Rejus Almole – Page 204

‘Vertigo 2’ Review – One of PC’s Greatest VR Games Since ‘Half-Life: Alyx’

half life vr, half-life, News, Review, vertigo 2, vertigo 2 review, vr adventure, VR Game, vr shooter, Zach Tsiakalis-Brown, zulubo productions / Rejus Almole / April 5, 2023

The long-awaited sequel to Vertigo is here, bringing with it another dose of its distinctly Half-Life-esque flair and patently strange yet captivating universe. Does Vertigo 2 outdo the original? No need to leave you in suspense since you already read the headline. Quick answer: Yes. For the long answer, read on.

Vertigo 2 Details:

Available On: SteamVR

Release Date: March 31st, 2023

Price: $30

Developer: Zach Tsiakalis-Brown

Publisher: Zulubo Productions

Reviewed On: Quest 2 via PC Link

Gameplay

Like the first in the series, you’re again tasked with linearly fighting your way home through a robot and alien-infested science facility, however the sequel puts a host of new worlds and lifeforms between you and your version of Earth. You really don’t need to play the original Vertigo though to get lost in the weird and expansive narrative of Vertigo 2, although I would suggest it—if only for natural access to the narrative and about four more hours of blasting.

Even if you played Vertigo Remastered in 2020 like me though, you may still have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on in the sequel. The franchise’s brand of absurdist sci-fi kitch gets a new layer of narrative density this time around, one that may be too thick and convoluted for most. Whether you choose to engage with it or not really doesn’t change the fact that the underlying game is undoubtedly a triumph over the original, and many other such VR shooters to boot.

I wouldn’t hesitate to call it PC VR’s best game of 2023 so far, which is doubly impressive since it was basically made by a single person, Zach Tsiakalis-Brown. Seriously, for the magnitude of the experience, Vertigo 2’s credit screen is the shortest I’ve ever seen.

Granted, we don’t factor in a team’s size or budget—only the end product—but it bears mentioning just the same that this game, which is so solid and clever, was built by a very (very) small team without the sort of AAA budget we’ve seen squandered on experiences half this good.

While paying tribute to some of gaming’s greats, Vertigo 2 is a VR native through and through. Its 14 collectible weapons feature unique reload mechanics, all of which were designed with VR users in mind. The user-friendly emphasis on weapons means you won’t be faffing with doing real world actions like racking gun slides or manipulating charge handles, which are better suited for realistic combat sims with a much slower pace of gameplay. It’s not long until you find out a room of weirdos will magically zap into existence, hell-bent on setting you back to the last save point; realism simply isn’t a concern here.

Reloading typically requires you to eject a spent magazine (or pod of some sort) with a controller button press, grab a fresh magazine from your left hip holster, and insert the magazine into the mag well. Usually, you’ll only have three such magazines immediately at your disposal, as automatically regenerating ammo takes time. There’s a little counter where a magazine should be.

This means that although you’ll find yourself sticking to a number of more effective weapons along your adventure, both large-scale fights and boss battles will have you relying on weaker guns like your starter pistol as you wait for your favorites to become operational. Additionally, auto-recharging ammo means you won’t need to constantly hoover up loot around the level, save the odd health syringe or bomb you’ll find stashed around periodically.

Developing the muscle memory to rapidly reload, shoot, and change to a new weapon takes time, which can definitely add in a measure of unforeseen difficulty in a fire fight. Still, the wheel-style gun inventory system is accessible enough to eventually let you build that skill and put it to good use as the mixture and number of baddies increases.

Thankfully, you can upgrade a number of guns in your arsenal, which somewhat like Half-Life: Alyx is only accessible in one-off synthesizer points that you encounter on your one-way trip through the game’s 18 chapters.

It’s a tried-and-true method of forcing you to explore levels completely, because modding stations might be underwater, in a cave passageway that leads to nowhere, or hidden behind a bunch of filing cabinets. It’s not a terribly deep upgrade system, but it’s enough to keep those starter guns relevant as you progress through the arsenal of bigger and badder weapons.

Like the first in the series, Vertigo 2 is all about big and wild boss fights, of which there are 10 new encounters. I won’t spoil any of them for you, although they’re mostly what you’d expect, i.e. bespoke battles in medium-size arenas that require you to use the environment and your most powerful weapons to your advantage. Although pretty standard fare, bosses were both distinct and varied enough to keep your interest, and have attack patterns that you’ll have to decrypt, likely after a death or two.

Vertigo however goes a step further by tossing in a very wide assortment of baddies that mix and match as you traverse the multiverse. What’s more, you’ll need to intimately acquant yourself with all of their weak points as you head for the game’s end, as you’ll encounter a miasma of all of the multiverse’s baddies all at once.

One thing Vertigo 2 lacks is a wide set of puzzles. The quality of the ones there is good, although I really wish there were more. Still, it’s more about shooting, bosses, enemy vairety, and a weird story, and that’s fine by me.

The game’s lengthy and frankly astoundingly varied campaign took me around 10 hours to complete on the normal difficulty, although you could spend longer exploring every nook and cranny for weapon upgrades and easter eggs, or with a higher difficulty so enemies are more difficult to defeat.

Immersion

The game’s infectious cartoon style is back on display, this time offering up much more fine-tuned environments that are massive in size and variability. While humanoid character models are a little stiff (and maybe overly avatar-y), enemy models and animations are all really well done, which accounts for 99 percent of your encounters anyway.

Outside of its excellent, sweeping musical score, one of my favorite bits about Vertigo 2 is the constant change in player expectations.

Once you think you know what the deal is with Vertigo 2, you’ll find an alien trying to rent you a boat, or a war between robots where you have to choose sides, and an interdimensional space opera that gets thicc. Level design slowly becomes equally unpredictable, as you’ll be whisked away at any moment to a new world, a new mission, and ultimately a new revelation about why you’re stuck in such an odd universe. It’s all stupid wacky, and I love it.

You may find yourself challenged with having to ostensibly sweep out a five-floor facility looking for a single puzzle piece, but have the mission completely changed halfway through. In another instance, you scurry up to what must be another boss battle, only to find the thing eaten by something much larger and terrifying. And it does it all without ever breaking the fourth wall. Your mission might be straight forward, or it might be completely derailed at any moment.

Meanwhile, Vertigo 2 unabashedly pays tribute to the Half-Life series, and many others in the process. You’ll find VR-ified health regen stations throughout most of the science-y levels mixed in with mobile versions of the wall-mounted syringes—definitely Half-Life inspired. Stick it in your arm, juice up, and keep going. You’ll immediately attune yourself to its audible beep too.

That said, character voiceovers range from professional to mediocre, which means you’ll probably need the subtitles on at all times so you don’t miss a word. Unfortunately, I found this out after the first cutscene which definitely required subtitles to be anywhere near understandable, since it’s between an alien with a thick Spanish accent and another one with its own Yoda-esque idiolect.

