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DeepSeek proves that Silicon Valley can’t monopolise AI innovation, according to a European AI entrepreneur. Muj Choudhury, the CEO and co-founder of British voice processing startup RocketPhone, welcomed DeepSeek’s rapid rise. He hopes the Chinese company signals a shift in the balance of AI power. “AI development has long been dominated by Silicon Valley’s powerful VC firms, which wield immense influence by pouring vast sums into the technology and shaping its trajectory,” he said. “In this landscape, an outsider like DeepSeek breaking through is not just impressive. It’s necessary. The industry needs challengers to drive real innovation and prevent AI’s future from being monopolised by a handful of players.” That handful has certainly been shaken by DeepSeek’s emergence. The Chinese startup’s AI assistant has overtaken ChatGPT to reach the top spot on the Apple App Store’s free app rankings. 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! The company’s open-source models have also stunned the market. In tests, they’ve outperformed rival models from OpenAI and Meta — at just a fraction of the operating costs. The advances have shaken the stock market. According to Choudhury, they’ve proven that AI innovation isn’t “dictated” by access to supercomputers or Silicon Valley funding. Fresh from raising $10.5mn for his own startup, Choudhury has growing optimism for Europe’s AI scene. He wants DeepSeek to inspire the continent’s tech sector, which is struggling to commercialise AI innovations. “For European startups, who have historically excelled at building focused, efficient solutions rather than chasing scale at all costs, DeepSeek’s rise suggests there’s room for strategic players who can execute well without massive capital outlays,” he said. “Perhaps this shift will finally allow us to focus on what truly matters: building practical AI systems that solve real enterprise problems and deliver tangible business value, rather than chasing the next viral consumer app.” source

There are a handful of challenges that many developers like to tackle as something of a rite of passage to prove their coding worth. One is creating a compiler. That fundamental building block of many programming languages ​​​​translates the more human-understandable code into something a computer understands. Another and far more ambitious challenge is building an operating system. The scope is almost limitless. You could create a Linux distribution, which often requires less coding, but more assembling of pre-existing packages and dependencies. You could create a command line operating system that works on limited hardware or on a low-level machine. Or you can create an all-singing, all-dancing graphical operating system in an attempt to take on the Windows, macOS, and Linux oligopoly. Finally, there’s a browser. On the surface, this doesn’t seem as difficult as an operating system, but think of how complex websites have become and the thousands of things a browser needs to handle. Like creating a Linux distribution, you could take an open-source rendering engine, the part that converts the code behind web pages to what you see and interact with, and add an interface. This is the approach many browsers take. Alternatively, you could create everything from scratch and challenge the Chromium (Google Chrome, Edge, Brave, and more) and WebKit (Safari and others) duopoly. A battle that even the venerable Firefox is slowly losing. 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! Or you could do all three. Andreas Kling is one of the people trying to do that. Kling rose to broader public attention around 2018, when he started working on SerenityOS, a retro-inspired operating system built completely from scratch as something of a project to help Kling get through a drug recovery program. “I tried to figure out what to do after rehab, which was like six hours a day, every day,” the Swedish programmer recalls. “And when that ended, what was I supposed to do? I now had these full empty days with nothing to do and all this energy. And I just needed something to do. So, I just started programming, which is what I always do. And I started building an operating system because I thought that would be fun.” From Serenity to the Ladybird SerenityOS found success for two main reasons: it was a perfect project for experienced hackers and it gained attention thanks to Kling’s regular coding live streams where he worked on the OS. The SerenityOS codebase is a monorepo, meaning that contributors can find the code for all functionality in one place. This means they could start with an interest in working on the text editor but gain experience by also digging into and becoming involved with the code that interacts with the host hardware. One of the most popular components of SerenityOS was the Ladybird browser. More on that later. Over time, Kling’s live streams attracted thousands who would watch him code and struggle to solve problems in the Serenity codebase. This helped viewers learn, and helped Kling overcome shyness and emerge from a reclusive lifestyle to become accountable to an increasingly large group of people. At one point, nearly the same number of contributors were involved with Ladybird as Serenity. This situation created challenges for the different contributor groups and led Kling to realise that the web could do with a new browser and browser engine. People were eager to work on