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        Carbios, a biotech firm that recycles PET plastics and polyester fibers using an enzymatic process, has secured funding to create the world's first PET bio-recycling plant led by sustainable chemicals company Indorama Ventures.
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      <p>
        Of the EUR 230 million (~USD 243 million) investment, EUR 110 million (~USD 116.3 million) will be from Indorama Ventures; EUR 30 million (~USD 31.7 million) from the French government; and EUR 12.5 million (~USD 13.2 million) from the Grand-Est regional government.; with the balance EUR 78 million (~USD 82.5 million) from Carbios itself.
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      <p>
        The facility will be built on a 13.7 acre portion of Indorama&rsquo;s existing PET plant site, expected to be operational by 2025. The plant will have the capacity to process ~50,000 tons of post-consumer PET waste yearly.
      </p>
    </li>
  </ul>
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  <p>
    <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/biotech-pioneer-carbios-build-world-145354282.html">
      Yahoo
    </a>
  </p>
</div>


Waste Recovery & Management Tech

DISRUPTOR_PRESENT

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

The world's first PET bio-recycling plant is set to be created by biotech firm Carbios, with funding from sustainable chemicals company Indorama Ventures. The project will receive a total investment of EUR 230 million (~USD 243 million), with Indorama Ventures contributing EUR 110 million (~USD 116.3 million), the French government EUR 30 million (~USD 31.7 million), the Grand-Est regional government EUR 12.5 million (~USD 13.2 million), and EUR 78 million (~USD 82.5 million) from Carbios. The plant, expected to be operational by 2025, will be located on a 13.7 acre portion of Indorama's current PET plant site and have a capacity to process approximately 50,000 tons of post-consumer PET waste annually.

Carbios secures funding to build PET bio-recycling plant

The toolkit to build machine learning applications at scale

Machine Learning Infrastructure

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

<div>
 <p>Kneron, an AI chip manufacturer, aims to raise USD 300 million in its latest funding round, potentially bringing its evaluation to USD 1 billion. The company has received investments from Qualcomm Ventures, Sequoia Capital China (now HongShan), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., and Horizons Ventures in the past.<p>
  
<p>With this new funding, Kneron plans to fuel product innovation and expansion plans that include establishing a regional office and an R&D lab in Saudi Arabia. The round is likely to be its last before the company's expected public listing in 2025.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> The surging demand for AI chips has helped Kneron to raise significantly more funding than its USD 49 million Series B funding raised in <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/22177"> September 2023 </a> . Additionally, funding proceeds from last year helped the company launch its new KNEO 330 AI chip for on-premise AI applications in <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/30098"> June 2024 </a> .</p>

AI chip maker Kneron seeks USD 300 million in funding from investors

Empowering Tomorrow's Innovations with Generative AI Infrastructure

Generative AI Infrastructure

<div>
 <p>AI chip manufacturer Kneron is reportedly seeking to raise approximately USD 300 million in a new funding round. This significant investment would place the value of the Taiwanese-American company at an estimated USD 1 billion. In the previous funding rounds, Kneron received support from renowned investors such as Qualcomm Ventures, Sequoia Capital China (now known as HongShan), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., and Horizons Ventures.</p>
 <p>Kneron plans on allocating the funds towards the advancement of product innovation and company expansion. One of the company's more specific objectives include the creation of a regional office and a research &amp; development lab located in Saudi Arabia. This fundraising is projected to be the final private round for Kneron, as it plans to pursue a public listing in 2025.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> The surging demand for AI chips has helped Kneron to raise significantly more funding than its USD 49 million Series B funding raised in <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/22177"> September 2023 </a> . Additionally, funding proceeds from last year helped the company launch its new KNEO 330 AI chip for on-premise AI applications in <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/30098"> June 2024 </a> .</p>

