The Next Web TNW

Human organs could be bioprinted for transplants within 10 years, according to Lithuanian startup Vital3D. But before reaching human hearts and kidneys, the company is starting with something simpler: regenerating dog skin. Based in Vilnius, Vital3D is already bioprinting functional tissue constructs. Using a proprietary laser system, the startup deposits living cells and biomaterials in precise 3D patterns. The structures mimic natural biological systems — and could one day form entire organs tailored to a patient’s unique anatomy. That mission is both professional and personal for CEO Vidmantas Šakalys. After losing a mentor to urinary cancer, he set out to develop 3D-printed kidneys that could save others from the same fate. But before reaching that goal, the company needs a commercial product to fund the long road ahead. That product is VitalHeal — the first-ever bioprinted wound patch for pets. Dogs are the initial target, with human applications slated to follow. The 💜 of EU tech The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now! Šakalys calls the patch “a first step” towards bioprinted kidneys. “Printing organs for transplantation is a really challenging task,” he tells TNW after a tour of his lab. “It’s 10 or 15 years away from now, and as a commercial entity, we need to have commercially available products earlier. So we start with simpler products and then move into more difficult ones.” The path may be simpler, but the technology is anything but. Bioprinting goes to the vet VitalHeal is embedded with growth factors that accelerate skin regeneration. Across the patch’s surface, tiny pores about one-fifth the width of a human hair enable air circulation while blocking bacteria. Once applied, VitalHeal seals the wound and maintains constant pressure while the growth factors get to work. According to Vital3D, the patch can reduce healing time from 10–12 weeks to just four to six. Infection risk can drop from 30% to under 10%, vet visits from eight to two or three, and surgery times by half. Current treatments, the startup argues, can be costly, ineffective, and distressing for animals. VitalHeal is designed to provide a safer, faster, and cheaper alternative. Vital3D says the market is big — and the data backs up the claim. Vital3D’s FemtoBrush system promises high-speed and high-precision bioprinting. Credit: Vital3D Commercial prospects The global animal wound care market is projected to grow from $1.4bn (€1.24bn) in 2024 to $2.1bn (€1.87bn) by 2030, fuelled by rising pet ownership and demand for advanced veterinary care. Vital3D forecasts an initial serviceable addressable market (ISAM) of €76.5mn across the EU and US. By 2027-2028, the company aims to sell 100,000 units. Dogs are a logical starting point. Their size, activity levels, and surgeries raise their risk of wounds. Around half of dogs over age 10 are also affected by cancer, further increasing demand for effective wound care. At €300 retail (or €150 wholesale), the patches won’t be cheap. But Vital3D claims they could slash treatment costs for pet owners from €3,000 to €1,500. Production at scale is expected to bring prices down further.  After strong results in rats, trials on dogs will begin this summer in clinics in Lithuania and the UK — Vital3D’s pilot markets. If all goes to plan, a non-degradable patch will launch in Europe next year. The company will then progress to a biodegradable version. From there, the company plans to adapt the tech for humans. The initial focus will be wound care for people with diabetes, 25% of whom suffer from impaired healing. Future versions could support burn victims, injured soldiers, and others in need of advanced skin restoration. Freshly printed fluids in a bio-ink droplet. Credit: Vital3D Vital3D is also exploring other medical frontiers. In partnership with Lithuania’s National Cancer Institute, the startup is building organoids — mini versions of organs — for cancer drug testing. Another project involves bioprinted stents, which are showing promise in early animal trials. But all these efforts serve a bigger mission. “Our final target is to move to organ printing for transplants,” says Šakalys. Bioprinting organs A computer engineer by training, Šakalys has worked with photonic innovations for over 10 years.  At his previous startup, Femtika, he harnessed lasers to produce tiny components for microelectronics, medical devices, and aerospace engineering. He realised they could also enable precise bioprinting.  In 2021, he co-founded Vital3D to advance the concept. The company’s printing system directs light towards a photosensitive bio-ink. The material is hardened and formed into a structure, with living cells and biomaterials moulded into intricate 3D patterns. The shape of the laser beam can be adjusted to replicate complex biological forms — potentially even entire organs. But there are still major scientific hurdles to overcome. One is vascularisation, the formation of blood vessels in intricate networks. Another is the diverse variety of cell types in many organs. Replicating these sophisticated natural structures will be challenging. “First of all, we want to solve the vasculature. Then we will go into the differentiation of cells,” Šakalys says. “Our target is to see if we can print from fewer cells, but try to differentiate them while printing into different types of cells.”  If successful, Vital3D could help ease the global shortage of transplantable organs. Fewer than 10% of patients who need a transplant receive one each year, according to the World Health Organisation. In the US alone, around 90,000 people are waiting for a kidney — a shortfall that’s fuelling a thriving black market. Šakalys believes that could be just the start. He envisions bioprinting not just creating organs, but also advancing a new era of personalised medicine. “It can bring a lot of benefits to society,” he says. “Not just bioprinting for transplants, but also tissue engineering as well.” Want to discover the next big thing in tech? Then take a trip to TNW Conference, where thousands of founders, investors, and corporate innovators will share their

