If youve been to London recently you may have noticed packs of dark green and brown ebikes lining the citys streets. They belong to Forest, an aptly named startup that claims to be Londons cheapest and most sustainable shared ebike operator. Its success stems from an advertising model unique to the world of micro-mobility. Forests competitors in the capital include Lime, Voi, and Tier. All these ebike sharing schemes work in much the same way. You open an app, find an ebike bike near you, scan a

Business execs and politicians gathered at a helicopter base in France yesterday for the first public unveiling of Airbus new Racer aircraft. At first glance, Racer looks like a regular helicopter. Look closer, however, and youll notice it has both wings and two forward-facing rotors. This means it can take-off vertically like a helicopter, and fly fast like a plane real fast. Racer can reach speeds in excess of 400 km/h. That eclipses civilian helicopters, which cruise at around 200 km/h. Its

The modern startup founder will tell you work never stops. What theyre far less likely to tell you is that stress, anxiety, panic, and feelings of failure never stop either. From worrying about funding and filling skills gaps in an uber-competitive environment, to simply running out of available working time to clear to-do lists leaders contend with countless unique and interchangeable stresses on a daily basis. Whether its a lack of time, money or talent, these stresses contribute to a culture

The artificial intelligence scene in Great Britain feels a little bit like your weekly tv drama at the moment. Major funding rounds compete for attention with controversial CEO departures and outlandish government campaigns (Unicorn Kingdom and 3D statue holograms, anyone?). London-based PolyAI today announced it had secured a valuation of $500mn following a successful fund raise for its call centre voice assistant tech. It might not be the sexiest of AI applications, but then again not all busi

Have you ever been trapped in a bad relationship? Im stuck in one right now with Google Chrome. The browsers good looks can no longer hide the ugliness that lurks inside. Chrome devours my laptops memory, sucks away its battery, and harvests my data. All the while, the software expands Googles almighty empire. Chrome, you treat me terribly. Why cant I quit you? One reason for my undeserved loyalty is that rival browsers have rarely caught my eye. But thats started to change. A raft of pro-compet

Amazon Web Services (AWS) today confirmed plans to launch its European sovereign cloud, aiming to enhance data residency and security across the EU. The city of Bradenburg in Germany will be the first region to host the cloud servers, which are set to power upby the end of 2025. AWS will invest 7.8bn through 2040. According to the tech giant, the European sovereign cloud will have its entire infrastructure within the EU and will operate independently from existing cloud regions. Only EU-resident

While Intel is betting big on ASMLs latest High NA EUV chipmaking machines, Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC is considering opting out. Speaking at a conference in Amsterdam on Tuesday, TSMCs Senior VP Kevin Zhang told reporters that ASMLs new equipment comes with too hefty a price tag. The Dutch chipmakers High NA EUV machines represent the next generation in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology, which uses light to draw chip designs on the silicon wafer. According to ASML, these

A Finnish startup today launched a multilingual AI model thats a significant milestone on the path to LLMs for every EU language, the company says. Helsinki-based Silo AI calls the new large language model Viking 7B. It covers Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish, as well as English and programming languages. Evaluations indicate best-in-class performance in all the Nordic languages without compromising the English outputs. Peter Sarlin, Silo AIs CEO, told TNW that his company is

The necessity of professional certifications is debated, with many software developers pooh-poohing their relevance when it comes to securing a job. But in a competitive job market, anything that can give you an edge or help you stand out as a candidate is worth considering. If youre at the early stage of your career, or looking to pivot, securing certification can offer assurances of your skills when youve not yet built up the experience. Professional certification will also demonstrate your co

Welcome to the new episode of the TNW Podcast the show where we discuss the latest developments in the European technology ecosystem and feature interviews with some of the most interesting people in the industry. In todays episode, Linnea and Sin talk about a massive investor vote of confidence for self-driving AI tech, the UK joining the EU-led supercomputer project, the first ever CGI in cinema, and the suns cycles, prompted by the incredible display or aurora the past week. The guest of the

Norwegian startup 7Analytics has secured 4mn to help predict the next big flood or landslide. The Bergen-based outfit trains machine learning algorithms on vast quantities of data on everything from weather to land use. The AI then learns to predict how natural disasters will unfold with metre-scale accuracy. Whereas the weather forecast tells you when a storm is approaching, 7Analytics will tell you exactly how the water from this storm will travel through your community. These insights are dis

Starting today, users in Europe can access Claude, Amazon-backed AI startup Anthropics proper ChatGPT contender. There are a few company names that have become synonymous with the advent of generative AI. OpenAI may have had the early-mover advantage, with ChatGPT becoming close to a household name. However, others have also been busy honing their craft and algorithms. When Anthropic first released its latest large language model (LLM) family Claude 3 to the public in March 2024, we at the TNW e

