~the-next-web | Bookmarks (134)

Germany’s armed forces have commissioned Bremen-based startup Polaris to develop a two-stage, fully reusable hypersonic space plane — and given the team just three years to build it.  Dubbed Aurora, the 28-metre-long aircraft will be part rocket, part plane — designed to take off and land on a runway but also blast through the atmosphere and place payloads up to 1-ton in low-Earth orbit. ...

For decades, European tech insiders have looked across the Atlantic with a mix of admiration and frustration. Casting envious eyes on the deep-pocketed VCs, an enormous consumer market, and a pipeline of elite talent, they often view the US as a promised land for business growth. The sentiment fuels calls for Europe to replicate Silicon Valley’s model. But Vidya Peters, CEO of Dutch unicorn DataSnipper,...

Gene-edited pig livers, synthetic embryos, and 3D-printed tissue implants… the world of organ transplantation is becoming increasingly bizarre as scientists explore high-tech ways to keep people alive.  These experiments are birthing new business opportunities. One company cashing in is University of Oxford spinout OrganOx, which this week secured $142mn in funding to fuel its expansion in the US as it mulls a potential IPO.    ...

Most of us share and store huge amounts of personal data online, from our names and addresses to photos of our loved ones. In many ways, firms like Apple, Google, and Meta are the gatekeepers of this sensitive information. But what happens when the authorities come knocking? It appears that Silicon Valley often rolls over and complies.  Over the last 10 years, Apple, Google,...

German startup Proxima Fusion — whose team includes engineers from MIT, Google, SpaceX, and McLaren — has unveiled a fusion energy reactor design it believes offers the quickest route to commercially viable fusion power. Dubbed Stellaris, the machine is a quasi-isodynamic (QI) stellarator with high-temperature superconducting (HTS). This type of reactor uses complex, twisted magnetic fields to confine hot plasma, creating the conditions needed...

As the US and China pursue dominance in the global technology race, concerns are mounting among European founders that the region’s entrenched bureaucracy is impeding its capacity for innovation and growth. The EU is going “overboard on tech regulation,” said Job van der Voort, CEO and founder of Remote, an HR tech company valued at over $3bn. “It’s stifling innovation and it’s a massive...

Two European sports tech startups are heading to the US for an R&D programme run by media giant Comcast. Ireland’s Orreco will cross the Atlantic with a trove of athletic performance software, while Iceland’s Oz Sports will bring an AI-driven camera system. On arrival, the duo will join Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech, a six-month accelerator.  During the programme, the companies will tap into expertise from...

Dutch software firm Bird is moving most of its operations out of the Netherlands and opening new global hubs as it seeks a reprieve from “overregulation” in Europe, said co-founder and CEO Robert Vis. “The AI Act, financing, compensation, taxes, employment law — starting and running a company [in Europe] is hard,” Vis told TNW, adding that there are “too many disparate markets that...

Europe’s biggest food delivery firm Just Eat Takeaway.com is set to be acquired by tech investor Prosus for €4.1bn, in one of the biggest acquisitions in the history of Dutch tech.  Prosus — the investment arm of South African tech firm Naspers — has agreed to buy Just Eat Takeaway’s shares at €20.30 each in an all-cash offer. That’s a 22% premium over the...

Elon Musk’s MAGA politics are fast becoming a mega problem for Tesla. New registrations of Tesla vehicles plummeted across Europe last month amid widespread boycotts against the EV brand. While broader economic forces are at play, Musk’s role in the Trump administration and his open support of far-right politicians appears to be fuelling his company’s precipitous fall from grace — and gifting rival brands...

Europe’s startup scene has entered troubled waters. Long overshadowed by Silicon Valley and now being chased down by China, the continent is urgently looking for boosts. Increasingly, the search is leading to ecosystems.  The ecosystem model creates networks of individuals, organisations, and resources. Their shared expertise and resources can produce a multiplier effect, driving innovation and accelerating growth. A core component of European ecosystems is the...

A British R&D unit that’s been compared to DARPA is funding synthetic muscles, electronic skin, and mechanical hands for a robotics dexterity project. The Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) today unveiled the 10 teams selected for the programme. Their mission: usher in a new era of dexterity that will transform robotics and human productivity. Members of the group span startups, university labs, public...