this and, more importantly, to finance its development. While Kling had received reasonable but small donations throughout the lifespan of Serenity and Ladybird, in 2023, Ladybird attracted larger donations from Shopify and Chris Wandsworth, a GitHub cofounder. “I reached out to Wandsworth and asked, ‘Hey, do you like Serenity? Do you like browsers, too?’” says Kling. “We connected over this idea of ​​building an open-source browser and trying to avoid the mistakes other open-source browsers have been making, especially regarding how they pay for stuff.” The browser drive This isn’t Kling’s first experience building browsers. For two years, he worked on building browsers for the Qt team at Nokia. Qt is a cross-platform toolkit for building native applications used in various use cases, some of which you likely use daily. In the early 2000s, Qt was pushed as an option to counter the rise of Android and iOS. Those attempts failed, but the project continues, and you can find many engineers from that era spread across European tech. The Qt browsers used WebKit, which has a long and scattered history but is now primarily the rendering engine in Apple’s Safari, which led to Kling working on Apple’s WebKit team. Working for a US company from Sweden for nearly six years took its toll, leading to the drug problem mentioned earlier and where our story about Ladybird began. So why build a new browser at all? It’s an interesting time for the browser market. There are dozens of intriguing competitors to the dominance of Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari, but they barely dent their combined market share of 85%. Even Safari accounts for only 17% of that number. Microsoft’s Edge comprises about 5%, Firefox is around 2.5%, and “all the rest” register such small percentages that you can barely make them out on charts. Despite this, 1 or 2% of 5 billion internet users are still tens of millions of people and a decent-sized business, so browsers like Brave, Arc, and DuckDuckGo, while barely registering on usage charts, are making decent progress. However, without the weight of Google’s advertising revenue (though, in the age of AI chatbots, this is less certain) or Apple’s hardware and services profits behind them, they have to find some way to fund their operations. People don’t expect to have to pay for a browser, so can they convince enough users to either subscribe (Arc) or use privacy-focused ads (Brave and DuckDuckGo)

From 2013 to 2023, the number of ICT specialists in the EU increased by 59.3% according to Eurostat. In that period, most of these tech workers were found in Germany, which provided employment for 21.5% of the EU’s ICT specialists—unsurprising when you consider the fact that the country is home to a myriad of high-tech companies and organisations such as SAP, Siemens, Bosch, and Audi. France had the second largest share at 13.8%, with Italy and Spain representing 9.9% and 9.6% respectively. While the demand for tech workers is increasing, this is happening in tandem with a worsening skills gap. 5 software roles to apply for now Data Engineer, F2F, Amsterdam Embedded Software Engineer, Lely, Zuid-Holland Senior Software Engineer, OVSoftware, Gelderland Java Software Engineer, Gino BV, Groningen Full stack AI developer, Witteveen+Bos, Overijssel Labour market challenges 2024 data from Eurostat shows that 57.5% of EU businesses just can’t recruit necessary ICT talent, and that the gap between labour demand and actual employment has grown by 20% in the past ten years. Large companies aren’t faring much better with 68% unable to fill all their open tech roles. The skills gap looks set to worsen as new technologies open up demand for emerging job roles. Webinar: Nurturing Scaleup Success Join us on 18 February for a discussion on the vital role of ecosystems in nurturing startups and scaleups and fostering a dynamic entrepreneurial landscape. Additionally, universities and learning institutions often can’t keep up with ever-changing technology requirements. The length of many higher education courses means that qualified tech talent is often in a pipeline that is simply too long for wider hiring needs. The European Commission is highly aware of its ongoing skills gap issue and the threat that this poses for economic expansion. It is seeking to address it with a series of measures which include up- and reskilling needs, improving labour and skill forecasting and addressing individual and structural barriers to labour market participation, for example. The recent Future of Jobs report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) has identified 15 of the fastest-growing job titles by 2030. These are highly tech focused and include big data specialists, fintech engineers, AI and ML specialists, plus software and applications developers. Security management specialists, data warehousing specialists, UI and UX designers, IoT specialists, data analysts, information security analysts, and DevOps engineering roles will also increase. New opportunities for software devs For software developers in particular, emerging technologies are set to significantly impact their skillsets and career trajectories this year and beyond. Think of the continued expansion of artificial intelligence and machine learning as one key area of growth. Additionally, low-code/no-code platforms, cloud-native development, edge computing, DevSecOps, quantum computing, natural language processing (NLP), and robotic process