Tech for Good

2022-04-27 10:22:33 A swappable body and interior EV

Here is another interesting EV manufacturer, Canoo.

Based in LA, the company plans to enter the market with 3 models. First one, planned for the end of 2022 is a lifestyle van. Another two are a multi-purpose delivery vehicle, and a pickup truck. Their production planned for 2023.

What's special about Canoo besides the non-traditional design reminding of VW Microbus? A couple of things.

Canoo designed the vehicles with the idea of reusability. Owners, from first to last, can change vehicle body and interior design to suit their needs. Steering, suspension, major electrical components are all integrated into a "skateboard platform". That allows swappable "vehicle top hats."

Battery modules are not part of the chassis and also serviceable. Instead of changing the whole battery pack, you may change individual "dead" cells.

The other special thing is the ability to opt for a subscription model of ownership. The company promises an affordable monthly price with no commitment for the end date.

The current specs for a lifestyle van are 250 miles range, 30 minutes to 80% charge time, and up to 350 HP motor. Prices start from $34,750 in the US.

Those who invest may also read this. Canoo has an interesting story of executive departures and changes to its business plans.

Company website

#EV #startups Open / Comment

2022-04-25 07:21:54 Buying luxury 3-10 times cheaper

Enter Italic, an unusual direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand founded by Jeremy Cai in 2018. Italic's business model is to remove middlemen between consumers and manufacturers. And to pass all the savings to consumers.

The brand does not make money on products sold. Instead, their customers pay an annual membership, currently $60. And get their goods at the cost of manufacture and delivery. Customers are happy. So are the manufacturers who get extra yield on existing production capacity.

For example, Italic's leather jacket is from the same factory as Alexander Wang, J Brand & Frame. Priced at $250, compared to $995 at Vince. Italic's luggage comes from the same production line as Lanvin, Raden & Samsonite. Priced at $100, compared to $875 at Tumi. The list may go on and on - Italic has hundreds of items in its online store.

Jeremy managed to create a membership model that is in essence a software product with a 100% margin. Such margin affords Italic to be break-even or even take some loss on product purchases. Brilliant.

The ultimate goal is to create a next-gen everything store, much like Amazon or Costco. And that's not a mere dream - the estimated value of the startup is already up to $500M.

Italic website
Company's Crunchbase profile Open / Comment

2022-04-22 13:21:37 Simplify immigration for the next billion Americans

I adore startups with niche solutions and clear value propositions. Ellis, founded by immigrants for immigrants, helps international students move to America.

One of America's competitive advantages has always been its betting on immigration. Yet, many immigrants describe their experience in moving to the US as agony. They struggle to get a prepaid phone plan. They have little to no guidance on how to set up a bank account without a social security number. Or apply for a social security card. Learning the nuances of tax treatment and doing the immigration documents become a quest. If you win, congrats, you will not be deported. Still, you've got long hours of stress guaranteed.

Ellis offers a range of products for international students to adjust to a new life as an immigrant. US bank account, visa card, mobile phone plan - those the students may set up months before their relocation to the US. Ellis will only ask simple questions and request basic documents.

Then the Ellis app will use the same info to automate applying for social security card. And for non-resident tax filings, work authorization, and visa extension. All done in the same app with a few clicks.

Ellis has got investor attention with $5.6 million funding in the seed round. Besides institutional capital, the company received money from many successful startup founders. Many of them started their journey with a US visa.

Ellis website (they are hiring)

#startups #apps Open / Comment

2022-04-20 14:02:17 Computer chillout

Since 2010, internet users worldwide have doubled, and global internet traffic has grown 15-fold. Moreover, the traffic growth is exponential. For example, it surged by 40% in 2020 with the rise of gaming, zooming, and social networking.

Data centers, the foundation for Internet and computing, are a hot issue: cooling them is estimated to consume 10% of the world's electricity by 2025. That's where a Spanish startup Submer has a painkiller.

Instead of traditional air cooling, Submer's tech uses electrically non-conductive, biodegradable liquid. Server units are submerged in the liquid, absorbing their heat and dissipating it through a heat exchanger for future use. That is called immersion cooling.

Compared to air cooling, the Submer's immersion cooling efficiency is through the roof. It requires 50% less energy, 99% less water, and 85% less space. In addition, that method results in 50% less cost to construct a data center, 30% longer hardware lifespan, and 60% lower hardware failure rate.

No surprise Submer has already got a Spanish telecom giant Telefonica as a client. And that it has received a $34 million investment in January to expand into North America and APAC. Great problem has a great solution.

Submer website

#startups Open / Comment

2022-04-18 15:19:56 Here is the #weeksummary:

Solar cleaning - autonomous robots that clean solar panels without water
Free tech webinars - from Careerist education platfrom
AI for the better images - Dallas software developer with a range of products enhancing the quality of photos and videos using deep learning

Tech for Good Open / Comment

2022-04-16 20:00:14 AI for the better images

Have you ever wanted to make a wall poster from a photo taken by phone?

You probably know that enlarging such an image leads to not very good results. The bigger photo looks blurry, with a lot of noise, and often is not worth printing out.

Topaz Labs is a software development startup from Dallas that deals with imaging technology. They have a range of products enhancing the quality of photos and videos using deep learning. For example, they've trained Gigapixel AI on millions of images. It can now increase the resolution of portraits, wildlife, landscapes, and other subjects by accurately filling in missing pixels. The results are not bad - you can see linked below.

The other Topaz products deal with image noise, motion blur, and missed focus. They can work as a separate app or as a Photoshop extension. There is also an app for video quality enhancement - here is the before-after video example.

The prices start from 60 bucks for DeNoise AI. The three image quality apps bundle costs $200, the same as an app for working with video. Such a price tag will work well for professionals working with images and video. Casual users may find it a little bit overpriced. Who knows, though. If your iPhone photo deserves to be printed in a size of a good kitchen table, how much could it cost?

Image enhancement examples
Topaz Labs website

#AI #apps #software #startups Open / Comment

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#promo Open / Comment

2022-04-15 12:37:19 Guys from one of the top education platforms, Careerist, run a series of free tech webinars starting next week. The topics range from software testing and QA to tech sales and systems engineering.

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#promo Open / Comment

2022-04-14 15:21:56 Solar cleaning

Ecoppia is a startup from Tel-Aviv that developed a robotic cleaning solution for solar panels.

As a photovoltaic panel gets dirty, it may lose up to 35% of its productivity. At large energy production sites, standard wet cleaning requires billions of liters of water annually and thousands of person-hours of work.

Ecoppia robots work nightly and remove soiling using rotating brushes with microfiber, without any water. They have an onboard solar module charging batteries between operations and making them energy independent. The robots clean their own solar panel and brush autonomously, and they are operated remotely - which allowed Ecoppia's clients to maintain site productivity during pandemic lockdowns.

The company says their dry cleaning services save the amount of water needed for 220 thousand people for one year. It has already served 30+ large energy production sites in India, the USA, Mexico, Chile, and Israel.

Though the idea looks genius in its simplicity, I still question the actual startup performance. In 2021, with $19 million in sales, Ecoppia reported a loss of $44 million. It looks like the team needs far more paying clients.

See the robots at work
Ecoppia website (they are hiring)

#startups #solar #robotics Open / Comment