As a side note, the game also includes a number of recording options for when you want to capture in-game video, including a third-person view and smoothed first-person view for a more polished and stabile capture. Basically, all VR games should have those options considering how useful they are to recording in-game footage and screenshots. There’s even a smartphone that is basically just hotkeyed to Steam’s F12 screengrab function, making in-game shots in VR so much easier. Here’s my Insta-friendly selfie, starter pistol in hand.

Comfort

Vertigo 2 is a big and varied place, and it includes a number of things you should look out for if you’re sensitive to VR-induced motion sickness. Seasoned VR users and people not adversely affected by artificial locomotion shouldn’t have a problem playing through some of the most challenging bits from a comfort standpoint, as there are periodic bits of forced movement that may or may not jibe with your comfort level.

You’ll be forced to spring through the air on jumping pads, go on fast-moving vehicles that aren’t controlled by the player character, and strafe around at a near constant whilst shooting, which introduces lateral movement that some might feel uncomfortable with.

The game does however make full use of a hybrid locomotion system, which includes smooth locomotion and teleportation presented as viable movement options during gameplay. Provided you don’t want to use teleportation, users can also toggle a jump button in the menu settings, although this is not advisable if you’re at all sensitive.

Vertigo 2′ Comfort Settings – April 5th, 2023
Turning
Artificial turning
Snap-turn	✔
Quick-turn	✖
Smooth-turn	✔
Movement
Artificial movement
Teleport-move	✔
Dash-move	✖
Smooth-move	✔
Blinders	✔
Head-based	✔
Controller-based	✔
Swappable movement hand	✖
Posture
Standing mode	✔
Seated mode	✔
Artificial crouch	✔
Real crouch	✔
Accessibility
Subtitles	Yes
Languages	English
Dialogue audio	Yes
Languages	English
Adjustable difficulty	✔
Two hands required	✔
Real crouch required	✖
Hearing required	✖
Adjustable player height	✔

‘Vertigo 2’ Review – One of PC’s Greatest VR Games Since ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Read More »

swedish-startup-unveils-first-‘origami’-e-motorcycle-—-and-e15k-price-tag

Swedish startup unveils first ‘origami’ e-motorcycle — and €15K price tag

Next Featured, Startups and technology, Sustainability / Rejus Almole / April 5, 2023

What do you get when you mix motorcycles with origami? The answer, dear reader, is the Stilride 1.

The unique vehicle is the brainchild of Swedish startup Stilride. The company today unveiled the final design and price for the new electric ride, which is due to launch in 2024.

For €15,000, each customer will get a made-to-order motorcycle that combines looks, performance, and sustainability.

To manufacture each vehicle, Stilride uses a pioneering method dubbed “industrial origami,” which applies the Japanese art of paper-folding to sheet metal. The startup’s software first defines the geometries, which industrial robots and laser-cutting then bring to life.

For the Stilride 1, the entire process requires a single sheet of stainless steel. As it’s folded instead of welded, minimal pollutants are produced. To further minimise the environmental impact, the bike is produced locally from a small number of parts. It’s also lightweight, which reduces energy consumption.

“It’s been designed for both the motorcycle enthusiast and the design and sustainability purist.

Tue Beijer, CTO and co-founder at Stilride, wants the bike to set “a new gold standard” for electric mobility.

“The Stilride 1 is the culmination of many years’ ambition, passion, and experimentation, distilled into a deliciously unconventional lightweight electric motorcycle that isn’t only a feat of engineering, but a work of art,” Beijer said in a statement. “It has been designed for both the motorcycle enthusiast and the design and sustainability purist.”

But does it pass the eye test? You can judge that for yourself in the gallery below:

The aesthetics modernise the previous design, which my colleague Ioanna compared to “an origami duck.” To my eyes, the new model looks more like the steel lovechild of a Vespa and an electric guitar.

Regardless, looks aren’t everything on the road. In terms of specs, the Stilride 1 features an ultra-lightweight chassis made from recycled Swedish steel, a premium HUB motor system, single shock absorber and multi-link rear suspension, and a braking system that was co-developed with ISR.

There’s also a compelling connectivity system. The motorcycle’s Electric Vehicle Control Unit (eVCU) powers various features through the Stilcontrol app, which provides theft protection, geographical positioning, service diagnostics, and battery status control.

You can find further technical details in the image below:

Stilride 1 technical specifications — The motorcycles will be built in Stilride’s Stockholm-based pilot production facility.

The specs and price are certainly eye-catching — but will they convince you to splash your hard-earned cash? Let us know via the usual channels.

If your answer’s yes, the launch date for the Stilride 1 will be announced this summer. And if you’re interested in early access, you can get more information on Stilride’s website.

Swedish startup unveils first ‘origami’ e-motorcycle — and €15K price tag Read More »

How XRSI Defines the Metaverse – And Why it Matters

featured, metaverse, XRSI / Rejus Almole / April 5, 2023

You might have heard about the metaverse a little less frequently recently. And, people in the space are at odds as to why that is. Maybe it became clear that it isn’t necessarily right around the corner. Maybe people are distracted by other emerging technologies in the spotlight right now. Or, maybe people said it too many times and now it sounds funny.

Whatever the reason the press has been less interested, it’s still a word that a lot of specialists are still using – and disagreeing on. The XR Safety Initiative recently published a standard definition that might help get us all on the same page.

The Metaverse According to XRSI

XRSI officially defines the metaverse as follows:

“A network of interconnected virtual worlds with the following key characteristics: Presence, Persistence, Immersion, and Interoperability. Metaverse is the next iteration of the internet enabled by several converging technologies such as Extended Reality (XR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Decentralized Ledger Technologies (DLTs), neurotechnologies, optics, biosensing technologies, improved computer graphics, hardware, and network capabilities.”

A full release from XRSI expands on some of those terms, including the identified key characteristics. Which is handy, because presence and immersion are arguably subjective. Further, persistence and interoperability are objective but might require qualification. For example, how many virtual worlds have to interconnect before they are “interoperable”?

Insisting on convergence is also significant in that not all blockchain experiences and not all XR experiences are inherently metaverse experiences. There is still room to explore things like spatial platforms visited in 2D. While ARPost tends to avoid these platforms to dedicate coverage to immersive technology, we haven’t insisted that they be excluded from the dialogue.

Similarly, some experiences feature presence, persistence, and immersion, but not platform interoperability. Some use the term “protometaverse” to refer to experiences that check most of these boxes (or even that do a really good job with two or three of the boxes) but don’t fit the entire bill.

XRSI metaverse definition

These aren’t criticisms of the definition, they’re things to take into account when we apply the definition to an experience. After all, definitions like this become important because some of these terms – even the terms used in the definition – have emerging or contested meanings. Consider “XR” as “extended reality” – which is not how all people use that abbreviation.

Clear as Crystal

There are a lot of other factors to consider when looking at standard definitions. The biggest one is that, like standards generally, they become more useful the more organizations use them. This standard definition is a recent development and it remains unclear how many other organizations will adopt it.

It is already useful, however. If nothing else, it helps us understand what XRSI means when they say “metaverse” in their internal documents. When people talk about it in higher-level conversations, they’ll often cite the document or individual that they’re following and now XRSI can be on that list.

