<div>
  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>
        Volocopter, a German aviation company developing passenger and cargo eVTOL aircraft, has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from existing shareholders.
      </p>
    </li>
    <li>
      <p>
        Volocopter expects the funding round to close in the last quarter of 2024, until which it won't be able to disclose further information about its financial position.
      </p>
    </li>
    <li>
      <p>
        Following the latest funding round, Volocopter announced that it has ample funding to finish type certification of its two-seat VoloCity eVTOL model with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) by the end of 2024.
      </p>
    </li>
    <li>
      <p>
        <b>Analyst QuickTake:</b>
         Volocopter recently experienced insolvency risks in April 2024, following a failed bid to acquire a EUR 100 million (~USD 107 million) loan in April from the German Federal Government. This has led to Volocopter considering the Saudi Arabian urban regional project, NEOM, as an alternative backer for funds. In 2022, NEOM contributed to Volocopter's Series E funding round.
      </p>
    </li>
  </ul>
  <p>
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/futureflight/2024-06-07/volocopter-says-it-has-funding-complete-certification-evtol">
      Aviation International News
    </a>
  </p>
</div>


Passenger eVTOL Aircraft

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

<div>
 <p>German aviation firm, Volocopter, has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from its existing shareholders. The company anticipates the close of this funding round in the final quarter of 2024 and will not disclose any further information about its financial standing until then.</p>
 <p>In light of the recent funding, Volocopter stated that it is adequately funded to complete the type certification of its two-seat VoloCity eVTOL model with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) by the end of 2024.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> Volocopter recently experienced insolvency risks in April 2024, following a failed bid to acquire a EUR 100 million (~USD 107 million) loan in April from the German Federal Government. This has led to Volocopter considering the Saudi Arabian urban regional project, NEOM, as an alternative backer for funds. In 2022, NEOM contributed to Volocopter's Series E funding round.</p>

Volocopter secures undisclosed funding to finalize eVTOL certification

Quantum information processing is slowly becoming a reality, ushering in a new technological era.

Quantum Computing

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 
 <p>Xanadu, a Canadian photonic quantum computing company, and the North American branch of Toyota's Research Institute (TRINA) have joined forces to apply quantum computing in materials science simulations. </p>
 <p>The emphasis of this partnership is the creation of quantum algorithms for better designing and assessing complex materials, notably those involved in quantum sensors and energy technologies. They will specially concentrate on the boron vacancies in hexagonal boron nitride, a crucial system for quantum sensing applications.</p>
 
</div>

Xanadu and Toyota collaborate to enhance quantum computing for materials science simulations

Clear the air on carbon capture, reuse, and storage

Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage (CCUS)

<div>
 <p>Paebbl, a company focused on building materials utilizing CO2, has successfully raised EUR 22.8 million (USD 25 million) in a recent Series A funding round. This funding was led by VC Capnamic, alongside investments from Amazon's The Climate Pledge Fund, Holcim, 2050, Pale Blue Dot, and a number of family offices. This funding round has brought Paebbl's total acquired funding to USD 33 million.</p>
 <p>The funds procured will be dedicated to launching a demonstration plant in the first half of 2025. The goal for this plant is to enhance production capacity to three tons of product and manage to sequester up to one ton of CO2 daily. Paebbl has plans for expansion of its current hubs situated in Helsinki, Rotterdam, and Stockholm. There is also a plan to inaugurate a new hub in the UK. Paebbl is targeting the construction of a full-scale commercial plant by 2027.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> In <a href="https:<br>
//carbonherald.com/paebbl-announces-first-removed-ton-of-co2/"> June 2024 </a> , the company mineralized its first full ton of sequestered CO2 in building materials at its pilot plant. Over the past two years, Paebbl has moved from gram-scale lab tests to bench-scale trials to a fully operational pilot plant producing 250 kilograms of CO2-storing building material per day and has signed a pre-purchase agreement.</p>

Paebbl raises USD 25 million in Series A funding to commission demonstration plant

Empowering Tomorrow's Innovations with Generative AI Infrastructure

Generative AI Infrastructure

<div>
 <p>It is anticipated that Cerebras Systems will postpone its initial public offering (IPO) due to a delay in the US national security review of a minority investment by UAE-based G42. This review is being carried out by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).</p>
 <p>It is important to note that G42's investment in Cerebras accounts for a significant 83% of Cerebras' projected revenue for 2023.</p>
 <p>In an effort to move things forward, Cerebras and G42 have modified their filing to distinguish non-voting securities for G42's investment. They argue that this should not necessitate a CFIUS review. Despite these challenges, the AI chipmaker is optimistic that the CFIUS will approve the G42 deal by 2024. Once approval is granted, the company plans to go ahead with its stock market debut.</p>
</div>

Cerebras expects to delay IPO due to CFIUS review of G42 investment

Foundation Models

<div>
 <p>OpenAI has announced plans to establish its second office in the Asia-Pacific region, specifically in Singapore, in 2024. Following its branches in London, Dublin, and Tokyo, this will be the fourth international office of the company.</p>
 <p>The planned Singapore office is to be dedicated to spearheading advancements in regional collaboration and boosting the performance of AI on GenAI models that are adjusted to understand the unique cultures and languages of Southeast Asia. OpenAI intends to tap into Singapore's rich tech talent base and function as a centre for its Asia-Pacific partners. Furthermore, the company has expressed its intention to work in close collaboration with government partners, aiming to augment AI development in Singapore.</p>
</div>