automation (RPA) are more technologies software developers may need to get to grips with. The WEF says that “Three technologies in particular are set to have the biggest impact: robots and automation, energy generation and storage technology, and AI and information processing.” It found that 86% of leaders expect AI and information processing technologies to transform their business by 2030. That will lead to a rise in the jobs available and the skills required, which may prompt the rise of focused roles such as generative AI engineer, AI ethicist, prompt engineer, remote AI training specialist, robotics software engineer, AI product manager and business intelligence developer with AI focus. Quantum computing is also a rapidly emerging field and as it continues to advance, a variety of new job titles are likely to emerge, reflecting the unique skills and expertise required in this cutting-edge field. Think roles for quantum optimisation engineers, quantum algorithm developers, quantum software engineers, and application specialists, for example. Roles could also develop for quantum error correction specialists, quantum machine learning scientists, quantum health researchers, quantum data scientists, and quantum sensing engineers. Upskilling for the future Skill gaps represent opportunities for software engineers with the right skills. However, keeping up with an ever-changing industry can be daunting. Developers who want to stay ahead of emerging technologies and job titles over the next five years can adopt several strategies. Continuous learning and upskilling is a key aspect to focus on. Online courses, certifications and bootcamps, and coding workshops can all hone and develop your skills. Platforms like Coursera, edX, or Pluralsight can be used to develop skills that are focused on specific technologies such as low-code/no-code development, or AI frameworks like TensorFlow and PyTorch, for example. If you aren’t getting the experience you’d like within your current work environment, think about developing personal projects using new technologies. This will give you valuable hands-on experience, and could involve creating applications with AI capabilities or exploring quantum computing simulations. You can also contribute to or collaborate on open-source projects to apply new skills in real-world scenarios, while gaining visibility within the developer community. Keep your curiosity going by joining relevant professional networks, both on and offline. Conferences and meetups are another rich resource to mine, and you can be among the first to learn about the latest trends, as well as network with your peers. Lastly, think about how you can make yourself the most employable you’ve ever been by identifying and then focusing on niche skills. Generative AI, ethical AI practices, or quantum algorithm development are just some to look at. Exploring how emergent technologies can intersect with other industries can also significantly broaden your career opportunities. Ready to look for a new tech role? Check out The Next Web Job Board now source

The practice of medicine has undergone an incredible, albeit incomplete, transformation over the past 50 years, moving steadily from a field informed primarily by expert opinion and the anecdotal experience of individual clinicians toward a formal scientific discipline. The advent of evidence-based medicine meant clinicians identified the most effective treatment options for their patients based on quality evaluations of the latest research. Now, precision medicine is enabling providers to use a patient’s individual genetic, environmental and clinical information to further personalize their care. The potential benefits of precision medicine also come with new challenges. Importantly, the amount and complexity of data available for each patient is rapidly increasing. How will clinicians figure out which data is useful for a particular patient? What is the most effective way to interpret the data in order to select the best treatment? These are precisely the challenges that computer scientists like me are working to address. Collaborating with experts in genetics, medicine and environmental science, my colleagues and I develop computer-based systems, often using artificial intelligence, to help clinicians integrate a wide range of complex patient data to make the best care decisions. The rise of evidence-based medicine As recently as the 1970s, clinical decisions were primarily based on expert opinion, anecdotal experience and theories of disease mechanisms that were frequently unsupported by empirical research. Around that time, a few pioneering researchers argued that clinical decision-making should be grounded in the best available evidence. By the 1990s, the term evidence-based medicine was introduced to describe the discipline of integrating research with clinical expertise when making decisions about patient care. The bedrock of evidence-based medicine is a hierarchy of evidence quality that determines what kinds of information clinicians should rely on most heavily to make treatment decisions. Certain types of evidence are stronger than others. While filtered information has been evaluated for rigor and quality, unfiltered information has not. CFCF/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA Randomized controlled trials randomly place participants in different groups that receive either an experimental treatment or a placebo. These studies, also called clinical