TNW Backstage returns this week with a journey into the future of sound. Our featured guest is Xander de Buisonjé — Dutch singer, TV presenter, and founder of Breggz, a startup reshaping personal audio. Breggz was born from De Buisonjé’s (pronounced “boo-son-i-yay”) obsession with sound quality. After decades in the music industry, he had grown exasperated that artists would spend years years perfecting their sound — only for listeners to hear it through subpar devices. “I just want the world to hear what I hear,” he says. His mission led him to launch Breggz, which claims to have created the world’s first fully wireless, custom-fitted hearable. Named Zohn-1, the earbuds professional sound quality that’s personalised for your ears. Pernilla Sjöholm, the Tinder Swindler Survivor on stage at TNW Conference 2025 Hear her story and how she developed a startup to prevent scams and fraud using technology on June 19. One of their most high-profile fans is Stevie Wonder. The legendary musician owns a custom pair and describes the sound as “amazing.” De Buisonjé shared the story onstage at TNW Conference 2024. In this episode of TNW Backstage, we revisit that session and explore its connections to this year’s event. You can listen to the show on Spotify, at our dedicated website, or via the media player at the bottom of this article. Catch up on TNW Backstage TNW Backstage takes you behind the scenes of TNW Conference — and the tech shaping our world. Missed the earlier episodes? Well you can catch up via the links below: In our debut episode, we explored data privacy and Meta’s controversial “pay or consent” model with Ron de Jesus, the world’s first Field Chief Privacy Officer. Episode two features comedy creator Derek Mitchell and TNW co-founder Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten on the power of humour in tech. Our third episode dives into brain-computer interfaces with MindAffect CEO Jennifer Goodall. To celebrate the podcast’s launch, we’re offering an exclusive discount on tickets for TNW Conference, which takes place in Amsterdam on June 19 and 20. You’ll find the offer hidden in each episode of TNW Backstage. source

Swedish foodtech startup Millow has opened its first commercial-scale factory at a former LEGO production hall in Gothenburg.  The facility will use a patented dry fermentation process in which mycelium — the root-like structure of fungus — feeds on oats in a bioreactor. There, it rapidly grows into a meat alternative that can replace everything from beef mince to doner kebab. Millow aims to produce 500kg of the so-called mycoprotein per day at the site once fully operational later this year. The company’s founders hope its product, also called Millow, will iron out the kinks in the alternative meat sector.  “Critics say plant meat failed on taste and transparency; this factory shows we can solve both at an industrial scale,” said Dr Staffan Hillberg, the chair of Millow.  Millow ‘mince’ in a poke bowl. Credit: Millow While 2021 saw a whopping $6.9bn invested in alternative protein startups, funding has steadily fizzled since then, reaching just $1.1bn last year, according to data from the Good Food Institute. The only bright spot for the sector was fermentation, where VC investment was up 43% in 2024 from the previous year. Leading Europe’s growing crop of fermentation startups are the likes of Hamburg-based Infinite Roots, which raised $58mn in January to scale its alternative protein made from waste byproducts from the beer industry. Another venture is Berlin-based Formo Foods, which secured $61mn last year to turn fungus into cheese.  In comparison, Millow is a minnow — it’s raised a total of $3.4mn from two EU grants. However, the company is confident in its product. It claims the food is the purest alternative meat ever made.  Magic mushrooms Millow is made using just oats and mycelium. It doesn’t use any added binders or flavourings, unlike most mycoprotein products, such as Quorn. Its dry‑state fermentation process was developed over decades by the company’s co-founder, Professor Mohammad Taherzadeh (pictured top). The technique promises to cut water use by 95%, energy use by 67%, and operational costs by two-thirds when compared to conventional methods.  Unlike liquid fermentation, which produces thin protein threads that must be mixed and bound with other ingredients, Millow’s dry fermentation yields a complete product all in one go. The entire process takes 24 hours.  “The result is a single ingredient, minimally processed sliceable block that behaves like muscle, not a reconstituted mash,” Hillberg told TNW. The protein is then ready to be shaped into finished products such as burgers or meatballs.   