July 2024
Syntetica has closed a $4.5M Seed round led by EQT Ventures to combat textile waste. Syntetica’s breakthrough chemical depolymerization process is turning unrecyclable synthetic textile waste into value, starting with polyamide. By closing the loop in nylon recycling, Syntetica could prevent millions of tons of garments from being sent to landfill.
altrove has raised a $4M pre-seed round led by Contrarian Ventures and Emblem. They are leveraging AI and lab automation to develop sustainable alternatives for critical materials. The funding will enable altrove to build a self-driving lab powered by AI and computational models.
Lodestar has secured a $2.5M pre-seed led by Inflection.xyz and Lunar Ventures. Lodestar is building the frontline service to safeguard all off-earth operations, providing autonomous and dexterous robotics capabilities to inspect, protect, and repair the world’s most critical assets in orbit. Their technology performs delicate and critical tasks in microgravity while withstanding radiation and extreme temperatures.
Recurse ML has raised a $3M Seed led by Seedcamp and Playfair to build machine learning models for large codebase maintenance. Recurse ML is building a platform that simplifies the development process for enterprise settings. Their tool automates repetitive tasks, enabling software engineers to manage the codebase with a single command. They are starting off with dependency upgrades and are already running pilots with large financial institutions.
Telescope has launched an AI lead generation tool on Product Hunt. Using advanced machine learning, Telescope streamlines finding the right person for a role, event, or sales pipeline by generating a full list of leads in just one click. Telescope’s AI handles smart data points, removing the need for time-consuming manual curation. The team is also working on creating highly specialized targeting with more data point options.
toby has launched a live speech translation tool on Product Hunt. toby has built personalized real-time speech and text translation, to work with anyone, in any language. The tool can be downloaded as a desktop app and set up on any video call platform, enabling users to speak to anyone in any language.
August 2024
Open Cosmos has developed a 6U nanosatellite called Phisat-2 for a European Space Agency (ESA) mission, which was launched from California this month. Phisat-2 has 6 AI applications on board which will enable real-time environmental monitoring, autonomous maritime vessel detection, and street map generation. Read more here and see photos from Phisat-2 here.
Womp Labs recently released research presenting a new SOTA algorithm for selecting optimal datasets. Their method, “TRAK_{WOMP}” builds on a prior method, “TRAK”, by decomposing gradients into blocks. This change results in higher accuracy while being over 75% cheaper.
Arda has partnered with Beavertown Brewery, a fine-beer brewer in London that operates as a part of Heineken. The team is repurposing Beavertown’s spent grain into eco-friendly card holders. Earlier this year, Arda’s process of turning waste into leather alternatives was highlighted in a BBC documentary. You can watch it here.
Cleo has been named among the best 5 generative AI tools for everyday life by Forbes here. Backed by Sofina, Cleo is transforming how Gen Z budgets. Their humorous AI chatbot combines all banking data in one app to deliver a full picture of financial health.
Lodestar has announced that their robotic arm will be an orbital ‘first responder’ service for satellites in space. Backed by the UK Space Agency, Lodestar is developing a flight-ready model of its robotic arm set to fly as a hosted payload on a partner’s space tug in 2025. The team recently completed their first zero-gravity test of its electrical, mechanical, and vision systems in microgravity. This test was conducted with the Aurelia Institute and supported by academics from MIT’s Space Exploration Initiative.
Spore.Bio was recently featured in Sifted as one of the top 13 techbio startups to watch. Spore.Bio’s patent-pending technology is the first instantaneous pathogen detection device that is directly usable on the shopfloor. Last year, they raised $8.5M led by LocalGlobe.
Polari Labs has been interviewed in Maddyness. They shared their journey creating medical science for the LGBTQIA+ community with their patent-pending miniature ball-like device that enables spontaneous and hassle-free anal sex, while limiting the spread of STIs.
September 2024
Qantev raised a €30M Series B round led by Blossom Capital. Quantev helps health and life insurers around the globe reduce losses, optimize their processes, and increase client satisfaction. Their deeptech software platform blends artificial intelligence with medical expertise to boost the claims management process and uncover instances of fraud, waste, and abuse.
Alcemy raised a $10M round led by Norrsken VC and leading climate investors Galvanize Climate Solution and AENU to advance cement decarbonization. Alcemy is building a predictive quality control AI to transform the concrete and cement industry into a digital, greener age. Through robust data and smart algorithms, Alcemy offers relevant insights for producers along the entire value chain in real-time, enabling reliable and robust concrete production with up to 65% reduced emissions. The recent funding will be used for continued research development and to support entry into new markets, including the US.
Samp raised a €6M round for their AI-generated industrial twin solution that connects outdated technical drawings with up-to-date 3D reality capture. By automating the creation of these intelligent 3D models and keeping them up-to-date on a continuous basis, Samp helps to improve safety and auditability, enabling customers to spot inconsistencies in a matter of hours. The round was led by Promus Ventures and will be used to continue R&D and prepare for international expansion outside Europe.
Noah Labs raised a €3M Seed round led by Nina Capital, a dedicated European health technology investor. Noah Labs’ flagship software enables AI-supported telemonitoring of heart failure patients, allowing people with cardiovascular disease to live longer, healthier lives. Their platform was recently approved as a Class IIa medical device in the EU. They are now conducting clinical studies with the Mayo Clinic in the US on the effectiveness of voice analysis as a novel biomarker for the detection of decompensated heart failure – the leading cause of hospitalization.