Alexey Pertsev, the developer behind crypto mixer Tornado Cash, has been found guilty of money laundering by a Dutch court in s-Hertogenbosch. Pertsev, was first imprisoned in the Netherlands, where he had been residing, in August 2022 on charges of money laundering worth of $1.2bn in cryptocurrency. He was released in April 2023 and remained under house arrest pending his trial in March this year the verdict of which was announced today. Pertsevs arrest in the Netherlands came shortly after th

Booking.com has joined the ranks of tech giants, such as Google and Meta, that fall under the EUs sweeping online competition rules. Dubbed the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the law aims to establish a level digital playing field by setting clear rights and obligations for large online platforms, referred to as gatekeepers. The goal is to tackle monopolising practices. Booking is an important player in the European tourism ecosystem and is now also a designated gatekeeper, said Thierry Bretton, EU

Einride has partnered with Jebel Ali Port in Dubai as part of its ambitious plan to build the worlds largest autonomous trucking network. The Swedish freight mobility startup has signed a deal with DP World, which handles logistics at the port the worlds 10th busiest. The firm will use hundreds of Einrides electric trucks to haul containers around the shipyard. Starting next year, DP World will start using autonomous trucks alongside those piloted by humans. This is part of the Falcon Rise proj

UK-based Arm, one of the worlds key players in the chip market, is reportedly planning to expand into the development of AI chips. Arm designs the building architecture for chips (mainly) in consumer electronics, which it licenses to semiconductor giants such as Qualcomm and Nvidia. The company claims that its technology is powering 99% of premium smartphones on the market. Japanese SoftBank Group holds a 90% stake in the chip designer.The move towards AI chips is part of SoftBanksambition to be

A British consortium with funding from the UK government has successfully tested what it calls un-jammable quantum navigation tech in flight. Geopolitical tensions and warfare have introduced GPS jamming as a means of messing with enemy communication and navigation. This can cause disturbances for both military and civilian transportation and location services. The quantum-based navigation system is called Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT). Its developers arequantum technology firm Infle

For over 40 years, Ted Van der Vlies and his wife Marga grew fruits and vegetables in their backyard on the outskirts of Dordrecht, the Netherlands. Onions, potatoes, lettuce, carrots, rhubarb, cherries, you name it. Little did they know that their homegrown produce was likely poisoning them. Just a kilometre away from their garden sits the tangled mesh of steel pipes, giant vats, and smokestacks of the Chemours chemical plant. A recent court case found that the American conglomerate knowingly d

The Royal Navy has installed VR simulators at three military training sites in the UK. The simulators, built by Portsmouth-based Metaverse VR, recreate the bridge of a warship. A bridge, or wheelhouse, is like an aeroplane cockpit for ships. The Navy hopes that the new simulators will make training sailors faster and more lifelike. You feel like you are stepping onto the bridge of a warship, said Stephen Smallman, 28, a trainee warfare officer. It is very easy to become immersed in the situation

Russian voters who do not believe the 2024 presidential election was a just affair can now raise their voices via a blockchain-secured and encrypted referendum through the app Russia2024. This years presidential elections in March saw tens of thousands of Russian nationals queue up to cast their ballot at embassies around the world. Outside of the embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, voters many of whom carried protest banners waited for hours in order to make their voices heard. In theory. No o

AI ethicists have called for urgent safeguards against an emerging digital afterlife industry. The concerns centre on chatbotsthat mimic the appearances, speech, and personalities of dead people. Known as deadbots or griefbots, these AI clones are trained on data about the deceased. They then provide simulated interactions with virtual recreations of the departed. This postmortem presence can social and psychological harm, according to researchers from Cambridge University. Their new study highl

A propaganda network linked to Russia has sparked alarm about a new weapon of information warfare: large language models (LLMs). The operation was unearthed by Recorded Future, a threat intelligence firm founded by two Swedish computer scientists. In early March, the company spotted a network known as CopyCop using LLMs to manipulate news from mainstream media outlets. Using prompt engineering, CopyCop tailored the content to specific audiences and political biases. Delivered via inauthentic US,

Most of us are familiar with chatbots on customer service portals, government departments, and through services like Google Bard and OpenAIs ChatGPT. They are convenient, easy to use, and always available, leading to their growing use for a diverse range of applications across the web. Unfortunately, most current chatbots are limited due to their reliance on static training data. Data outputted by these systems can be obsolete, limiting our ability to gain real-time information for our queries.

