~the-next-web | Bookmarks (126)

Stuttgart, Germany-based Sereact has secured €25mn to advance its embodied AI software that enables robots to carry out tasks they were never trained to do.  “With our technology, robots act situationally rather than following rigidly programmed sequences. They adapt to dynamic tasks in real-time, enabling an unprecedented level of autonomy,” said Ralf Gulde, CEO and co-founder of Sereact (short for “sense, reason, act”). Early...

A startup called Scenexus has unveiled plans to build digital twins of cities around the world. A spin-off from Dutch research organisation TNO, Scenexus launched this week with a new platform for urban planning. The software blends multiple datasets to clone entire cities and regions. Planners and engineers then use the replicas to precisely analyse the impacts of their ideas. According to Scenexus, the...

Four billion years ago, Earth was a fiery, tumultuous world of molten rock, volcanic eruptions, and toxic skies, with searing heat and the constant threat of asteroid impacts. Thankfully, our planet has cooled off a bit since then. Nevertheless, the Earth still radiates vast amounts of geothermal energy. It’s a clean, limitless, always-on power source lying beneath our feet — we just have to...

Yet another deal has been signed between a publisher and a GenAI leader. Paris startup Mistral and news outlet Agence France-Presse (AFP) announced today that they are combining their services to improve AI responses. The deal provides Mistral’s chatbot — imaginatively named Le Chat — with access to all of AFP’s text stories.  According to Mistral, the integration will bring “enhanced factuality” to the...

Australian-German startup Quantum Brilliance has raised $20mn in Series A funding as it looks to deploy small, portable quantum accelerators that promise to supercharge the computational power of everything from data centres and robots to satellites. A quantum accelerator is a specialised hardware unit that speeds up specific quantum algorithms, or tasks. They act as co-processors to classical computers, such as CPUs or GPUs,...

TNW Conference will be born again this summer. Over 18 years of unforgettable events, countless future tech stars have used our stage as a springboard to success. We’ve driven vast investments, showcased endless innovations, and made friends along the way. We’ve also learnt from our mistakes. But don’t worry, fellow kids — we’re not getting old yet. We’re still mixing serious business with festival...

Synthesia has claimed the crown of Britain’s biggest GenAI company after raising $180mn at a $2.1bn valuation. The London-based business generates lifelike avatars for video content. Enterprises use the software to produce training content and corporate communications. The tech has made Synthesia a leader in the burgeoning synthetic media industry. According to the startup, over 60,000 businesses are customers — including more than 60% of...

Shift, a social enterprise founded by Dutch tech entrepreneur Don Ritzen, has announced its ambitious plans to construct a massive landmark designed to inspire action on climate change.  Shift aims to attract 1 million annual visitors to the “New World Wonder,” which it estimates will cost up to $250mn. The startup plans to build the monument in the Netherlands, and if that’s successful, construct...

Coming from South Africa but living in Europe, I can tell you that sending money to family and friends back home is a bit of a nightmare. Typically you must use a traditional bank, which can take a week or more, or payment apps like PayPal or Wise, which charge high fees.  The antiquated nature of remittance payments is something that immigrants are all...

More than half of knowledge workers now use generative AI weekly, according to a recent piece of research from Asana’s Work Innovation Lab, in partnership with Anthropic. The study also found that takeup ramped up by 44% over nine months in 2024. And those who use AI daily benefit most. Eighty-nine percent reported a productivity boost, whereas casual monthly users only saw a 39%...

Eindhoven-based startup Photon IP has raised €4.75mn in seed funding as it looks to scale up its unique method for creating energy-efficient photonic chips.   AI systems, data centres, fibre-optic networks, and even some sensors rely on photonic chips to send and receive information using light. These chips are a big deal because they’re faster and use less energy than typical semiconductors, which transfer data through...

In 2018, after decades of research and tens of millions in funding, Russian astronauts attached a wildlife-tracking receiver to the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS). The device received data from tagged animals across the planet and beamed it to a ground station in Moscow. From there, it went to an open-source database called Movebank.  The space tracker was the final piece of...

