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EV Realty is betting the missing link in electric trucking is real estate

Fundraising /

Electric commercial trucks are starting to take off. And that progress comes with a new slate of challenges for operators grappling with how to build out charging infrastructure for their growing EV fleets. Given grid constraints, that’s not always possible. EV trucks are one of several energy users currently searching for space on an increasingly […]

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Atlassian acquires DX, a developer productivity platform, for $1B

Enterprise /

Productivity software giant Atlassian is making its largest acquisition yet to add a developer productivity tool to its product suite.   Atlassian announced Thursday it has agreed to acquire the developer productivity insight platform DX for $1 billion in cash and restricted stock. Enterprises use DX to analyze how productive their engineering teams are and identify bottlenecks slowing them down. DX was launched five years ago by Abi Noda

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Terra Oleo’s oil-producing microbes could replace destructive palm oil plantations

Fundraising /

When most kids rebel against their families, they might become a ski bum, join a band, or go to art school. Shen Ming Lee decided to start a company. “I grew up in the conventional palm oil industry,” Lee told TechCrunch. “My family’s business is one of the top producers in the palm oil space.

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Google Ventures doubles down on dev tool startup Blacksmith just 4 months after its seed round

AI /

As speed becomes the defining currency in an AI-driven software world, Blacksmith has raised another round led by Google Ventures — just four months after its seed — to accelerate how code gets shipped. The $10 million Series A closed in just 14 days, with Google Ventures doubling down after first backing Blacksmith’s $3.5 million

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Sonair built its 3D ultrasonic sensor with robotic safety in mind

Robotics /

As robots increasingly enter human spaces, robotics companies will need to think about safety differently than they did when robots were largely siloed from their human counterparts.   Sonair thinks its sensors can help robotics companies reach their safety goals — with a solution that is both better and cheaper than popular LIDAR technology.   The Oslo,

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Fourth Power’s sci-fi thermal batteries could be cheaper than pricey natural gas power plants

Fundraising /

Fourth Power’s take on long-duration energy storage sounds like something out of a James Bond film. The thermal batteries come complete with superheated liquid tin and argon-filled hermetically sealed chambers. The company’s goal, though, is far more prosaic — to store electricity cheap enough to make solar and wind an obvious choice for 24/7 power.

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How an over-the-air update made Quilt’s heat pumps more powerful

Hardware /

Software might be eating the world, but it’s taking some industries longer than others to realize its full potential. From iPhones to Teslas, people have grown accustomed to software updates improving the stuff they already own. But outside consumer electronics and automobiles, over-the-air updates aren’t commonplace yet. Yet that’s beginning to change, starting with an

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How Bill Gates’s fellowship program is adapting to global uncertainty

Fundraising /

There’s plenty of uncertainty to go around this year, including a global trade war, shifting policy priorities, and an economy that’s starting to stumble. Breakthrough Energy, a climate tech organization founded by Bill Gates, has also been shifting in response. The group always placed long bets, though it appears to be reappraising some of them.

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AI gaming startup Born raises $15M to build ‘social’ AI companions that combat loneliness

Gaming /

Fabian Kamberi, CEO and co-founder of the Berlin-based AI gaming startup Born, thinks the current AI companions on the market are designed to be exploitative and geared towards isolating users through one-to-one relationships with AI chatbots.  “It feels like it fuels the loneliness epidemic, instead of making it more fun and giving users the opportunity

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Ex-Google X trio wants their AI to be your second brain — and they just raised $6M to make it happen

Apps /

Three former Google X scientists aim to give you a second brain virtually — not in the sci-fi or chip-in-your-head sense — but through an AI-powered app that gains context by listening to everything you say in the background. Their startup, TwinMind, has raised $5.7 million in seed funding and released an Android version, along

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