trials, are considered the best individual sources of evidence because they allow researchers to compare treatment effectiveness with minimal bias by ensuring the groups are similar. Observational studies, such as cohort and case-control studies, focus on the health outcomes of a group of participants without any intervention from the researchers. While used in evidence-based medicine, these studies are considered weaker than clinical trials because they don’t control for potential confounding factors and biases. Overall, systematic reviews that synthesize the findings of multiple research studies offer the highest quality evidence. In contrast, single-case reports detailing one individual’s experience are weak evidence because they may not apply to a wider population. Similarly, personal testimonials and expert opinions alone are not supported by empirical data. In practice, clinicians can use the framework of evidence-based medicine to formulate a specific clinical question about their patient that can be clearly answered by reviewing the best available research. For example, a clinician might ask whether statins would be more effective than diet and exercise to lower LDL cholesterol for a 50 year-old male with no other risk factors. Integrating evidence, patient preferences and their own expertise, they can develop diagnoses and treatment plans. As may be expected, gathering and putting all the evidence together can be a laborious process. Consequently, clinicians and patients commonly rely on clinical guidelines developed by third parties such as the American Medical Association, the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization. These guidelines provide recommendations and standards of care based on systematic and thorough assessment of available research. Dawn of precision medicine Around the same time that evidence-based medicine was gaining traction, two other transformative developments in science and health care were underway. These advances would lead to the emergence of precision medicine, which uses patient-specific information to tailor health care decisions to each person. The first was the Human Genome Project, which officially began in 1990 and was completed in 2003. It sought to create a reference map of human DNA, or the genetic information cells use to function and survive. This map of the human genome enabled scientists to discover genes linked to thousands of rare diseases, understand why people respond differently to the same drug, and identify mutations in tumors that can be targeted with specific treatments. Increasingly, clinicians are analyzing a patient’s DNA to identify genetic variations that inform their care. Output from the DNA sequencer used by the Human Genome Project. National Human Genome Research Institute/Flickr The second was the development of electronic medical records to store patient medical history. Although researchers had been conducting pilot studies of digital records for several years, the development of industry standards for electronic medical records began only in the late 1980s. Adoption did not become widespread until after the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Electronic medical records enable scientists to conduct large-scale studies of the associations between genetic variants and observable traits that inform precision medicine. By storing data in an organized digital format, researchers can also use these patient records to train AI models for use in medical practice. More data, more AI, more precision Superficially, the idea of using patient health information to personalize care is not new. For example, the ongoing Framingham Heart Study, which began in 1948, yielded a mathematical model to estimate a patient’s coronary artery disease risk based on their individual health information, rather than the average population risk. One fundamental difference between efforts to personalize medicine now and prior to the Human Genome Project and electronic medical records, however, is that the mental capacity required to analyze the scale and complexity of individual patient data available today far exceeds that of the human brain. Each person has hundreds of genetic variants, hundreds to thousands of environmental exposures and a clinical history that may include numerous physiological measurements, lab values and imaging results. In my team’s ongoing work, the AI models we’re developing to detect sepsis in infants

Spanish tech star TravelPerk has raised a whopping $200mn and sealed the acquisition of expenses platform Yokoy. The investment values TravelPerk at $2.7bn — almost double last year’s $1.4bn valuation. The business travel giant said the funds would fuel further product development and expansion into the US. European VC firm Atomico led the Series E investment. Alongside the cash injection, TravelPerk announced the purchase of Yokoy, a Swiss startup that’s become a market leader in expense management. TravelPerk will now integrate Yokoy into one automated platform for travel and expenses. “Customers don’t have to compromise anymore,” said JC Taunay-Bucalo, TravelPerk’s president and COO. “Now, they can have the best travel management product built on the world’s largest inventory, and the expense management product that works best for their business, combined for the best-integrated experience there is.” Webinar: Nurturing Scaleup Success Join us on 18 February for a discussion on the vital role of ecosystems in nurturing startups and scaleups and fostering a dynamic entrepreneurial landscape. The announcements come amid renewed hopes for the travel industry. Global tourism rebounded to pre-COVID-19 levels in 2024, while business travel was tracking to surpass the peak it hit before the pandemic. Funding is now flowing back into travel tech startups. Last year, they enjoyed a record-breaking year of investments.   