Now you can swipe left on annoying people on Threads, too: Swipe right for a post you like, and swipe left for one you’re not interested in: That’s how Threads users will be able to customize their feeds. Now that I think on it, the Tinder-inspired UX could be a useful way to train an algorithm about what interests people. Read More
Japanese billionaire cancels SpaceX project: Yusaku Maezawa said on X that he expected his Starship rocket, dearMoon, to launch by the end of 2023. That timeframe came and went, so he’s now canceling the project altogether. Perhaps he’s watched SpaceX’s founder and CEO Elon Musk make all sorts of timeline promises he can’t stick to and he’s making an informed decision. Read More
Making the most of the sun: Spain gets a lot of sun most of the year, so it’s no surprise that Spanish startup Samara has raised $9.8 million to help drive solar panel adoption in Southern European homes. The fast-growing company was founded in 2022 and is taking advantage of electricity price hikes and greater solar panel subsidies sparked by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Read More
Microsoft’s education suite may come under scrutiny: Microsoft’s education-focused platform could be facing an investigation in the EU. Privacy rights non-profit noyb has lodged two complaints with the European Commission citing concerns that Microsoft could be processing minors’ data unlawfully. Read More
Why not let AI plan your road trip? Have you ever wanted to just set out on a road trip without a destination in mind? Well, AI’s here to help you avoid all that spontaneity. Sékr has launched a new tool called Copilot that will plan your entire road trip for you using natural language processing and data from its community to give information on campsites, access to toilets and showers, and more. Read More
Hell yeah for nuclear fusion: Xcimer Energy, founded in 2022, just raised a $100 million Series A to build a nuclear fusion power plant so it can start producing power at commercial scale. Xcimer is pursuing something called “inertial confinement fusion,” which could produce tremendous amounts of energy — a huge necessity in our increasingly digital world. Read More
There’s now an AI for your CMS, too: Austrian startup Storyblok has just raised a cool $80 million to add AI to its ‘headless’ CMS concept, which targets non-technical users. The company has also signed a deal with OpenAI, so the goal here is to help websites improve their content production as the world changes thanks to AI. Read More
A look at WndrCo’s VC strategy: The tech investment firm by Sujay Jaswa (early Dropbox employee) and Jeffrey Katzenberg (former Disney chairman) launched a venture strategy not long ago, and it has already closed over $460 million in commitments for its first fund. Here’s a look at how the company is investing the new capital, spread across its new seed and venture funds. Read More
Democratizing physical therapy: Physical therapy is one of those essential yet annoyingly expensive endeavors. Sword Health wants to help democratize access to it using (what else?) AI. The virtual physical therapy startup just raised $30 million and let employees sell $100 million worth of equity to investors like Khosla Ventures. Read More
