<div>
  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>
        California-based space travel and space launch company SpaceX has been tapped by NASA to provide a second crewed demonstration landing as a part of the Artemis lunar exploration program. This is a modification&mdash;known as option B&mdash;on the existing human landing system (HLS) contract between the two parties.
      </p>
    </li>
    <li>
      <p>
        This second landing demonstration is targeting the Artemis IV which is slated for 2027. The original contract obligation was USD 2.9 billion while NASA did not disclose the amount for the second launch.
      </p>
    </li>
    <li>
      <p>
        <b>AnalystQuickTake: </b>
        NASA awarded the human landing system (HLS) contract, worth USD 2.9 billion, to SpaceX in April 2021 as a key part of its Artemis program. NASA announced that SpaceX will be the sole provider of the lunar lander, a rather unusual move, as NASA typically selects contractors in pairs to continue with the program even if one contractor fails to deliver (e.g., NASA&rsquo;s commercial crew program includes SpaceX and Boeing). In October 2022, 
        <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14056">
          SpaceX surpassed Boeing
        </a>
         to become NASA&rsquo;s second-largest vendor driven by contracts for Artemis and crewed missions to the ISS. The recent extension to the HLS contract further solidifies the relationship between NASA and SpaceX to further SpaceX&rsquo;s opportunities with government contracts.
      </p>
    </li>
  </ul>
  <p>
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/15/nasa-taps-spacex-for-second-crewed-starship-demonstration-mission-to-the-moon/">
      Tech Crunch
    </a>
  </p>
</div>


Space Travel and Exploration Tech

SpaceX to provide a second crewed demonstration for Artemis program

Bringing fresh produce closer to consumers with efficient, advanced technology.

Vertical Farming

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 
 <p>Virginia-based company, Babylon Micro-Farms, has introduced STEM Garden, a portable indoor farm designed for schools to encourage interdisciplinary learning through on-site cultivation of food.</p>
 <p>The STEM Garden, which requires manual watering and lacks a remote monitoring feature, comes with a specially designed curriculum to instruct hydroponics in classrooms.</p>
 <p>According to Babylon Micro-Farms, the product has the potential to create a significant change in the way food is grown and integrated into education, imparting hands-on experience by teaching children that chefs can grow ingredients on-site for meal preparations.</p>
 
</div>

Babylon Micro-Farms launches STEM Garden for K-12 education

Autonomous and connected technologies shaping the future of the auto industry

Auto Tech

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

INCUMBENTS_PRESENT

<div>
 <p>Hyundai is set to invest approximately USD 1 billion in Motional, a Hyundai-Aptiv autonomous vehicle joint venture. This investment will consist of a direct payment of USD 475 million and the purchase of additional equity worth USD 448 million from Aptiv. This will result in Hyundai owning 85% of Motional.</p>
 <p>Aptiv, which previously held 50% of the shares in Motional, will reduce its investment due to the high costs and extended time needed to commercialize robotaxis.</p>
 <p>The transaction is expected to be finalized by the third quarter of 2024, pending regular regulatory approvals and closing conditions.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> Motional, resulting from a <a href="https:<br>
//techcrunch.com/2019/09/23/aptiv-and-hyundai-form-new-joint-venture-focused-on-autonomous-driving/"> USD 4 billion collaboration </a> between Hyundai and Aptiv, is working on commercializing autonomous taxis by 2024. However, the funding situation for Motional became uncertain as Aptiv decided to cut stake and discontinue future funding <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/26156"> in January 2024, </a> leaving Hyundai as the primary backer unless Motional attracted additional investors. We believe the new funds injected by Hyundai would help the company’s continued operations. Motional also secured a bridge loan to meet temporary financial needs <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/27629"> in March 2024. </a> The broader robotaxi industry is marked by uncertainty and gradual progress toward commercial viability, with incumbents like Alphabet’s Waymo <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/28523"> expanding its services </a> and others like GM’s Cruise <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/28329"> recovering from setbacks. </a></p>

Motional receives USD 448 million from Hyundai; Hyundai to buy out stake from Aptiv for controlling 85% interest

Travel Tech

<div>
 
 <p>Airbnb is launching new updates for group booking and a new category named "Icons." The Icons category offers curated experiences by notable figures in various fields and can be accessed through the app. It will present unique properties such as the X-Men mansion and Prince’s Purple Rain House. However, availability will be limited, and users must apply to book these experiences.&nbsp;</p>

 <p>The update also introduces a feature that aids group bookings, allowing users to make shared wishlists, append properties to the lists, comment on them and vote. A new message tab facilitates communication between travellers and the host.&nbsp;</p>

 <p>Furthermore, Airbnb is incorporating AI to provide hosts with automatic response capabilities. Customer support is streamlined using AI by routing customers to the appropriate agents or providing AI-generated responses for certain inquiries. An earnings dashboard is also being released for hosts as part of the automation efforts.&nbsp;</p>

