Author: TechBrunch

Tozero, a Munich-based startup that recovers valuable raw materials from recycled lithium-ion batteries, is preparing to scale up. The startup just closed an oversubscribed seed round of €11 million (approximately $11.7 million) to build its first industrial deployment (also known as first-of-its-kind or FOAK) plant and ramp up production. Currently, Tozero's pilot plant processes 9 tons of lithium-ion battery waste per day, but the startup is aiming for unlimited production capacity with the hope of expanding its operations in the next few years. . “Other competitors are raising even more money to get to their factories. But our processes and…

Qwant, France’s privacy-focused search engine, and Ecosia, a Berlin-based not-for-profit search engine that uses ad revenue to fund tree planting and other climate-focused initiatives, are joining forces on a joint venture to develop their own European search index. The pair hopes this move will help drive innovation in their respective search engines — including and especially around generative AI — as well as reducing dependence on search indexes provided by tech giants Microsoft (Bing) and Google. Both currently rely on Bing’s search APIs while Ecosia also uses Google’s search results. Rising API costs are one clear motivator for the move…

The majority of Japan's aging population still prefers to use cash for transactions, according to a recent report citing government data. According to the Japanese government, the total amount of cashless transactions in Japan in 2023 was 126.7 trillion yen ($885 billion), accounting for 39.3% of all domestic spending. The government hopes this number will reach 40% by 2025. The Japanese government's efforts to increase cashless transactions are being supported by SmartBank, a Tokyo-based startup that provides apps and services to help people easily transition to cashless payments. Shota Horii (SmartBank CEO), along with his twin brother Yuta Horii (CTO)…

Intudo, Indonesia's only venture capital firm, announced that it has raised $125 million across two investment funds. That includes $75 million in Intudo Ventures IV and $50 million in a separate fund that invests in downstream natural resources and renewable energy. Intudo said Fund IV will invest in Indonesian startups that take advantage of Indonesia's location, digital advancements and growing middle class population, namely the country's startups in sectors such as consumer products, aquaculture, horticulture, commercial distribution, regulation and regulation. He said he would invest in companies that leverage their strengths. and deep tech startups. Another fund will be the…

While India's urban population is shifting away from mom-and-pop stores to quick commerce platforms, rural India, home to more than 800 million people, remains heavily dependent on offline businesses for daily consumption. Wheelocity aims to transform this untapped market and make it easier for people living outside the top 200 cities in the country to shop online. Founded in September 2021, the Chennai-headquartered startup pivoted from its previous B2B supply chain business for quick commerce platforms to building a platform that solves e-commerce access for people living in semi-urban areas. Moved. and a rural area commonly referred to as 'Bharat'.…

Apple will soon let you share the location of lost or misplaced items, such as an iPhone, MacBook, or anything with an attached AirTag, with people other than your contacts via the Find My app using a link. is. The company is currently testing the feature in the iOS 18.2 public beta after introducing it in the 18.2 developer beta earlier this month. Apple says the feature is intended to make it easier to find lost items by sharing your location with third parties, such as taxi drivers and airline employees. In the coming months, nearly 20 airlines will begin…

Amazon has admitted that employee data was compromised after a “security event” at a third-party vendor. In a statement provided to TechCrunch on Monday, Amazon spokesperson Adam Montgomery confirmed that employee information was involved in the data breach. “Amazon and AWS systems remain secure and there have been no security events. We are one of our property management vendors and have been notified of a security event that impacted multiple customers, including Amazon. The only Amazon information involved was the employee's work contact information (e.g., work email address, desk phone number, building location, etc.), Montgomery said. Amazon did not say…

Founders who were early in the race to develop self-driving cars have raised $15 million to: It's a startup that claims AI can create enterprise software on its own. Cogna (as the UK-based startup is called) is led by Ben Peters, technology co-founder of FiveAI (a self-driving startup acquired by Bosch in 2022). Notion Capital is leading the Series A, with participation from Hoxton Ventures and Chalfen Ventures. This follows Cogna, which was founded in May 2023 and raised a $4.75 million seed round earlier this year from a number of investors, including Peters' FiveAI co-founder Stan Boland and Acorn…

Swiggy's IPO scheduled for Wednesday will finally give many analysts a public exposure to a stock that rivals Zomato, which has long been considered India's internet stock. It will also test the public's appetite for IPOs worth more than $1 billion. For its IPO, Swiggy has already secured $1.4 billion from institutional investors including Norway's sovereign wealth fund, BlackRock and eight of India's top 10 mutual funds. Still, the company is entering a public market where big tech stocks have historically struggled — three years after its $2.5 billion initial public offering, Paytm still trades 47% below its IPO price.…

Managing payroll is difficult in any country, but especially so in Brazil. Constantly changing laws and highly influential trade unions make it much more difficult to get payroll right. Fernando Gadotti struggled with this problem as co-founder and CEO of DogHero, Latin America's version of Rover. After selling the company in 2020, Gadotti decided this was where he wanted to focus next when he retired in 2022. “Every time a payroll came in, it was a pain that took hours and hours of double-checking the data, but it didn't give us the insight we needed,” Gadotti told TechCrunch. “[We were]…