The U.S. doesn’t refine cobalt. This startup wants to change that.
Xerion says it has a new technique to produce highly refined cobalt in a single step.
The Download: foreign disinformation intel, and gene-edited pork
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. A senior State Department official demanded records of communications with journalists, European officials, and Trump critics A previously unreported document distributed by senior US State Department official Darren Beattie reveals a sweeping effort…
Cynomi cinches $37M for its AI-based ‘virtual CISO’ for SMB cybersecurity
Small and medium businesses are the newest targets for cybersecurity attacks, with 1 in 3 breached last year. SMBs are becoming more proactive in detecting and stopping these threats, and today a startup called Cynomi is announcing $37 million in funding to meet that demand. Insight Partners and Entrée Capital are co-leading the round, with previous backers […]
Froda secures $23M Series B for its debt financing platform for SMEs
Swedish Fintech startup Froda has secured a $22.7 million (€20m) Series B round led by Incore Invest, also based in Sweden. The move bucks the trend of a slight slowdown in investments into fintech, plus a further confirmation of the long-term trend towards the ’embedded finance’ model. Largely operating in northern European countries from Finland […]
Xprize Carbon awarded to a dirt simple carbon removal technology
Mati Carbon walked away with the $50 million grand prize for its enhanced rock weathering program that locks carbon in soils for thousands of years.
3 Things Caiwei Chen is into right now
A new play about OpenAI I recently saw Doomers, a new play by Matthew Gasda about the aborted 2023 coup at OpenAI, here represented by a fictional company called MindMesh. The action is set almost entirely in a meeting room; the first act follows executives immediately after the firing of company CEO Seth (a stand-in…
Why we still need AM radio
Ariel Aberg-Riger is the author of America Redux: Visual Stories from Our Dynamic History.
Seeing AI as a collaborator, not a creator
The reason you are reading this letter from me today is that I was bored 30 years ago. I was bored and curious about the world and so I wound up spending a lot of time in the university computer lab, screwing around on Usenet and the early World Wide Web, looking for interesting things…
Tech resilience, breakout startups, and banking reinvented: The big conversations at StrictlyVC London in May
StrictlyVC is heading to London on May 13, uniting top investors and entrepreneurs to spark meaningful connections and drive forward innovation. We’re thrilled to welcome industry leaders like Nazo Moosa, general partner at Paladin Capital Group; Sonali De Rycker, partner at Accel; and TS Anil, CEO of Monzo Bank, to the stage. Paladin is proud […]
Noxtua raises $92M for its sovereign AI tuned for the German legal system
Back in 2020, Xayn was a privacy-based, on-device AI startup designed specifically for smartphones. But that early experience eventually saw the company pivot into developing sovereign AI for the legal sphere. Now Xayn has rebranded as Noxtua and raised a $92.2 million (roughly €81.2 million) Series B round. The round was led by strategic investor […]
Intel reportedly plans to lay off over 21,000 employees
Intel is set to cut over 21,000 people, or roughly 20% of its workforce, with an announcement due this week, according to a Bloomberg report. The news comes ahead of Intel’s Q1 earnings call helmed by recently appointed CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who replaced longtime chief Pat Gelsinger last year. With the layoffs, Tan aims to […]