How XRSI Defines the Metaverse – And Why it Matters Read More »

Apple CEO Tim Cook is Hyping XR Ahead of WWDC

Apple, Apple AR, Apple VR, News, tim cook / Rejus Almole / April 4, 2023

In an interview ahead of Apple’s upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference event, CEO Tim Cook talks about the potential of XR and why elements of it may be “even better than the real world.”

In an interview by GQ’s Zach Baron, Apple CEO Tim Cook explained that he first joined Apple—which at the time was nearly bankrupt—because Steve Jobs convinced him the company could really change the world.

And change the world it has, with products like the iPhone that have fundamentally altered the way much of the world goes about its daily business.

The next shot the company is rumored to take has a chance to do more than change the world—it could change everyday reality itself.

While Apple remains secretive about its plans for an XR device—which is rumored to be revealed at WWDC in June—Cook said in the interview that in some ways the technology could be “even better than the real world.”

“If you think about the technology itself with augmented reality, just to take one side of the AR/VR piece, the idea that you could overlay the physical world with things from the digital world could greatly enhance people’s communication, people’s connection,” Cook told GQ. “It could empower people to achieve things they couldn’t achieve before.”

“We might be able to collaborate on something much easier if we were sitting here brainstorming about it and all of a sudden we could pull up something digitally and both see it and begin to collaborate on it and create with it. And so it’s the idea that there is this environment that may be even better than just the real world—to overlay the virtual world on top of it might be an even better world,” said Cook. “And so this is exciting. If it could accelerate creativity, if it could just help you do things that you do all day long and you didn’t really think about doing them in a different way.”

When prompted about the company’s criticism of Google Glass around the time the device was introduced back in 2013—saying that head-worn devices would feel to invasive—Cook suggests he may have changed his mind on that point.

“My thinking always evolves. Steve [Jobs] taught me well: never to get married to your convictions of yesterday. To always, if presented with something new that says you were wrong, admit it and go forward instead of continuing to hunker down and say why you’re right.”

Just as Apple was skeptical of Google Glass, Cook knows Apple will always be in a similar boat when launching new products.

“Pretty much everything we’ve ever done, there were loads of skeptics with it,” Cook said. “If you do something that’s on the edge, it will always have skeptics.” When entering new markets, Cook said he considers a handful of questions: “Can we make a significant contribution, in some kind of way, something that other people are not doing? Can we own the primary technology? I’m not interested in putting together pieces of somebody else’s stuff. Because we want to control the primary technology. Because we know that’s how you innovate.”

Apple’s WWDC isn’t until June, but the rumor mill is already ramping up. One day Apple is said to be launching its rumored XR product at the event. The next day it’s delayed. And the day after it’s still coming at WWDC. Only one thing is certain at this point: we’ll have to wait until June to find out for sure.

For more about Tim Cook, check out the full interview from GQ.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is Hyping XR Ahead of WWDC Read More »

Italy’s ChatGPT ban sets a worrying precedent for EU startups

Deep tech, Next Featured, Startups and technology / Rejus Almole / April 4, 2023

OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which took the world by the storm after its launch in November, is now facing a temporary ban in Italy over “unlawful” personal data collection and the lack of an age verification system for children.

The Italian data protection agency, known as Garante, was prompted to act by ChatGPT’s data breach on March 20, which, according to OpenAI, allowed a number of users to see other users’ information, such as their first and last name, email address, and the last four digits of their credit card number.

Garante accused the US-based AI company of having “no legal basis” that justifies “the massive collection and processing of personal data” it needs to “train the algorithms on which the platform relies.” It also added that the lack of an age verification mechanism exposes children to “inappropriate” responses.

As a result, on Friday, the Italian regulator opened an investigation into OpenAI and has temporarily blocked access to GhatGPT in the country.

In response, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altam tweeted that GhatGPT has ceased its services in Italy, stating, however, that he didn’t think the company had violated any privacy laws.

We of course defer to the Italian government and have ceased offering ChatGPT in Italy (though we think we are following all privacy laws).

Italy is one of my favorite countries and I look forward to visiting again soon!

— Sam Altman (@sama) March 31, 2023

Open AI has 16 days to respond with appropriate safety measures, or it could risk either a fine of up to €20 million or 4% of its total worldwide annual turnover.

Rising concerns

ChatGPT’s stirring capabilities are breeding growing concerns over the exponential advancement of generative AI.

In late March, the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) called for EU and national authorities to investigate OpenAI’s system.

“For all the benefits AI can bring to our society, we are currently not protected enough from the harm it can cause people,” Ursula Pachl, Deputy Director General of BEUC, said in a statement.

The organisation fears that until the union’s AI Act takes effect, consumers will be at risk of harm from a technology which is not sufficiently regulated, and for which they’re not prepared.

Across the Atlantic, an open letter signed by AI experts and industry executives called for AI labs to immediately pause for at least six months the training of systems more powerful than GPT-4, ChatGPT’s successor.

The signatories — including researchers at DeepMind, computer scientist Yoshua Bengio, and Elon Musk — highlighted the need for regulatory policies, stressing that “powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable.”

Tech industry opposition

The Italian regulator’s move to suspend access to ChatGPT could lead to a loss of economic opportunities in the country, Daniele Servadei, founder of Bologna-based SaaS ecommerce startup Sellix, told TNW.

“It limits the development and growth of the AI and tech sectors, preventing local companies from harnessing the technology,” he said.

Servadei further noted that the ban could have” a chilling effect” on AI development in Italy and beyond, “as developers and investors may fear future bans or restrictions on their products, which could hinder innovation and investment in the sector.”

Simone Basso, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Milan-based travel scaleup WeRoad, also stressed the potential negative impact on local businesses.

“ChatGPT has enhanced productivity for teams at WeRoad and worldwide, but recent decisions in Italy — from banning research on synthetic meat to holding back 5G rollouts — have hindered the country’s technology, innovation, and productivity growth,” Basson told TNW.

Basson added that while consumers can circumvent Garante’s restrictions using a VPN, companies with solutions based on such technologies “face uncertainty” and will be forced to prioritise other markets.

Is Italy setting a precedent for Europe?

While ChatGPT was already unavailable in mainland China, Hong Kong, Iran, Russia, and parts of Africa, Italy is the first Western country to take action against the AI system.

Germany could soon follow Italy’s lead, Ulrich Kelber, the German data protection commissioner, told Handelsblatt.

Meanwhile, authorities in France and Ireland are in contact with the Italian regulator, Reuters reports.

“We are following up with the Italian regulator,” said a spokesperson for Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner. “We will coordinate with all EU data protection authorities in relation to this matter.”

The regulators’ concerns about ChatGPT — along with its popularity, as the fastest-growing consumer app in history — singal the need for co-ordinated and transparent EU policies that regulate the use and development of large language models.

It’s still unclear how ChatGPT and similar models will be impacted by the EU’s impending AI Act, which aims to strike a tricky balance between safety and innovation.

