thenextweb-rss
Tilburg’s Mr. Winston raises €600K for its hospitality POS system
Tilburg-based Mr. Winston has raised €600,000 to further develop its hospitality POS system and expand into more markets. Founded in 2015, the startup provides a cloud-based POS solution that can work on all devices and operating systems such as iOS and Android. The POS also features additional modules, including reservations, QR ordering, and kitchen screens. “This flexibility towards the user is lacking in our competition,” Koen Lavrijssen, founder and CTO at Mr. Winston, told TNW. Mr. Winston counts hundreds of customers in the Netherlands and recently expanded across five more countries in Europe, including Germany and Spain. In 2023, the startup…This story continues at The Next Web
Tilburg-based Mr. Winston has raised €600,000 to further develop its hospitality POS system and expand into more markets. Founded in 2015, the startup provides a cloud-based POS solution that can work on all devices and operating systems such as iOS and Android. The POS also features additional modules, including reservations, QR ordering, and kitchen screens. “This flexibility towards the user is lacking in our competition,” Koen Lavrijssen, founder and CTO at Mr. Winston, told TNW. Mr. Winston counts hundreds of customers in the Netherlands and recently expanded across five more countries in Europe, including Germany and Spain. In 2023, the startup…
This story continues at The Next Web
Swedish startup wins EU funding to print organic indoor solar panels
The EU has granted €3.3mn to a consortium led by Swedish startup Epishine. The group’s mission is to boost the development of organic solar panels. In this case, organic refers to solar panels that are carbon-based. Instead of using silicon to conduct electricity, these solar panels utilise organic molecules. Organic solar cells are very lightweight, cheap, semi-transparent, printable, and flexible. They can also convert indoor light into electricity. That can be from sunlight streaming in through an open window or completely artificial light, such as LEDs or halogen bulbs. The downside is that organic solar panels degrade a lot faster…This story continues at The Next Web
The EU has granted €3.3mn to a consortium led by Swedish startup Epishine. The group’s mission is to boost the development of organic solar panels. In this case, organic refers to solar panels that are carbon-based. Instead of using silicon to conduct electricity, these solar panels utilise organic molecules. Organic solar cells are very lightweight, cheap, semi-transparent, printable, and flexible. They can also convert indoor light into electricity. That can be from sunlight streaming in through an open window or completely artificial light, such as LEDs or halogen bulbs. The downside is that organic solar panels degrade a lot faster…
This story continues at The Next Web
Humanity faces two existential crises — the climate crisis and AI. Can one help solve the other?
As I write this, two contrasting regulations on the development of artificial intelligence — namely generative AI — are making their way through the European and British parliaments. The British approach is very simple — looking to ensure AI companies fit into existing laws governing technology companies. In contrast, the EU approach, as White & Case analysis describes, is an entirely new piece of legislation, and is risk-based — looking to counter the most serious risks that come with developing more advanced AI. Whether that is data scraping, infringements on individual liberty, as well as fake news and election involvement. …This story continues at The Next Web
As I write this, two contrasting regulations on the development of artificial intelligence — namely generative AI — are making their way through the European and British parliaments. The British approach is very simple — looking to ensure AI companies fit into existing laws governing technology companies. In contrast, the EU approach, as White & Case analysis describes, is an entirely new piece of legislation, and is risk-based — looking to counter the most serious risks that come with developing more advanced AI. Whether that is data scraping, infringements on individual liberty, as well as fake news and election involvement. …
This story continues at The Next Web
This startup is using protein powder to beef up carbon capture
A British startup has devised a way to speed-up enhanced rock weathering using protein powder in a potential step forward for the budding carbon capture industry. Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) involves spreading silicate rock dust on fields to capture carbon. When it rains, the dust reacts with the CO2 in the droplets, permanently storing it in the rocks as carbonate (think chalk or baking soda). This relatively simple technology has taken off in recent years, attracting funding from the likes of Meta, Google, and Microsoft. However, there are a few kinks that need ironing out. One issue is that ERW…This story continues at The Next Web
A British startup has devised a way to speed-up enhanced rock weathering using protein powder in a potential step forward for the budding carbon capture industry. Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) involves spreading silicate rock dust on fields to capture carbon. When it rains, the dust reacts with the CO2 in the droplets, permanently storing it in the rocks as carbonate (think chalk or baking soda). This relatively simple technology has taken off in recent years, attracting funding from the likes of Meta, Google, and Microsoft. However, there are a few kinks that need ironing out. One issue is that ERW…
This story continues at The Next Web
This week in Dutch tech
Friday is here and so is TNW’s weekly round-up of tech news from our glorious home country. This week saw advances in medtech, quantum breakthroughs, and calls to further boost the Dutch chip industry. Our highlights have you covered, but 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 Dutch startup to test hearing via brain-computer interface Dutch minister fears ‘national security risk’ from…This story continues at The Next Web
Friday is here and so is TNW’s weekly round-up of tech news from our glorious home country. This week saw advances in medtech, quantum breakthroughs, and calls to further boost the Dutch chip industry. Our highlights have you covered, but 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 Dutch startup to test hearing via brain-computer interface Dutch minister fears ‘national security risk’ from…
This story continues at The Next Web
Uber rival Bolt secures €220M in prep for IPO
