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Finnish startup Donut Lab has secured €25mn in seed funding to scale up its in-wheel hub motors for electric land, sea, and air vehicles. Alongside the investment, Donut Lab is opening an R...
Wimbledon’s new automated line-calling system glitched during a tennis match Sunday, just days after it replaced the tournament’s human line judges for the first time. The system, called Hawk-Eye, uses a network of cameras equipped with computer vision to track tennis balls in real-time. If the ball lands out, a pre-recorded voice loudly says, “Out.” If the ball is in, there’s no call and play...
Tech startup Kuva Space is working with the Finnish Environmental Institute (Skye) to analyse the health of the Nordic country’s waters with a specialised satellite. The pilot test will harness Kuva’s hyperspectral sensors, which can analyse a wider light spectrum than traditional sensors. From space, the company’s probe can read the spectral signatures of almost any material on Earth —...
French software firm LumApps is set to merge with Swiss counterpart Beekeeper in a deal that will create a new business valued at over $1bn. LumApps, which calls itself an “intranet super app,” offers a platform that helps staff at large firms manage internal communications and workforce apps. Meanwhile, Beekeeper provides a mobile platform that helps companies engage with their frontline...
Swedish startup Lovable is in talks to raise $150mn at a valuation just shy of $2bn, the Financial Times reports. The Stockholm-based business has built a generative AI platform that allows non-technical users to build apps or websites based on simple text prompts. “I decided what we needed to do is build for the 99% who do not create software,” Anton Osika, Lovable’s co-founder, told TNW in...
The Dutch government has approved the first electric scooter for public roads and bike lanes, marking a cautious yet significant shift in the country’s tough stance on micromobility. Dubbed Selana Alpha and developed by the startup Selana, the vehicle was recently approved for use on Dutch roads by the national transport authority (RDW). In the process, the e-scooter earned its first blue license...
Funding Focus is a new series analysing cash flow into the European tech ecosystem. This first edition explores the biggest funding rounds raised in the first half of 2025. Despite a cautious VC climate and ongoing geopolitical jitters, European startups are still attracting serious cash. Covering everything from AI drug discovery and space launches to quantum software and fusion energy, the...
The EU AI Act is expected to introduce its key rules for general-purpose AI (GPAI) models on August 2. However, amid growing concerns that over-regulation could erode Europe’s competitiveness in artificial intelligence, calls to postpone the roll-out have intensified from some key stakeholders, including Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Bosch CEO Stefan Hartung, and the tech lobbying group...
The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) has made its first investment in a biotechnology startup. The alliance’s VC arm announced today that it’s co-leading a $35mn Series A round for UK-based Portal Biotech as it seeks to strengthen NATO’s defences against biological warfare. Portal develops portable, AI-powered diagnostic devices capable of detecting pathogens at the single-molecule level. The system is...
AI slop songs are flooding Spotify — and the latest hit is by an indie rock band called The Velvet Sundown. The track’s success has intensified the ongoing debate on whether or not music streaming sites should label AI-generated songs. The group has attracted 474,341 monthly listeners on Spotify in under a month. Its top track, “Dust on the Wind” — which sounds similar to the 1977 Kansas hit “...