISI), established in 2023.
Governments worldwide are racing to understand the safety implications of AI, particularly in the context of military applications such as equipping drones with AI for various purposes.
In a press release, British startup Hadean announced a partnership with Faculty AI to explore AI capabilities in defense, including subject identification, object movement tracking, and autonomous swarming.
Faculty’s work with Hadeen does not involve targeting weapons, according to their statements. They emphasize their expertise in AI safety and ethical application of AI technologies.
The company collaborates with AISI and government agencies on various projects, including investigating the use of large-scale language models for identifying undesirable conduct.
The Faculty, led by Chief Executive Mark Warner, continues to work closely with AISI. Photo: Al Tronto/Faculty AI
Faculty has incorporated models like ChatGPT, developed in collaboration with OpenAI, into their projects. Concerns have been raised about their collaborations with AISI and possible conflicts of interest.
The company stresses its commitment to AI safety and ethical deployment of AI technologies across various sectors, including defense.
They have secured contracts with multiple government departments, including the NHS, Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Education, and Department for Culture, Media and Sport, generating significant income.
Experts caution about the responsibility of technology companies in AI development and the importance of avoiding conflicts of interest in projects like AISI.
The Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Technology has not provided specific details on commercial contracts with the company.
The alternative relationship dating app has experienced global expansion and nearly doubled its revenue last year, thanks to non-monogamous, queer, and kinky users.
Founded by an entrepreneurial couple in an open relationship, Feeld is “on a mission to elevate the human sexual and relationship experience” from its registered office in Carlisle, Cumbria.
Feeld has surged in popularity due to the increasing interest in non-traditional relationship structures like polyamory. Last year marked its first time filing full accounts with Companies House.
The company’s revenue increased from £20.7 million to £39.5 million, with profits rising from £2.4 million to £5.5 million in 2023.
Most revenue comes from outside the UK, with £33 million in sales from overseas. The app is free to download globally but charges users for full services.
Founded in 2014 by Dimo Trifonov and Ana Kirova, Feeld (formerly 3nder) arose from their openness about their relationship.
Ana Kirova is CEO of Feeld, a company founded by her partner Dimo Trifonov. Photo: Field
Kirova joined the company early on when it faced legal issues with Tinder. She became CEO in 2023 and led a rebranding and tech upgrade to resolve initial glitches.
Company filings show ownership shifts since Kirova’s appointment, with Trifonov transferring shares to her. Previously, Trifonov owned the majority of shares.
Feeld’s growth involves strategic decisions rather than aggressive expansion. The company values member feedback and aims to support their personal journeys.
The company’s innovative approach has set it apart in the dating app industry, reflecting changing trends and member response.
Feeld’s growth story includes overcoming challenges, like a lawsuit from Tinder, to expand its team from eight in 2016 to nearly 50 employees.
An innovative British startup focusing on technology to prevent cold and damp in rental homes has received new funding to expand its operations. This comes as landlords are now recognizing the importance of addressing mold issues in older social housing units.
Switchey has raised £5 million, with existing investors AXA IM Aults and Octopus Ventures each contributing. The company aims to use this funding, combined with a previous investment round of £6.5 million led by AXA, to install its technology in 1 million UK social housing units.
Switchey’s technology, utilized by over 130 social housing providers, monitors humidity, temperature, and pressure to prevent mold, lower heating costs, and enhance communication between tenants and landlords.
The quality of social housing has been under scrutiny following the tragic death of a two-year-old who succumbed to mold in his rented flat. Switchy’s CEO Tom Robbins stated that there is a growing demand for improved housing standards, prompting landlords to seek technology-driven solutions.
The company aims to address the disparity in access to cost-saving technology, particularly for those struggling with heating bills. Switchey’s equipment has already made a significant impact, helping families living in unsafe conditions due to damp and mold.
In addition to reducing heating costs and improving housing conditions, Switchey’s technology contributes to environmental sustainability. The company is part of initiatives like the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to promote energy-efficient solutions.
Revenue at Switchey has doubled over the past three years, reaching £10 million in the last fiscal year. While focused on scalability, the company remains committed to its social and environmental mission.
Edward Kieran, a partner at Octopus Ventures, highlighted Switchey’s focus on social housing and environmental impact. The company has achieved B Corp Status and counts AXA as its largest shareholder.
Founded in 2015 by Adam Hudakowski and Ian Napier, Switchey has connected 35,000 devices in homes to date. The company aims to reach a million homes over the next five to ten years as a tribute to Napier, who tragically took his own life in 2019 but played a crucial role in shaping the company’s vision.
FDayton, in southwestern Ohio, has been fighting for a decade to break out of its Rust Belt past. New apartment complexes, hotels, and breweries cut into a landscape dominated by abandoned warehouses and general industrial decline. But today, that transformation is shifting gears and taking to the skies.
Hundreds of flight facilities will be built in the town where the Wright brothers pioneered manned flight 120 years ago. futuristic flying taxi Every year.
Joby Aviation plans to build electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft here in Dayton, rather than in its home state of California.
Joby’s Didier Papadopoulos cited several reasons for the company’s plans to hire up to 2,000 people at a time. $500 million facility It is scheduled to open next year north of Dayton.
For one thing, “aviation has an immense history. It’s the birthplace of flight,” Papadopoulos said recently. He also said, “Ohio has a talented and skilled manufacturing workforce and we look forward to hiring and training both local and national applicants.”
Some expect the aircraft, which is scheduled to debut at this summer’s Paris Olympics, to reshape not just air travel but the broader mobility industry. In recent years, many startups and established companies have entered electric flying vehicles, and the global eVTOL market is expected to reach a value of $1 trillion by 2040.
Joby positions itself as the “Uber of the sky.” The aircraft has space for one pilot and four passengers and can reach speeds of up to 200 mph (322 km/h). A test flight in November took the plane from Lower Manhattan to JFK International Airport in just seven minutes, compared to an hour by taxi or subway.
The company aims to operate commercial flights between New York City and Los Angeles in 2025. Taxi service from home to airport on Delta Airlines.
President Joe Biden is plowing billions of dollars into a new era of manufacturing, with much of the money going to the industrial Midwest as part of a broader move to reduce U.S. dependence on other countries for key technology products. is flowing into. Millions of dollars in government incentives are being poured into new semiconductor and other mobility projects in Ohio. michigan and other states are often associated with socio-economic decline more generally.
The move could be a major turnaround for Dayton, which has lost nearly half its population since the 1960s.
“Ohio is Advanced air mobility plans” said Ted Angell of the Dayton Development Coalition, Joby’s liaison. “No other state was leaning so far forward.”
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, located a few miles east of Dayton, is the largest single employer in Ohio and boasts significant federal military research and development spending power, resulting in It is attracting a growing ecosystem of space partners and startups. area.
