Start-up
How a former Lehman Brothers banker turned the tables and built a pandemic-proof business
Declan Ee always knew he wanted to run his own business. But when he graduated from University College London in 2006, he saw his peers applying for jobs at investment banks and decided to give it a try. His first gig? Lehman Brothers. “I liked seeing how businesses worked on a global scale. So that […]
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DroneSeed uses swarms of drones to reseed forests after devastating wildfires
Fire seasons are now longer and the destruction more intense, as fires burn hotter and spread to more drought-stricken ground. Since the start of this year, 32,247 wildfires have burned over 3.3 million acres in the United States, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. An early start to the season, and an especially […]
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From milligrams to gigatons: Start-up that sucks carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is building a big new plant in Iceland
Christoph Gebald (left) and Jan Wurzbacher, co-founders of Climeworks. Photo courtesy Climeworks Carbon dioxide removal start-up Climeworks announced on Tuesday it is building a second commercial sized plant in Iceland. When fully operational in 18 to 24 months time, the plant will capture and store 36,000 metric tons per year of carbon dioxide. That’s a […]
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His company makes millions producing toys. Now it’s venturing into blockchain and the metaverse
When Jackson Aw was introduced to blockchain technology in 2018, he “didn’t get it at all.” “Can someone dumb it down even further for me? Like, can you just tell me what I can get as a consumer?” That was four years ago. Today, Aw, seems to have the answer to that question. The 32-year-old […]
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This 32-year-old has a toy business worth millions. Here’s how he got his big break with DC Comics
“I’m not the best artist. I’m terrible,” said Jackson Aw with a sheepish laugh. That may seem ironic, given how the 32-year old is the founder and chief executive officer of Mighty Jaxx, a designer toy company from Singapore. But to Aw, acknowledging his own shortcomings has helped him turn his start-up into a multimillion-dollar […]
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Klarna CEO defends business despite massive losses and layoffs
Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski has defended his company’s business model and the controversial “buy now, pay later” industry. Klarna lets consumers buy things that they might not necessarily be able to afford at that moment in time. Its 150 million customers pay a relatively small amount up front and pay back the rest later. In […]
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HSBC shutters Hong Kong-based trade start-up Serai
An HSBC Holdings bank branch in Hong Kong on May 24, 2022. A Hong Kong-based trade platform launched by HSBC Holdings three years ago with much fanfare has shut down after failing to build a commercially viable business. Bertha Wang | Bloomberg | Getty Images A Hong Kong-based trade platform launched by HSBC Holdings three […]
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$40 billion payments giant Checkout.com starts accepting stablecoins in major crypto push
The logo for payments start-up Checkout.com. Checkout.com AMSTERDAM — Online payments company Checkout.com says it will settle payments for its merchants round-the-clock using stablecoins, making it the last major financial services firm taking the plunge into crypto. The start-up, which competes with the likes of PayPal and Stripe, said Tuesday it is launching a feature […]
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Chipotle and Kraft use this start-up to track and prove how green they are
Consumers are now demanding environmental accountability in everything — from the buildings they live in to the products they purchase. Food is a big one. While more and more food companies are claiming that their products are “sustainable,” a Brooklyn, New York-based startup is asking how good that claim really is. The company is called […]
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The energy in nuclear waste could power the U.S. for 100 years, but the technology was never commercialized
EBR-II at the US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. Photo courtesy Idaho National Laboratory There is enough energy in the nuclear waste in the United States to power the entire country for 100 years, and doing so could help solve the thorny and politically fraught problem of managing spent nuclear waste. That’s according to […]
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