Besides the potential culinary advantages, Millow could also curb global heating. The company estimates its product can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 97% compared to beef.   At a time when plant-based and cultivated meat alternatives are struggling, Millow’s factory suggests fermentation could be the breakthrough the sector needs. We’ll have more on foodtech trends at TNW Conference. A glittering lineup of speakers, startups, investors, corporate innovators, and policymakers will come to Amsterdam on June 19-20 for the event. Want to join them? Well, we have a special offer for you — use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 at the ticket checkout to get 30% off. source

TNW is tapping a touch of AI magic to discover the next big things in tech. As part of our mission to elevate the startups shaping our future, we’ve partnered with Bounce Watch to bring its powerful analytics to our repertoire of tools. Bounce Watch is an intelligence platform for company performance — and it’s seriously impressed us. The AI-powered system tracks and analyses business activity in real-time, delivering data on over 1 million startups and tailored industry insights.  It offers instant alerts on funding rounds, leadership changes, and key business signals. Investors, scouts, and corporate innovators use the data to uncover critical trends and potential risks — before they escalate. The findings shed new light on promising startups, market shifts, emerging technologies, and investment opportunities. We’ve been wowed by the results. After getting to know Bounce Watch at demos and bonding through shared experiments, we’re taking our relationship to the next level. Pernilla Sjöholm, the Tinder Swindler Survivor on stage at TNW Conference 2025 Hear her story and how she developed a startup to prevent scams and fraud using technology on June 19. Our new partnership gives TNW enhanced access to the platform. We’ll use Bounce Watch to gain insights on startups, founders, industries, and innovations. We’ll track numerous indicators, from product launches and stealth updates to hiring shifts and capital flows.  The data will expand our understanding of the ecosystem — and reveal early clues to the big stories before they hit the headlines. It will also improve our content, events, and scouting initiatives. We can then deliver extra insights to our entire community. The collaboration builds on ties that have already proven fruitful. How Bounce Watch and TNW came together Bounce Watch was founded in 2023 by CEO Cem Ötkün and CTO Sedat Yusuf Ergüneş. Last year, the company raised €2.5mn in pre-seed funding. TNW spotted the company’s potential at an early stage. After recognising its promise, we supported Bounce Watch’s growth in the Netherlands through our Startup Visa programme.“This partnership with TNW means a lot to us — not just professionally, but personally,” Ötkün says. “It played a role in our move to a new country through the Startup Visa, and today it marks a new chapter for Bounce Watch. We’re proud to be building alongside such a forward-thinking community.” We’re already using the platform to sharpen our startup scouting and power our new investor handbook — and we’re just getting started. Plans are now underway for co-created content, event collaborations, and new tools for our community. Ergüneş is excited about what’s ahead. “As a builder, there’s something special about seeing TNW core teams using what we’ve created — every single day,” he said. “It’s a great feeling to know that our product is helping people stay ahead, right here where innovation happens.” Our next step to discover the next big thing in tech is TNW Conference. A glittering lineup of star speakers, startups, investors, corporate innovators, and digital policymakers will come to Amsterdam on June 19-20 for the event. Want to join them? Well, we have a special offer for you — use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 at the ticket checkout to get 30% off. source

Sophie Rucker had been living and working in London for five years when a trip to a yoga training school in Bali presented her with an alternative to the rat race. Despite enjoying life in London, witnessing digital nomads balance work with sun, sea, and relaxed vibes in the Indonesian island province prompted her to pursue more freelance work.  At the start of 2020, having set herself up as a communications strategist for NGOs and social impact organisations, Sophie quit her permanent role and moved to Bali. Despite the uncertainty of the progressing pandemic, she found the space she needed to grieve her mother, whom she had lost not long before. And to Sophie’s delight, the digital nomad lifestyle has fulfilled many of her expectations. She soon noticed, however, a distinct bias against her choice of location. Some potential clients wouldn’t even entertain a conversation, because she was based in Bali. “I couldn’t make sense of it — it felt so stupid,” she explains. “I’m working with organisations like Greenpeace and the UNDP to instigate positive global change, as well as being a somatic trauma counsellor, so when people assume I’m not doing ‘serious work’ out here, it grinds my gears.” Now she has greater control over the