Category: Technology

ZURICH / PARIS, June 17. The technologies now driving the global economy, from advanced computing to artificial intelligence and robotics, are built patiently, over decades of sustained investment and deep scientific groundwork. Increasingly that work traces back to a country a fraction of the size of the giants it competes with. 

Switzerland now directs a greater share of its venture capital to deep tech than any other nation, and commits more per head than any country in Europe, placing it among the top three worldwide. The finding anchors the Swiss Deep Tech Report 2026, published today by Deep Tech Nation Switzerland, Founderful, Kickfund, Startupticker.ch, and Dealroom.co, and launched at VivaTech in Paris. 

The report sets out where the next decade of frontier technology will be engineered. The world’s most valuable companies are built on data centers, artificial intelligence and robotic automation, and Switzerland is among the few countries worldwide where that work is researched and commercialized at the frontier. What has changed is that its companies now stay to scale, and the world has taken notice. “For the first time, the companies spinning out of ETH and EPFL are staying, scaling and attracting serious capital,” says Jean-Philippe Fricker, Co-Founder and Chief System Architect of Cerebras Systems. The country’s international standing now matches the strength of its ecosystem. 

Five findings that put Switzerland at the forefront of deep tech innovation

The pipeline is shifting toward the sectors that dominate global capital. AI and machine learning now account for one in four newly founded Swiss deep tech companies, more than double their previous share. Beyond startup creation, Switzerland has the highest density of AI researchers globally, twice that of the UK and the US. Robotics is moving even faster relative to peers: Switzerland has created 3.5 times more venture-backed robotics startups per capita since 2020 than the United States, and 5 times more than the UK. In Future of Compute, 2026 is already a record funding year, and Switzerland boasts 7 times more patents per capita than the European average, driven by its world-leading microelectronics and high-precision sensor industries. 

The world’s most deep-tech-focused venture market. 63% of all Swiss venture capital flows to deep tech, the highest share of any country, ahead of China and the United States and nearly double the share of Germany and the UK, and well ahead of France. 

First in Europe on intensity, top three globally. At $1,470 invested per capita, Switzerland commits more to deep tech per head than any country in Europe. Worldwide, that places it among the top three nations alongside Israel and the United States. 

Funding is accelerating. Swiss deep tech funding has grown roughly fivefold since 2015 to reach a record $2.6B in 2025. 

The strongest growth is still ahead. ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne are Europe’s leading universities for new deep tech spinouts. Building on a leading position, the two have extended their lead since 2023, and that cohort is only now reaching the seed-to-Series-A window, the stage at which company value and capital raised compound most sharply. 

Momentum on the ground 

Some of the clearest signals do not yet appear in the funding data. Among the report’s co-authors are several of the country’s most active deep tech investors, who describe a change in the character of the ecosystem over the past year. The world’s top funds no longer need persuading to look at Switzerland; they are arriving on their own initiative. “The energy and talent dynamism reminded me of what we saw in Israel and the UK in the early 2000s,” says Saul Klein, Founding Partner of LocalGlobe. 

Global technology leaders are expanding their computing, robotics and AI research presence in the country. The pipeline feeding that activity runs straight from the universities. “At EPFL we see it every day: the discoveries made in our laboratories become the deep tech companies of tomorrow,” says Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, President of EPFL. And as deal flow deepens, founders are growing more selective about the investors they choose to work with. 

“Since we launched in 2019, we’ve never seen such a high density of ambitious entrepreneurs tackling globally relevant tech challenges as right now. The pace at which these founders execute reminds me of what people speak about when they refer to SF. In the coming decade Zurich will become home to at least a dozen global category leaders, I’m sure of that.”

— Alex Stöckl, Partner at Founderful and Swiss Deep Tech Report co-author

Where the opportunity sits 

Foreign investors supply 88% of Swiss deep tech funding at rounds of $100M and above, against 75% across Europe, while domestic capital falls to just 12% at late stage. In a top-ranked ecosystem, late-stage capital remains underweight relative to the quality of the companies being built, leaving clear room for new investors to enter early. 

“We built one of the world’s most deep tech-focused economies without a franc of public venture capital. In Germany, France and the UK, much of the late-stage money is state-backed through Bpifrance, British Patient Capital or the German Future Fund. In Switzerland that barely exists, and yet the world’s best investors now come here on their own initiative, with some setting up shop. No public money had to write the cheque to make this real.” 

