Venture capital
Sesame Solar is selling mobile disaster relief units powered entirely by clean energy
Michigan-based startup Sesame Solar is producing what it deems the world’s first fully-renewable mobile nanogrid for natural disaster relief. Its units can be used as mobile communications and command centers, medical units, kitchens and even temporary housing. The systems can be ready for use within 15 minutes of arrival. Most mobile units like these have […]
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Tesla is under scrutiny by the federal agency that enforces workplace civil rights laws
Signage is displayed on the Tesla Inc. assembly plant in Fremont, California, on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images A federal agency responsible for enforcing civil rights laws against workplace discrimination issued a cause finding against electric vehicle makers Tesla in June, according to a financial filing out Monday. […]
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Goldman-backed digital bank Starling reports its first annual profit as other fintechs stumble
The Starling Bank banking app on a smartphone. Adrian Dennis | AFP via Getty Images British digital bank Starling on Thursday reported its debut annual profit as revenues at the firm almost doubled. The lender swung to a pre-tax profit of £32.1 million ($38.3 million) in its fiscal year ending March 2022, having lost £31.5 […]
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Goldman-backed fintech Starling withdraws European bank license application in blow to global ambitions
Starling CEO Anne Boden. Harry Murphy | Sportsfile for Web Summit via Getty Images LONDON — British digital bank Starling is ending its bid to obtain a European banking license, dealing a significant setback to the company’s international expansion ambitions. The firm told staff Monday that it had withdrawn its application for a bank license […]
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Elon Musk asks court to reject Twitter’s request for speedy trial
“The past two years have been an absolutely nightmare of supply chain disruptions, one thing after another, and we are not out of it yet,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said. Patrick T. Fallon | Reuters Elon Musk wants time to prepare for a trial over his contentious withdrawal from an agreement to buy Twitter for […]
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Richard Branson takes a stake in Lightyear, a start-up hoping to become Europe’s answer to Robinhood
The Lightyear app. Lightyear Lightyear, a European challenger to trading platform Robinhood, has raised $25 million of funding in an investment round backed by British billionaire Richard Branson. Silicon Valley’s Lightspeed Venture Partners led the deal, the company told CNBC exclusively — a rare vote of confidence for an upstart brokerage at a time when […]
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Tesla AI leader Andrej Karpathy announces he’s leaving the company
A Tesla Model S car equipped with Autopilot David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Tesla AI and Autopilot leader Andrej Karpathy announced Wednesday that he’s no longer working for the electric vehicle maker. “It’s been a great pleasure to help Tesla towards its goals over the last 5 years and a difficult decision […]
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Chinese EV maker XPeng’s robotics arm raises $100 million to bring robots to households in 2 years
XPeng is still focused in boosting the sales of its electric cars. But it has been focusing on building out future businesses in flying cars and robotics. Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images XPeng Robotics, the affiliate company of Chinese electric carmaker XPeng, on Tuesday said it raised $100 million as part of its […]
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Klarna valuation plunges 85% to $6.7 billion as ‘buy now, pay later’ hype fades
Currently, most buy now, pay later services don’t impact a person’s credit score. That’s now set to change in the U.K. Jakub Porzycki | NurPhoto | Getty Images Klarna saw its valuation slashed by 85% in a new financing round announced Monday, reflecting grim investor sentiment surrounding high-growth tech stocks and “buy now, pay later” […]
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Chipotle’s $50 million search for the future of fast food
Chipotle is testing out an autonomous kitchen assistant, Chippy, which offers a robotic solution for making chips in restaurants. Courtesy: Chipotle The lengthy lunchtime lines at Chipotle Mexican Grill waiting to order could serve as a good metaphor for Chipotle’s approach to investing in innovation: though you may have to wait a bit for results, […]
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