Nearby Springfield, a city of 60,000 people, has also suffered years of manufacturing closures, but the U.S. Air Force is helping build a new National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence, which is expected to become a hub for the aviation industry. . korean companies And elsewhere too.
“For products like this, [Joby] Jennifer Clark, a regional planning expert at Ohio State University, said: “That’s just normal in the airline industry. Almost every airline you can think of does both defense and civilian manufacturing. The Dayton area knows that very well.”
While the creation of thousands of new skilled jobs in economically challenged areas like Dayton has been widely welcomed, some of these communities may bear the cost.
Dayton has long been known as a place with an abundance of affordable housing, but rising rental prices over the past year have pushed residents to form a tenant associationin other citylarge manufacturing plants fueled a significant increase in real estate prices.
Ohio state government is the largest Taxpayers $325 million in taxes We will support Joby’s facility construction.Montgomery County, Dayton was suggested Donate $1 million to the company as “development costs.”
“There’s a belief among economic development officials that doing all this recruitment, retention and expansion with individual companies is risky and not the best use of taxpayer dollars,” Clark said. Stated. “Most of the research shows that if we want to have sustainable economic development, we need to invest in our entire institutional infrastructure. But it’s a long game.”
Mr Joby’s initial announcement suggested 2,000 jobs would be created, but that number has now been reduced to approaching 1,200may rise.
Still, investment from companies at the forefront of mobility is seen as a welcome shot in the arm for a region that has seen decades of population decline. That’s evidenced by the fact that the new factory sits on what was once a U.S. Postal Service airmail facility.
Angell, of the Dayton Development Coalition, said many community colleges and universities in the area are adjusting by opening training programs to establish a pipeline of technicians for Joby and other airlines. Ta.
“I can’t tell you how many tours I’ve done with school kids,” he says. ” [new] A flying revolution is happening here. ”
Cocuus, a cutting-edge technology start-up headquartered in an industrial park on the outskirts of Pamplona, takes on a group of drunken tourists who willingly surrender to the sound of fate, horns and hooves during a bull run in a Spanish city. They are just as happy to embrace every bit of the clichés of their sector. A festival held every July.
Table soccer? check.lager and IPA on tap? check. Inspirational Message – Preferably an homage to Alice in Wonderland with “Before Breakfast She Believes in Six Impossible Things”? Check. How about sci-fi memorabilia, perhaps Tintin's moon rocket or Alien's xenomorph head? Check. clearly.
A clue as to what's different lies in the platters of oysters, tuna, foie gras, bacon, nuggets, steak and charcuterie displayed at the bar. Nothing is what it seems. Steak and pork do contain meat, but like other dishes, they are the result of years of research into “copycat foods,” culminating in the rapid burst of 3D printing.
Founded six years ago by Patxi Larumbe and Daniel Rico, Cocuus continues its loud and disruptive quest to fuse science, technology, and nutrition. It announced its existence three years ago when the duo decided to attract meat lovers in Pamplona and beyond by 3D printing steaks and posting them on social media.
Patsi Larumbe with 3D machinery to produce shrimp. Photo: Markel Redondo/Guardian
“I knew that if I was going to print something, it had to be something that would piss people off,” says Larumbe, who quit a €100,000-a-year job in construction materials to focus on the startup.
“We knew that printing a big steak would upset a lot of people in Spain, especially in northern Spain. So we printed the steak and posted it on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 700,000 people. We got replies. Most of them were people telling us to shove it up our butts. It was crazy and I was really happy.”
Even better, the product also attracted the attention of American food company Cargill, which is now one of Coccus' major investors. This Spanish company also specializes in formulations and machinery used in food printing, and for the past few years has designed and manufactured multi-nozzle printers that can create food products that mimic the taste and texture of meat and fish. . The hardware can also be painted on molded purees to look like a plate of chicken and chips or hake and peas, creating meals that stimulate the eyes and appetites of people with swallowing difficulties.
As befits a self-confessed bunch of sci-fi geeks, much of the inspiration comes from the transport plane that beams the crew of the USS Enterprise between the ship and the planet's surface. Larrambe said Social Media Steak is the result of experimenting with the idea of converting steak cells into data that can be teleported. After taking X-rays and cross-sectional scans of real steaks, they located the cells that make up the meat, fat, and bones, converted them into data, and entered them into a printer.
Larumbe cooks 3D vegan steaks. Photo: Markel Redondo/Guardian
“We're a group of physicists, geometry mathematicians, geeks, and Star Trek and Star Wars enthusiasts who are starting to research food,” Larumbe says. “Every food company studies things in very similar ways, using nutritionists and food technologists, and they come to very similar conclusions to existing ones. To come up with new cakes. If you get a bunch of bakers together, they'll come up with something very similar to what already exists and what we know as cake.”
But if you combine a physicist with a nutritionist, a machine maker, a baker and a comedian, he added, “you'll create a new kind of cake.”
Cocuus' bacon and foie gras are made from a rich vegetable paste, while the steaks are made with real beef from 50kg of meat that would otherwise be discarded or made into cat food when cows are slaughtered. The fat in steak marbling is made from a vegetable mixture and is much lower in saturated fat than the real thing.
Mr Larumbe exudes confidence in his products as surely as his printers extrude meat and vegetable pastes, but he also takes a swipe at many of his supposed rivals and says they've made light work of the vegan burger boom in recent years. He dismissed it as a “bubble” and pointed out the huge costs and low costs. Yields of lab-grown meat.
Cocuus' 3D printed meat steaks contain real beef. Photo: Markel Redondo/Guardian
When asked what sets his company apart in an already crowded field, he insists it's scale. Cocuus and its partner Foody's have sold 80,000 pieces of meat-free foie gras and 200,000 pieces of cholesterol-free vegan bacon since the products hit Carrefour store shelves last September. Cocius also has the production capacity to produce 1,000 tons of bacon and his 3,000 tons of foie gras annually at his factory in the city of Tudela.
“We are the first company in the world to successfully do this on an industrial scale rather than on an experimental scale,” says Larumbe.
“Secondly, our imitation is complete and has never existed before. There was a vegetarian version, but the content was bad. Thirdly, there is something fundamentally wrong here. We have scientists coming up with different formulations and technologies. All of this means we are the most advanced company in the world in this field, and one that partners with the largest international food companies. about it.”
What has the local reaction been like in areas where beef is highly revered?
Making bacon without pigs or “seeing a bunch of idiots make steaks with 3D printing” may not be appealing to Navarre's farmers, Larumbe admits. But after learning more about the company and understanding that more money could be made for the cows thanks to new technology that utilizes parts that were traditionally thrown or fed to cats, many He says people are coming.
Once again, after spending an hour or two with him, you get the impression that Larumbe doesn't really care about other people's opinions.
“Humanity progresses because of people who disagree,” he says. “There is no progress if you and I agree. We don't agree on everything.”