No-code startup Innoloft has raised 2mn in a new funding round led by Dutch VC firm Capital Mills. This marks the firms first investment into a German company. Innolofts no-code platform enables businesses to build web applications without any programming knowledge. Founded in 2019, the startup now counts over 70,000 end-users and includes customers such as Deutsche Telekom, Aachen University, and German state governments. With the new funding, Innoloft plans to accelerate product development an

Cybercrime hunters have unmasked the alleged leader of LockBit, a hacker network dubbed the most active ransomware group ever. LockBit gained global notoriety for holding victims datato ransom and ransomware-as-a-service, whereby it licenses malware to otherhackers. According to Europol, the gang was behind the worlds most deployed ransomware in 2022 causing billions of euros worth of damage. Among the high-profile victims are US aerospace giant Boeing, Britains Royal Mailand German automotive

A team of researchers have built a vision implant with tiny electrodes the size of a neuron, seeking to help blind people see again. The development of vision implants first emerged in the 1990s.The technology targets patients suffering from damage to the eye, but whose visual cortex the brains visual centre is active and able to receive signals. But despite the solutions potential, existing methods are limited by the large size of electrodes and metal corrosion. The research team claims to hav

Terra Quantum has today revealed its TQ42 Cryptography library an open-source suite of quantum-resistant algorithms designed to help developers and businesses protect data from current and future cybersecurity threats. The new cryptography library provides developers with post-quantum algorithms and security and key management functions. They can be used across a range of applications, including mobile, web, IoT, and cloud. The library is now available through the GitHub repository. According t

Frances budding AI scene has received another boost from a big investment in the startup Holistic. Amid the celebrations, however, the sale of medtech firm Sonio has added a warning about the dangers of success. The Holistic funding was revealed by Bloomberg on Tuesday. The Paris-based firm has reportedly raised $200mn (186mn) in a round that values the companyat $370mn (344mn). Holistic has big plans for the cash. According to Bloomberg, the startup wants to build multi-agent models that will e

Reuse Brew is a classic German lager with a twist its made from recycled wastewater. The beer is the result of a tie-up between the south German city of Weissenburg, American water tech company Xylem, and the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Specifically, TUMs Brewery and Beverage Technology department (why didnt I study there?!). While the idea of a sewage brew might be hard to swallow, Xylem ensures us that all the bad stuff is filtered out before the malt, hops, and yeast are added. Fir

Infineon, one of the biggest chip makers in Europe, has lowered its revenue outlook for the year, citing weak demand from its major target markets. The German company is now expecting a revenue of 15.1bn, plus or minus 400mn. Thats down from the previous forecast of 16bn, plus or minus 500mn. In the second quarter of 2024, Infineon saw a 2% drop in revenue compared to the previous quarter, generating 3.36bn. The decline stands, however, at 12% year-on-year. Revenue in the first quarter of 2024 a

Wayve, a London-based startup working on AI systems for autonomous vehicles, has raised $1bn. The colossal funding round marks the largest single investment in a European AI startup. Japanese conglomerate SoftBank led the funding round alongside tech giants Nvidia and Microsoft. Wayve did not disclose its valuation following the investment. Founded in Cambridge in 2017, Wayve is developing so-called embodied AI systems for self-driving cars. Unlike pure software AI like ChatGPT, embodied AI serv

The power of generative AI has further ignited the race for advanced humanoid robots, promising more capable machines that can learn and deal with unknown environments and challenges. Amid increasing competition across the globe, Switzerland-based mimic is also throwing its hat in the ring. The startup has raised a pre-seed round of $2.5mn (2.3mn) to bring the first GenAI-poweredcollaborative robot to market. A spinoff from ETH Zurich, mimic was founded in 2024 by a team of three researchers wor

The EU has granted 3.3mn to a consortium led by Swedish startup Epishine. The groups mission is to boost the development of organic solar panels. In this case, organic refers to solar panels that are carbon-based. Instead of using silicon to conduct electricity, these solar panels utilise organic molecules. Organic solar cells are very lightweight, cheap, semi-transparent, printable, and flexible. They can also convert indoor light into electricity. That can be from sunlight streaming in through

As I write this, two contrasting regulations on the development of artificial intelligence namely generative AI are making their way through the European and British parliaments. The British approach is very simple looking to ensure AI companies fit into existing laws governing technology companies. In contrast, the EU approach, as White & Case analysis describes, is an entirely new piece of legislation, and is risk-based looking to counter the most serious risks that come with developing mo

A British startup has devised a way to speed-up enhanced rock weathering using protein powder in a potential step forward for the budding carbon capture industry. Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) involves spreading silicate rock dust on fields to capture carbon. When it rains, the dust reacts with the CO2 in the droplets, permanently storing it in the rocks as carbonate (think chalk or baking soda). This relatively simple technology has taken off in recent years, attracting funding from the likes

Estonian mobility startup Bolt has secured a 220mn credit facility as it plans to go public next year. This type of financing is a more flexible loan option, which allows a business to withdraw and repay funds as needed, on an ongoing basis. Kind of like a credit card for companies. The credit facility provides Bolt with additional flexibility as we work towards being IPO-ready, CEO and founder Markus Villig said in a statement. Lenders including Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and JPMo

Flemish venture capital firm Imec.xpand has raised 300mn to invest in deeptech startups. The VC is a spinoff from Leuven-based Imec, one of the worlds largest microelectronics research institutions. The new fund targets AI, semiconductors, nanotechnology, photonics, and quantum computing. It will also invest in startups working on new ways to diagnose and treat medical conditions. To date, Imec.xpand has invested in 23 companies that have so far raised a combined 1.5bn in funding. This includes