INCUMBENTS_PRESENT

<div>
 
 <p>WRAP, a sustainability organization in the UK, has collaborated with retailer Primark for a three-year project to improve textile donation strategies and boost circular economy practices.</p>
 <p>This collaboration involves the Behaviour Change subsidiary of WRAP contributing its knowledge in behavioural sciences, with Yellow Octopus acting as an advisory partner. The collaboration has a goal of closing the consumer awareness gap in textile donation strategies.</p>
 <p>Primark, as part of this partnership, has committed to ensuring its clothes are recyclable by design by 2027. This builds on their involvement in WRAP's Sustainable Clothing Action Plan since 2016. The aim of this project is to decrease the carbon footprint of the textile industry by half by 2030.</p>
 
</div>

WRAP partners with Primark to improve textile recycling and circular initiatives

<div>

<p>Heidelberg Materials, a UK company specialising in building materials, has opened a new concrete recycling facility near Katowice, Poland. The innovative site makes use of FCB Rhodax technology from Fives to recycle concrete that has been demolished.</p>

<p>The company has stated that the facility has capability of recycling all demolition concrete into aggregates, sand and cement paste that are of a high quality. Moreover, the FCB Rhodax technology reportedly allows control of the force used on the material bed. This results in excellent concrete component separation while maintaining their quality. It also complies with the European Standards for both recycled and virgin materials.</p>

</div>

Heidelberg Materials launches concrete recycling facility in Poland

Generating, collecting, and analyzing enterprise data will never be the same.

Edge Computing

<div>
 
 <p>Nokia and Lenovo have established a strategic alliance to create data center solutions specifically tailored for AI and ML workloads. This collaboration will combine Lenovo's ThinkSystem AI-ready servers and storage with Nokia's data center networking facilities. It encompasses data center fabric, IP routing, Event-Driven Automation platform, and DDoS security portfolios as part of their integrated approach.&nbsp;</p>

</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> The combined solution aims to provide high-speed interconnectivity for AI clusters within and between data centers, improving data center capabilities by addressing the demanding compute, storage, and transit needs of AI and ML applications.</p>

Nokia partners with Lenovo to develop edge-ready AI data centers

<div>
 
 <p>ZEDEDA, a firm specializing in edge management and orchestration, has teamed up with OnLogic, an industrial computer production company. The collaboration resulted in the creation of OnLogic Powered by ZEDEDA, a blend of robust hardware and cloud-native edge orchestration software.</p>
 <p>The goal of this partnership is to decrease the deployment time and maintenance expenses connected with distributed edge infrastructure. Notably, the partnership highlights features such as application-agnostic design and extended solution lifecycles.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> ZEDEDA and OnLogic’s partnership reflects a broader trend toward integrating hardware and software to address the growing complexity of industrial edge computing. This partnership also follows ZEDEDA’s <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/33945"> partnership with Edge Impulse </a> , initiated in September 2024, to accelerate AI deployment at the edge.</p>

ZEDEDA and OnLogic partner to launch integrated edge computing solution for industrial environments

Autonomous and connected technologies shaping the future of the auto industry

Auto Tech

<div>
 <p>WeRide, a Chinese tech company specializing in self-driving technology, has applied for an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq. They aim to raise upwards of USD 119.4 million through the sale of 6.5 million American depositary shares, each priced between USD 15.5 and USD 18.5.</p>
 <p>In addition, there are plans from the company for a concurrent private placement, with the goal of raising a further USD 320.5 million.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> WeRide first announced filing for a US IPO in <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/32038"> July 2024 </a> but was <a href="https:<br>
//asia.nikkei.com/Business/Markets/Chinese-self-driving-startup-WeRide-delays-U.S.-IPO"> postponed, </a> citing the need for time to complete the documentation processes. Today, we increasingly notice strategic moves by Chinese firms amid geopolitical tensions. Chinese regulators also allowed autonomous vehicle tech firms like <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/28771"> Pony.ai </a> and <a href="https:<br>
//www.businesstimes.com.sg/startups-tech/china-approves-autonomous-driving-startup-momentas-us-ipo"> Momenta </a> to list in the US market, and <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/30478"> Tesla got approval </a> to test its ADAS "Full Self-Driving (FSD)" software in Shanghai's Nanhui New City District, despite US-China tensions.</p>