Shares in European aerospace and defence companies soared to record highs this week, elevating expectations for the continent’s military tech startups. Britain’s BAE Systems leapt by 9% on Monday, while Germany’s Rheinmetall jumped by 14%. Stocks in Sweden’s Saab, Italy’s Leonardo, and France’s Thales also boomed. By the day’s end, the Stoxx Europe aerospace and defence index had hit an all-time peak. Military tech...

British startup Earthwave and a group of European scientists have used satellite data to map out glacial melt across the globe — and the results are alarming. The team discovered that the European Alps’ glaciers have shrunk the most of all — 39% in just over two decades, compared to a global average of 5%. Earthwave co-founder Livia Jakob said the project was invaluable...

Do you remember your first phone? The thought of mine brings a tear to my eye. It was a beautiful blue Nokia 3310 — and it was borderline indestructible. Best of all, the handset had the greatest mobile feature of all time: Snake. It also offered calls and SMS, but I had little use for those extravagances. I had a pay-as-you-go contract, and money...

British tech mogul Mel Morris has announced the general release of AI research engine Corpora.ai. The system provides a new approach to research. Built to generate comprehensive reports from single prompts, Corpora promises in-depth analysis and accurate outputs. Speed is another big selling point. According to Corpora, the engine can process 2 million documents per second. After receiving a prompt, the AI model scans...

The US continues to hog the global herd of unicorns, dwarfing the EU in both the number and total valuation of billion-dollar startups. However, the Netherlands provides a minor bright spot, according to a new report by PwC.    More than 3,000 companies worldwide have reached unicorn status since 2013, collectively reaching a staggering valuation of $27 trillion, according to the study. The US accounts...

Sustainability tech has been all the buzz in the last few years. Investors are hunting promising ESG businesses, governments are pushing ambitious legislation, and companies are getting on board to adopt new solutions. Sustainability funding is projected to reach unprecedented levels, with BCG Henderson Institute estimating accumulated global investment to achieve net zero to hit $75 trillion by 2050.  And yet, behind the curtain,...

“For the third time, stop tapping!” my primary school teacher screams at me from across the room. I must not have heard her the first two times. I’d been drumming on the desk again, using my fingers for sticks and the floor beneath for a kick drum. While my body was in maths class, my mind was elsewhere.   It was 1970. I was John...

Europe is home to twice as many climate tech startups as the US (30,000 vs. 14,300). However, limited access to VC funding is forcing these early-stage companies to seek capital from outside the continent, according to a new report released at the Munich Security Conference today. Venture financing in Europe averaged just 0.2% of GDP between 2013 and 2023, a fraction of the US...

Mistral CEO and co-founder Arthur Mensch has urged Europe to invest more in AI infrastructure amid fears that the continent is falling behind the US and China in tech development. “It’s important to have European players coming to the game,” Mensch said at the Visionaries Unplugged conference in Paris yesterday. “Europe needs to invest in owning and operating the infrastructure so that the money...

AI took another step into Hollywood today with the launch of a new filmmaking tool from showbiz startup Flawless. The product — named DeepEditor — promises cinematic wizardry for the digital age. For movie makers, the tool offers photorealistic edits without a costly return to set. Flawless has showcased several use cases. One transfers an actor’s performance from one shot to another. Another adds...

A Ukrainian drone tech firm has unveiled an alternative to GPS navigation. Sine.Engineering built the system to counter Russia’s electronic warfare, which has wreaked havoc on GPS signals.  To dodge the interference, Sine invented a satellite-free replacement. The approach is inspired by time-of-flight (ToF) methods, which began tracking aircraft long before the advent of GPS.   Unlike GPS, ToF systems don’t rely on satellites. Instead, they...

European tech leaders Helsing and Mistral have formed a pact to build new military AI systems. The partnership brings together two of Europe’s top startups. Helsing, a defence tech firm based in Germany, was valued at €5bn last year. Founded in 2021, the company develops software for weapons, vehicles, and military strategy. Its systems have been deployed in battlefield simulations, fighter jets, and drones...