Founderful raises $140M fund as Switzerland vies for Europe’s tech top spot

Nov14
by on November 14, 2024 at 10:50 pm
Posted In: artificial intelligence


Zurich-based venture capital firm Founderful has raised $140mn in its second fund — $20mn more than its target and a strong sign of investor confidence in Switzerland’s flourishing tech ecosystem.   First announced back in February, the fund has already invested in 15 early-stage startups. These include Chiral Nano, which develops nanomaterials for silicon chips, and 8inks, which is rejigging the lithium-ion battery. Founderful — formerly Wingman Ventures — was launched in 2019 by Pascal Mathis, the co-founder of local travel marketplace unicorn GetYourGuide, Eat.ch co-founder Lukas Weder and Alex Stöckl, former exec at Creathor Ventures. The founder-led VC exclusively backs…

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US firm Realwear acquires Swiss startup Almer amid XR market consolidation

Nov14
by on November 14, 2024 at 3:52 pm
Posted In: augmented reality


American wearables firm Realwear has acquired Swiss augmented reality (AR) startup Almer Technologies.  Almer’s AR headset — the Arc-2 — overlays digital information onto the wearer’s field of view, allowing them to access real-time data, instructions, or assistance from an engineer seated anywhere in the world. The glasses are targeted specifically at industrial companies looking to help their staff maintain and repair equipment and machinery remotely. “Almer’s innovative approach for frontline workers has enabled us to deliver industrial AR solutions that are intuitive and effortless to use,” said Sebastian Beetschen, Almer’s co-founder and CEO. Beetschen founded Almer alongside Timon Binder…

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DeepL takes on ‘next frontier’ in AI translation with DeepL Voice

Nov14
by on November 14, 2024 at 12:05 pm
Posted In: artificial intelligence, Insider


German tech darling DeepL has (finally) launched a voice-to-text service. It’s called DeepL Voice, and it turns audio from live or video conversations into translated text.  DeepL users can now listen to people speaking a language they don’t understand and automatically translate it to one they do — in real-time. The new feature currently supports English, German, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Dutch, French, Turkish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Italian.  What makes the launch of DeepL Voice exciting is that it runs on the same neural networks as the company’s text-to-text offering, which it claims is the “world’s best” AI translator.   As someone…

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Dutch startup Sympower secures €21M to balance out the energy grid

Nov13
by on November 13, 2024 at 6:45 am
Posted In: Insider


Amsterdam-based startup Sympower has secured €21mn as it looks to scale its grid-balancing technology. Sympower partners with businesses that use a large amount of electricity. It gains access to some of their energy assets and can turn them on and off when the grid requires balancing — a process called demand response. Sympower’s software platform uses AI to analyse data and optimise when and how much power businesses can sell at any given time, making energy use adjustments more effective and profitable for all parties.  Grid operators pay Sympower to stabilise the energy supply. The company passes most of that…

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Battery recycling startup Tozero bags €11M to boost Europe’s lithium supply

Nov12
by on November 12, 2024 at 12:06 pm
Posted In: battery


In 1991, Sony brought the first rechargeable lithium-ion battery to market. The unique chemistry proved a game-changer in energy storage. Today everything from EVs to smartphones depends on it, with demand skyrocketing.  But lithium is rare, most of it comes from unstable markets outside Europe, and its extraction can cause extensive pollution. We need more lithium to enable the green transition and yet, currently, its use is unsustainable — both environmentally and economically. We’re stuck in a paradox. Munich-based startup Tozero believes that battery recycling offers a way out. Recycling batteries is far from a new concept, but the German venture…

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