Italy’s ChatGPT ban sets a worrying precedent for EU startups Read More »

AR and VR Content Creation Platform Fectar Integrates Ultraleap Hand Tracking

augmented reality, content creation, featured, hand tracking, News, Software, training, virtual reality / Rejus Almole / April 4, 2023

For the Fectar AR and VR content creation platform users, creating XR content with hand tracking feature has just become simpler and easier.

Launched in 2020, Fectar is “the multi-sided platform that makes the metaverse accessible for everyone, everywhere.” Focused on creating AR and VR spaces for education, training, onboarding, events, and more, and aimed at non-technical users, the company provides a cross-platform, no-code AR/VR building tool.

Last week, Fectar integrated the Ultraleap hand tracking feature within its AR and VR content creation platform, allowing users to build VR training experiences with hand tracking from the beginning.

AR and VR Content Creation With Integrated Ultraleap Hand Tracking

Ultraleap was founded in 2019 when Leap Motion was acquired by Ultrahaptics, and the two companies were rebranded under the new name. Ultraleap’s hand tracking and mid-air haptic technologies allow XR users to engage with the digital world naturally – with their hands, and without touchscreens, keypads, and controllers.

Thanks to the Ultraleap feature, Fectar’s users will now be able to create and share immersive VR experiences that use hands, rather than VR controllers. According to Ultraleap, this makes the interaction more intuitive, positively impacts the training outcomes, reduces the effort of adoption, and makes the experiences more accessible.

Non-Technical People Can Develop Immersive Experiences

The new addition to the AR and VR content creation platform is a strategic decision for Fectar. The company’s target clients are non-technical content creators. They don’t need to know how to code to create VR apps and tools, including training programs.

This is, in fact, one of the most frequent use cases of the Fectar AR and VR content creation platform. “We want our customers to be able to create world-class VR training experiences,” said Fectar CTO and founder, Rens Lensvelt, in a press release. “By introducing Ultraleap hand tracking to our platform we’re giving them an opportunity to level up their programs by adding an intuitive interaction method.”

VR Programs and Tools – the Future of Collaborative Work and Training

Virtual reality content has expanded beyond the field of games or applications for entertainment. VR is part of education and training, medicine, business, banking, and, actually, any kind of work.

This is why an AR and VR content creation platform for non-technical users, like Fectar, is so successful. Companies worldwide want to create their own training and collaborative VR tools, without hiring developers.

“The combination of Ultraleap and Fectar provides people with the right tools they need to develop the best education or training programs – and makes it easy to do so. We already know that enterprise VR programs improve productivity by 32%,” said Matt Tullis, Ultraleap VP of XR. “By making that experience even more natural with hand tracking, Fectar customers can expect to see their VR training ROI increase even further.”

AR and VR Content Creation Platform Fectar Integrates Ultraleap Hand Tracking Read More »

Paris bids ‘au revoir’ to e-scooter startups

Ecosystems, Government and policy, Next Featured / Rejus Almole / April 3, 2023

Parisians overwhelmingly voted to ban e-scooters on Sunday, in a hotly-debated referendum that has divided the French capital.

Voters were given two choices: “for” or “against” a city-wide ban on shared e-scooters.

89% voted in favour of the ban, but the overall turnout was low, with only 7.5% of eligible voters casting ballots.

The vote was non-binding but city authorities have vowed to “abide by the decision”, said Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

The streets of Paris will be cleared from shared e-scooters by September 1, the mayor said. That’s when the contract with Dott, Tier, and Lime — the three e-scooter providers currently operating in the city — will expire.

The ban will not have an effect on the e-bikes offered by shared micro-mobility companies, which will remain in the city.

Despite welcoming e-scooters with open arms in 2018, Paris’ local government has progressively tightened its grip over the past five years, enforcing designated parking zones and speed limits, and restricting the number of operators.

But despite the regulations, concerns over safety, following several fatal accidents, and complaints about scooters blocking sidewalks and disrupting other commuters, brought the issue to a head, with many calling for an outright ban.

Mayor Hidalgo agreed, saying the e-scooters were a “source of tension and worry.” But instead of banning them outright, she brought the decision to the people.

In January, the mayor announced what she described as a “public consultation”, to settle the issue ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The e-scooter operators quickly launched a counter-offensive, offering free rides to all users that vote in their favour, and employing social media influencers to back their cause. But to no avail.

With the results now in, Paris is now set to become the first European capital to ban the mode of transport.

Berlin-based Tier Mobility, Amsterdam-based Dott, and San Francisco-based Lime said they were “disappointed” by the news.

The operators said in a joint statement that the deployment of only 21 ballot stations and no option to vote digitally led to “an extremely low turnout, heavily skewed toward older age groups.”

In 2022, Paris recorded about 20 million trips on 15,000 shared e-scooters — 71% of these users were under 35. Many riders are also tourists, who don’t get to vote.

Some would have preferred a middle ground in the voting process.

Transport Minister Clement Beaune supports a continuation of e-scooters in Paris, but with more rules. He pointed to statistics that suggest e-scooters have replaced up to one in five journeys that would otherwise have been made with emissions-producing vehicles.

Mayor Hidalgo, on the other hand, called the result “a victory for local democracy.”

Hadi Karam, general manager for France at Lime, told AFP last week that Paris was going “against the current” in seeking to ban rental e-scooters.

Elsewhere in France, the mayor of Lyon, France’s third largest city, has just agreed to a four-year extension of its contract with Tier and Dott.

Further afield, New York, London, and Madrid are all expanding the use of e-scooters in a bid to decarbonise their transport systems.

It remains to be seen whether Paris’ ban on e-scooters will encourage other cities to follow suit, but it does represent a major blow for Dott, Tier, and Lime, who have now been barred from operating in one of the world’s largest shared micro-mobility markets.

Paris bids ‘au revoir’ to e-scooter startups Read More »

meet-the-finalists-of-the-tnw-valencia-startup-pitch-battle

Meet the finalists of the TNW València startup pitch battle

Ecosystems, Insider, Investors and funding, Next Featured, Startups and technology / Rejus Almole / April 2, 2023

Some of Europe’s hottest startups arrived at TNW València last week to develop ideas, expand networks, create new leads, and — and most importantly of all — fight.

Not in the physical sense, of course, but in a fiercely-contested TNW València pitch battle. After surviving a series of fiery knockout clashes, eight of Europe’s most electrifying startups were selected for the contest final on Friday.

València provided the perfect stage for the showdown. The region is Spain’s fastest-growing entrepreneurial ecosystem, with the most startups per capita in the country. It was also bathed in glorious sunshine — but this was no vacation for the contenders. With thousands in attendance, an all-star jury on the front row, and a springboard to success on the line, the stakes were high for all the startups.

To the victor goes an array of spoils, including a 4 square-meter turnkey booth at TNW Valencia 2024 and two business passes for TNW Conference in Amsterdam on June 15-16. But best of all the prizes — and I say this without a scintilla of bias — is a full feature on TNW’s wonderful website by our marvellous media team.