Russ Heddleston, CEO of Dropbox’s DocSend, says that as valuations fall, founders are more than ever “convinced that their company is built to survive with long-term profitability and scalability in mind. “I need to prove that,” he wrote.
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According to data from DocSend, investors aren’t looking at proposal materials as seriously as they used to. However, there is still a market for early-stage deals. “For founders, perfecting their pitch, developing an efficient sales strategy, and quickly narrowing down their product scope will lay a strong foundation for success in attracting investors.”
Thank you for reading. I hope you have a nice vacation.
Ask Sophie: Is it still easy for AI founders to get a green card?
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Cryptocurrency valuations “back to reality” in 2023, but venture capitalists expect them to rise again in 2024
Image credits: Getty Images
It hasn’t been a great year for cryptocurrency companies, but change may be on the way. Experts told Jacqueline Melinek that crypto trading is likely to become active again in 2024. “The tougher funding environment in 2023 only culled out weaker companies that were able to secure capital in 2021,” she wrote.
From Seed to Series A: Strategic Insights for Technology Founders in the 2024 Venture Environment
Image credits: Getty Images
A new report from Forum Ventures provides a good look at the current state of early-stage B2B SaaS investing.
While the data may be discouraging, the silver lining is that rounds are still being made and companies that find product-market fit will likely scale up in the next few years, likely in the next bull market. “This means they should benefit,” wrote the CEO of Forum Ventures. Managing Partner Mike Cardamone.
on the face (expression) With the recent economic downturn and concerns about the startup bubble bursting, you may be surprised to hear that startups are doing better than you think. I’ve talked to a lot of founders who are struggling to raise money, and it’s a real problem. However, there are some startups that focus on business fundamentals and are still thriving.
Dig deep into the data of emerging accounting firms Kurze Consulting Startups that can focus on fundamentals, i.e. startups that are run more like a “real” business rather than the “growth at all costs” mentality of the past few years. This indicates that the company is in a serious situation. Decent shape. Looking at the numbers, this shows up as an increase in median runway length, lower operating costs, and a promising increase in profitability.
A leaner run than I expected. image credits: Kruse Consulting
“Average burn is down this year due to lower operating expenses, which means founders are focused on being more efficient,” said Kruze Consulting Vice President of Financial Strategy. one Healy Jones told me. “Of course, much of that is due to headline-grabbing layoffs (so nothing to brag about), but on the other hand, founders are learning how to use their capital more effectively, which is good for the ecosystem. it’s a good thing.”
Median startup runway, the estimated length of time a company can operate before running out of cash, actually increased in the second half of 2023. Now it’s a staggering 12.5 months, which is significantly higher than 9-10 months. Typically expected after an average funding round.
The advent of the Internet, combined with the ability to customize items such as clothing, revolutionized marketing, especially for products, back in the day. We think we’re all familiar with the “March” phenomenon by now, no? Benefiting from this long-term trend are customized product startups focused on small and medium-sized businesses. visawas able to raise a large funding round even in this relatively flat market in 2023.
Following the $38.6 million (€32 million) Series C that I reported on in 2020, the Lisbon, Portugal-based startup is currently in the process of completing its $18 million ($19.78 million) Series “C2” (not yet fully completed). (not Series D). ) to enter the US market. This round was led by the previous lead investor Indico Capital Partners. This was again joined by fellow Portuguese investors, Iberis Capital and Rinse Capital.
This brings Bizay’s total funding to €72 million (approximately $79 million), but a spokesperson demurred when asked what the company’s current valuation was. However, outside observers are likely to estimate the current valuation to be between $180 million and $220 million.
It’s no surprise at all that customer products continue to perform well. Companies love to push out branded products, and advances in technology have made it easier and easier for markets to serve them. As of 2022, the global custom apparel market size (clothing only) is valued at over $48 billion. Be expected It is expected to grow to reach $70 billion by 2028. Even just a customized T-shirt. projected It is expected to be worth more than $3 billion by 2025.
According to Bizay, the company’s “special sauce” is its supply chain system for product customization, which combines merchandising, packaging, apparel, and a wide range of product customizations, allowing it to significantly reduce costs and deliver products They say they have succeeded in increasing the number of categories. Right down to a customized company bird watch if you wish.
Bizay co-founder Jose Salgado said by phone: It’s a way for them to express themselves.
And Salgado said if, for example, the Texas Broncos want 50,000 customized T-shirts, the company is “investing a lot of effort.”
“We can be competitive not only for small quantities, but also for medium and large quantities. We have done extensive work in research and development and have understood how to scale up. It’s about these huge setup costs. It’s about allowing suppliers to produce multiple orders at the same time within the same operation. This results in significant cost savings.”
He noted that the company has “no factories, no machinery, no inventory,” but instead enables a fairly complex value chain to deliver its products. We choose the best suppliers. So the supply chain has been optimized to a very large extent,” he told me.
It’s clear that there are opportunities for e-commerce not just for small and medium-sized businesses.
Also, part of what’s happening in the world is the explosion of the creative economy. For example, influencers are connecting their various social platforms to customized product platforms to make insane amounts of money.
Early this year, #Make and buy TikTok With over 71 billion hashtag views, it’s clear that influencer marketing is alive and well.
In fact, fans of Sheffield band ‘Bring Me The Horizon’ can buy one. Personalized BMTH T-shirt Simply connect your Spotify account or email to the band’s product website.
Of course, Bizay often competes with a number of print-on-demand shops, from Printful to Printify to Gelato to Gooten to Art of Where. The question is how to differentiate between these countless players.
Salgado disputes that these companies focus on a single technology, saying that many of them are vertically integrated and therefore rely on in-house production. . and independent of quantity and requirements,” he said.
Stephane Morais, Managing General Partner at Indico Capital Partners, added in a statement accompanying the financing: . We believe this can be replicated in the US market and will once again support the team in executing that expansion.”
So much for company customized goods, we all know that getting goods from a bankrupt company is schadenfreude, and that’s often the more glamorous part of this world.
With the collapse of brands like Silicon Valley Bank, phrases like “SVB goods” have reached the peak in search trends and eBay sellers List up a $1,000 SVB-branded blanket and a $249 wine and cheese board with the SVB logo.
Perhaps Bisray’s Series D will result in it scooping up all of the failing intellectual property of failed companies and launching its own store of “memorabilia of failure.”
Amid rising geopolitical tensions, many Chinese tech companies are recalibrating their overseas operations, often avoiding mention of their origins. A bold startup DP technology Stand out in the crowd. Working on the application of artificial intelligence to molecular simulations, DP (short for “Deep Potential”) believes that the collective power of “scientific research for humanity” will pave the way for its global expansion.
Founded in 2018 with renowned mathematician Weinan E as an advisor, DP provides a set of tools for performing scientific calculations. A process in which “computer simulations of mathematical models play an essential role in technology development and scientific research.” according to Definition by University of Waterloo. Areas that can benefit from scientific computing include: From biopharmaceutical research and automobile design to semiconductor development.