Scientists in the UK have forged 5.5 tonnes of a new kind of steel capable of withstanding the searing heat and intense neutron radiation of nuclear fusion, the same reaction that powers the Sun and stars. The breakthrough is another boost to Europe’s growing flock of fusion energy startups. A UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) working group called NEURONE produced the reduced-activation ferritic-martensitic steel,...

TNW has strengthened its support for European tech by adding ecosystems expert Yeni Joseph to the management team. Yeni has also started a new role as Head of Ecosystem Strategy and Partnerships.  The appointment brings extensive expertise to TNW’s leadership — and fresh ideas.  “TNW has a long-standing track record of catalysing innovation,” says Yeni. “We now want to focus on going from legacy...

London-headquartered biotech startup Verdiva has emerged from stealth with a whopping $410mn for a new range of drugs aimed at tackling the obesity epidemic. It’s one of Europe’s largest-ever biotech VC deals, signalling investor appetite for the booming weight loss market.  Verdiva looks to challenge the dominance of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, the makers of the two most popular weight loss drugs,  Ozempic...

The Dutch government has reached a deal with Nvidia to supply hardware and expertise for the construction of an AI facility in the Netherlands.  The facility will centre around an AI supercomputer aimed at accelerating research and development, as the country pushes to further digitalise its economy, according to a statement made Thursday.   The Dutch Minister for Economic Affairs Dirk Beljaarts is currently in...

Fifty of the fastest-growing tech firms in the Netherlands are in Las Vegas this week. The crew crossed the Atlantic to attend CES — the world’s biggest tech show. By their side is economic affairs minister Dirk Beljaarts, who’s on a mission to promote Dutch innovation. So is TNW. We’ve partnered with the Consumer Trade Association — which organises CES — on its annual Match...

XOcean has secured $115mn to expand its fleet of uncrewed surface vessels. Founded in 2017 by James Ives, XOcean builds autonomous boats that zip around the ocean, using sensors to gather large amounts of data on everything from the subsurface structures to the temperature and clarity of the seawater.  The bots — which are about the size of a small car — then relay...

German startup Vay plans to expand its “teledriving” fleet in Las Vegas to 100 electric vehicles — and you could get a job steering the cars.    Vay first launched the service last year, with just two Kia eNiros. It’s fleet has since grown to 30 EVs, which have completed 6000 rides so far.  When you open the Vay app and request a ride,...

French upstart Circular has unveiled a fresh challenge to Oura — the current lord of the smart rings. Circular has just released a new smart ring that offers two key advantages over Oura, which currently dominates the global market for the trendy wearables, which monitor your health metrics and display the info on an app.      Dubbed the Circular Ring 2, it’s a quantum leap...

Dutch battery startups must innovate at “critical pinch points” in the supply chain to compete globally, says Kevin Brundish, CEO of Eindhoven-based battery company LionVolt. The comments come at a tough time for Europe’s battery sector, which has been left reeling following the recent collapse of Northvolt. The Swedish startup’s gigafactories were perhaps the continent’s greatest hope for a homegrown battery success story.  Northvolt’s...

In the 1977 Star Wars film A New Hope, there’s an iconic scene where the beloved droid R2-D2 casts a beam of light to create a hologram of Princess Leia pleading for the help of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Sadly, almost 50 years on, we’re not much closer to the true holograms science fiction promised us, let alone the teleportation devices and flying cars.  Yes, we...

Our growing reliance on technology at home and in the workplace has raised the profile of e-waste. This consists of discarded electrical devices including laptops, smartphones, televisions, computer servers, washing machines, medical equipment, games consoles and much more. The amount of e-waste produced this decade could reach as much as 5 million metric tonnes, according to recent research published in Nature. This is around...

Artificial intelligence (AI) makes important decisions that affect our everyday lives. These decisions are implemented by firms and institutions in the name of efficiency. They can help determine who gets into college, who lands a job, who receives medical treatment and who qualifies for government assistance. As AI takes on these roles, there is a growing risk of unfair decisions – or the perception...