projects she pursues, Sophie tells employers she lives in Indonesia, and is transparent about exactly where once she’s secured a contract. It’s the same for many of her remote working friends in Bali, who don’t disclose their location to remote employers for fear of losing work. Pernilla Sjöholm, the Tinder Swindler Survivor on stage at TNW Conference 2025 Hear her story and how she developed a startup to prevent scams and fraud using technology on June 19. Getting snubbed from projects, haemorrhaging your savings on basic living costs and constantly edging on burnout are usually the hardships associated with full-time home-based working in a metropolitan centre like London, New York, or Amsterdam. Despite the dominant utopian narrative presented in the media — think bossing it at the beach, bottomless cocktails, and a perennial tan — the reality of balancing global travel with remote work has always been hard. And it’s only getting harder: surging costs, political turbulence, and fickle visa rules are pushing digital nomads in new directions. Forking out for freedom New research from the Dutch neobank Bunq has revealed the hidden financial, emotional and mental toll, with its survey of 5,000 workers across Europe who identify as digital nomads and/or living internationally. Indeed, just one in five say that working internationally has positively impacted their career, with Britons in particular (25%) saying their career has actually suffered as a result of being a digital nomad. It’s certainly not the picture that wistful salaried employees conjure when daydreaming at their desks. For experts in the field, however, the tough reality is widely known. “Many of those experimenting with the lifestyle can’t sustain it,” says David Cook, an anthropologist and researcher at University College London who specialises in remote work. “Maintaining self-discipline, staying productive, and finding the space to focus gets worse over time, not better, alongside all the other external circumstances.” Managing the finance side is an area of particular concern. Bunq found that 17% of study participants feel less financially secure, while 14% are spending more than expected. Although this cohort isn’t weighed down by a mortgage or a huge rental deposit, they do have to factor in local taxes, medical bills, nomad visa costs, insurance claims, legal assistance, and banking fees. Sophie boarding a flight from Bali to visit family in Australia. Credit: Sophie Rucker The top unforeseen expenses, according to Bunq, include medical expenses (16%) and local taxes (15%). Less common, but equally unsettling, is that 5% of nomads across Europe have had to pay for emergency evacuation costs.   All that is before budgeting for the rise in everyday living costs, which have impacted home-based and remote workers alike. Everyone is feeling the pinch, with the majority of Europeans (67%) noticing the rise in food and beverage prices in the past 12 months, as per data from the Dutch firm Innova Market Insights. Day-to-day budgeting trumps a laundry list of other anxieties too. In the first quarter of 2025, McKinsey’s ConsumerWise research found that Europeans ranked rising prices and inflation as their number one concern over issues such as job security, international conflicts, climate change, and political tension, to name a few. Geoarbitrage — decoupling life and work from a specific location to make your income go further —  has long been a practice employed by digital nomads. Coined by Tim Ferriss in his 2009 book The 4-Hour Workweek, the tactic is now often being reconsidered due to increased outgoings. “Accommodation has always been the biggest challenge, but in the last few years, after COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, it’s significantly more expensive, sometimes €200 extra a month for the same place and conditions haven’t changed,” says Anna Maria Kochanska, a strategist who advises governments on digital nomad policy, and has been nomadic since 2017. Anna Maria tends to avoid Airbnb, negotiating directly with apartment owners for midterm rentals, but even so, her rental outgoings are much higher in 2025. “I’m based in Barcelona at the moment, and of course, one solution is to go to new and emerging destinations, with fewer tourists and nomads, but my travel costs are going up too, so I’m moving around less frequently.” Popular digital nomad hubs like Barcelona, Lisbon, and Mexico City are losing their affordable edge, as available housing dries up, prices rise, and neighbourhoods are transformed to meet the needs of itinerant knowledge workers. Local residents are tiring of the impact remote workers are having, and have been protesting against the influx. The souring of once-beloved hubs is leading nomads to look elsewhere and decamp to more off-the-beaten-track destinations. According to 2025 data from Nomad List, which tracks cities, locations and remote workers through the trips booked on its platform, cities like Sarajevo, Portimao, and Varna are emerging