While the world is currently focused on using AI to generate text, images, and videos, DP is focusing on machine learning, which allows computers to automatically learn from the data they are given, and the real world. We found ourselves in a less developed field of combining molecular simulations for analysis. Products and systems via virtual models. Machine learning can be applied in combination to improve the speed and accuracy of simulations to solve problems in the physical world.
“Until now, in the absence of good computing or AI platforms, everyone relied on empirical trial and error. The process was often referred to as ‘cooking’ or ‘alchemy.'” DP CEO and founder Sun Weijie said in an interview with TechCrunch.
“This approach was relatively effective in the early stages of industrial development, when user expectations for iteration were not very high, but now [technological] “It’s progress,” he continued. “For example, consumers expect increased battery capacity every year and performance improvements with each new generation of vehicles. Traditional R&D models can no longer withstand these rapid market changes. you can’t.”
“Meeting the expectations of these rapid iterations will require breakthrough advances in research and development approaches,” he added.
To this end, DP has devised a software suite to help industry players discover and develop new products more efficiently. One is that we run a scientific computing platform that allows us to simulate physical properties such as magnetism, optics, and electricity. As a result of running these models, materials such as semiconductors and batteries can be designed faster and cheaper. He also operates his SaaS platform focused on preclinical research for drug discovery.
DP goes one step further by not only supplying software to industrial researchers and designers, but by selling services tailored to their needs and carrying out research and development processes for customers who cannot fully exploit the potential of their tools. I’m here.
This combination of SaaS and services business model has proven some early success in China. DP is expected to win contracts worth around 100 million yuan ($14 million) in 2023, up from “tens of millions of yuan” last year. The company is now preparing to bring that strategy to Western markets, where deep-pocketed giants like DeepMind dominate the space.
“There’s an old saying in China: ‘Children from poor families grow up early.’ We’re the poor kids compared to the likes of DeepMind and OpenAI because we have much less money on hand.” Sun said.
To date, the DP has focused on the following issues: $140 million Selected from a lineup of top Chinese VC firms, including Qiming Venture Partners and Hillhouse Ventures. For reference, 13-year-old DeepMind was acquired by Google in 2014 for over $500 million. The London-based AI giant made a whopping £477 million ($650 million) in 2020, reporting a profit of £44 million ($60 million). ) losses in 2019.
Sun claimed that despite having its physical headquarters in Beijing, DP was conceived with a global mindset thanks to the open source scientific and technical computing community it founded. deep modeling. Early stops in China were also more accidental than intentional. “Since international exchange has stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we decided to stop and work on monetization.” [in China] “For the first two years,” Sun said.
DP’s international expansion begins in the United States, where it opens offices and works with partners to market its products and services. The startup, which is looking to establish a presence in new markets, is looking to boost its reputation by leveraging the open source community and participating in what Sun describes as a relatively “close-knit” basic research exhibition. There is.
On the other hand, the DP’s international ambitions may run into obstacles from the ongoing decoupling that divides the United States and China in many areas, including scientific research. For example, back in August, Biden administration stretched narrowly The scientific partnership has underpinned U.S.-China relations since 1979.
But Sun exuded confidence in science’s resilience in the face of geopolitical complexity. “Both the fields of basic science and biopharmaceuticals are shared by all of humanity and are relatively open and inclusive. Relatively speaking, I think these regions are doing okay,” he said.
The last thing I wrote was breaker — a platform that connects record labels, artists, and brands with social media influencers to run large-scale campaigns in a programmatic manner — when it closed a $4.2 million round in 2021. In the past two years, Breaker has hired over 30,000 influencers and generated $3.5 million in deals with creators. Now, to fuel growth, Breaker has secured an additional $1.9 million in his investment at a valuation of $20 million.
Slow Ventures will lead the expansion, which the company will use for recruiting and product development. Breakr is led by Marc Benioff, a16z/TxO, former Tik Tok CEO Kevin Mayer, RGA Ventures, Charles Hudson (Precursor Ventures), Complex founder Rich Antoniello, and Ro Tony. To date, it has raised $8.7 million from an impressive list of investors including (Plexo). Capital), Ant Selah (WdrCo), and Quiet Capital.
While Breakr’s user growth highlights the scale of the creator economy, the modest size of this funding round and the total deal value over the past two years suggests that many of the sector’s business models are still It shows that it is in its early stages.
Still, there is much hope. goldman sachs I estimate that Total addressable market for creator economy could reach $480 billion by 2027.
Players who pay attention to and do business with Breakr will also tell their stories. These include Def Jam, Samsung, Billboard, Rolling Loud, Live Nation, Meta, Tidal, Epic, Kit Kat, P&G, Celsius, Mountain Dew, White Claw, and more. Labels and brands use Breakr to connect music to their campaigns. Meanwhile, musicians include Megan Thee Stallion, Future, Rick Ross, Gunna, J.I.D., Sleepy Hallow, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Pink, Young Thug, Kanye West, Brent Fayers, Toby Nwigwe, Includes the Pink Panther, Armani White, Charlie Ona Friday, and Nas. Investor).
There are many platforms on the market today that connect creators, brands, and content (not just music but other media) to build influencer campaigns. Breakr’s unique selling point is that it effectively treats this basic concept as a programmatic opportunity, similar to how online advertising is created, sold, and distributed today.
“Breakr wants to be Google Ad Words, powered by creators,” co-founder Anthony Brown told TechCrunch. “With the underlying audience data, a ton of liquidity, and intelligence capabilities, I think going to Breakr and spending $15,000 should be as easy as setting it and forgetting it on Google. We believe.”
The company recently started with a more hands-on approach and exited closed beta as a self-service SaaS platform. SaaS platforms are backed by wallets that act as escrow accounts. You can pay money from your wallet for your involvement and services provided.
“This move to a SaaS model aligns with our goal to streamline and democratize the influencer marketing process, making it more accessible and efficient for a wide range of users inside and outside the music industry.” Brown explained.
Currently, Breakr is set up like a three-sided marketplace. On the creator side, individuals submit their profiles to the platform to be considered for campaigns.
On the music side, artists (or labels) submit music to specific campaigns. And once the music is selected, it will be promoted to new audiences. Musicians may pay to have their music used, but as a result, they also take a cut of some of the revenue generated by the campaign.
On the marketing side, brands look for influencers to run promotions and access each influencer’s 40 data points (language, voice location, type of interests, etc.). You can also check those influencers’ past content and engagement rates, or more pointedly, scrutinize their brand safety and see if the influencer in question is dabbling in fake followers. You can also run some diagnostics (to determine how much of a factor, if any, it’s for them).
