May 2023

Why some companies want you to rent the battery in your EV

May 18, 2023
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. I seem to be constantly signing up for new subscriptions these days. Netflix, Paramount+, and of course I’m glued to the latest season of Succession, so now I’m back on HBO Max too. …

Beijing calls on cloud providers to support AI firms

May 18, 2023

As large language models from Western tech firms show the potential to disrupt everything from marketing, teaching, to coding, China is rushing to cultivate its home-grown AI pioneers by stepping up state support. Beijing is now seeking public opinion on a draft policy aimed at developing artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a category of AI […]

Beijing calls on cloud providers to support AI firms by Rita Liao originally published on TechCrunch

Thrasio cuts stake, loses control in Indian house of brands in likely market retreat

May 18, 2023

Founders of Lifelong Online have acquired the majority ownership and control in the Indian house of brands from Thrasio in what appears to be a retreat for the “Amazon aggregator” from the key overseas market. Existing investors, Tanglin Venture Partners and Hero Enterprise Partner Ventures, also increased their ownership in Lifelong Online. Thrasio will continue […]

Thrasio cuts stake, loses control in Indian house of brands in likely market retreat by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch

Micron to invest $3.6B in Japan for next-gen memory chips

May 18, 2023

Micron Technology said it will invest up to 500 billion yen ($3.6 billion) in Japan for the next few years with support from the Japanese government to up its game in next-generation memory chips.  The move indicates that the Japanese government is ambitiously pushing ahead with its semiconductor space resurgence and bringing chip technology into the […]

Micron to invest $3.6B in Japan for next-gen memory chips by Kate Park originally published on TechCrunch

Future space food could be made from astronaut breath

May 18, 2023
The future of space food could be as simple—and weird—as a protein shake made with astronaut breath or a burger made from fungus. For decades, astronauts have relied mostly on pre-packaged food, or the occasional grown lettuce, during their forays off our planet. With missions beyond Earth orbit in sight, a NASA-led competition is hoping…

Swiggy’s food delivery business reaches profitability

May 18, 2023

India’s Swiggy said on Thursday that its food delivery business has become profitable, eclipsing its publicly-listed rival Zomato on another key metric a day before the firm is set to report its quarterly earnings. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup — which counts Prosus Ventures, SoftBank and Invesco among its backers — became profitable in March this year, […]

Swiggy’s food delivery business reaches profitability by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch

Climate risk startup Mitiga gets $14.4M to help businesses face an uncertain future

May 18, 2023

One pretty obvious aspect of the climate emergency which may have flown under your radar is that human-driven global heating is disrupting traditional approaches to risk modelling around natural disasters since probabilistic models based on stuff that happened in the past start to come unstuck atop so much unprecedented change. Step forward Mitiga Solutions, a […]

Climate risk startup Mitiga gets $14.4M to help businesses face an uncertain future by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch

Pale Blue Dot backs Amini, an African climate tech startup solving environmental data scarcity

May 18, 2023

Amini, a Nairobi-based climate tech startup focused on solving Africa’s environmental data gap through artificial intelligence and satellite technology, has raised $2 million in a pre-seed funding round. Pale Blue Dot, the European climate-focused venture capital firm that announced a $100 million fund last week, led the oversubscribed round. At the same time, Superorganism, RaliCap, […]

Pale Blue Dot backs Amini, an African climate tech startup solving environmental data scarcity by Tage Kene-Okafor originally published on TechCrunch