Paris-based AI startup Veesion has secured €38mn to fuel expansion to the US — where it looks to help cure the country’s shoplifting “epidemic.” Veesion’s AI-based computer vision software is trained to spot gestures in security camera feeds, such as a shopper putting an item in their pocket. If it sees something suspicious, the AI pings the store owner or security guard via an app, where it displays a recording of the activity. The user then makes the final judgment on whether the situation qualifies as theft.  The software comes in a small box that plugs into a shop’s existing CCTV system. To protect privacy, the system only registers human movements, not identifying information like a person’s face or clothing, the company said.  Security cameras are common in most retail outlets. However, Veesion’s CEO and co-founder Thibault David said he thinks they are “completely useless.” “Cameras in shops are rarely used, because they require a human to keep watch on them,” he told TNW. Founded in 2018, Veesion’s AI shoplifter-spotter is already installed in over 6,000 stores in 25 countries, including France, the UK, Brazil and the US, where it is now looking to expand.   In 2022, US retailers reported inventory losses amounting to $112bn (€100bn), $40.3bn (€36bn) of which was attributed to shoplifting. Meanwhile, the UK, with a population around a quarter of the US, is also experiencing a rise in incidents of shoplifting. The country suffered losses of £2.2bn (€2.5bn) in 2023, according to a recent survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC).  “Shoplifting is a huge pain point for retail stores, especially in the US, which is suffering from a theft epidemic,” said David. However, spotting the crime is just one part of the puzzle — confronting shoplifters is another. According to the same BRC survey, violence and abuse against UK shop workers rose by 50% in 2023, with more than 2,000 such incidents recorded on average per day. In both the UK and the US, enforcement against shoplifters is free-falling.   As retailers struggle to keep pace with rising theft, some are turning to technology for support. While Veesion’s AI doesn’t promise to solve shoplifting outright, it might give store owners better tools to detect it and decide how to respond.  As part of its US expansion plans, Veesion will open an office in Florida that aims to employ about 50 people. One of its co-founders, Benoît Koenig, is also moving across the Atlantic permanently as part of the company’s expanded presence in the country.  Looking ahead, Vession hopes to use its computer vision technology to spot other issues in retail stores, such as falling or slipping risks. It’s also considering expanding to other sectors like manufacturing and healthcare.  AI’s evolution will be a hot topic at TNW Conference, which takes place on June 19-20 in Amsterdam. Tickets for the event are now on sale — use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 at the checkout to get 30% off. source

The rapid rise of AI agents is sparking both excitement and alarm. Their power lies in their ability to complete tasks with increasing autonomy. Many can already pursue multi-step goals, make decisions, and interact with external systems — all with minimal human input. Teams of AI agents are beginning to collaborate, each handling a specialised role. As their autonomy increases, they’re poised to reshape countless business processes. Tech giants are heralding them as the future of the web. At Microsoft’s Build conference this week, the company declared that we have entered “the era of AI agents.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joined the event, proclaiming his lab’s new Codex tool as “a real agentic coding experience.” He called it “one of the biggest changes to programming that I’ve ever seen.” Beyond the hype, practical applications are rapidly emerging. AI agents are already assisting with various tasks, from code generation and cyber threat detection to customer service enquiries and shopping marketing campaigns.  The 💜 of EU tech The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now! Before long, they could become comprehensive executive assistants — managing your emails, calendar, and projects. But to harness the opportunities, people need to prepare now. Cihangir Kocak is helping them do just that. A principal business and AI strategist at HP, Kocak guides organisations through digital transformation. He believes AI agents will unleash a new wave of opportunities. “We are going to a future where everyone will have an AI agent as an assistant,” he says. At TNW Conference this summer, Kocak will host two sessions on AI agents. On June 19, he’ll deliver a keynote on their rise. The next day, he’ll join Joost Bos, Senior AI Engineer at Deloitte, for a masterclass titled “Agentic AI: Architecting the Future of Business.” Ahead of the event, he shared a few of his tips. 1. Understand what AI agents can do AI agents evolve large language models (LLMs) from passive responders into active problem-solvers. With tools, memory, and defined goals, they can complete complex tasks on their own. “Large language models act as the brains and AI agents as the hands, which means they can also act,” Kocak says. “They can do things for you autonomously.” Agents can also collaborate. One might source products, another handle logistics, a third build your website, and a fourth write the marketing copy. In future, businesses may need their own agents to interact with others. Your AI assistant could collaborate with them to book the best service for your needs. Free courses from the likes of Hugging Face, Salesforce, and Microsoft are good starting points to explore the possibilities. After getting an understanding of the basics, you can put them into practice.  