 </div>

Airbnb introduces group booking features and new 'Icons' experience category

Technologies bringing about a new reality

Extended Reality

<div>
 <p>Unity has introduced an upgraded game engine, named "6 Preview" that provides new features designed to simplify the creation of XR experiences.</p>
 <p>Key features encompass a built-in foveated rendering API that optimises the performance by lowering the resolution of the peripheral vision, and keeping a high-definition image quality at the user's gaze. Additionally, it brings Composition Layers, a method for displaying textures in XR applications in an optimal quality.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> Improving the foveated rendering API will allow headsets to support higher fidelity experiences, improving user immersion. In <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/26205"> February 2024 </a> , it made its platform available to create XR experiences for the Apple Vision Pro, seeking to expand its customer base.</p>

Unity launches 6 Preview with improved XR development features

Disrupting the traditional financial system using blockchain

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

<div>
 
 <p>Asset tokenization platform, Securitize, has obtained USD 47 million in a funding round conducted by BlackRock and involvement from Hamilton Lane, ParaFi Capital, and Tradeweb Markets. This increases Securitize's total funding to slightly above USD 147 million.</p>
 <p>The firm aims to use these capital to speed up product development, enlarge its worldwide operations, and strengthen its collaborations across the financial services sector.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> Real-world asset tokenization has seen growing interest within the DeFi industry in the last six months, with a number of recent fundraises, including <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/2311454"> Untangled Finance </a> , <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/2873315"> Ostium Labs </a> , and <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/826434"> GenTwo </a> , which raised <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/22651"> USD 13.5 million </a> , <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/22537"> USD 3.5 million </a> , and <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/21536"> USD 15 million </a> , respectively. Notably, this funding from Blackrock coincides with the launch of BlackRock’s first tokenized fund on Ethereum, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which it made available to investors via a partnership with Securitize.</p>

Securitize raises USD 47 million in fresh funding

<div>
 
 <p>Backed, a company based in Switzerland that offers a real-world asset tokenization platform, has raised USD 9.5 million in a recent funding round. Investment groups such as Gnosis, Exor Seeds, Cyber Fund, Mindset Ventures, Stake Capital Ventures, and the Blockchain Founders Fund have contributed in this round.</p>
 <p>The firm plans to leverage this recently acquired capital to accelerate its private tokenization services.</p>
 <p>Backed provides a platform built on blockchain technology, which allows users to tokenize a variety of tangible assets. These include, for example, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and company stocks. By using a supported Web3 wallet, customers can take advantage of the platform’s tokenization engine to create and distribute tokens that represent real-world assets. These tokens are then kept as collateral. Importantly, such tokens are made following the ERC-20 token standard.</p>
 
</div>

Backed raises USD 9.5 million in new funding

<div>
 
 <p>Spotnana and JTB Business Travel have formed a partnership to enhance JTB's booking process via an upgraded platform. JTB will leverage Spotnana's cloud-based system in a bid to modernize and streamline its business travel services. The partnership is also poised to provide benefits to JTB's strategic partners, including Goodwings.</p>
 
</div>

Spotnana partners with JTB Business Travel for improved booking platform

<div>

<p>Getaround has secured USD 50 million in funding through the expansion of its existing debt facility with Mudrick Capital Management. The first tranche of USD 20 million was drawn down on April 29, 2024.</p>

<p>The additional capital will be used to support the company’s long-term growth, establish a more sustainable business model, drive strategic growth and profitability plans. It will also fund operations beyond 2024. </p>

</div>

Getaround raises USD 50 million to support long-term business development

The tools that power remote work are define the next generation of enterprise software.

Remote Work Tools

<div>

 <p>Calendly, a platform focusing on scheduling meetings, has debuted a revamped browser extension, accessible on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Outlook. The updated feature incorporates a "Meetings" tab, enabling users to oversee and alter meetings organized via Calendly. There's also a fresh "Contacts" tab, providing the ability to monitor forthcoming meetings and participants. The extension facilitates the sharing of links for various meeting types, immediate booking of subsequent calls, and the scheduling of several meetings for identical time slots. </p>
 <p>Calendly posits that this refurbished extension, when used alongside integrations such as Gmail and LinkedIn, has the potential to significantly reduce the time that users allocate to alternating between apps and websites. The objective of the extension is to aid not only in scheduling but throughout the entire meeting process, with features designed for managing and recording meeting transcripts. </p>
 
 </div>

Calendly updates browser extension to enhance meeting scheduling and management

<div>
 
 <p>Atlassian has combined Jira Software and Jira Work Management into a single project management tool named "Jira". The aim is to simplify collaboration and goal alignment across diverse teams within a company. Pricing will be unchanged from the existing Jira subscriptions.</p>
 <p>Jira's updated tool includes several AI-driven functions meant to enhance collaboration, such as an AI work breakdown for automatically dividing work into manageable pieces, an automatic summary of issue comments, and a natural language processing feature for creating Jira queries. The tool addition "Goals", aimed at aligning team objectives, and new views for task and project visualization are also included in this package.</p>
 <p>Atlassian states the upgraded Jira tool will lessen tension between different teams, facilitating cooperative working and easier goal alignment. Additionally, it plans to automate certain routine tasks with the aid of new integrations and features, freeing up project managers to concentrate on vital strategic tasks.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> This collaboration follows Atlassian's previous strategy of launching specialized Jira versions, such as Jira Work Management in 2021, which replaced Jira Core. Such collaborations provide cross-functional tools that help different teams within a company collaborate and track their work more effectively.</p>

All Updates