Google Nest Renew and OhmConnect merge into “Renew Home” with a $100M boost from Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners

December 14, 2023

Another development today in Google’s long-term strategy to streamline some of its less-core business operations. Google Nest Renew — a load shifting service for Google Nest owners get them to consume energy at off-peak times when energy is less expensive, or there are “cleaner” grid options available when your grid is cleaner or energy is […]

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Datalogz raises $5M to deal with your business intelligence sprawl

December 14, 2023

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of business intelligence tools that aim to help companies make critical business decisions based on data analytics. There’s a catch. As data adoption increases at most companies, they are left with growing administration problems, said Logan Havern, co-founder and CEO of Datalogz. “The sprawl that inevitably comes […]

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Paris-based VC firm Singular raises $435 million for its second fund

December 14, 2023

For a VC firm, the second fund is a make-or-break moment. With the initial fund, you raise money based on an investment thesis because you don’t have any track record, any return on investment to prove that you’re a capable investor. It’s a different story when it’s time to raise the second fund. And Singular, […]

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Threads is finally available to users in the EU

December 14, 2023

Five months after its launch in July, Meta’s social network Threads is now finally available to people living in the European Union. In a post on Threads, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta is opening up Threads to more countries in Europe. However, at the time of writing the app wasn’t available on the App Store […]

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Encrypted email service Proton Mail gets its own desktop app

December 14, 2023

Proton Mail finally has a native desktop app, rolling out now in beta for some users on Windows and MacOS. The encrypted email service has, of course, been available to desktop users since its inception nearly a decade ago — first through the web, and latterly via a “bridge” that opened access to Proton Mail accounts […]

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This new system can teach a robot a simple household task within 20 minutes

December 14, 2023
A new system that teaches robots a domestic task in around 20 minutes could help the field of robotics overcome one of its biggest challenges: a lack of training data.  The open-source system, called Dobb-E, was trained using data collected from real homes. It can help to teach a robot how to open an air…

The two words that pushed international climate talks into overtime

December 14, 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. The annual UN climate negotiations at COP28 in Dubai have officially come to a close. Delegates scrambled to get a deal together in the early morning hours, and the meetings ended a…

Instagram introduces gen-AI powered background editing tool

December 14, 2023

Instagram introduced its generative AI-powered background editing tool to U.S.-based users Wednesday. Meta’s lead for generative AI Ahmad Al-Dahle posted on Threads saying that the tool will let users change the background to their images through prompts for Stories. When users will tap on the background editor icon on an image they will get ready […]

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Qogita — a wholesale marketplace for retailers — raises $86M Series B to compete with Ankorstore in Europe

December 14, 2023

Qogita – a two-sided ecommerce wholesale marketplace aimed at retailers largely in the health and beauty sectors – has raised €80 million ($86 million) in a Series B round led by London’s Dawn Capital and Accel. The company plans to use the cash to expand into more categories. Also participating were previous investors Bessemer Venture Partners […]

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India’s Udaan scores $340 million in new funding

December 14, 2023

The investment arm of the UK retail bank M&G has led a funding of $340 million into Udaan, a business-to-business e-commerce startup, in one of the largest financing rounds secured by an Indian startup in 2023. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, which helps merchants in smaller Indian cities and towns secure inventories from major brands as well […]

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