Before we reveal the winner, here are the eight elite finalists who pitched for first place.

Internxt

The finalists of the TNW València startup pitch battle have been announced — Internxt was the first startup to qualify for the final battle. Credit: TNW

Many of today’s biggest internet companies are essentially data mining companies. Google, for instance, generates over 80% of its revenue from advertising, which it amasses by leveraging user data for ad targeting.

Internxt has created an alternative model: data storage that respects user privacy.

The València-based startup provides an end-to-end encrypted cloud storage service, which means nobody can see your files. Founded in 2020, the company has positioned itself as a privacy-centric competitor to Google Drive.

“We provide an easy way to manage, share, and store user data in a completely private way,” says Joan Mora, head of data and analytics at Internxt.

Users can get 10GB of free storage. If they need more, premium subscriptions that provide from 20GB to 2TB are available for as little as low as €0.89 per month.

Sophie’s Bionutrients

Sophie’s Bionutrients has reimagined protein production. It’s the first company in the world that uses microalgae to develop 100% plant-based and sustainable alternative protein.

The microalgae is cultivated inside bio-reactors and harvested within days. This rapid process also minimizes the quantity of energy and water that’s required.

Both the idea and name for the company came from the daughter of Eugene Wang, the co-founder and CEO of Sophie’s Nutrients.

“Sophie is allergic to shellfish,” says Wang. “That’s how the whole thing started — I was looking for a way for people to get nutrition from the ocean without using the animals.”

The startup began life in Singapore, before moving its headquarters to the alt-protein hotspot “Food Valley” in the Netherlands. Wang now plans to take the product around the world, in a B2B business model that will first target small and medium-sized food manufacturers.

CAPS

CAPS is developing a product that seems futuristic: an urban aircraft for single passengers. Yet the company expects the tech will soon be available to the public.

“My strong belief is that you will be experimenting with flights in urban areas within the next 10 years,” says Paul Cass, CEO of CAPS. “For that to properly be done, it has to be quiet, safe, and affordable.”

The startup’s founders got the idea after growing sick of their long commute to college. In a garage, they began to assemble a more convenient alternative: a flying car.

Their concept evolved into a driverless aircraft for single-passenger trips in urban areas. Both small and entirely-electric, the vehicle is built for a quiet flight with optimum security. In case of technical trouble or emergencies, a professional driver in the company’s operating centre can remotely control the aircraft.

CAPS is confident that the design offers the safety, affordability, and practicality needed for mass adoption. With the world’s electric air taxi network scheduled to launch in 2024, the vision could be closer to reality than it first appears.

Wenalyze

Wenalyze is on a mission to protect SMEs, which represent 99% of all businesses in the EU.

In tricky economic times, these companies face mounting challenges. Insurers can provide a safety net, but bad information is reducing the security. According to Wenalyze, insurance companies have 47% of their data wrong, leading to underinsurance and premium leakage.

The Spanish startup wants to reduce the risks. The company uses open data analytics to correct, update, and enrich SME information. As a result, insurers, banks, and financial institutions can offer their clients the right coverage.

To access the enhanced insights, users only need to enter the name and address of the SME. Wenalyze’s system will then analyse open data sources and deliver real-time results.

“By protecting SMEs, we protect our economy,” says Carlos Albo, CEO and co-founder of Wenalyze.

Therminer

Therminer has an unusual recycling plan. Credit: Therminer

Amid a global energy crisis, the vast electricity consumption of data centres has become a pressing concern. But even greater harm to our climate comes from heating, which comprises half of the world’s total energy consumption. That’s roughly the same imapct as electricity and transportation combined.

Therminer has created a system that addresses both concerns: a cooling solution for servers that reduces their energy consumption and recycles the wasted heat to warm buildings.

According to Gonzalo García, CEO and co-founder of Therminer, the system cuts 95% of the energy consumed to cool servers — and recycles 90% of the heat they release. “Our competitive advantage from the data centre perspective is that we can reduce operational costs and our data centres are more sustainable,” he says.

From its base in València, Therminer produce the hardware, installs it in homes, and manages the data centre services. The initial target for the system is single-family homes.

“They can use our waste heat and we can create a decentralised network of data centres and then sell hosting power,” says García.

Chaise Longue

Flying economy is rarely a pleasurable experience, but Chaise Longue believes comfort doesn’t have to cost a fortune — and has the chair to prove it.

The Madrid-based startup has created a double-decker airplane seat configuration. The design increases comfort, reduces cabin weight, and provides at least the same passenger capacity. Best of all, it’s made for economy class.

The extra space comes from maximising the cabin’s verticle volume. Overhead luggage compartments are removed, with bags instead stored in bays under seats. The result is bigger recline angles, extended leg room, and more overall space.

The modular structure is designed for swift integration into existing aircraft. According to Alejandro Núñez, Chaise Longue’s founder, CEO, and designer, most leading airlines are interested in the system — and planes are just the start.

“We are also moving into other industries such as trains, buses, and ferries — for the lowest class and for the cheapest tickets,” says Núñez. “We are trying to improve that experience for everyone.”

Nightstream

Twitch enjoyed explosive growth during the pandemic, and still consistently doubles its pre-COVID audience numbers. Many advertisers, however, remain wary of entering the market, which can appear too large and complicated. Nightstream wants to help these brands to grow alongside smaller streamers.

The startup found that brands currently use just 250 streamers to advertise. That means that oer 1.5 million daily viewers — and 95% of streamers — are being overlooked. Nightstream’s software is designed to capitalise on these opportunities.

The company’s tools and services allow brands to connect with streamers that will reach their target audience. Streamers, meanwhile, get the chance to build their audiences, earn money, and win prizes.

Brands are given data dashboards and analytic tools to analyse the performance of each player in the ecosystems. Nighstream also picks moderators for each streamer and brand, which further strengthens the partnership. To increase the streamers’ audiences, the startup rewards viewers as they become part of the communities.

“With our API and software, they can develop and connect directly with brands that don’t have enough money to connect with the biggest streamers,” says Luis Ruiz Climent, co-founder of Nightwatch.

Crowmie

Crowmie has invented a unique approach to sustainability: the first investment platform in tokenised renewable energy projects.

The concept aims to turbocharge the adoption of renewable energy, while democratising investment in the sector. At present, the vast majority of the market is controlled by large energy generators, which are financed by the traditional banking system. Crowmie allows the public to make their own contributions — and get returns.

After registering, the user can invest a minimum of just €100 in any asset on the platform. The user receives tokens in return. These entitle them to monthly rents for the electricity generated and sold by the energy project. Users can also sell the tokens to another investor at any time.

The investment is used to build facilities that produce electricity. Once built, the projects generate renewable electricity that’s sold to the grid. Profits from this sale are distributed among investors according to the number of tokens they hold.

“We have completely changed the way of investing in traditional assets, accelerating the energy transition, supporting the business fabric, and allowing anyone in the world to invest from just 100 euros,” says Fernando Dávila, CEO and co-founder of Crowmie.