“The creator economy, especially the music sector, is rapidly evolving with a shift to direct, curated, and scalable relationships between digital marketers and creators. Traditional management tools are becoming obsolete and more efficient is paving the way for relationship-focused technologies. These include platforms that move away from high-cost, short-term campaigns and make it easier to deliver personalized content and offers to creators. “This trend toward continuous, evergreen marketing has proven to be effective, emphasizing the importance of ongoing engagement over one-off interactions,” said Brown.
While music marketing is the company’s main bread and butter, Breaker hopes to eventually branch out into other areas such as film and television.
melt waterwhich first made its name in media monitoring and has since become active in business intelligence using AI and big data analysis techniques, is welcoming new investors. VardhanThe Norwegian private equity firm, which earlier this year closed a more than $1 billion fund to invest in the expansion of high-tech companies, acquired an 11% stake in Meltwater, valuing the company at €542 million. 92 million dollars), with a stock value of approximately 542 million euros (approximately 592 million dollars). $65 million. But that’s not the only sticking point in the deal.
The investment will be made through Verdan, which will acquire a significant stake in Fountain Venture, an investment vehicle controlled by Meltwater’s founder and current chairman, Jørn Risegen.
Meltwater was listed on the Norwegian Stock Exchange until early this year.Mr. Risegen oversaw the company’s taking private. early this year The remaining stake was held through Fountain in a deal with two private equity firms, Alter and Merlin. (This go-private deal was the last disclosed valuation and the one currently cited by Meltwater.) Verdhan invested in Fountain Venture rather than directly in Meltwater. This is because, in partnership with Fountain, we plan to jointly invest in startups active in the following areas in the future. love.
Joakim Kaempferd, president of Verdun, said the partnership will also allow the company to acquire a stake in HR firm Jobilon, but Meltwater has much larger assets.
“The trade here is really a portfolio trade,” he said. “We have acquired Mr Jorn’s investment company and have an implied direct stake in Meltwater and Nordic recruitment company Jovilon, with Meltwater being the largest asset in our portfolio.” Jovilon’s current ARR is approx. 5 million euros, but Meltwater, which was founded in Norway but is now headquartered in San Francisco, has an ARR of about 500 million euros, he added.
The deal highlights several important themes in Europe’s technology industry and the world of venture capital.
The first is the fact that tech companies continue to put significant pressure on their valuations. Meltwater’s current market cap is just under $600 million, which is actually less than the funding the company raised over the years (more than $700 million) when it was a private startup. pitch book data), and less than half of its valuation when it went public in December 2020 at more than $1 billion.
The second is the nature of the trade at the moment and the efforts investors are making to avoid risk. The European market is particularly tight at the moment. Venture capital firm Atomico conducts deep research into Europe’s funding landscape each year (along with a number of third-party research firms and other companies participating in the ecosystem), and estimates that funding will be halved in 2023. It turned out that That has fallen to just $43 billion, with private equity firms participating more heavily in deals to make up for the decline from VCs.
In this context, it is noteworthy that Verdane chose to invest in Fountain Venture rather than directly in Meltwater. This would give Verdan a stake in Meltwater, as well as Jovilon and any other stake that Fountain and Lysegen might be interested in. Then you lose the leverage of focusing on just one business. Verdane itself has only recently begun spreading its wings into investing in startups across Europe and beyond. Partnering with a partner to help lead the way is a much lower-risk approach to more ambitious initiatives.
From a technology perspective, companies like Meltwater are at a crossroads these days. The company’s roots lie in humans physically sifting through stacks of newspapers every day, cutting out the parts that mention company names, collating them, and sending them to their customers so they can better track their status. It probably came from business. It was featured in the media.
The decline of print media digitized that effort, but then the rise of social media turned it into a broader game, sentiment analysis, where words became structured and usually unstructured data. Ta. The influx of a whole new set of tools to glean insights from data has turned a media challenge into a technical challenge. Meltwater built his AI in-house and acquired a series of companies in his analytics integration efforts. (The most high-profile of these acquisitions was undoubtedly DataSift, a groundbreaking company that was an early Twitter friend of his and used to monetize Twitter’s firehose.) has worsened.)
But now it has a much bigger competitive threat. Companies like OpenAI and generative AI innovations will once again change the game from a search (consumer and business) perspective and how all kinds of business intelligence work is performed.
Unsurprisingly, Lyseggen said Meltwater’s focus feels like a throwback to what is essentially a solved problem, although it could well be made more efficient by competitors. Despite this, we believe there are further opportunities for our company.
“I see OpenAI’s ChatGPT as the ‘Netscape moment’ that ushered in this new era,” he said. This is interesting. Although Netscape isn’t part of what we use today, it certainly changed the way the world searches for information. “AI is changing the game as players challenge the old guard. We think Meltwater’s tech stocks are already the most modern and AI-centric of its category. We’re going to continue to do that and we’re really looking forward to it. We’re working very hard.” Meltwater today announced that it produces approximately 1 billion daily transactions for its communications, marketing and PR clients. announced that they were analyzing the document.
