Author: TechBrunch

Formlabs announced the acquisition of 3D printing company Micronics on Thursday. The Wisconsin-based startup is a bold move with just two employees. Co-founders Henry Chan and Luke Boppart are joining the more established company as Formlabs works to bring Micronics' easy-to-use SLS method to 3D printing. There are many similarities between the two: Formlabs was founded as an MIT spinout to significantly lower the barrier of entry to SLA printing, something that was previously only feasible on large, prohibitively priced industrial systems; Micronics, founded in 2021, was created by recent grads committed to the problem of democratizing access to industrial…

Medal, a startup best known for its video game clipping products, announced that it has raised $13 million at a valuation of $333 million from multiple investors, including Horizons Ventures, OMERS Ventures, peak6 and Arcadia Investment Partners. The company also announced Highlight, a new cross-platform desktop app that acts as a contextual AI assistant for users, capturing on-screen content and allowing them to ask questions to large-scale language models (LLMs) based on that context. Henry Gladwin, a partner at OMERS Ventures, said in a conference call with TechCrunch that the venture sees an opportunity to take Medal's core technology and…

When Bulent Altan, an early SpaceX engineer, and Yoram Volklein, a longtime investor, surveyed Europe's space industry in the late 2010s, they were surprised at how similar it was to the beginnings of America's New Space in the early 2000s, when SpaceX and other companies were just getting started. The two decided to make a personal investment in German launch startup Isar Aerospace, but also considered making a larger investment to more fully capture the huge opportunity to help grow the space sector in both the U.S. and Europe. To do that, they founded Alpine Space Ventures in Munich, Germany,…

People in the tech industry often say that data is the new oil, a phrase coined by British mathematician Clive Hamby that, of course, means that data is valuable. Personal health data can also provide meaningful insights and improve treatment outcomes, but according to the World Economic Forum, only 3% of patient data is currently used by doctors. Doctors know they can glean useful information from patient data, but they don't have the time to review every detail in medical records. Regard, a digital health startup founded in 2017, wants to help doctors save time and improve the accuracy of…

Intel may be getting a much-needed boost to the ambitions of its burgeoning foundry business: The company's venture capital arm said today it is making “strategic” investments in AI-building startups based in Israel and the UK. Intel Capital is leading a $15 million investment in Buildots, a company that uses AI and computer vision to create digital twins of construction sites. The six-year-old company works with construction giants such as Pomerlau, NCC and Ledcor to regularly capture jobsite data using 360-degree cameras to track project progress, identify bottlenecks and optimize workflows. Buildots has raised around $106 million to date, with…

The European Union has accepted Apple's commitments over how Apple Pay will operate in a move to resolve a long-running competition investigation. Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission's vice-president who heads the EU's competition department, announced the development at a press conference on Thursday. Apple has until July 25 to implement the change, which would allow rival mobile wallet developers to offer contactless payments over NFC, the technology that dominates in the EU. It would allow users to use “tap-and-go” payments, she said, and would also give them access to key iOS features like double-clicking to launch apps and using Face…

Joby Aviation is still a year away from commercially launching its electric air taxi designed for urban environments, but the startup is already looking toward the next step: hydrogen-powered intercity flights. To begin discussions with regulators and demonstrate hydrogen's capabilities, Joby told TechCrunch that it has completed a 523-mile test flight with its hydrogen-electric prototype aircraft, one of the company's eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft powered by a liquid hydrogen fuel cell and hydrogen-electric propulsion system. Currently, Joby Aviation's eVTOL is built to transport people and goods short distances within a city or from a city to an…

Just like your favorite anime, this is the story of a group of twenty-somethings who start off with nothing, travel the world, and eventually secure a global license to develop the official Naruto consumer app. Sekai, a French startup founded in early 2022, describes itself as a studio that wants to create entertainment experiences with official anime licenses. Unlike Marvel superheroes or the Harry Potter series, the anime and manga industry has had little exposure to other forms of entertainment. Of course, there are fighting video games from Bandai Namco (or Sega, Konami…). Of course, you can buy plastic miniatures.…

Adfin, a new UK-based fintech startup, wants to help businesses get their invoices paid, no matter what. Founded by two fintech experts, the company started with a problem and built a product around it: the problem is that if you're set up as a sole trader, or a small company without someone dedicated to admin tasks, getting paid is still hard. For small businesses and sole traders like lawyers, accountants, consultants and craftspeople, the process of getting paid for work typically involves sending an invoice with bank account details to your client. But you also need to track the receipt…

Reliance Industries Ltd., India's most valuable company, may consider spinning off its telecom unit Jio for a public listing as soon as 2025, Jefferies said in a research note, as investors prefer the route to an initial public offering.The move comes as Jio has recently focused on monetizing and growing market share, as shown by its leading role in raising tariffs. The spin-off option has come under scrutiny amid concerns over holding-company discounts, which are common in Indian markets, where listed subsidiaries often trade at a 20-50% discount when owned by their parent companies.An IPO would allow Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance…