Study shows ‘benevolent sexism’ in startups widens the gender gap

Apr26
by on April 26, 2024 at 6:00 pm
Posted In: Future of Work


Our understanding of the challenges women face in the startup ecosystem is limited. Past research has focused on overt negative sexist attitudes that question women’s competence and suitability for entrepreneurship. This view overlooks the existence of more subtle, yet pervasive and socially acceptable, sexist attitudes that often go unnoticed. Given the sheer number of people interested or working in startups today, from investors to suppliers to job applicants, the effects of these subtle forms of sexism can accumulate across a large and diverse group of decision-makers. For initiatives tackling gender inequality in entrepreneurship to be effective, we must gain a…

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This week in Dutch tech

Apr26
by on April 26, 2024 at 4:21 pm
Posted In: Insider


Hallo, Netherlands! Welcome to TNW’s first weekly round-up of tech news from our glorious home country. As we count down to TNW conference in Amsterdam on June 20 and 21, we’re ramping up our coverage of the Dutch IT sector. We’d also love to hear your thoughts on the local ecosystem. Drop us a line if you want to showcase your startup, share a digital tip, or just tell us your deepest, darkest secrets.  In the meantime, let’s get to the news. What we’re writing Chip giant ASML plans Eindhoven expansion in big win for Dutch tech ‘Airbnb for cars’ platform…

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Darktrace agrees £4.3B sale to US investor in blow to UK stock market

Apr26
by on April 26, 2024 at 10:16 am
Posted In: Insider


British cybersecurity flag bearer Darktrace is set to leave London’s stock market after agreeing a £4.3bn sale to US private equity firm Thoma Bravo. Shareholders will have to approve the takeover before it’s rubber-stamped. The chair of Darktrace, Gordon Hurst, said the deal represents “an attractive premium and an opportunity for shareholders.” “The proposed acquisition will provide Darktrace access to a strong financial partner in Thoma Bravo, with deep software sector expertise, who can enhance the company’s position as a best-in-class cyber AI business headquartered in the UK,” he added. The deal would end a turbulent spell on the London’s…

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AI unicorn Synthesia launches most ’emotionally expressive’ avatars on the market

Apr25
by on April 25, 2024 at 11:23 am
Posted In: Insider


A British startup today unveiled new AI humans that blur the line between the virtual and the real. Synthesia calls the digital beings “Expressive Avatars.” They promise the most realistic emotional expressions on the market.  Generated by an AI model that’s trained on footage of real actors, the avatars are built for video creation. Users simply enter a text prompt and the synthetic humans read them out on a screen. The photorealistic renders are certainly impressive. But what makes them unique is their capacity to convey human feelings. Using a technique called “automatic sentiment prediction,” Synthesia’s AI models infer the…

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Paris startup adds ‘universal compute’ weapon to France’s growing AI arsenal

Apr24
by on April 24, 2024 at 11:39 am
Posted In: Insider


A startup promising “universal AI compute” has joined France’s thriving artificial intelligence sector. Paris-based FlexAI emerged from stealth today with a €28.5mn war chest and an ambitious plan to “unlock the future of machine intelligence.” To pick that lock, FlexAI is rearchitecting compute infrastructure. The plan’s centrepiece is an on-demand cloud service. Set to launch later this year, the product will enable developers to build and train AI applications with heterogeneous compute architectures. A software layer in the service will abstract and orchestrate the workload to the optimal architecture.  The service is designed to maximise efficiency and simplicity. By providing…

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