The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Just sign up here and click on “The Station” to have our newsletter delivered to your inbox every weekend. Subscribe for free. Welcome to the station. It is the central hub for all past, present, and future means of moving people and goods from point A to point B. Hello! And goodbye! Well, at least until 2024. The station will be closed for a while until the end of this year. I would like to thank everyone who reads our weekly newsletter and sends me suggestions, tips, and criticism. Yes, I appreciate the thoughtful backlash. This year has seen new startups emerge (so many electric boat and RV companies, right?), more EVs on the roads, and numerous commercial milestones achieved in the self-driving vehicle industry. It was a year of lots of movement. Of course, there were dark moments and even shocking moments. Many startups went bankrupt, including a number of mobility SPACs, and layoffs remained widespread into the final months of the year. Two of the most surprising stories involve the self-driving car industry. Argo AI It made a comeback with a new AV startup funded by Softbank, but cruise. Cruise’s story continues to unfold and will likely play out until 2024. Last week was a tough week for Cruise, albeit as expected. As a result, the Cruise board, and by extension the GM board, are doing a housecleaning to restore years of technological advances. As part of that mission, nine top leaders were removed and 900 workers were laid off. We will continue to follow Cruise’s story next year. But that’s not our only focus. The TechCrunch team cares about the future of transportation, from new EV and battery technologies to electric and hydrogen aviation, self-driving cars, micromobility, and in-vehicle technology. It’s not just about highlighting the next new new thing. Instead, we strive to explain why it’s important and who it affects. In other words, we’re the kind of people who take unlikely exits and side streets to explore what others might avoid. Please join us. See you in the new year! Want to contact us with a tip, comment, or complaint? Email Kirsten at kirsten.karasec@techcrunch.com. Send your notes to tips@techcrunch.com. If you wish to remain anonymous, Click here to contact usthis includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps. micromobin The big talking point in Scooterville was the “seemingly” sudden decision. super pedestrian Just 18 months after raising $125 million, the company is closing its U.S. operations and beginning to consider selling its European operations. I don’t want to say I saw this coming, but given that in late November Superpedestrian began laying off several European executives responsible for global development and operations, Let’s just say I wasn’t shocked by the news. Superpedestrian’s Link scooters are available in about 60 cities in 11 countries, but are scheduled to be withdrawn from most markets by the end of 2023. The startup positioned itself as a partner for safe cities and invested in advanced passenger assistance technology by acquiring Navmatic in July 2021. That’s where Pedestrian Protection was born, Superpedestrian’s GPS-based safety system that could detect and correct unsafe rider behavior in real time. However, the system was competing with other camera-based computer vision systems popularized by Drover AI and Luna. Lime, the only big scooter company likely to survive, introduced its own version of rider-assistance technology on its scooters in July 2022, around the same time that Superpedestrian began cutting jobs. As the balance sheets of public companies Bird and MicroMobility.com (formerly Helbiz) demonstrate, shared micromobility is a difficult business to run properly. Bird has recently been kicked off the stock market, announced several layoffs and is likely close to filing for bankruptcy. MicroMobility.com has undergone not one but two reverse stock splits this year, and its stock price remains depressed. And after several failed acquisition talks, Tier Mobility also announced layoffs in November. Oh, and let’s not forget Boruto’s mysterious disappearance. My question now is who will be next to fly off to the great beyond? — Rebecca Beran This week’s sale We have lots of great deals this week! dimensional energy, a New York-based startup that develops sustainable aviation fuel from carbon dioxide emissions and water, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Envisioning Partners. Strategic investors include United Airlines Sustainable Flight Fund, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Rock Creek Smart Aviation Futures Fund, DSC Investments, Derek US, and New York Ventures, as well as Elemental Excelerator and Chloe Capital. Existing investors also participated. summer timea Chinese new energy vehicle fleet management company, has completed an $80 million funding round to fuel R&D investment and real-time computational analysis. exponential energyThe Indian EV charging startup has raised $26.4 million in Series B led by Eight Road Ventures and TDK Ventures. This funding will help Exponent expand its 15-minute charging solution to five major cities in India in FY2024 and enter the intercity e-bus segment. The company plans to deploy 1,000 charging stations and equip 25,000 EVs with Exponent by 2025. Ric the mobility-as-a-service startup has raised €1.4 million ($1.53 million) from Habert Dassault Finance, AfriMobility (Akwa Group), angel investors, and banks including Bpifrance, Crédit Mutuel, and Caisse d’Épargne. meta fuela sustainable jet fuel startup, has raised $8 million in a round led by Energy Impact Partners and Contrarian Ventures. Vanmo, a São Paulo-based startup looking to expand electric motorcycle battery swapping in Latin America, has raised $30 million in a Series A round to capitalize on the growing popularity of bikes across the region. The equity and debt round was led by Monasees, with participation from Climate Technology Fund 2150 and Maniv Mobility.
super pedestrian electric scooter
The startup known for its self-diagnostic software is shutting down its U.S.-based scooter-sharing business and considering selling its European operations, TechCrunch has learned exclusively.
Alexander Berg, the company’s director of U.S. operations, confirmed the news to his team on a Zoom call Friday afternoon. Berg said the reason for the closure was economic, but declined to provide further details. “Investors have also put in money to keep us going to this day,” he said on a conference call. “It’s not because I didn’t try hard enough.”
The closure comes as the startup raises equity and debt funding including investors from Jefferies, Antara Capital, Sony Innovation Fund by IGV, and FM Capital, in addition to existing backers such as Spark Capital, General Catalyst, and Citi. This comes just 18 months after the company raised $125 million in Series C funding. Via Citi Impact Fund.
However, since then, the electric scooter industry has been in a somewhat difficult situation. Bird’s valuation plummeted after its listing, and the company was forced to exit multiple markets.
Superpedestrian itself has experienced a series of layoffs, including one just months after the end of its Series C round. The latest incident happened earlier this month, according to a post on LinkedIn.
The company pulled out of Chicago in September, citing competitive difficulties, but said its scooters operate in more than 60 cities in 11 countries. A representative for the city of Waco, Texas, where Superpedestrian recently launched a scooter squad, said by phone Friday that he had no knowledge of the impending closure.
Superpedestrian used technology, specifically diagnostic and safety software, to differentiate itself from competitors like Bird and Tier. The company strengthened its technology efforts with the acquisition of Navmatic in July 2021.
Using Navmatic’s technology, we developed and deployed a so-called pedestrian protection safety system. This system is a feature designed to detect and correct unsafe riding behavior, such as riding on sidewalks, in real time. Superpedestrian had planned to build a new scooter with its own branded pedestrian protection features and roll it out to 25 cities in the U.S. and Europe in 2022. Initial rollouts were expected to begin in pedestrian-dense cities in the U.S. and U.K. by early spring, the company said.
Opendoor co-founder Eric Wu is stepping down from the real estate tech company. SEC filing.
Wu said in a statement: “After 10 years, I am being asked to go back to my startup roots and create and build again. I am humbled by this accomplishment and grateful to my teammates who have helped shape our product, our culture, and our company. Thank you very much.”
Mr. Wu will remain an advisor to the company and its board of directors. During his time at Opendoor, he remained an active investor.according to crunch baseMr. Wu has invested in dozens of companies, including Airtable, Scribe, Roofstock and the now-defunct Zeus Living.
The executive had been gradually reducing his executive responsibilities at Opendoor, which is nine years old. Last December, Mr. Wu announced that resign from one’s role as CEO He will serve as President of Opendoor’s Marketplace Division.
Like many other companies operating in the real estate sector, the company is facing some challenges as mortgage rates have risen to nearly 8%, making it difficult for people to buy a home.
In November 2022, Opendoor announced: Let go of about 550 peoplerepresenting 18% of the company across all divisions.
At the time, Wu said his company was navigating “one of the most difficult real estate markets in 40 years.”
Opendoor completed its listing in late December 2020. Scheduled merger Partnered with SPAC Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings II led by investor Chamath Palihapitiya. This comes after the company raised about $1.3 billion in equity funding and about $3 billion in debt funding. Investors include General Atlantic, SoftBank Vision Fund, NEA, Norwest Venture Partners, GV, GGV Capital, Access Technology Ventures, SV Angel, Fifth Wall Ventures, and more.
Founders include Wu and Founders Fund general partner Keith Lavoie.
It was a week when the founder left. On Thursday, TechCrunch broke the news that Credit Karma co-founder Nichole Mustard is leaving the company after more than 16 years.Jack Altman also announced his appointment. get off the lattice“I want to go back to the early stages of building the company,” Altman told Business Insider.
Have a news tip or inside scoop on a topic we’ve covered? We’d love to hear from you. Contact us at maryann@techcrunch.com. Or send us a note at tips@techcrunch.com. We will be happy to honor your request for anonymity.
tunnelSouth African parcel delivery platform has secured $1 million in pre-seed funding from investors including Founders Factory Africa, Digital Africa Ventures, E4E Africa and Jozi Angels.
