Author: azeeadmin

Emteria, is a startup that emerged out of the limitations of the official Android Open Source Project. AOSP just isn’t good enough to be used in industrial applications which means if industry wants to use it, the platform must be extended and customized. Some industries still use outdated platforms like Windows CE to power things like ticket machines, for instance.

Emteria developed emteria.OS, an adapted Android operating system for industrial settings. As a result of its work, the startup has now raised €1.5 million in funding from the German state-backed High-Tech Gründerfonds and Runa Capital, based out of San Francisco.

While Android is the most popular OS with 2.5 billion active Android devices, pure-play Android isn’t suited to an industrial environment, where you can’t access Google Play Services, vendors’ centralized updates and have to limit the user-accessible functionality.

Emteria.OS can be used to power ticket scanning devices, cashier desks, ticketing machines, smart home controllers, video conferencing and alarming systems – or whatever a customer has in mind. They also get personalized branding, security updates, and ongoing support from the emteria team. emteria.OS is now used by over 75,000 сustomers.

Dr. Igor Kalkov, founder and CEO of emteria said: “The B2B market has so far failed to maximize the Android platform even though it has reached a market share of more than 70% for mobile operating systems. In the B2B environment, this development leaves much to be desired. Our vision is to free industrial devices from their individualized software, just like the mobile revolution.”

He said currently, software service providers often offer development contracts, but generate source code which the customer can’t do anything with, outside of the contract. Development contracts are also expensive and result in 100 companies cooking 100 different Android distributions.

Daniela Bach, Investment Manager at HTGF, said: “We are very convinced of this technology’s potential in the field of industrial operating systems.”

Dmitry Galperin, Partner at Runa Capital, added: “The team has reached great success among the Raspberry Pi community by developing an important layer for device configuration and management not available from the open-source Android. We believe that emteria will continue to attract more IoT developers.”

M17, the Taiwan-based live streaming entertainment startup, announced that it has raised a $26.5 million Series D. The round was led by Vertex Growth Fund, with participation from Stonebridge Korea Unicorn Venture Fund, Innoven Capital Singapore, Kaga Electronics and ASE Global Group.

The new funding will be used for growth in Japan, one of M17’s key markets, and expansion into the United States and other regions including the Middle East.

The company’s funding announcement said that more users are logging onto live streaming apps to stay entertained during the COVID-19 pandemic. It added that M17, whose products include live streaming app 17 Media and a talent agency called Unicorn Entertainment, has seen a record number of artists and users signing up over the past few months.

17 Media enables content creators to monetize through in-app gifts and social commerce. In January, the company said it had processed over $500 million worth of virtual gifts for 30,000 exclusive content creators.

Two years ago, M17 planned to list on the New York Stock Exchange, but cancelled its IPO in June 2018 and decided to continue raising private funding.

In a statement, Vertex Growth managing director Tam Hock Chuan said, “We are impressed by M17’s market leading position and continued strong growth in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. With M17’s unique value proposition and battle-hardened management team, the company is well prepared for its next phase of growth.”

Alameda County officials announced today that Tesla can reopen as soon as next week if it implements additional safety recommendations.

The statement from the Alameda County Public Health Department said that after receiving Tesla’s COVID-19 site-specific safety plan for its Fremont plant, officials “held productive discussions today with Tesla’s representatives about their safety and prevention plans, including some additional safety recommendations.”

“If Tesla’s Prevention and Control Plan includes these updates, and public health indicators remain stable or improve, we have agreed that Tesla can begin to augment their Minimum Business Operations this week in preparation for possible reopening as soon as next week,” it added.

Alameda County officials said they will work with the Fremont Police Department will work together to verify that Tesla is implementing safety measures, including physical distancing.

The agreement comes after conflict between Alameda County and Tesla about the plant’s reopening date. On Monday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the Fremont factory had restarted production, even though Alameda County had not yet lifted its stay-at-home order for manufacturing. This was after Tesla announced over the weekend that it had filed a lawsuit against Alameda County, seeking injunctive and declaratory relief against the order.

Along with five other Bay Area counties, Alameda County began easing some restrictions on May 4, allowing some business activities, primarily ones that take place outdoors like construction and landscaping, to resume. Depending on key COVID-19 indicators, more businesses may be allowed to start operating again on May 18.

Modulr, the U.K. fintech that offers ‘Payments as a Service’ as an alternative to commercial and wholesale transaction banking, has secured £18.9 million in growth funding. Leading the round is Highland Europe, with participation from existing investors including Frog Capital.