The future of tech was on display throughout TNW València. Credit: TNW

The winning pitch

All eight finalists would make worthy champions, but there can only be one winner of the pitch battle. To find who our all-star jury chose for the grand prize, follow our coverage of TNW València next week.

For those of you who couldn’t attend the event in-person, we hope to see you next year, for more pitches, talks, learning, networking, and festival vibe in beautiful València.

Meet the finalists of the TNW València startup pitch battle Read More »

‘VRChat’ Now in Development for Android and iOS Devices

News, Social Virtual Reality, Social VR, virtual reality chat, vrchat, vrchat android, vrchat ios / Rejus Almole / March 31, 2023

VRChat, the popular social VR platform, announced that flatscreen ports for both Android and iOS are currently in development.

The company says in a developer blog that while there’s still no release date on the books, the Android version has already been used by team members to attend large meetings.

Additionally, the Android version will support any world or avatar that works on Meta Quest, since the standalone also runs Android.

Here’s a quick look at an early build, which the studio stresses isn’t a final version:

VRChat on Android Mobile will only be available to VRChat Plus subscribers, the studio says, offering it as a beta to polish UI and UX before a full public launch. Beta access is expected to arrive to VRChat Plus members in three to four months. The full public launch on Google Play is expected in three to six months after the beta release, the studio says.

VRChat on iOS however is expected later, with more details to follow. The studio says it will be more complex, as content will need to be rebuilt for the iOS platform since it uses a different graphics framework.

The addition of iOS support is also slated to fracture VRChat worlds into three distinct supported platforms instead of the previous two, which for now includes PC and Quest. The studio maintains the situation is “[n]ot ideal”.

VRChat isn’t the first social VR app to offer flatscreen versions on mobile. Competitor Rec Room offers the widest network of supported devices, which in addition to VR support on Quest, PSVR and SteamVR headsets also includes flatscreen support for iOS, Android, Xbox, and PS4/PS5.

Meta’s own Horizon Worlds platform is also set to launch on non-Quest devices sometime soon, which will include both the Web and mobile versions.

‘VRChat’ Now in Development for Android and iOS Devices Read More »

Report: Apple Mixed Reality Headset Delayed to Late 2023 Amid Decreased Confidence in Market Appeal

Apple, Apple AR, apple mixed reality, apple mixed reality headset, apple mr, apple n301, apple reality, apple reality one, Apple VR, apple xr, AR News, n301, News / Rejus Almole / March 30, 2023

Ming-Chi Kuo, a respected supply chain analyst, reports that Apple is tamping down enthusiasm for its upcoming mixed reality headset, which was rumored to see its big announcement at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.

In a tweet, Kuo reports Apple is delaying release of its MR headset due to decreased optimism in recreating the “iPhone moment” the company was hoping to achieve with the device.

Kuo, an analyst at Asia-Pacific financial services group TF International Securities, is widely considered one of the most accurate voices in predicting Apple releases. Kuo has made many predictions in the past based on supply chain movements, including Apple’s 2020 switch to its own custom ARM-based processors for Mac computers, the 2019 release of a new MacBook Pro with a 16-inch display, and the release of the entry-level iPad with an A13 chip in 2021—just to name a few.

Kuo says Apple’s MR headset, which is reportedly codenamed N301, is being pushed back “another 1-2 months to mid-to-late 3Q23,” noting that the assembly line delay could mean we won’t see the new device at WWDC 2023 in early June as previously reported by The Financial Times earlier this month.

It was said Apple CEO Tim Cook was a leading force in pushing the device’s launch this year, something that’s reportedly been a source of tension between the Apple chief and the industrial design team since the company began efforts in 2016.

Furthermore, Kuo says that due to the device’s delay in mass production, “the shipment forecast this year is only 200,000 to 300,000 units, lower than the market consensus of 500,000 units or more.”

“The main concerns for Apple not being very optimistic regarding the market feedback to the AR/MR headset announcement include the economic downturn, compromises on some hardware specifications for mass production (such as weight), the readiness of the ecosystem and applications, a high selling price (USD 3,000-4,000 or even higher), etc,” Kuo concludes.

If you’ve been following with the Apple rumor mill for the past few years, you’ll know there are almost too many reports to name at this point. To simplify, we’ve included a list of the headset’s rumored features and specs which we’ve collated from those reports.

Take note, none of the info below has been confirmed by Apple, so please take it with a large grain of salt.

Rumored Apple MR Specs

Resolution: Dual Micro OLED displays at 4K resolution (per eye)
FOV: 120-degrees, similar to Valve Index
Chipset: Two 5nm chips. Includes a main SoC (CPU, GPU, and memory) and a dedicated image signal processor (ISP). Chips communicate via a custom streaming codec to combat latency.
Battery: Waist-mounted battery, connected via MagSafe-like power cable to the headset’s headband. Two-hour max battery life, although hotswappable for longer sessions.
Passthrough: ISP chip contains custom high-bandwidth memory made by SK Hynix, providing low latency color passthrough
Audio: H2 chip, providing ultra-low latency connection with the second-generation AirPods Pro and future AirPods models. No 3.5mm and possible no support for non-AirPod BT headphones.
Controller: Apple is said to favor hand-tracking and voice recognition to control the headset, but it has tested a “wand” and a “finger thimble” as alternative control input methods.
Prescription Lenses: Magnetically attachable custom prescription lenses for glasses-wearers.
IPD Adjustment: Automatic, motorized adjustment to match the wearer’s interpupillary distance.
Eye Tracking: At least one camera per-eye for things like avatar presence and foveated rendering
Face & Body Tracking: More than a dozen cameras and sensors capture both facial expressions and body movements, including the user’s legs.
Room Tracking: Both short- and long-range LiDAR scanners to map surfaces and distances in three dimensions.
App Compatibility: Said to have the ability to run existing iOS apps in 2D.
Price: $3,000 – $4,000

Design Rumors

Outer Shell: Aluminum, glass, and carbon fiber to reduce its size and weight. Cameras are largely concealed for aesthetic reasons.
Presence Displays: Outward-facing display can show user’s facial expressions and also presumably eye movements. Said to be an always-on display similar in latency and power draw of Apple Watch or iPhone 14 Pro.
Dedicated Passthrough Switch: Digital Crown-like dial on its right side to switch between VR and passthrough.
Headstrap: Various available, including consumer-focused headstrap similar in material to Apple Watch sport bands with built-in speakers. Unspecified, but different headstrap targeted at developers.

Report: Apple Mixed Reality Headset Delayed to Late 2023 Amid Decreased Confidence in Market Appeal Read More »

Stockholm is a world-class tech hub: 6 startups and scaleups to watch

Ecosystems, Next Featured, Startups and technology / Rejus Almole / March 30, 2023

Once predominantly known for IKEA, Ericsson, and Volvo, in the past decade, Sweden has emerged as one the most valued tech ecosystems in Europe, with Stockholm ranking as the fifth top performer in 2021.