WeRide files for US IPO

Novel therapies to reboot cells and organs

Cell & Gene Therapy

<div>
 <p>March Biosciences, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, has garnered USD 28.4 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Mission BioCapital and 4BIO Capital, and saw participation from KdT Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, and other existing investors. To date, the company's total funds raised amount to over USD 51 million.</p>
 <p>These newfound funds are set to further the Phase II clinical development of MB-105, the company's leading asset. This asset is geared towards the treatment of T-cell lymphoma, with trials projected to launch at the beginning of 2025. In addition, the funds will also aid the continuous advancement of undisclosed products within the company's pipeline.</p>
 <p>The company specializes in the development of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies, aimed at tackling challenging cancer types. March Biosciences was initially launched as a spinout, stemming from collaborations between the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, and Texas Children's Hospital.</p>
</div>

March Biosciences raises USD 28.4 million in Series A funding to advance clinical trials

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

Remote Work Tools

<div>
 <p>Zoom has introduced AI Companion 2.0, an AI assistant integrated into Zoom Workplace, available as part of paid Zoom services. It can be utilized through a side panel in the Zoom Workplace interface.</p>
 <p>The new AI tool boasts enhanced context understanding, ability to synthesize information across Zoom Workplace applications (Meetings, Team Chat, Docs, Mail), and seamless integration with Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, and Gmail. It assists in answering meeting-related inquiry, summarizing discussions, generating content, and providing document summaries.</p>
 <p>According to Zoom, AI Companion 2.0 aids users in saving time by highlighting critical information, prioritizing tasks, and transforming interactions into actions. Aligning with Zoom's federated approach, the tool ensures security and privacy by not employing customer content to train its AI models.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake</b> :<br>
 This development aligns with Zoom’s strategy to expand beyond video conferencing and position itself as a comprehensive virtual workplace provider. To support this transition, Zoom has introduced recent updates, including the launch of GenAI "Docs" for workplace collaboration in <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/32392"> August 2024 </a> , followed by additional AI-driven innovations added to its platform in <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/34709"> October 2024 </a> .</p>

Zoom launches AI Companion 2.0 to enhance workplace productivity

Using AI to automate, enhance and optimize marketing activities

Marketing Automation

<div>
 <p>The non-profit IAB Tech Lab, which creates standards for digital advertising, has launched a new initiative called "Ad Format Idol." This program aims to standardize emerging Connected TV (CTV) ad formats to enable efficient programmatic transactions and promote more widespread industry adoption.</p>
 <p>They invite sellers to submit their successful CTV ad formats for the program. The submission period is open until 22 January 2025. All submissions will be evaluated by a task force from the Tech Lab's Advanced TV Commit Group.</p>
 <p>The "Ad Format Idol" initiative is designed to address a current challenge in the industry. At present, similar ad formats, including pause ads, scrollable carousel ads, and binge ads, lack a uniform standard across different streaming services. This lack of standardization presents a problem when launching scaled campaigns.</p>
 
</div>

All Updates

Carbios secures funding to build PET bio-recycling plant

AI chip maker Kneron seeks USD 300 million in funding from investors

AI chip maker Kneron seeks USD 300 million in funding from investors

WRAP partners with Primark to improve textile recycling and circular initiatives

Heidelberg Materials launches concrete recycling facility in Poland

Nokia partners with Lenovo to develop edge-ready AI data centers

ZEDEDA and OnLogic partner to launch integrated edge computing solution for industrial environments

WeRide files for US IPO

March Biosciences raises USD 28.4 million in Series A funding to advance clinical trials

Zoom launches AI Companion 2.0 to enhance workplace productivity

IAB Tech Lab launches CTV ad format standardization program

Waste Recovery & Management Tech

Carbios secures funding to build PET bio-recycling plant

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