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GV’s Tom Hulme on AI, life sciences and the Alphabet VC’s future in Europe
GV has had a few ups and downs in Europe since first setting up its stall here in London in 2014. Fast-forward to today, however, and GV is still here and appears to be gearing up to be more visible and active in the future. Read More
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Travauxlib takes care of your home renovation for you
French startup Travauxlib matches you with construction companies so that they can fix up your home. The company raised $1.9 million (€1.8 million) from Xavier Niel, Breega Capital and Bpifrance. Travauxlib usually works on complete home renovation, kitchen remodeling, bathroom work and home extensions. In other words, if you want to change something about your home and it costs… Read More
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Matternet cleared to fly blood samples in delivery drones over Swiss cities
The Swiss Federal Office for Civil Aviation (FOCA) has granted Matternet a certification allowing their delivery drones to fly autonomously over cities at any time of day or night. Clearing this regulatory hurdle means that by early next year, Matternet partner Swiss Post plans to use the drones to deliver blood samples and other small parcels between hospitals in Lugano, a smaller city with… Read More
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SpyBiotech, which makes a ‘superglue’ for vaccines, raises £4M from GV and Oxford
The startup bug has hit the world of biotechnology, and the latest victim is a business that is building a “super glue,” coincidentally, for bug-combating vaccines. SpyBiotech — a startup spun out of Oxford University that has developed a way to bond antigens to viruses and other particles to make vaccines — has announced £4 million ($5 million) in funding. Read More
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UK wants tech firms to build tools to block terrorist content
U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd is holding talks with several major internet companies today to urge them to be more proactive about tackling the spread of extremist content online. Companies in attendance include Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook, along with some smaller internet companies. Read More
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Ledger grabs $7 million for its cryptocurrency hardware wallets
Things are going incredibly well for Ledger these days. People find bitcoins, ethers and other cryptocurrencies exciting again. And the French startup just raised a $7 million Series A round to make hardware security devices ubiquitous. MAIF Avenir, XAnge, Wicklow Capital, GDTRE, Libertus Capital, Digital Currency Group, The Whittemore Collection, Kima Ventures, BHB Network and Nicolas… Read More
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Europe’s justice ministers unsure on whether to push for decrypt law
European justice and home affairs ministers are putting their heads together to try to decide on a collective response to Internet companies’ use of strong encryption. And, ultimately, whether to push for legislation requiring backdoors in end-to-end encryption to afford the region’s law enforcement agencies access to user data on-demand. Read More
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Readdle hires Apple Mail engineering manager to work on Spark
Third-party app developer Readdle has developed some of the most successful productivity apps on iOS and macOS. And email client Spark in particular is going to be Readdle’s next big bet. Readdle just hired Terry Blanchard, an engineering manager for Apple Mail for six years. He’s going to build a new team in Silicon Valley. Readdle has built an entire company on the App Store… Read More
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Sway is another interactive relaxation app from ustwo
Digital design studio ustwo — best known for its mobile gaming chops — is doubling down on a move into mindfulness and well-being apps in recent years, with the launch of a second “interactive meditation” app, called Sway. Read More
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Backed by LocalGlobe, London-based Flourish launches data visualisation platform
Flourish, a new startup out of London, has launched what it describes as a data visualisation platform, designed to make it easier for companies, including media organisations, to visualise and tell stories through data. The company is also disclosing $1 million in backing from Robin and Saul Klein’s LocalGlobe, and U.S.-based Founder Collective. Read More
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Canon acquires London-based printing tech startup Kite
Canon Europe seems to be developing a penchant for buying up London-based startups in the photo or printing space. Following the acquisition of parental photo-sharing app Lifecake in 2015, the company is on a shopping spree again, this time acquiring Kite, a print tech startup that lets developers add on-demand printing features to their apps. Read More
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Startup megacampus Station F is going to open at the end of June
I’ve been covering Station F for quite a few months already, but the startup campus based in Paris has yet to open. The team had to delay the launch after a pipe burst that inundated the basement. The opening date has now moved from April to the end of June, with startups moving in during the first week of July. The building is already looking quite nice as I was there last week. Read More
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Social media firms facing fresh political pressure after London terror attack
Yesterday UK government ministers once again called for social media companies to do more to combat terrorism. “There should be no place for terrorists to hide,” said Home Secretary Amber Rudd, speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr program. Read More
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Tobias Stone talks about identity, cryptography, and the future of citizenship
In this episode of Technotopia I walk to Tobias Stone, a writer, entrepreneur, and academic. Tobias has been writing on Trump and Brexit and worked with Identity.ee, a workgroup focused on cryptographically proven citizenship. Stone believes that the Estonian model of e-idenity is the future and that the mission for every country should be to make their workers, citizen, and expats digital. Read More
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Is it a bird? Is it a bug? No it’s a biomimetic microdrone with flapping wings
UK biomimetic engineering startup Animal Dynamics is being funded by the military to build a microdrone with wings inspired by the flapping flight of a dragonfly. Read More
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This sensory wearable is designed for flirting
With people more likely to be locking eyes with their smartphone screens these days when they’re hanging around in public, the London-based designers behind this feathery wearable are worried that the chances for exchanging flirtatious glances with passing strangers is being engineered out of daily life. Or, let’s be honest, translated into monetizable swipes on Tinder et al. Read More
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