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Stela Tkatchova, Programme Manager for Space Systems at the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA), explains how we can not only remove space debris but also consider space debris as a resource and learn to utilise it to create a greener and more sustainable space environment. The European Innovation Council (EIC) funds high-risk and breakthrough technologies in the space industry, from very low technology readiness level (TRL) ( 1-4), and mid TRL (4-6), through to high TRL (6-9). It aids SMEs and start-ups through their innovation cycle and to overcome the ‘valley of death’ by bringing their innovations to…
In the global race to tackle ‘forever chemicals’, PFASuiki is turning ambition into action. The startup is scaling up its breakthrough electrochemical oxidation (EO) system and expanding its team of engineers, scientists, and field experts to achieve permanent PFAS destruction. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a class of over 10,000 synthetic compounds valued for their water and heat resistance, but notorious for their persistence. They accumulate over decades and pose serious health and ecological risks. Traditional water treatment systems only capture PFAS, not destroy them. PFASuiki’s approach is different. PFASuiki’s EO technology uses precisely engineered electrodes and a unique…
December 10, 2025Ravi LakshmananVulnerabilities / Endpoint Security Fortinet, Ivanti, and SAP have moved to address critical security flaws in their products that, if successfully exploited, could lead to authentication bypass and code execution. The Fortinet vulnerability affects FortiOS, FortiWeb, FortiProxy, and FortiSwitchManager and is related to a case of improper validation of cryptographic signatures. These are tracked as CVE-2025-59718 and CVE-2025-59719 (CVSS score: 9.8). “Improper verification of cryptographic signature vulnerabilities” [CWE-347] “FortiOS, FortiWeb, FortiProxy, and FortiSwitchManager could allow an unauthenticated attacker to bypass FortiCloud SSO login authentication via a crafted SAML message if that feature is enabled on the device,”…
Hinge CEO Justin McLeod has left his position to launch a new AI dating product called Overtone. Match Group, the dating giant that owns apps like Hinge, Tinder and OkCupid, is backing Overtone with pre-seed financing and plans to take a “beneficial ownership position,” according to a press release. With support from Match, Overtone was born as a project within Hinge. McLeod and his dedicated team spent a year developing the idea for Overtone. It’s described as “an early-stage dating service focused on using AI and voice tools to help people connect in more thoughtful and personal ways.” McLeod isn’t…
Fal, a startup that hosts image, video, and audio AI models for developers, announced it has raised $140 million in Series D led by Sequoia, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Nvidia, and other existing investors. Existing investors include Andreessen Horowitz. The latest round of funding, Fal’s third this year, values the company at $4.5 billion, nearly triple what the company was valued at when it raised $125 million in Series C funding in July, according to Bloomberg. TechCrunch reported in October that Fal had raised a new round from investors including Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins at a valuation of more…
Market research is a $90 billion industry that helps brands figure out how to best present themselves to potential customers. But that market insight isn’t cheap or quick. Cashew Research wants to use AI to change this. Cashew, based in Calgary, Alberta, uses AI to develop market research plans and surveys for brands based on the information they are looking for, such as their visibility with specific populations or whether their marketing taglines resonate with customers. Cashew then sends surveys to real people and uses AI to summarize and summarize the results. Cashew was one of 200 startups selected for…
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos speaks with Science Corp. founder Max Hodak about how brain-computer interfaces are coming faster than anyone realizes. The co-founder and former president of Neuralink shares how his company recently achieved perhaps the biggest breakthrough in vision restoration in decades, with tiny retinal implants smaller than a grain of rice helping 80% of blind people read again. In this conversation, they also explore BCI’s short-term commercialization path through medical applications, the long-term potential for enhancing cognitive function and “combining” multiple brains, and why Science, which has raised $260 million from investors to date, is…
An incredibly bright star system that has long baffled astronomers could soon brighten the sky with the glow of thousands of solar cores, a new study suggests. If that happens, the results could be visible to the naked eye from Earth day and night.The system, called Sagittarius V, consists of a white dwarf (the dense core of a dead Sun-like star) and a companion to a more massive star located in the constellation Sagittarius’ arrow, about 10,000 light-years away. The voracious white dwarf is devouring material from its companion “at a rate never seen before,” the research team said in…
SpaceX plans to go public in mid-to-late 2026, aiming to raise $30 billion at a valuation of about $1.5 trillion, according to a new report by Bloomberg News citing anonymous sources. That would make it the largest IPO in history, surpassing Saudi Aramco’s 2019 listing, which brought in $29 billion. It would also be a bit of a reversal for SpaceX, which previously considered spinning off its Starlink division for an IPO while taking its main company private. Bloomberg’s report comes just days after The Information first reported that Elon Musk’s space company is aiming for an IPO in late…
The Arab region, a vast region of 22 countries in North Africa and the Middle East, had its hottest year on record in 2024, according to the first-ever climate report. The region’s average temperature in 2024 was surprisingly high, 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit (1.08 degrees Celsius) higher than the average annual temperature from 1991 to 2020, according to the report.The rate of warming in the region is accelerating with an increase in climate-related phenomena such as floods and heat waves, according to the first Arab Regional Climate Status Report released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on December 4.”2024 will be…