OpenAI plans to establish regional hub in Singapore by end of 2024

Exploring the limitless possibilities of AI

Generative AI Applications

INCUMBENTS_PRESENT

<div>
<p>OpenAI and media conglomerate Hearst have formed a partnership. This agreement incorporates Hearst's content, sourced from their plethora of magazines and newspapers, into OpenAI's products such as ChatGPT and SearchGPT. The content shared will credit Hearst via citations and links directed to the original Hearst sources, including over 20 magazine brands and more than 40 newspapers.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> This deal is part of a growing trend of media outlets partnering with AI companies, following similar agreements between OpenAI and other publishers like <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/32797"> Condé Nast </a> , <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/31019"> Time </a> , and <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/29762"> News Corp </a> . While some media companies are embracing partnerships with AI firms, others are taking legal action against AI companies for alleged copyright infringement, highlighting the complex relationship between traditional media and AI technology in the evolving digital landscape.</p>

OpenAI partners with Hearst to include content from magazines and newspapers in AI products

<div>

<p>3D GenAI firm Third Dimension has secured USD 7 million in seed funding led by Felicis. Other participants include Abstract Ventures, MVP, Soma Capital, Solari Capital, and more.</p>
<p>The funding will be dedicated to enlarging the team and improving the training of 3D GenAI models.</p>
<p>Providing tools for creating large-scale, usable environments for virtual worlds is the main offering of Third Dimension. Its goal is to allow engineers and artists to generate detailed, high-fidelity worlds with just one click. The technology of the company is made to speed up workflows and could potentially reduce development time from months to just days or hours, leading to substantial savings in graphics development budgets.</p>

</div>

Third Dimension raises USD 7 million in seed funding to expand team

<div>
 
 <p>Smartsheet, a work management platform, has collaborated with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to introduce a connector for Amazon Q Business, an AI-powered assistant. The connector brings together data from Smartsheet and Amazon Q Business, enabling users to inquire the AI assistant for information on projects, programs, and processes handled in Smartsheet. The goal of this integration is to provide a consolidated search experience across corporations' information repositories, combining Smartsheet data with other sources like Salesforce, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.</p>
 <p>The Smartsheet connector is currently available for Amazon Q Business users in a public preview. Furthermore, Smartsheet is offering its complete selection of AI tools to all customers until the end of December.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> Amazon Q was <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/24426"> launched </a> in November last year in public preview and made <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/29026"> generally available </a> in April this year. AWS claims that the tool can considerably enhance productivity among developers and aid business users in making faster decisions.</p>

Smartsheet partners with AWS to launch connector for Amazon Q Business

<div>
 
 <p>Minimax, a Chinese company known for developing AI video tools, has launched a new version of its MiniMax AI video generator. This updated version is not just moved to a dedicated website for a global rollout, but also features image input capabilities.</p>
 <p>The newly launched version improves in several aspects such as prompt enhancement, default English language, and a new layout that is attentively designed for future feature augmentations.</p>
 <p>MiniMax is well-recognized for its specialisation in developing large-scale AI models and applications. The company's flagship language model, "abab 6.5", is known for its impressive capacity, supporting 200,000 tokens context length and processing nearly 30,000 words of text in a single second. Apart from this, MiniMax also provides services of trillion-parameter MoE text models, speech models, video models, and image models.</p>
 
</div>

MiniMax adds image input capabilities to video generation tool Hailuo

<div>

<p>Q-CTRL, a provider of quantum infrastructure software, has raised USD 59 million in a Series B extension round. The round was led by GP Bullhound and included participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, NTT Finance, Salus Group, Alpha Edison, and TISI. This raises the total funds received in the Series B funding round to USD 113 million.</p>
<p>The company plans to use the new funds to expand its quantum control research & development and product engineering operations.</p>

</div>

Q-CTRL raises USD 59 million in Series B funding to expand R&D and product engineering operations

<div>

 <p>Quantum hardware companies Kipu Quantum and QuEra Computing are partnering to offer advanced industrial quantum solutions on the PlanQK platform. This collaboration facilitates direct access for PlanQK users to QuEra’s 256-qubit Aquila quantum processors. This is designed to open new opportunities for businesses to handle industry-specific issues using high quality neutral-atom technology.</p>
 <p>The aim of this partnership is to simplify the process of quantum development by ensuring businesses have immediate access to pre-optimized quantum algorithms on the PlanQK platform. This is especially useful in sectors such as logistics, pharmaceuticals, and finance, as it eliminates the complexities associated with quantum software development.</p>

</div>

All Updates

Volocopter secures undisclosed funding to finalize eVTOL certification

Xanadu and Toyota collaborate to enhance quantum computing for materials science simulations

Paebbl raises USD 25 million in Series A funding to commission demonstration plant

Cerebras expects to delay IPO due to CFIUS review of G42 investment

OpenAI plans to establish regional hub in Singapore by end of 2024

OpenAI partners with Hearst to include content from magazines and newspapers in AI products

Third Dimension raises USD 7 million in seed funding to expand team

Smartsheet partners with AWS to launch connector for Amazon Q Business

MiniMax adds image input capabilities to video generation tool Hailuo

Q-CTRL raises USD 59 million in Series B funding to expand R&D and product engineering operations

Kipu Quantum and QuEra Computing partner to deliver industrial quantum solutions on PlanQK platform

Passenger eVTOL Aircraft

Volocopter secures undisclosed funding to finalize eVTOL certification

Contact us