Modulr says the injection of capital will be used to further develop the payments platform and expand into new products and markets, including European expansion. It brings the total raised by the company to just over £43 million, not including a £10 million grant from the Capability and Innovation Fund (pdf).

“We are solving the problem of relationship and technical access to commercial and wholesale transaction banking,” co-founder and CEO Myles Stephenson tells TechCrunch. “We’re providing a complete alternative to using a bank for payments: technology, regulatory permissions and direct access to the payment schemes”.

Last year, this saw Modulr became one of only a few non-banks to gain direct access to Faster Payments and Bacs, the two main U.K. bank payments schemes. The fintech is also a “principal” issuing member of Visa.

“We see ourselves as the plumbing layer behind the scenes – delivering the payments infrastructure that enables other businesses to automate payment flows and reconciliation, embed payment flows within their platform and build entirely new payment services for their customers,” adds Stephenson.

To date, businesses across lending, fintech, alternative banking, accounting, travel and more have processed over £25 billion in payments through the Modulr platform, which counts Revolut as one of its largest customers. Other partner clients including Sage, Liberis, Salary Finance and Iwoca.

In terms of competition, Stephenson says Modulr is typically replacing “the payment services provide by a bank combined with a technology service such as Bottomline Technologies”. (Although, of course, there are other modern payments as a service providers, including challenger bank Starling).

“What we think makes us stand out is our sole focus on being a B2B and infrastructure provider with access to, and trust of, key regulators and payment networks/schemes,” he adds. “This means we have the same level of access to payment schemes as a bank provides, but backed by our resilient, reliable and powerful API platform”.

Modulr, the U.K. fintech that offers ‘Payments as a Service’ as an alternative to commercial and wholesale transaction banking, has secured £18.9 million in growth funding. Leading the round is Highland Europe, with participation from existing investors including Frog Capital.

Modulr says the injection of capital will be used to further develop the payments platform and expand into new products and markets, including European expansion. It brings the total raised by the company to just over £43 million, not including a £10 million grant from the Capability and Innovation Fund (pdf).

“We are solving the problem of relationship and technical access to commercial and wholesale transaction banking,” co-founder and CEO Myles Stephenson tells TechCrunch. “We’re providing a complete alternative to using a bank for payments: technology, regulatory permissions and direct access to the payment schemes”.

Last year, this saw Modulr became one of only a few non-banks to gain direct access to Faster Payments and Bacs, the two main U.K. bank payments schemes. The fintech is also a “principal” issuing member of Visa.

“We see ourselves as the plumbing layer behind the scenes – delivering the payments infrastructure that enables other businesses to automate payment flows and reconciliation, embed payment flows within their platform and build entirely new payment services for their customers,” adds Stephenson.

To date, businesses across lending, fintech, alternative banking, accounting, travel and more have processed over £25 billion in payments through the Modulr platform, which counts Revolut as one of its largest customers. Other partner clients including Sage, Liberis, Salary Finance and Iwoca.

In terms of competition, Stephenson says Modulr is typically replacing “the payment services provide by a bank combined with a technology service such as Bottomline Technologies”. (Although, of course, there are other modern payments as a service providers, including challenger bank Starling).

“What we think makes us stand out is our sole focus on being a B2B and infrastructure provider with access to, and trust of, key regulators and payment networks/schemes,” he adds. “This means we have the same level of access to payment schemes as a bank provides, but backed by our resilient, reliable and powerful API platform”.

VanMoof, the Dutch e-bike startup which launched in 2009, is now officially a “scale-up” after attracting a €12.5M / $13.5M investment from London VC Balderton Capital and SINBON Electronics, the Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer which is its bike assembly partner.

The funds will be used for international expansion, following the launch of the new electric VanMoof S3 and X3 bikes.

The announcement comes at a fortuitous time. Cities all over Europe are gingerly emerging from lockdown during the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and European governments are desperate to get their economies moving. But much of the official advice is to avoid public transport where possible, due to the near-impossibility of social distancing.

So with cycling a viable option in many cities, but distance still the old adversary, many consumers are looking to e-bikes as the solution to commuting, versus traditional bikes, which can’t compete with an e-bike’s ability to take the rider much further than normal.

To boost take-up, the UK government has unleashed a £2 billion package to create a new era for cycling and walking, leading to shares in bike retailer Halfords jumping by 17% on Monday.

