U.K.-based software testing startup Virtuoso has raised a $13.3 million Series A round led by Paladin Capital. The round was joined by Mubadala Capital as well as existing U.K. investors Crane Venture Partners, Forward Partners and Downing Ventures. Virtuoso says its SaaS software testing platform, which launched in 2019, uses machine learning and Robotic Process […]
Framework raises $2M Seed to create an ‘on-demand business school’ aimed at startups
Business education is, let’s face it, finding it hard to keep up with a $3 trillion global tech startup economy that’s booming right now. High-growth companies are time-starved and so are their executives, but the courses they are offered are long, often boring, and varying in quality. Ideally, business education should be more on-demand, targeted, […]
Watr launches ESG-oriented blockchain for commodities, partners with Algorand
With COP26 negotiations in full throw this week, the climate is probably the highest up the global agenda it’s ever been. And as the world slowly emerges from the global pandemic, more people are talking about re-writing the rules of trade, not just to unblock the clear inefficiencies made manifest by the Evergreen Suez-blocking debacle, […]
The Tenways CGO 600 is a very serviceable, urban, belt-drive e-bike, great for commutes
Tenways is an e-bike maker which has launched its first model, the CGO 600, on Indiegogo. Priced at around $1,400 this is a relatively affordable e-bike in the scheme of things, and has plenty of features to satisfy even the most discerning of customers. Now before we get into it, it behooves me to say […]
Kebony raises $34M to make sustainable softwood behave like hardwood, using food waste
It’s fairly simply: Softwood grows a lot faster – in ‘sustainable’ forests – than hardwood. The latter is often found in bio-diverse old-growth forests like, um, the Amazon. So if you could make softwood behave like hardwood, you’d not only access more sustainable wood for construction, you’d also protect hardwood forests from destruction. Plus, you […]
World Fund is a new €350M climate VC fund incubated by Green search engine Ecosia
You might have previously thought that Ecosia was a nice-to-have search engine that planted trees when you punched-in a search term. Lovely. How nice. But no. Ecosia’s founders and the network around it are far more serious about climate change than that superficial assessment might suggest. Last year in March 2020, just before the world […]
Pledge raises $4.5M Seed round to build a carbon-measurement and removal API
With the Climate Crisis looming, lots of companies want to do their part. But asking customers to “offset the CO2 emission of this delivery” is usually a hammer to crack a nut. There is very little transparency around carbon offsets. Plus, smaller companies want to access high-quality carbon credits, but calculate their impact at a […]
Vertical Oceans aims to grow sustainable shrimp in huge ‘aqua towers’ inside cities
John Diener, the CEO of an aquaculture nutrition and genetics company, would visit hundreds of shrimp farms as part of his job. But gradually he became frustrated by some of the environmentally unsustainable practices used in many locations. One night, his wife bought some frozen shrimp to cook for dinner and he realized the industry […]
2150 VC hits $312M for fund to build and run cities greener, and emit vastly less CO2
Back in February new European VC 2150 launched the first $240 million close of its fund to back technologies reducing carbon emissions via the medium of cities, which pump out CO2 at a prodigious rate as they develop and grow. This ‘Urban Sustainability Technology Fund’, as it’s dubbed, is now announcing the final close of its […]
Shooting for greater privacy in DeFi, Sienna Network launches SiennaSwap
The rise of privacy-oriented financial blockchain projects are going to be crucial if “DeFi” (decentralized finance) is to have any kind of future. We have come to expect privacy in our “normal” financial lives, so we will expect it in the blockchain and Crypto world, whatever some might claim. We saw murmurs of that starting […]