The platform claims that e-commerce merchants can save between 50% and 80% on international shipping costs, and the funding will fuel expansion in its key market South Africa, as well as launches in other key African countries. He said that he would lay the foundation for the Emerging markets.
CEO Matthew Davey cum COO craig lowman Mr Davey founded the company in 2022 after seeking a solution to the challenges he faced as managing director of a Dutch company importing South African engineering materials into Europe. In his interview with TechCrunch, Davey said the process of moving these materials is cumbersome and expensive, and his experience shows that transportation costs are widespread, especially for small and medium-sized businesses in emerging markets like South Africa. I’ve come to recognize the problem.
Current challenges in cross-border transportation are costing African businesses an estimated $50 billion a year in missed opportunities. The founders of TUNL identified a recurring problem among small and medium-sized traders in South Africa during the pandemic. That meant that shipping costs could exceed the value of the item. This also applies to high-quality goods such as textiles, clothing, footwear, camera accessories, and specialty components, despite the presence of major courier services such as DHL, UPS, and FedEx.
Typically, Cape Town sellers offer only one shipping option, such as DHL, to customers looking to purchase goods abroad. For example, a backpack might cost $60, and shipping from South Africa to the US could be about the same, $50-60, which could negatively impact your conversion rate. What TUNL has done is partner with delivery services like UPS and FedEx to ensure reasonable rates and subsidize shipping costs for small and medium-sized businesses by 50% to 75%.
“Our pricing is fully transparent and democratized. We want every business, large or small, to be able to transform their international sales by reducing shipping costs as much as possible. We want to make sure they have an equal opportunity to do the same,” Lowman said in a statement.
On the TUNL platform, sellers offer a variety of shipping options to their customers at checkout. This includes an “economy” option that incorporates shipping costs into the product price, allowing free shipping via TUNL’s courier service and slightly longer delivery times (approximately 10-14 days). Reduce cart abandonment at checkout. Alternatively, customers can choose expedited shipping options (within a week) via FedEx or UPS for a more reasonable price, such as $10 for the same backpack, allowing for more flexibility and potentially higher exchange rates. (The exact price may vary depending on destination and weight, but Davey says this is a consistent approximate number).
“It’s all about helping sellers succeed,” said the CEO. “Because if there’s only one expensive shipping option at checkout and the customer has two choices, they’re not going to buy it. “They can decide to abandon their cart or pay up.” “But when you introduce two shipping options, especially a free shipping option, human psychology forces the customer to choose one of the two, rather than abandoning the cart. .”
Primarily, South African e-commerce merchants using TUNL tend to ship most of their goods to the US, UK, Europe and Australia. Two-thirds of the shipments end up in the United States, Davey said. TUNL, which competes with Ivorian startups and platforms such as DHL partner ANKA, has grown 35% month-on-month since its launch and now has more than 700 merchants in its “delivery club.” TUNL’s merchants shipped more than 8,000 international parcels in 2023, representing R19.5 million worth of exports from South Africa, the company said in a statement.
The two-year-old e-commerce platform makes money by taking a margin from orders placed on its platform. The products we handle are wide-ranging, including backpacks, fashion shoes, arts and crafts, books, nanofiber materials, high-performance springs, various furniture, musical instruments, cosmetics, and other preserved foods. South Africa is known for its wine industry, with exports reaching 368.5 million liters last year. And although the transport of wine (alcohol) is not yet included in TUNL’s export items due to existing restrictions, Davey said the startup is now one of South Africa’s largest wine subscription businesses and its business He said he is in discussions about the possibility of participating. .
“We are getting a message from our merchants that we have transformed their business. They are adding new employees and growing because of us. So if our merchants are only serving the South African market, “It’s a win-win for the ecosystem to make people feel like they can look at the world as a market, rather than the only market they can serve,” he said. “We help merchants grow internationally just as we help them succeed, because the overseas consumer market is much larger than the domestic market for these types of products. ”
Davey said TUNL, which makes about $60,000 a month, will now focus on using the seed funding to improve sales and the onboarding process for new franchisees. In particular, the onboarding experience has been streamlined, relying primarily on customer support assistance and taking a more self-service approach.
david placek is the president and founder of lexicon branding. In developing category-changing names such as Sonos, Pentium, OnStar, Swiffer, Febreze, and BlackBerry, Lexicon is one of the world’s most influential brand agencies with more than 3,700 naming assignments in 22 countries. became.
while slowing down With the venture capital (VC) market in decline and funding for disruptive startups likely to decline, companies looking to attract capital need a strong brand now more than ever. A strong brand starts with its name. Nothing is used more often or for longer. Moreover, it’s the one thing your competitors can’t take away from you.
A brand name is the basis for an immediate impact on consumers and investors. In today’s digital and global economy, it can mean the difference between a brand being instantly remembered or completely forgotten.
A brand name is more than just a label or a clever description. They serve as powerful marketing tools for creating or changing consumer perceptions and as the first step in building entirely new markets.
Start-ups in particular need a name that indicates that the company and its products are about the future, not the past. You need a company name that creates a brand image, resonates with your target market, and supports your business plan.
A startup needs a name that indicates that the company and its products are about the future, not the past.
A brand name is usually the first thing a potential customer sees or hears about your software or other digital intangible product. In a brand new industry that is just emerging, brands need a distinct, breakthrough name to garner attention and generate early market share.
When we partner with a startup to develop a new name, we use an internal checklist to ask if our recommendations pass the test. Here are his five questions we ask ourselves to ensure the name we create for our startup is memorable, distinctive, and stands out from the crowd.
Was the name an original idea?
Don’t be fooled by the adage that a great brand name tells your story. It is impossible to do that with just one word. Instead, your brand name is the foundation on which your brand story is built. Do you want to build on a rock or sand foundation?
A startup that realizes supply chain and e-commerce, omnifulltoday announced a $5.85 million venture led by VentureSouq with participation from 500 Global, DASH Ventures, Jahez Group, SEEDRA Ventures, Bunat Ventures, Hala Ventures, RZM Investments, and several family offices including Al Rasheed, Siraj Holding, Al It emerged from stealth with seed funding. Bawardi, Al Nafea.
The UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)-based startup builds systems for ordering, warehousing, and transportation management to help sellers leverage hyperlocal and omnichannel commerce to efficiently manage orders, allowing you to manage your inventory in real time. It also allows third-party logistics providers (3PLs) to efficiently manage workflows.
Mostafa Abolnasr, co-founder and CEO of Omniful, told TechCrunch that most retail companies are faced with the challenges of coordinating different sales channels, managing inventory flow, inventory accuracy, and picking and fulfillment times. He said the pain points for traders inspired him and Alankrit Nishad. If you have experience in e-commerce, get started. In addition, market research has shown that traditional software does not meet customer needs, is difficult to scale, is expensive, and takes time to implement, Abornsah said.