2. Start experimenting Kocak expects AI agents to rapidly reshape workplaces. “I believe that within five years, everything will be changed because of AI agents,” he says. “It might be even much less than five years — maybe two to three years.” Many companies are already shifting numerous tasks from humans to AI. In the near future, the people that they do recruit may require experience of working with AI agents. “Soon, a lot of these companies will ask for people who can work with AI agents,” says Kocak. His advice? “Get your hands dirty. Play with it, experiment with it — but do it consciously.” One tool he recommends is LM Studio, a desktop app for running LLMs locally. But his key recommendation is simply getting started. “Just do something to get a feel of it. Once you have that, it’s time for the next step.” 3. Find use cases After testing some tools, Kocak suggests identifying where they can add value. He advises looking for tasks where AI can free up your time — and start small. “What costs you the most time? What don’t you like to do? When you figure out those things, you can look at how AI agents can help you.” Kocak uses local LLMs for privacy-sensitive tasks, and ChatGPT for public ones — like drafting LinkedIn posts in his own voice. “It saves at least half of my time,” he says. 4. Focus on the data The real magic of AI agents emerges when they’re personalised with your choice of data. Generic tools like ChatGPT can handle broad tasks. But if you want something tailored, agents trained on your choice of data can offer sharper performance. That internal knowledge can turn a generic agent into a bespoke powerhouse. “What makes an AI solution special is when you feed it with your own data,” says Kocak. “Then you will have a solution that can operate differently than anything else.” 5. Maintain human oversight Although AI agents can act autonomously, human oversight remains vital. Agents are powerful, but not flawless. Giving them too much freedom is risky. “It’s wise to have a human in the room,” he says. “The future will be AI agents plus humans — that will be the most beneficial combination.” 6. Stay secure As AI tools become more accessible, security concerns are mounting. Among the threats are data leaks, adversarial attacks, and agents going off the rails. There’s also the risk of losing a competitive edge.  “External parties can take your data and send it to their servers,” says Kocak. “They can then use all sensitive data in your conversations to optimise their models.” Many risks can be reduced by deploying open-source, local models — especially for sensitive data and use cases. “If you really want a competitive advantage, you need to run and own your AI. That sets you apart,” says Kocak. He adds that people shouldn’t be fearful, but conscious. Closed-source, cloud-based tools such as ChatGPT remain useful — but sensitive data and tasks may require more secure alternatives. “Just be aware of what information you enter. And remember there is another, better option, of

Again, the German-Danish startup using ancient bacteria to turn CO2 into new chemicals, is building a new bioreactor plant in Texas. The facility will be located at Texas City, a major petrochemicals park located on the Gulf Coast. The industrial centre is run by Diamond Infrastructure Solutions — a joint venture between chemicals giant Dow and Macquarie Asset Management.   “We’re building a global company, and that also means taking our technology into new regions,” Again’s co-founder Max Kufner told TNW. “There is a high demand in the US for our chemicals, particularly ones that can be sustainably made on-shore.” The new facility will capture CO2 from one of Texas City’s refineries. Again will then combine the gas with hydrogen and feed the concoction to a host of millennia-old bacteria. The little germs devour the brew, turning it into commercial-grade compounds like acetate. This is the base chemical in everything from plastics and cosmetics to paint.  The 💜 of EU tech The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now! Most industrial acetate is derived from fossil fuels. By using CO2 that would’ve otherwise entered the atmosphere, Again aims to produce cleaner chemicals. The company claims its CO2 fermenter can cut the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of chemical-making by up to 80%.   The petrochemical industry is responsible for 4% of the world’s total GHG emissions — twice that of air travel — so Again’s tech could make a huge impact. The company also claims its product is cost-competitive with the same chemicals made using fossil fuels.   Again opened its first pilot plant in Copenhagen in 2023, which converts up to 1 tonne of CO2 each day and turns it into acetate. The company is also currently building a facility in Norway, backed by a $47mn grant from the EU’s Horizon Europe research initiative.    Again emerged from over a decade of research led by Dr. Torbjørn Jensen and Professor Alex Nielsen at the Technical University of Denmark. They teamed up with Kufner, a German former early-stage investor, to found the startup in 2021. So far, Again has raised $150mn, according to Dealroom. The company has already broken ground at the Diamond Texas City site, where it aims to build a new facility and begin production within a year. To bring its low-carbon chemicals to market, Again is partnering with German chemicals distributor Helm, targeting heavy industries in the region as key customers. source