In the US, New York City just committed to adding protected bike lanes across Manhattan and Brooklyn. Berlin is extending some of its already extensive bike lanes. And Milan will introduce a five-mile cycle lane to cut car use after the lockdown. New York City has reported a 50% increase in cycling compared to this time last year. Cycling in Philadelphia has increased by more than 150% during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Taco Carlier, VanMoof co-founder, said in a statement: “It’s a unique time to build such a meaningful partnership. Not only do we appreciate this vote of confidence from an investor with deep sector experience, it’s a great sign that investments are becoming greener, shifting away from fossil fuels and towards e-mobility.”

Colin Hanna, principal at Balderton said: “VanMoof produces a category-leading product in a rapidly growing market that is changing the world for the better. We believe that the quality, community, and experience of VanMoof will make them a household name from Tokyo to Berlin.”

VanMoof recently launched the S3 and X3 models which are upgrades to previous models, at a significantly cheaper price. The price is a reflection of the fact that VanMoof has full control of the supply chain thanks to its partnership with SINBON, combined with a direct-to-consumer sales model which means it takes complete ownership of everything from design to production, from sales to after-service.

Furthermore, in the last two years, the company has quadrupled its €10m 2018 revenue to nearly €40m in 2019, with sales 20% above target throughout 2020 so far, meaning it’s looking at an annual revenue goal of €100m.

The high performance new electric VanMoof S3 and X3 have a new range of features, including electronic four-speed gear shifting, integrated hydraulic brakes, and double the Turbo Boost power.

But VanMoof is not the only VC-backed e-bike on the market. Brussels-based Cowboy is an e-bike startup that only appeared in 2017 but has since gone on to raise $19.5M from Tiger Global and London’s Index Ventures.

While it’s a tragedy that it’s taken a deathly pandemic to kick-start this market, the prospect of our cities becoming radically changed for the better, with cleaner air and healthier, bike-riding citizens, does seem to be appearing on the horizon.

VanMoof, the Dutch e-bike startup which launched in 2009, is now officially a “scale-up” after attracting a €12.5M / $13.5M investment from London VC Balderton Capital and SINBON Electronics, the Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer which is its bike assembly partner.

The funds will be used for international expansion, following the launch of the new electric VanMoof S3 and X3 bikes.

The announcement comes at a fortuitous time. Cities all over Europe are gingerly emerging from lockdown during the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and European governments are desperate to get their economies moving. But much of the official advice is to avoid public transport where possible, due to the near-impossibility of social distancing.

So with cycling a viable option in many cities, but distance still the old adversary, many consumers are looking to e-bikes as the solution to commuting, versus traditional bikes, which can’t compete with an e-bike’s ability to take the rider much further than normal.

To boost take-up, the UK government has unleashed a £2 billion package to create a new era for cycling and walking, leading to shares in bike retailer Halfords jumping by 17% on Monday.

In the US, New York City just committed to adding protected bike lanes across Manhattan and Brooklyn. Berlin is extending some of its already extensive bike lanes. And Milan will introduce a five-mile cycle lane to cut car use after the lockdown. New York City has reported a 50% increase in cycling compared to this time last year. Cycling in Philadelphia has increased by more than 150% during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Taco Carlier, VanMoof co-founder, said in a statement: “It’s a unique time to build such a meaningful partnership. Not only do we appreciate this vote of confidence from an investor with deep sector experience, it’s a great sign that investments are becoming greener, shifting away from fossil fuels and towards e-mobility.”

Colin Hanna, principal at Balderton said: “VanMoof produces a category-leading product in a rapidly growing market that is changing the world for the better. We believe that the quality, community, and experience of VanMoof will make them a household name from Tokyo to Berlin.”

VanMoof recently launched the S3 and X3 models which are upgrades to previous models, at a significantly cheaper price. The price is a reflection of the fact that VanMoof has full control of the supply chain thanks to its partnership with SINBON, combined with a direct-to-consumer sales model which means it takes complete ownership of everything from design to production, from sales to after-service.

Furthermore, in the last two years, the company has quadrupled its €10m 2018 revenue to nearly €40m in 2019, with sales 20% above target throughout 2020 so far, meaning it’s looking at an annual revenue goal of €100m.

The high performance new electric VanMoof S3 and X3 have a new range of features, including electronic four-speed gear shifting, integrated hydraulic brakes, and double the Turbo Boost power.

But VanMoof is not the only VC-backed e-bike on the market. Brussels-based Cowboy is an e-bike startup that only appeared in 2017 but has since gone on to raise $19.5M from Tiger Global and London’s Index Ventures.

