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When Ariane 6 suffered a glitch on its first flight, the mishap felt strangely inevitable. Nearly half of all rockets fail on their first launches. After a troubled development and four years of delays, Ariane 6 looked like a prime candidate to join the list.  The launcher was commissioned to create a European pathway into the cosmos. Since the retirement of Ariane 5 last July, the continent has had no independent access to space. Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for the internal market, described the problem as an “unprecedented crisis.” A failure to launch on Tuesday would have deepened the woes.…This story continues at The Next Web

When Ariane 6 suffered a glitch on its first flight, the mishap felt strangely inevitable. Nearly half of all rockets fail on their first launches. After a troubled development and four years of delays, Ariane 6 looked like a prime candidate to join the list.  The launcher was commissioned to create a European pathway into the cosmos. Since the retirement of Ariane 5 last July, the continent has had no independent access to space. Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for the internal market, described the problem as an “unprecedented crisis.” A failure to launch on Tuesday would have deepened the woes.…

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Japanese tech group SoftBank has acquired yet another British chip player. This time it has snapped up Bristol-based AI processor developer Graphcore, whose very survival was in doubt over the past year.  The acquisition comes as investors compete to back the next big thing in AI. Moreover, larger tech companies who feel that their own in-house AI capabilities are falling short have been searching high and low for acquisitions that can mitigate these inadequacies and give them a leg up on the competition. And it would seem they are increasingly looking to Europe for potential targets.  Just this week, the…This story continues at The Next Web

Japanese tech group SoftBank has acquired yet another British chip player. This time it has snapped up Bristol-based AI processor developer Graphcore, whose very survival was in doubt over the past year.  The acquisition comes as investors compete to back the next big thing in AI. Moreover, larger tech companies who feel that their own in-house AI capabilities are falling short have been searching high and low for acquisitions that can mitigate these inadequacies and give them a leg up on the competition. And it would seem they are increasingly looking to Europe for potential targets.  Just this week, the…

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Tech bros are for the first time poised to become pivotal players in highly sensitive sectors: national security, space exploration, and more. Most recently, NATO’s €1B Innovation Fund announced investments in eight startups and VC firms with a focus on emerging military and defense technologies.  As the startup ecosystem has become more sophisticated, it is now starting to disrupt these tightly controlled sectors, which were until recently the domain of governments and legacy institutions. Take these examples: Space is quickly becoming the next battleground for geopolitics — and private companies are now dominating cosmic exploration. Military conflicts are being defined…This story continues at The Next Web

Tech bros are for the first time poised to become pivotal players in highly sensitive sectors: national security, space exploration, and more. Most recently, NATO’s €1B Innovation Fund announced investments in eight startups and VC firms with a focus on emerging military and defense technologies.  As the startup ecosystem has become more sophisticated, it is now starting to disrupt these tightly controlled sectors, which were until recently the domain of governments and legacy institutions. Take these examples: Space is quickly becoming the next battleground for geopolitics — and private companies are now dominating cosmic exploration. Military conflicts are being defined…

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Innovation thrives at the intersection of academia and entrepreneurship. Universities serve as breeding grounds for startups poised to disrupt industries with their novel ideas and cutting-edge technologies.  Yet, the path from academic breakthroughs to commercial success is laden with challenges, particularly for DeepTech companies with extended development timelines and hefty capital requirements. Here, venture capital emerges as the indispensable catalyst. Venture funds play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between academic research and commercialisation. They provide not only the necessary capital but also invaluable mentorship and industry connections, essential for navigating the complexities of bringing transformative technologies to market: …This story continues at The Next Web

Innovation thrives at the intersection of academia and entrepreneurship. Universities serve as breeding grounds for startups poised to disrupt industries with their novel ideas and cutting-edge technologies.  Yet, the path from academic breakthroughs to commercial success is laden with challenges, particularly for DeepTech companies with extended development timelines and hefty capital requirements. Here, venture capital emerges as the indispensable catalyst. Venture funds play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between academic research and commercialisation. They provide not only the necessary capital but also invaluable mentorship and industry connections, essential for navigating the complexities of bringing transformative technologies to market: …

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Military AI startup Helsing has raised a whopping €450mn at a reported valuation of €5bn. The German company said the war chest will fund security for NATO’s Eastern Flank. Founded in 2021, Helsing has rapidly grown into one of Europe’s defence tech leaders. It’s now also among the continent’s most valuable AI startups. This rapid rise has coincided with increasing alarm about Russia’s threat to Europe. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, defence budgets have soared across the region. Helsing has provided an intriguing target for the funds. The company develops AI software for weapons, vehicles, and military strategy.…This story continues at The Next Web

Military AI startup Helsing has raised a whopping €450mn at a reported valuation of €5bn. The German company said the war chest will fund security for NATO’s Eastern Flank. Founded in 2021, Helsing has rapidly grown into one of Europe’s defence tech leaders. It’s now also among the continent’s most valuable AI startups. This rapid rise has coincided with increasing alarm about Russia’s threat to Europe. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, defence budgets have soared across the region. Helsing has provided an intriguing target for the funds. The company develops AI software for weapons, vehicles, and military strategy.…

