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In November 2023, violent Atlantic storm “Domingos” struck the northern coast of Portugal, generating record-high waves and leaving a path of destruction across much of Western Europe. People on land were grappling with flooded homes, closed roads, and landslides. But just offshore, a potentially game-changing wave energy device was happily bobbing up and down, side to side — seemingly, in its element. Built by Swedish startup CorPower, the giant golden buoy turns the raw power of the ocean into a clean, reliable electricity source. CorPower claims its tech is at least five times more efficient than the previous state-of-the-art. “We’ve…
From the outside, it looks like a clean, modern social housing block. You can tell it’s new — there are 84 shiny solar panels on the roof and the fresh paint has barely dried on the walls. But it’s how this 56-dwelling building in Barcelona, complete with ground floor nursery, was designed and built that really matters. “Our software is our superpower,” says Lucas Carné, co-founder of 011h, a construction tech firm, as he describes how his company has designed digital tools to help architects plan buildings like this one. “We use a lot of prefab,” he adds. “That reduces…
Munich-based startup OroraTech has secured €25mn in funding to scale up its AI-powered wildfire detection system. Korys, the investment arm of the Colruyt’s — a Belgian noble family — led the funding round. The EU’s Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF) also chipped in, alongside existing investor Bayern Kapital. OroraTech will use the fresh funding to fuel the next phase of its growth. The company looks to expand into global markets beyond Europe, and keep refining its technology. OroraTech’s so-called Wildfire Solution collates imagery from its own probes, as well as over 20 other Earth observation satellites. The startup has trained an…
Poppy Gustafsson, the co-founder and former CEO of UK cybersecurity darling Darktrace, has been named Britain’s new minister of investment as the new Labour government looks to win favour with big business. Gustafsson will head up the revamped Office for Investment as part of a wider “Whitehall shake-up” designed to bring more money to British shores, the government said. The appointment no doubt comes as a relief for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who struggled for months to fill the role. It also comes just days before the government’s international business summit on Monday, where Starmer will look to pitch the…
Amsterdam-based scaleup Lumicks has secured €20mn from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to accelerate the discovery of immunotherapy drugs for cancer. The venture debt funding will help Lumicks further develop and market its cell avidity analyser, a machine with the potential to transform the way researchers study and develop treatments for Europe’s second most deadly disease. Lumicks’ tech allows scientists to gather real-time data on the bonds between immune cells and cancer cells. Unlike traditional methods, which rely on indirect biomarkers, the analyser precisely measures the actual strength and duration of those interactions directly and in real time. This is…