The success of Swedish startups such as Tink and Spotify has turned the capital city into a world-renowned tech hub, attracting the attention of international investors — and for good reason.

Stockholm is home to nearly 3,000 startups and scaleups, and counts 208 VC investors and 101,000 tech employees.

The city has also bred more tech unicorns per capita than any other region in the world except for Silicon Valley — that is, 0.8 per 100,000 inhabitants. Some of those unicorns include the buy-now-pay-later fintech firm Klarna, lithium-ion battery developer Northvolt, and e-mobility provider Voi.

Stockholm’s fertile landscape reflects Sweden’s overall growth in the tech sector. Last year alone, the Nordic nation not only retained its place as the EU’s best-performing innovation leader, but also emerged as Europe’s fourth top ranking country in VC funding per capita, reaching $540 (€504).

To get a closer look at the city’s thriving ecosystem, we’re zooming in on six trailblazing local startups and scaleups.

Let’s dive in.

Exeger

Founded in 2009 by Giovanni Fili, the Swedish deeptech scaleup has developed a unique solar cell, Powerfoyle, which can be seamlessly integrated into existing devices and convert all forms of light to virtually endless energy.

Unlike typical solar cells, Powerfoyle is a silicon-free technology, and thanks to a special dye, it absorbs indoor and outdoor light through a process called artificial photosynthesis.

Giovanni Fili Exeger — Giovanni Fili holding a Powerfoyle strip. Credit: Exeger

For Fili, who has a multi-year background in entrepreneurship and the commercialisation of high-tech innovations, looking into the everyday applications of solar power was a natural step.

“We realised after a few years that this had a huge potential because we can screen print this solar cell, which allows a free-form design with different shapes, colors, and textures,” Fili tells me.

Now, 14 years later, Exeger has raised over €180 million across 12 funding rounds, counts more than 200 employees, and owns two solar-cell factories in Stockholm.

Currently, the Powerfoyle is integrated into a range of products, from bike helmets and remotes to headphones such as the Urbanista Los Angeles, the Urbanista Phoenix, and the Adidas RPT-02 Sol.

Solar-powered headphones — From left to right: The Urbanista Phoenix, the Adidas RPT-02 Sol, and the Urbanista Los Angeles. Credit: Exeger

According to Fili, it’s all about providing consumers with energy independence, while also increasing product sustainability and reducing battery or cable waste.

For Exeger, Powerfoyle’s flexibility and customisable nature means the sky is the limit. The company recently secured a partnership with SES-imagotag to provide an alternative source of power to the electronic labels and IoT devices the company supplies to retailers. The scaleup envisions further applications for its technology in consumer electronics, IoT, and smart workplaces.

Sesamy

Sesamy was co-founded in 2021 by Måns Ulvestam, Karl Rosander, and Markus Ahlstrand — the same trio that founded Acast, the global podcast giant.

Sesamy also operates in the digital media realm, but with a focus on news and magazine content. The company targets publishers who want to offer their readers an option to purchase a single article as a complement to subscriptions.

“Our mission is to enable people to actually pay for good quality journalism, while helping publishers increase their incremental revenue,” Ulvestam tells me. And based on the company’s data, consumers are willing to pay on average €2 per article.

In case a reader purchases three or four articles from the same outlet, Sesamy’s Smart Software can identify whether it would cost them less to become a subscriber and prompts them accordingly, driving further engagement. “Some of the data we have so far are very encouraging; 5.5% of the readers buying a single-purchase article then become subscribers,” Ulvestam notes.

Sesamy startup — Co-founders Måns Ulvestam and Karl Rosander. Credit: Sesamy

The startup counts eight publisher partners so far, boasting three big Swedish outlets: Breakit, Kvartal, and Nyheter24. Currently, Sweden is the company’s focus market, being “at the forefront when it comes to thinking about how to monetize news,” co-founder Karl Rosander says. Nevertheless, Sesamy is looking into expanding into other European countries as well.

Sesamy’s current business focus is to engage with as many outlets as possible in order to collect enough data on publisher revenue and consumer behaviour and thereby further develop its software — and, in time, for instance, suggest dynamic pricing based on the articles’ length, exclusivity, etc.

Apart from the pay-per-article option, the startup’s software platform offers various interchangeable web components including the integration of services such as payment methods, third-party webhooks, and social media login.

In November, Sesamy raised €3.3 million during its second seed round, bring its total to €7.3 million.

X Shore

The award-winning electric boat manufacturer aims to facilitate the transition to maritime emobility by combining Scandinavian design with technology, innovation, and sustainability.

The startup was founded in 2016 by one of Sweden’s best-known entrepreneurs, Konrad Bergström, but has been reinvented since 2019, when Jenny Keisu took over as CEO.

X shore electric boats — CEO Jenny Keisu. Credit: X Shore

For Keisu, who has an extensive background in business law and impact investing, achieving price parity with fossil fuel-powered boats while offering high-performance vessels is key to the industry’s net-zero transition. And that’s what X Shore set out to do.

In September 2022, the company launched its second model, the X Shore 1, following the release of its first commercial boat, the Eelex 8000, in 2020. Both models come with a modular design for increased functionality and can be configured with various layouts that accommodate activities from fishing and diving to watersports and socialising — thus reducing the need for multiple boat ownership.

X Shore’s vessels also feature smart boating capabilities, including overboard detection, navigation, and range estimate. This is combined with a respective app and a special captain’s watch — a smart watch which can be used as a remote key to unlock the boat and as a “person over board” detector.

X Shore Eelex 8000 — The Eelex 8000 is powered by a 170kW electric motor, comes with a 100NM range, and can reach a 30+ knot top speed. Credit: X Shore

Compared to the Eelex 8000, which costs a little over €300,000, the X Shore 1’s price starts at €99,000 — the average cost of a vessel in its category. “Within 48 hours after its launch, we sold out all boats that we could produce in the first half of this year, and we’re also sold out for 2023,” Keisu explains.

X Shore 1 electric boat — The X Shore 1 is powered by a 125kW electric motor, comes with a 50NM range, and can reach a 30 knot top speed. Creidit: X shore

Driving down the price enough to engage with a larger customer base — while maintaining sustainability — was the result of two factors: an EV-oriented design from the outset and in-house production.

The startup manufactures the hull and does the assembly using largely automated processes at its factory in the city of Nyköping, which leaves only the battery and electrical components to be sourced overseas.

X Shore sells its boats in Europe and North America, which currently represents its bigger market. For operators of multiple vessels, it also offers a Fleet Management System for connected X Shore boats. The startup raised almost €50 million in its latest funding round.

Alight

Alight is a leading Nordic provider of solar power-as-a-service, co-founded in 2013 by Dr Harald Overholm, Richard Nicolin, and Wilhelm Lowenhielm. The scaleup develops, owns, and operates solar projects for businesses that want to switch to renewable energy.

Alight helps companies cover their energy needs either with offsite installations in the form of solar farms, or with onsite installations of panels on rooftops, parking lots, or unused land. The scaleup provides energy through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) — fixed term contracts at a pre-negotiated price lasting between 10 and 20 years.