Estonian mobility startup Bolt has secured a €220mn credit facility as it plans to go public next year. This type of financing is a more flexible loan option, which allows a business to withdraw and repay funds as needed, on an ongoing basis. Kind of like a credit card for companies. The credit facility provides Bolt “with additional flexibility as we work towards being IPO-ready,” CEO and founder Markus Villig said in a statement. Lenders including Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan. The money supplements Bolt’s “strong cash position” and “strengthens its liquidity profile,” the company said. Alongside…This story continues at The Next WebOr just read more coverage about: Uber
Estonian mobility startup Bolt has secured a €220mn credit facility as it plans to go public next year. This type of financing is a more flexible loan option, which allows a business to withdraw and repay funds as needed, on an ongoing basis. Kind of like a credit card for companies. The credit facility provides Bolt “with additional flexibility as we work towards being IPO-ready,” CEO and founder Markus Villig said in a statement. Lenders including Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan. The money supplements Bolt’s “strong cash position” and “strengthens its liquidity profile,” the company said. Alongside…
This story continues at The Next Web
Or just read more coverage about: Uber
Deeptech VC raises €300M in push for ‘semiconductor supremacy’
Flemish venture capital firm Imec.xpand has raised €300mn to invest in deeptech startups. The VC is a spinoff from Leuven-based Imec, one of the world’s largest microelectronics research institutions. The new fund targets AI, semiconductors, nanotechnology, photonics, and quantum computing. It will also invest in startups working on new ways to diagnose and treat medical conditions. To date, Imec.xpand has invested in 23 companies that have so far raised a combined €1.5bn in funding. This includes two unicorns — companies valued at €1bn or more. Imec.xpand recently opened a new office in the Netherlands, according to Dutch newspaper Het Financieele…This story continues at The Next Web
Flemish venture capital firm Imec.xpand has raised €300mn to invest in deeptech startups. The VC is a spinoff from Leuven-based Imec, one of the world’s largest microelectronics research institutions. The new fund targets AI, semiconductors, nanotechnology, photonics, and quantum computing. It will also invest in startups working on new ways to diagnose and treat medical conditions. To date, Imec.xpand has invested in 23 companies that have so far raised a combined €1.5bn in funding. This includes two unicorns — companies valued at €1bn or more. Imec.xpand recently opened a new office in the Netherlands, according to Dutch newspaper Het Financieele…
This story continues at The Next Web
AI-powered ‘deep medicine’ could transform healthcare in the NHS
Today’s NHS faces severe time constraints, with the risk of short consultations and concerns about the risk of misdiagnosis or delayed care. These challenges are compounded by limited resources and overstretched staff that results in protracted patient wait times and generic treatment strategies. Staff can operate with a surface level view of patient data, relying on basic medical histories and recent test results. This lack of comprehensive data interferes with their ability to fully understand patient needs and compromises the accuracy and individualisation of diagnoses and treatments. Such a healthcare approach, characterised by these limitations and engagements, could aptly be…This story continues at The Next Web
Today’s NHS faces severe time constraints, with the risk of short consultations and concerns about the risk of misdiagnosis or delayed care. These challenges are compounded by limited resources and overstretched staff that results in protracted patient wait times and generic treatment strategies. Staff can operate with a surface level view of patient data, relying on basic medical histories and recent test results. This lack of comprehensive data interferes with their ability to fully understand patient needs and compromises the accuracy and individualisation of diagnoses and treatments. Such a healthcare approach, characterised by these limitations and engagements, could aptly be…
This story continues at The Next Web
Europe is falling behind in the race to develop space-based solar power
When the EU approved the European Green Deal in 2020, the bloc unveiled a plan to lead the clean energy transition. Yet it has since faced growing competition from both China — which has quickly and quietly buried Europe’s solar panel industry and is now taking aim at its EV market — and the US, which under the Biden administration took an about-face on sustainability with the introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. As the EU invests more into renewables, it will need to overcome hurdles around reliability, storage, transmission, and scalability to reach its ambitious 2030 renewable…This story continues at The Next Web
When the EU approved the European Green Deal in 2020, the bloc unveiled a plan to lead the clean energy transition. Yet it has since faced growing competition from both China — which has quickly and quietly buried Europe’s solar panel industry and is now taking aim at its EV market — and the US, which under the Biden administration took an about-face on sustainability with the introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. As the EU invests more into renewables, it will need to overcome hurdles around reliability, storage, transmission, and scalability to reach its ambitious 2030 renewable…
This story continues at The Next Web
This tech investor will pay Ukrainian farmers to trap carbon in their soil
Lithuanian climate investment firm HeavyFinance has added over 700,000 football pitches-worth of farmland in Ukraine to its soil carbon credit programme. Modern agriculture has taken its toll on soils. Centuries of plowing, cutting, and overgrazing has made land less fertile. This has also released billions of tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. HeavyFinance pays farmers to put some of this carbon back into the ground. Specifically, the company issues loans to encourage the switch to regenerative farming practices. This includes rotating crops, growing cover crops during the off season, or plowing less often. These processes can remove carbon from the…This story continues at The Next Web
Lithuanian climate investment firm HeavyFinance has added over 700,000 football pitches-worth of farmland in Ukraine to its soil carbon credit programme. Modern agriculture has taken its toll on soils. Centuries of plowing, cutting, and overgrazing has made land less fertile. This has also released billions of tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. HeavyFinance pays farmers to put some of this carbon back into the ground. Specifically, the company issues loans to encourage the switch to regenerative farming practices. This includes rotating crops, growing cover crops during the off season, or plowing less often. These processes can remove carbon from the…
This story continues at The Next Web