“We started with a vision to reimagine the technologies used today and in the future to operate supply chains, hyperlocal omnichannel retail, and e-commerce. We basically had to rethink every feature based on first principles and focused absolutely on four pillars: speed, accuracy, scale, and efficiency,” said Abornasr, adding that small sellers He added that he was also keen to reach out to the public.
“We’re looking at it from an impact and issue release perspective.”
Omniful provides merchants and third-party logistics providers with solutions that include tools for insight. image credits: Omniful
Large enterprises and small merchants using the technology will be able to leverage a variety of sales channels, reduce labor costs per store, and reduce fulfillment times by up to 40% and 70%, respectively.
Initial customers for Omniful’s globalized products include major retailers and third-party logistics providers in several markets, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Abornasr said the company’s technology can process a minimum of 3 million orders per day per customer, making it suitable for customers seeking growth. This also sets the stage for growth plans that include expanding the customer base in other parts of the world, including Africa and India, where R&D centers are located.
“We believe Omniful has its own wide range of applications and offers a lot of space to run. Here in MENA [Middle East and North Africa], the concept of trading is embedded in our history. There is a well-established tradition of excellent retail franchises in the region and Omniful will strengthen that and give us a competitive edge in an increasingly dynamic environment,” said Tammer Qaddumi, General Partner of VentureSouq. says Mr.
“Omniful is universal, adaptable, and global, and has already found use in several large markets. We truly believe that it is a borderless solution that can also serve as an integrator.”
IRL founders Abraham Shafi and Genrik Khachatryan are suing investors for intentionally sabotaging the company.
At its peak, IRL was poised to become an alternative way to host events for Gen Z, who were using Facebook less and less.
CEO Shafi said: Paused It was ordered by IRL in April to investigate allegations of misconduct. In June, IRL’s board of directors discovered after an investigation that 95% of the company’s 20 million users were fake. The founders now claim investors accounted for the 95% figure “as an excuse to shut down the company and return capital to shareholders.”
The lawsuit specifically names Goodwater Capital’s Chihua Qian, SoftBank’s Selina Dale, and Floodgate’s Mike Maples. From these investors his social calendar app raised more than $200 million and the valuation brought him $1.17 billion. Notably, SoftBank led IRL’s $170 million Series C round in 2021. Mr. Shafi and Mr. Khachatryan accused the investors of wanting to shut down the company because they were “trying to finance a large portion of the company’s $40 million in cash reserves.”
Although IRL is defunct, the remaining board members deny the founders’ claims.
“Immediately after the Shafi outage, IRL experienced a significant drop in the number of daily active users virtually overnight. This was not due to an outage,” IRL and its board said in a statement, and an IRL spokesperson said: Elliott Sloan shared with TechCrunch. The same report that found 95% of users are fake also cited “the existence of private groups with millions of duplicate names, irregular signatures from Hotmail, Yahoo email addresses, and burner email addresses. The statement said they also discovered “suspicious user behavior such as Said. Forensic reports show that his IP address from proxy-his servers was used extensively, with individual accounts cycling through his IP address and device type, which could be linked to user behavior. indicates that it is invalid.
“Based on this, and evidence of Shafi’s misappropriation of company funds and repeated obstruction of investigations, the board, after several months of consideration, has concluded that the company’s future prospects are unsustainable.” The statement concludes.
As of December of last year, the SEC. ongoing investigation IRL may have misled investors and violated securities laws.
IRL is just one once-hot start-up that has come under fire for potentially tampered metrics. Investors say Bolt and co-founder Ryan Breslow of the giant one-click checkout company misrepresented the company’s financials as it sought to raise $355 million in a Series E round. raised concerns and faced SEC investigation. But 15 months later, the SEC said the company likely not to be prosecuted. And earlier this year, the SEC charged student financial aid startup Frank with defrauding JPMorgan, which acquired the company for $175 million in 2021. JPMorgan has filed a lawsuit accusing Frank’s founder Charlie Jarvis of defrauding millions of customers to get her bank to buy her. company.
AI technology is According to , it helps startups become leaner and more cost efficient. Latest report from Battery Ventures. Conversely, Battery expects low-burn startups to become even more valuable if growth rates remain attractive.
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That’s an interesting paper. When we think of AI from a startup perspective, we tend to think about what AI-powered software startups themselves build. If we turn the question of what AI software does, for Battery sees a future where startups are worth many times their revenue. This could allow more emerging technology companies to receive venture-backed or full-stop support, and increase the chances that existing startups can grow to their previous valuations.
The issue is the amount of software revenue. The story of a rebound in tech stock prices from 2021’s market gluts is a familiar one by now, and startups can’t get any hotter than they once were when money was cheap and plentiful. The same view applies.
But what’s the point of a profitable startup if it can’t grow quickly? Seems unlikely. So what venture investors want above all, and founders do too, is a world where every dollar of revenue a startup generates is worth more. This situation will help the venture math pencil to draw more neatly.
It’s much easier to invest in a cash-burning startup when the revenue you’re building is worth, say, $9 instead of $6. Or $4.
YC’s Black Alumni Tells How They Raised $107 Million
Cold outreach with a warm touch: Here’s a quick pitch I emailed to investors
sometimes non-traditional The route will lead to the best results. Zack Coeliusis a managing partner at Coelius Capital and started out as an entrepreneur. Over the past 20 years, he has founded many companies and after successfully exiting one of his ventures into the world of angel investing through a syndicate.
and after a while that His connections led him to VC, but not as part of a group. Essentially, Coelius’ connections and reputation allow him to serve as the sole general partner (GP).
In this column, I’ve summarized the takeaways Coelius shared with me about his experience getting his foot in the door, how to leverage favor, and the strategies he found most useful as a solo GP.
Focus on the founders first
If you want to become a VC, you should get involved with some VCs, right? Not necessarily, Coelius says.
That’s the problem largely Entry-level investors go to VCs first. But unless you’re a close friend of the VC, they probably aren’t offering you quality deals. Investors keep the best deals to themselves, so you probably won’t have access to the best unless you start making significant changes.
Not ready to put your trust fund or wealth from a successful exit to work? Coelius has a better and cheaper proposition. It’s about making friends with the founders. Then please help them.
At the end of the day, it all comes back to relationships. The more you support VCs, founders, and the startup community at large, the more prestige you’ll gain.
This requires a lot of networking, but being able to bridge the gap between founders and VCs can be a huge boon for founders. And if you can be helpful at a critical time, you’re more likely to be rewarded and get involved in the deal.
But don’t give it away. No one likes to be bound by strict agreements. Rather, it’s a “you get what you give” situation. Founders don’t want to feel like you’re tying them down, so keep it casual.
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