The company’s decision to focus on commercial solar stems from two reasons, according to co-founder and CEO Dr Harald Overholm. First comes the fact that 70% of power worldwide is used by companies. Second, the trio was inspired by the US market, where solar-as-a-service first got traction in the commercial and industrial segment, and shortly after in the residential.

Alight solar Harald Overhom — Alight’s co-founder, Dr Harald Overhom. Credit: Patrik Ekenblom

“We had some sort of base hypothesis that commercial solar was a pretty good place to start,” Overholm says. “And we think that the European market is now moving very quickly towards us because government incentives are being rapidly scaled down.”

Alight is developing more than 1 gigawatt (GW) worth of PPA-based projects across Sweden, with a further 170 megawatts (MW) under development across the rest of Europe. It also handles Sweden’s largest operational solar park to date, and is set to have an installed capacity of at least 5GW by 2030. Some of its clients include Toyota, Swedbank, and trading company Bixia.

Alight solar — Alight’s onsite solar panels at Toyota Material Handing in France. Credit: Alight

But the road to success has been no bed of roses.

“People could not understand why we started the company when we did so,” Overholm explains. “And it was also horribly difficult to find investors,” he adds, citing a lack of interest in impact and sustainability projects at the time.

“So when, in 2022, we raised €150 million in equity, with an additional €20 million to €30 million coming in [from] buying out secondaries from previous investors, it was insane.”

Prior to that the company had done two funding rounds — following an initial angel capital injection — raising €2 million in 2015 and €5 million to €6 million in 2019.

Now, Alight is also developing co-located battery storage to mitigate solar power’s intermittent nature and enable its further rollout.

Milkywire

At the age of 31, marketing veteran Nina Siemiatkowski decided to pursue photography in Kenya, where she witnessed first-hand the hurdles local organisations were facing to secure funding and resources in their efforts to address pressing environmental issues.

Siemiatkowski decided to build a company that solves this problem and founded Milkywire in 2018.

The startup provides a smarter and more efficient solution to environmental, cause-driven donation, connecting vetted impact organisations around the world with companies and individuals who want to offer support, but are unsure how to donate effectively.

‘Initially, when I founded Milkywire, the idea was to connect the platform to consumers directly,” Siemiatkowski tells me. “But a year and a half ago we completely pivoted as a business.” Since then, the startup has been implementing a B2B2C business model.

Nina Siemiatkowski Milkywire — Milkywire’s founder and CEO, Nina Siemiatkowski. Credit: Emma Svensson

Milkywire’s platform enables companies to take responsibility for their environmental footprint and make a positive contribution by financing high-impact initiatives beyond their immediate value chain. Businesses can select organisations from five different causes, such as wildlife and climate transformation.

The platform also offers transparent and traceable reporting of the companies’ donations and impact metrics, which can be used to engage stakeholders and customers. To facilitate that, Milkyware provides integrated tools that enable customers to contribute to the same causes.

The startup currently counts numerous partner companies, including Klarna, PANGAIA, and Footway. To date, it has raised $25 million (€23.5 million) in donations.

“The timing couldn’t be better for us,” Siemiatkowski says. “There’s massive demand for sustainability solutions and, from what I know, we’re sitting with a quite unique solution.”

Doconomy

Founded in 2018 by Mathias Wikström and Johan Pihl, Doconomy has merged climate tech with fintech, and is on a mission to help banks, brands, and consumers to better understand their environmental footprint through financial transactions.

Since launching the world’s first transaction-based footprint calculator, Doconomy has been building a global ecosystem, with its technology used by Mastercard and world leading banks such as BNP Paribas and Nordea — which translates to over 850 million potential end-users across 30 countries.

Driven by the aim to inspire consumer behaviour change and encourage them into a more sustainable lifestyle, the founding duo was interested in the credit card as an everyday tool that’s connected to consumption patterns.

Doconomy founder — Co-founder and CINO Johan Pihl. Credit: Doconomy

“We looked at how environmental data could be presented in a tool that you’re willing to use every day, and that, in the end, would motivate behavioural change,” Pihl tells me.

The result was Doconomy’s core solution, a cloud-based environmental impact index (Åland Index), which enables CO2 and H2O calculations for all digital financial transactions.

The Åland Index is complemented by a set of other digital tools, such as the Lifestyle Impact Calculator, helping individuals assess their footprint based on lifestyle choices, and the Product Impact calculator, which enables brands to calculate their products’ CO2 footprints. The startup also offers the DO mobile banking service, which allows consumers to manage their finances and everyday climate action.

Thanks to its data and the ecosystem it’s built, Doconomy has created a standardised language around how impact is measured. But using this language to drive consumer engagement and, in the end, behavioural change, remains “as tricky as ever,” co-founder Mathias Wikström says.

Doconomy is now focusing on achieving exactly this and believes that its recent acquisition of financial well-being fintech startup Dreams Technology will play an integral role in that objective.

What’s the secret to Stockholm’s success?

Stockholm has several unique and powerful ingredients that stimulate startup growth.

For Alight’s co-founder Harald Overholm, the city breeds a culture of entrepreneurship, while a strong network of entrepreneurs, mentors, and angel investors can provide guidance.

The collaboration and advice of like-minded entrepreneurs and expertswas also pointed out by Milywire’s founder, Nina Siemiatkowski, and Sesamy’s co-founder, Karl Rosander, who also added access to capital as an important element of the ecosystem.

“I think collaboration is closer at hand in Sweden than in many different markets,” Mathias Wikström, Doconomy’s co-founder and CEO, says. “There’s a strong social security network, a strong trade labour union, [and] a strong industry and trade labour union agreement dating back to the 40s and 50s. We’re not keeping our success close to our chest. We’re rather sharing it with many, I think slightly more than in other parts of the world.”

Swedish mentality plays a vital role for Johan Ekelin and Christian Ihre — co-founders of Lynxeye, a Stockholm-based strategy consultancy supporting companies in transformative shifts, which has been part of the ecosystem since 1999.

Lynxeye founders — Co-founders Johan Ekelin and Christian Ihre. Credit: Lynxeye

“We’re a bit of a caring nation, you could say, with a more human-centric mentality,” Ekelin tells me. “We want to find solutions to problems, and we try to democratise the offerings, and that’s good for innovation,” he notes, adding that Sweden is characterised by “a high level of social consensus.”

This, according to Ihre, stems from a simplistic survival instinct, the need to “stick together,” due to the country’s weather and climate conditions. Much like the Vikings created their own infrastructure webs and ecosystems, modern society has another kind of ecosystem, where companies, institutions, government, and people know they need each other to survive. “This has transcended our culture for millennia,” Ihre notes.

But this doesn’t mean that Sweden’s business sector is closed within itself. On the contrary, Ekelin believes that creating international brands and companies is one of its biggest strengths.

“Being a small country means that there’s a small home market, so you have to look openly for other opportunities around the world and be informed about what’s going on outside of Sweden.”

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Author name: Rejus Almole

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