The collapse of Builder.ai exposes the growing threat of “FOMO investing,” according to an expert in tech growth intelligence. Builder had become one of Britain’s best-funded startups, but is now filing for bankruptcy due to financial problems. The insolvency comes after enormous sums were invested into the business. Big-name backers including Microsoft and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund had poured a total of over $500mn into the startup, which aimed to simplify software development with AI. The funding gave Builder a coveted unicorn status, with a valuation exceeding $1.3bn. But the eye-watering sums couldn’t keep the business afloat. Pernilla Sjöholm, the Tinder Swindler Survivor on stage at TNW Conference 2025 Hear her story and how she developed a startup to prevent scams and fraud using technology on June 19. Builder blamed the downfall on “historic challenges and past decisions” that strained its financial position. The company has been accused of inflating sales figures under the leadership of Sachin Dev Duggal, the startup’s founder. Duggal stepped down as CEO in February, but retained the role of “chief wizard.” His replacement as chief executive, Manpreet Ratia, told employees this week that the company was filing for bankruptcy. Ratia said “unexpected and irreversible action” from lenders had triggered the company’s collapse.   Carrie Osman, CEO of growth intelligence firm Cruxy, highlighted another cause: “FOMO investing.” “Technology like GenAI has been massively overhyped in recent years and investors and boards are under increasing pressure to find the latest, sexiest uses for AI,” she said. “Driven by FOMO rather than fundamentals, investors are rushing into deals with minimal scrutiny, inflating valuations and sidelining due diligence.” Her warning comes amid an extended “AI gold rush.” Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, investors have heavily focused their funds on artificial intelligence companies. Approximately 40% of last year’s US venture cash came from funds that “list AI as a focus,” according to a report released this week by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). In 2021, the proportion was just 10%. SVB also discovered a growing number of “zombiecorns” — unicorns with poor revenue growth and unit economics. Builder has become another member of the injured flock. Osman warned that more of them are set to emerge. “Microsoft and others failed to capture the true value and ROI from Builder’s product and didn’t dig below the headlines and hype,” she said. “This isn’t the first case of disastrous FOMO we’ve seen over the years, either — Zymergen, Frank, and Theranos are all famous examples. And as AI washing continues, this won’t be the last case.” The future of AI will be a hot topic at TNW Conference, which takes place on June 19-20 in Amsterdam. Tickets for the event are now on sale — use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 at the checkout to get 30% off. source

TNW Backstage returns this week to explore one of tech’s most fascinating frontiers: brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). The capabilities of these neural devices are rapidly expanding. They’ve been implanted in skulls and worn as headbands. They’ve measured focus, treated Parkinson’s disease, and enabled paralysed people to control computers with their minds. A range of research labs and tech firms are developing BCIs. Yet the spotlight has been dominated by one company: Elon Musk’s Neuralink. The startup has put brain implants in monkeys so they can play Pong with their minds. Musk also has big plans for humans, from giving us “superpowers” to downloading our memories. But shockingly, not everyone is keen on the idea of Elon controlling their brains. Thankfully, there are other options. One of them comes from Dutch healthtech company MindAffect. The company uses BCIs primarily for hearing and visual tests. Worn as headbands, the devices analyse the brain’s responses to stimulation, which reveals what the user saw or heard. It’s completely non-invasive, affordable, and requires little staff support. MindAffect’s CEO, Jennifer Goodall, discusses the system on this week’s episode of TNW Backstage. We revisit her session from TNW Conference 2024 and discuss the healthtech trends shaping this year’s event. You can listen to the show on Spotify, at our dedicated website, or via the media player at the bottom of this article. Once you’re done, check out our previous episodes of the podcast, which goes behind the scenes of TNW Conference and the tech shaping our world. In our debut show, we explored the data security landscape — and Meta’s controversial “pay or consent” model — with Ron de Jesus, the world’s first Field Chief Privacy Officer. In our second episode, comedy content creator Derek Mitchell and TNW co-founder Boris discussed the value of humour in tech businesses. To celebrate the podcast’s launch, we’re also offering an exclusive discount on tickets for TNW Conference, which takes place in Amsterdam on June 19 and 20. You’ll find the offer hidden in each episode of TNW Backstage. Thanks for reading — and now, for listening too.     source