Day: December 18, 2019

The biggest names in the connected home category are reaching across the aisle to create an open source standard. Marquee names Amazon, Apple, Google and the Zigbee Alliance are leading the charge here. There are a number of key partners on the board, as well, including IKEA, Legrand, NXP Semiconductors, Resideo, Samsung SmartThings, Schneider Electric, […]

Autonomous aircraft transportation seems like a sure thing at this point – in particular for cargo, where safety concerns around potential harm to people isn’t as much of an issue. One company pursuing this goal is Elroy Air, which has developed a hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft that can carry over 300 lbs […]

“Would you like to meet on February 17th?” I had to do a bit of a double take. Certainly this meeting, which was being scheduled earlier this week, was meant for December 17th and not February 17th. But I was wrong, we were scheduling eight weeks out, presumably due to the usual combo of travel, […]

The insurance industry, sleepy and ancient, is ripe for disruption. We’ve seen companies like Lemonade, Hippo and Rhino get in on that opportunity. Today, an insurtech company focused on small business insurance has raised $18 to keep growing. Meet Huckleberry, whose Series A was led by Tribe Capital, with participation from Amaranthine, Crosslink Capital and […]

Listening yo the radio (yes it still exists) the other day I realized that the ‘futurist’ that was being interviewed was speculating that drones would “one day be delivering food, but not any time soon”. Well, so much for that prediction. Because coming to an Irish household early next year will be drones delivering exactly […]

These days, it seems like everyone is building their own electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The race is clearly on to develop these vehicles in a bid to anticipate the next major sea change in how we get around cities, but what we’ve seen so far of these vehicles is usually quick clips […]

Smartly.io, a company helping advertisers automate their campaigns across Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, has sold a majority stake to Providence Equity Partners for €200 million (approximately $223 million). Helsinki-headquartered Smartly.io says it automates ad production, ad buying “and everything in between.” Founded in 2013, the company has more than 350 employees across 16 global offices, […]

Meet GIGXR, the new owner of all of the assets of Pearson Immersive Learning Group, a subsidiary of the education and media publishing giant, Pearson. Formed specifically to roll up Pearson’s virtual and augmented reality assets, GIGXR is helmed by David King Lassman, the founder of streaming media company Vyclone and the Southern Californian venture […]

When it comes to calibrating for an optimal workforce, diversity and inclusion have become a more prominent priority for companies in recent years. Today a startup that’s built a recruitment platform to help organizations source and hire in a more holistic way is announcing a round of funding to capitalise on a rise in demand […]

The European Space Agency (ESA) launched a satellite early this morning aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket that took off from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. Atop the Soyuz is the so-called “Characterizing Exoplanet Satellite” (CHEOPS for short) that will deploy to orbit around Earth, where it’ll have a better view of nearby stars […]