While it’s a tragedy that it’s taken a deathly pandemic to kick-start this market, the prospect of our cities becoming radically changed for the better, with cleaner air and healthier, bike-riding citizens, does seem to be appearing on the horizon.

Slack is currently fixing issues that are preventing some users from connecting or sending messages, according to its Status page. The company’s latest update on Twitter says some people may start seeing improvements, but that the company is still working on it.

Customers may be seeing performance improvements, although we still have some work to do. We’ll be back with more news shortly. https://t.co/AALbQGsDHq

— Slack Status (@SlackStatus) May 13, 2020

With so many working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Slack is the main way that many people keep in touch with their colleagues. The company has not announced if the current outage is related to increased demand (though, to be fair, they are busy right now).

Like other major online communication platforms, Slack has experienced outages in the past, and generally fixed them within a few hours while keeping users updated. For example, it experienced outages last summer, soon after the company performed a major update to its underlying technology to increase the speed of its desktop and web clients.

We will update this post when Slack’s connectivity is fully restored.

Slack is currently fixing issues that are preventing some users from connecting or sending messages, according to its Status page. The company’s latest update on Twitter says some people may start seeing improvements, but that the company is still working on it.

Customers may be seeing performance improvements, although we still have some work to do. We’ll be back with more news shortly. https://t.co/AALbQGsDHq

— Slack Status (@SlackStatus) May 13, 2020

With so many working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Slack is the main way that many people keep in touch with their colleagues. The company has not announced if the current outage is related to increased demand (though, to be fair, they are busy right now).

Like other major online communication platforms, Slack has experienced outages in the past, and generally fixed them within a few hours while keeping users updated. For example, it experienced outages last summer, soon after the company performed a major update to its underlying technology to increase the speed of its desktop and web clients.

We will update this post when Slack’s connectivity is fully restored.

When you think of voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, the words “emotional” and “expressive” probably don’t come to mind. Instead, there’s that recognizably flat and polite voice, devoid of all affect — which is fine for an assistant, but isn’t going to work if you want to use synthetic voices in games, movies and other storytelling media.

That’s why a startup called Sonantic is trying to create AI that can convincingly cry and convey “deep human emotion.” The U.K.-based startup announced last month that it has raised €2.3 million in funding led by EQT Ventures, and today it’s releasing a video that shows off what its technology is capable of.

You can judge the results for yourself in the video below; Sonantic says all the voices were created by its technology. Personally, I’m not sure I’d say the performances were interchangeable with a talented human voice actor — but they’re certainly more impressive than anything synthetic that I’ve heard before.

Sonantic’s actual product is an audio editor that it’s already testing with game makers. The editor includes a variety of different voice models, and co-founder and CEO Zeena Qureshi said those models are based on and developed with actual voice actors, who then get to share in the profits.

“We delve into the details of voice, the nuances of breath,” Qureshi said. “That voice itself needs to tell a story.”

Co-founder and CTO John Flynn added that game studios are an obvious starting point, since they often need to record tens of thousands of lines of dialogue. This could allow them to iterate more quickly, he said, to alter voices for different in-game circumstances (like when a character is running and should sound like they’re out of breath) and to avoid voice strain when characters are supposed to do things like cry or shout.

At the same time, Flynn comes from the world of movie post-production, and he suggested that the technology applies to many industries beyond gaming. The goal isn’t to replace actors, but instead to explore new kinds of storytelling opportunities.

“Look how much CGI technology has supported live-action films,” he said. “It’s not an either-or. A new technology allows you to tell new stories in a fantastic way.”

Sonantic also put me in touch with Arabella Day, one of the actors who helped develop the initial voice models. Day remembered spending hours recording different lines, then finally getting a phone call from Flynn, who proceeded to play her a synthesized version of her own voice.

“I said to him, ‘Is that me? Did I record that?'” she recalled.

She described the work with Sonantic as “a real partnership,” one in which she provides new recordings and feedback to continually improve the model (apparently her latest work involves American accents). She said the company wanted her to be comfortable with how her voice might be used, even asking her if there were any companies she wanted to blacklist.

“As an actor, I’m not at all thinking that the future of acting is AI,” Day said. “I’m hoping this is one component of what I’m doing, an extra possible edge that I have.”

At the same time, she said that there are “legitimate” concerns in many fields about AI replacing human workers.

“If it’s going to be the future of entertainment, I want to be a part of it,” she said. “But I want to be a part of it and work with it.”