The news also brings together two members of TNW’s extended family. TravelPerk is an alumni of TNW’s TECH5 — a competition for European scaleups. The contest returns to TNW Conference on June 19 and 20. Applications are open until February 28. Yokoy, meanwhile, is a member of TNW’s community of fast-growing tech companies. In 2022, the startup opened a new European base in TNW City, Amsterdam. Announcing the move, Yokoy pointed to the attractions of the local fintech scene. “Our move into the market is not about just setting up a satellite sales office in a new location — we see Amsterdam as a crucial hub for growing our European operations,” Lars Mangelsdorf, the company’s co-founder and chief customer officer, said at the time. “The Dutch market is advanced when it comes to fintech adoption, and it felt like a natural next move to bring our spend management solution to businesses in the region.” source

A new season of the “Champions League of Tech” has begun with the return of TECH5 — Europe’s hottest scaleup contest. Over the next five months, TECH5 will showcase the continent’s future stars. The competition comes to a climax on June 19-20, when the 2025 winners are announced on the main stage of TNW Conference. Applications for the tournament opened this week. Promising scaleups from across the continent have been invited to submit their entries here. A range of prizes are at stake, from media coverage to VIP passes to TNW Conference. Companies need to act fast though — the application window slams shut on February 28. 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! The selected participants will join an illustrious list of TECH5 graduates. Among the previous winners are Starling Bank, Wise, Too Good To Go, Picnic, and Tier — and a host of other industry leaders.  A total of 588 companies are TECH5 alumni. Since entering the contest, they’ve experienced tremendous success. Revolut, for instance, went on to become Europe’s most valuable private tech firm. Deliveroo, meanwhile, enjoyed the biggest flotation on the London Stock Exchange for a decade. Collectively, TECH5 finalists have raised over €10bn. Arbo Robotics, a pioneer in automotive radar, is one of many winners that have attracted big investments. Just this month, Arbo announced plans to raise a fresh $29mn through a stock offering — which would bring its total funding to an estimated $251mn. Shlomit Hacohen, Arbo’s Chief Marketing Officer, credited TECH5 with accelerating the company’s rise. “Being named a top five company in TNW’s TECH5 review back in 2019 provided us with valuable exposure in Europe and the US during the early stages of our growth,” she said. “TNW’s TECH5 is exceptional at identifying companies with the potential for market success. Since the competition, Arbe has gone public and has established itself as the leading developer of radar technology in the automotive industry.” This year’s nominees will enter a revamped competition. Like the Champions League of football, the tournament rules have been tweaked to improve the results. The contenders will be evaluated on upgraded criteria. Alongside company and team growth, the judges will now assess a new metric: impact. The change aligns with broader trends in the ecosystem. TECH5 in 2025 Across the tech sector, growth alone is no longer perceived as the sole marker of success. Companies are now increasingly judged by their impacts and solutions to big problems. That’s not only wishful thinking — just look at the strategic shifts of businesses, investors, and policymakers. A blend of economic instability, environmental concerns, and socially conscious consumption has fueled support for tech with real-world impacts. Major funds are now flowing towards scaleups that address important issues. Last year, research firm Brainy Insights estimated that the impact investing market will grow from $3 trillion to $7.78 trillion by 2033. Government regulations are encouraging the momentum. The EU has taken a global lead in the charge, introducing new rules that push sustainable innovation in everything from AI to EVs. TECH5 plans to stimulate the ​​progress further. Yeni Joseph, TNW’s Head of Ecosystem Strategy & Partnerships, expects this year’s edition to deliver a powerful boost. “For TNW, identifying and showcasing Europe’s fastest-growing and most impactful scaleups is at the core of our mission to drive innovation and foster connections in the tech ecosystem,” she said.  “By spotlighting these companies, we not only celebrate their success but also create opportunities for collaboration, investment, and growth that fuel the future of technology in Europe.” The spotlight will shine on a range of locations. For this year’s edition, TECH5 is covering scaleups in the following regions: Benelux: Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg UK & Ireland Nordics: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden DACH: Germany, Austria, Switzerland Southern Europe: Andorra, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain France Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania Want to represent your region and show your vision to the world? Then apply to enter TECH5 via this link. source

