Friday, June 13, 2025

The Army Reserve launches Detachment 201, an innovation corps with Palantir CTO, Meta CTO, and other tech execs advising on AI and tech as lieutenant colonels (Heather Somerville/Wall Street Journal)

Heather Somerville / Wall Street Journal:
The Army Reserve launches Detachment 201, an innovation corps with Palantir CTO, Meta CTO, and other tech execs advising on AI and tech as lieutenant colonels  —  Silicon Valley executives are joining a new innovation corps in Army Reserve  —  The nerd brigade is reporting for duty.



Google plans to shut down Android's Instant Apps, which let users launch apps without installing them, later this year citing low usage and engagement (Dominic Preston/The Verge)

Dominic Preston / The Verge:
Google plans to shut down Android's Instant Apps, which let users launch apps without installing them, later this year citing low usage and engagement  —  The installation-free apps will join the Google graveyard in December. … Google has confirmed that it plans to shut …



Sources: Tencent is in early talks to acquire Nexon, the South Korean gaming giant behind Dungeon & Fighter Mobile; Tencent pursued a Nexon acquisition in 2019 (Dong Cao/Bloomberg)

Dong Cao / Bloomberg:
Sources: Tencent is in early talks to acquire Nexon, the South Korean gaming giant behind Dungeon & Fighter Mobile; Tencent pursued a Nexon acquisition in 2019  —  Shenzhen-based Tencent has reached out to the family of Nexon's late founder Kim Jung-ju to discuss the possibility of an acquisition …



Sources: Walmart, Amazon, and Expedia have recently explored issuing or using stablecoins in the US to potentially save fees from cash and card transactions (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Walmart, Amazon, and Expedia have recently explored issuing or using stablecoins in the US to potentially save fees from cash and card transactions  —  Corporate coins could take payments activity away from banks and the traditional financial system



Sunday, June 8, 2025

Treefera, which uses satellite imagery, drone imagery, and AI to provide real-time insights into supply chains, raised a $30M Series B led by Notion Capital (Cate Lawrence/Tech.eu)

Cate Lawrence / Tech.eu:
Treefera, which uses satellite imagery, drone imagery, and AI to provide real-time insights into supply chains, raised a $30M Series B led by Notion Capital  —  Treefera delivers real-time, first-mile traceability using adaptive AI, satellite imagery and financial-grade risk modelling.



A look at the intensifying race for super apps in the Gulf, as Careem, Talabat, Amazon, Botim, and Noon consolidate various services into single platforms (Divsha Bhat/Rest of World)

Divsha Bhat / Rest of World:
A look at the intensifying race for super apps in the Gulf, as Careem, Talabat, Amazon, Botim, and Noon consolidate various services into single platforms  —  From Dubai to Riyadh, apps are consolidating ride-hailing, payments, and delivery into single platforms.  —  The race for super-apps is intensifying in the Middle East.



Skyral, a London-based modeling and simulation startup developing AI-based digital twin tech for defense, healthcare, and other sectors, raised a $20M Series A (Lucy Adams/Tech.eu)

Lucy Adams / Tech.eu:
Skyral, a London-based modeling and simulation startup developing AI-based digital twin tech for defense, healthcare, and other sectors, raised a $20M Series A  —  Global demand for predictive simulation and digital twin technology has accelerated in recent years, driven by geopolitical instability and climate risk.



PE firm Everstone combines India's Wingify, which helps A/B test sites, and France's AB Tasty, which improves e-commerce UX; Everstone bought Wingify for $200M (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch : PE firm Everstone combines India's Wingify, which helps A/B test sites, and France's AB Tasty, which...