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UK-based startup Oxford Ionics today announced a significant achievement for its ion-trapped quantum processors, demonstrating over twice the performance of the previous world record — without using error correction.  While not providing exact numbers, Oxford Ionics says it used “10x less” qubits than its competitors, and set the performance record for both single-qubit and two-qubit gate operations. Furthermore, its chips can be manufactured in existing semiconductor facilities.  Quantum technologies have seen tremendous evolution over the past couple of years. More than one giant breakthrough, there has been an incremental accumulation of developments from many different sources.  While it is too…This story continues at The Next Web

UK-based startup Oxford Ionics today announced a significant achievement for its ion-trapped quantum processors, demonstrating over twice the performance of the previous world record — without using error correction.  While not providing exact numbers, Oxford Ionics says it used “10x less” qubits than its competitors, and set the performance record for both single-qubit and two-qubit gate operations. Furthermore, its chips can be manufactured in existing semiconductor facilities.  Quantum technologies have seen tremendous evolution over the past couple of years. More than one giant breakthrough, there has been an incremental accumulation of developments from many different sources.  While it is too…

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Whisper it, but startup funding is showing signs of a rebound. Venture capital investment in Europe has risen by 12% so far in 2024, according to Dealroom. By June, the financing for startups and scaleups had reached $29.3bn. If the current spending rate continues, this year will become third-most active ever for VC in the continent. The leading industry for investment is energy, which raised $5.6bn during the first half of 2024. This continues a trend from last year, when energy companies topped the funding charts in every quarter. There have been shifts, however, in the sector’s biggest targets. Hydrogen companies…This story continues at The Next Web

Whisper it, but startup funding is showing signs of a rebound. Venture capital investment in Europe has risen by 12% so far in 2024, according to Dealroom. By June, the financing for startups and scaleups had reached $29.3bn. If the current spending rate continues, this year will become third-most active ever for VC in the continent. The leading industry for investment is energy, which raised $5.6bn during the first half of 2024. This continues a trend from last year, when energy companies topped the funding charts in every quarter. There have been shifts, however, in the sector’s biggest targets. Hydrogen companies…

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PhotonDelta, a photonic chip accelerator in the Netherlands, has opened an office in Silicon Valley — marking a milestone moment for the Dutch semiconductor sector. The move is part of PhotonDelta’s goal to create a unified photonic chip industry that leverages the capabilities of both European and US-based companies. Founded in 2018, the organisation has built an integrated photonics ecosystem in the Netherlands, which boasts an end-to-end value chain, from design and manufacturing to packaging and testing. In 2022, it received a €1.1bn investment from the Dutch government to boost the country’s position in the field. Photonic chips use light…This story continues at The Next Web

PhotonDelta, a photonic chip accelerator in the Netherlands, has opened an office in Silicon Valley — marking a milestone moment for the Dutch semiconductor sector. The move is part of PhotonDelta’s goal to create a unified photonic chip industry that leverages the capabilities of both European and US-based companies. Founded in 2018, the organisation has built an integrated photonics ecosystem in the Netherlands, which boasts an end-to-end value chain, from design and manufacturing to packaging and testing. In 2022, it received a €1.1bn investment from the Dutch government to boost the country’s position in the field. Photonic chips use light…

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US chipmaker AMD has agreed a $665mn (€614mn) deal to buy Finnish startup Silo AI, one of Europe’s leading artificial intelligence firms. AMD announced the all-cash transaction on Wednesday. The Californian company described the acquisition as “a significant step” towards delivering end-to-end AI solutions. It will also give AMD new tools to compete with Nvidia’s high-performance chips. Silo has been acclaimed for building large language models (LLMs) — particularly for low-resource languages. In May, the startup launched an LLM that covers Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish, as well as English and programming languages. At the time, the company said…This story continues at The Next Web

US chipmaker AMD has agreed a $665mn (€614mn) deal to buy Finnish startup Silo AI, one of Europe’s leading artificial intelligence firms. AMD announced the all-cash transaction on Wednesday. The Californian company described the acquisition as “a significant step” towards delivering end-to-end AI solutions. It will also give AMD new tools to compete with Nvidia’s high-performance chips. Silo has been acclaimed for building large language models (LLMs) — particularly for low-resource languages. In May, the startup launched an LLM that covers Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish, as well as English and programming languages. At the time, the company said…

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 Welcome to the new episode of the TNW Podcast — the show where we discuss the latest developments in the European technology ecosystem and feature interviews with some of the most interesting people in the industry. In today’s episode, Andrii talks about fusion energy in Europe, ‘the war on floppy disks’, and more. The guest of the show is Daniel Keiper-Knorr, general partner at Speedinvest, with his vision on the early-stage startup ecosystem in Europe, the market consolidation processes, and a few things around that. Here are the stories and things mentioned in the episode: ITER troubles expose need for…This story continues at The Next Web

 Welcome to the new episode of the TNW Podcast — the show where we discuss the latest developments in the European technology ecosystem and feature interviews with some of the most interesting people in the industry. In today’s episode, Andrii talks about fusion energy in Europe, ‘the war on floppy disks’, and more. The guest of the show is Daniel Keiper-Knorr, general partner at Speedinvest, with his vision on the early-stage startup ecosystem in Europe, the market consolidation processes, and a few things around that. Here are the stories and things mentioned in the episode: ITER troubles expose need for…

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