Swedish startup Adsorbi has secured €1mn to ramp up production of a cellulose-based material that sucks up pollutants from the air.  Metsä Spring, the venture arm of the Finnish forestry giant, led the funding round alongside Chalmers Ventures and Jovitech Invest. “We are planning to launch the pilot plant in June and we will be equipped to meet our customer demands while maintaining consistent quality,” Hanna Johansson, CEO of Adsorbi, told TNW via email. The facility will have an expected capacity of 100 tonnes per year. Johansson co-founded Adsorbi in 2022 alongside Christian Löfvendahl, Romain Bordes, and Kinga Grenda. The team spun out the company from materials research at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg.   The next big thing? It might be you… TNW Conference is here to support startups & scaleups to become the next big thing. Be part of the journey. Bordes and Grenda, the chief researchers, originally wanted to develop new ways to protect works of art from harmful pollution. But in the process, they discovered a way to turn cellulose from Sweden’s abundant forests into an air purification material with wide-ranging applications. Adsorbi’s material can be used wherever gaseous air pollutants are a problem, from air filters to products that remove odours. Continuing the team’s initial objective, the startup also works with museums to protect artefacts and artworks. The substance — which looks like little, white pieces of sponge — promises a better, greener alternative to activated carbon, the current market standard.  Adsorbi claims its product lasts longer, doesn’t release any hazardous organic compounds back into the air, and is water and fire-resistant. Plus, the material has half the carbon footprint of activated carbon, the startup said. Handily, the substance also changes colour to indicate when it needs to be replaced. Adsorbi’s material can be used in air filters, products that remove odours, and in museums to protect works of art. Credit: Adsorbi “Air pollutant control is needed in many markets, and we’re ready to offer a commercial solution that ensures the air we breathe is clean without extensive use of fossil-based materials,” said Johansson.  Air pollution is something we usually associate with the outdoors. However, indoor air can be two to five times more polluted than outdoor air, according to the American Lung Association.  Adsorbi’s patented material is designed to capture nitrogen oxides like nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) — major contributors to air pollution — as well as acids and aldehydes. The latter is commonly found in cosmetics, perfumes, cleaning products, odourant dispensers, and grooming aids.   Last September, Adsorbi launched eco-friendly shoe deodoriser inserts in partnership with footwear giant Icebug and odour reducer Smellwell. The company said it is also working with multinational air filtration companies on several other products, including air fresheners and sustainable art conservation products.   source

Right now, there’s at least one nuclear-power, nuclear-armed submarine stealthily patrolling the waters off the UK. The sub is powered by a nuclear reactor, so it can cruise undetected for over 20 years without refuelling. Oh, and it’s also armed with eight nuclear warheads — each six times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.  Since 1969, the Royal Navy has kept at least one of these fission-powered submarines in the water at all times. The vessels are the backbone of Britain’s nuclear deterrent and send a giant warning to other nations who might get funny ideas.  Rolls-Royce today announced that it has secured a whopping £9bn contract to maintain and upgrade the Navy’s submarine nuclear reactors. Under the deal, the British engineering firm will also build reactors for the UK’s new class of nuclear-powered subs.   The Royal Navy’s submarine fleet is split between Astute-class attack submarines (SSNs) and Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs). The Astute-class are nuclear-powered but conventionally armed. Six of seven planned vessels are already operational. The Navy eventually plans to replace the Astutes with SSN-AUKUS submarines, the result of a collaboration with the US and Australia.  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! Meanwhile, the Vanguard class, which first entered service in 1994, forms the backbone of the UK’s nuclear deterrent, carrying Trident II D5 nuclear missiles. The Navy plans to replace the Vanguards with the Dreadnought-class SSBNs in the early 2030s.  Under the so-called Unity contract, Rolls-Royce will design, manufacture, and support the new subs’ pressurised water reactors (PWRs). These machines use uranium to generate heat, turning water into steam that spins a turbine to generate electricity. The steam then cools, and the process repeats. The Unity deal is the largest Ministry of Defence deal Rolls-Royce has landed in its 121-year history. Predictably, the UK government is celebrating the new contract as a win for national security and job creation.   “National security is a foundation of our government’s plan for change, and this is a clear demonstration of our commitment to the UK’s nuclear deterrent, which is our ultimate insurance policy in a more dangerous world,” said the defence secretary, John Healey.  The contract is expected to create more than 1,000 UK jobs and safeguard 4,000 other roles. source

Stunning AI advances from Chinese startup DeepSeek have sent tech stocks tumbling across the US and Europe. DeepSeek released a free chatbot and new open-source AI models last week. Within days, the chatbot had overtaken ChatGPT to reach the top spot on the Apple App Store’s free app rankings. The new R1 models sent further shockwaves through the AI world. R1 promised performance to rival OpenAI top’s reasoning model — at just a fraction of the cost. Marc Andreessen, one of the world’s most powerful VCs, called the release “AI’s Sputnik moment.” The markets were also astounded. Shaken by the threat of a powerful, low-cost AI challenger from China, shares in US tech titans plummeted on Monday. Chip designer Nvidia set an alarming example. The chip designer suffered the largest rout in stock market history. European semiconductor firms were also hit hard. Shares in Dutch chip leader ASML — the continent’s most valuable public tech company — slumped by as much as 12%. The next big thing? It might be you… TNW Conference is here to support startups & scaleups to become the next big thing. Be part of the journey. Semiconductor firms Besi and Asm International also endured double-digit drops. Yet chip companies were not the only European businesses to feel a painful impacts. The continent’s power equipment makers were also clobbered. Stocks plummeted particularly sharply at Germany’s Siemens Energy and France’s Schneider Electric. Amid the market torment, DeepSeek has also sparked excitement. By offering powerful yet affordable open-source models, the startup could accelerate the spread of AI’s benefits across the world. For the sector’s established leaders, however, the landscape has been shaken. source

Synthesia has claimed the crown of Britain’s biggest GenAI company after raising $180mn at a $2.1bn valuation. The London-based business generates lifelike avatars for video content. Enterprises use the software to produce training content and corporate communications. The tech has made Synthesia a leader in the burgeoning synthetic media industry. According to the startup, over 60,000 businesses are customers — including more than 60% of the Fortune 100. Investors have also shown a growing interest. In 2023, Synthesia earned unicorn status after securing $90 million in Series C funding at a valuation of $1 billion.  The latest cash injection creates another milestone. According to Dealroom, Synthesia is now the UK’s largest GenAI media company by valuation. The next big thing? It might be you… TNW Conference is here to support startups & scaleups to become the next big thing. Be part of the journey. The startup wants the fresh funds to fuel a new phase of growth. At the core of the plans is Synthesia 2.0 — a product billed as the world’s first enterprise AI video platform. Development of the system is now underway. Synthesia is also preparing for the next generation of synthetic media. Victor Riparbelli, the company’s CEO and co-founder, expects big breakthroughs from blending AI videos with reasoning systems — such as large language models. “We will unlock a new type of media that can think, narrate, and personalise content for us,” he told TNW via email.  “These new interfaces will be centred around intuitive, human communication that is much more effective than text. You could imagine an AI that connects to your Spotify and teaches you music theory based on your skill level and favourite artists. “At work, we may interact with virtual guides that help us make buying decisions, coach us and teach us new skills like you would with a tutor in the real world.” Naturally, Riparbelli also shared the funding news in an AI video. Fully generated with Synthesia, the clip summarises the announcement in eight languages.  Synthesia’s position in Europe’s GenAI landscape Announced today, Synthesia’s Series D round was led by VC giant NEA. Existing investors GV and MMC Ventures also participated, alongside new backers WiL, Atlassian Ventures, and PSP Growth. The landmark raise has renewed optimism about Europe’s AI landscape. Yoram Wijngaarde, Dealroom’s founder and CEO, is bullish about developments across the continent. “Synthesia’s Series D signals that European AI is picking up where they left off in 2024,” he said. “AI startups accounted for over 25% of European venture capital last year, up from 15% just four years ago. In one of the most significant technological waves in decades, Synthesia stands out among the emerging AI unicorns reshaping the landscape from this side of the Atlantic.” The funding was also welcomed by politicians in Synthesia’s home country, who announced new plans this week to “turbocharge AI.” Peter Kyle, the UK’s science and technology secretary, said the funding “showcases the confidence investors have in British tech” and highlights the “global leadership” of the country’s GenAI pioneers. Riparbelli is also optimistic about the UK’s AI scene. He pointed to its combination of talent, capital, and infrastructure. He also praised Britain’s production of global leaders in the field. “There are many countries that want to become AI superpowers but few have a chance to actually succeed,” he said. “The UK is among the top three for sure, because it has a combination of talent, capital, and infrastructure. What’s also remarkable about the UK is that it produces global leaders, not just regional players.” source