— Wanja Humanes, Partner at Kickfund and Swiss Deep Tech Report co-author 

What happens next 

The seed-to-Series-A cohort now moving through the ecosystem is the largest Switzerland has produced, and it is only now reaching the stage where company value and capital raised compound most sharply. Deep tech funding has already grown roughly fivefold since 2015 to a record $2.6B. The companies are staying, and the funds are arriving on their own. The report sets out, sector by sector, the leaders and the startups most worth watching, and invites the investors who would rather arrive early than late. 

 

 

Among the fastest-known AI companies, Plaud stands out as a rare hardware-enabled AI company in a cohort dominated by software-only players

SAN FRANCISCO,  June 17: Plaud, the company building real-world AI interface for professionals, today announced it has scaled from $1M to $100M in ARR within two years, placing it among the fastest AI companies globally to reach the milestone. Plaud is the only hardware-enabled AI company in a cohort otherwise dominated by software-only players, and now serves more than 2 million professionals across 170+ countries.

The fastest AI growth stories have, until now, belonged almost entirely to software-native companies: AI coding tools, enterprise workflow agents, and other SaaS products scaling behind screens and keyboards. Plaud’s growth represents a different model — recurring AI software scaled through a real-world physical interface, with devices (Plaud Note, Plaud Note Pro, Plaud NotePin S) acting as the entry point into human conversations, capturing the upstream, lossless, source-of-truth context.

Most AI today operates after the fact, on summaries, documents, prompts typed from memory. The intelligence that actually drives decisions comes from real-world conversations, before any prompt is written, before any keyboard is touched. When conversation fades, that intelligence decays. Not just information — intent, nuance, the reasoning behind decisions. Plaud is the post-screen, post-smartphone interface built to capture it at the rawest form.

“Most AI companies have scaled through software behind a screen. We took a different path.” said Nathan Xu, co-founder and CEO of Plaud. “The conversations that actually move things forward don’t happen on a keyboard. We built the interface for the post-screen world. And the market validated it.”

As AI moves from screen-based tools toward interfaces and agents that need trusted context to act reliably, real-world conversations are becoming a critical data layer. Plaud is also expanding beyond individual note-taking into team and developer workflows. Plaud Team brings conversation intelligence into collaborative work, while MCP and workflow integrations allow Plaud to connect with the broader agent ecosystem — turning meetings, calls, and in-person conversations into follow-ups, shared knowledge, and actions across the tools professionals already use.

More than 3,000 industry leaders gather in the Motor City to advance intelligent transportation 

DETROIT, Mich. June 17: The ITS America Conference & Expo 2026 brought breakthrough technologies and real-world solutions to Detroit, drawing more than 3,000 industry professionals from 46 states, and the District of Columbia together to advance safer, smarter, and more connected mobility worldwide. Organized in partnership by RX Global and ITS America, the four-day event at Huntington Place united the industry’s most forward-thinking companies and global leaders around solutions spanning artificial intelligence, connected transportation, cybersecurity, data analytics, digital infrastructure, and autonomous vehicles. 

This year’s conference, themed “Empowering Innovation,” featured more than 100 conference sessions spanning four days, 25 live demonstrations, 170+ exhibitors and sponsors, and an unprecedented outdoor demonstration program that placed attendees directly inside Detroit’s connected transportation corridors. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer helped wrap up the conference with closing remarks, then met with industry leaders and Clinton High School STEM students on the exhibit hall floor. 

Detroit served as more than a backdrop. As the birthplace of American automotive manufacturing and home to 1.7 million vehicles produced annually, the city gave the intelligent transportation community a living laboratory to showcase how the industry’s most advanced technologies are being deployed on real roads, in real time. From the 45-mile I-94 Freeway Experience connecting downtown Detroit to Ann Arbor, to the four-mile M-1 Intelligent Woodward Experience featuring 31 vehicle-to-everything (V2X)-equipped intersections and autonomous vehicle shuttles, attendees experienced the full potential of connected transportation firsthand.

“The technologies on display here, including AI-powered traffic management and V2X-connected corridors, represent the very innovation our industry has championed for decades,” said Laura Chace, President and CEO of ITS America. “What we witnessed in Detroit shows that bringing people from across public, private, and research sectors together builds lasting partnerships and leads to safer, smarter, and more connected transportation.”

The conference program brought national leaders to center stage for two landmark plenary sessions. On June 10, Sean McMaster, Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration at the U.S. Department of Transportation, joined public and private sector leaders to reflect on the industry’s 35-year evolution and chart the course for the next generation of mobility. On June, 11, Miovision sponsored a plenary session, led by Laura Chace and Kurtis McBride, CEO and Co-founder of Miovision, featuring key transportation executives and focused on turning bold ideas into measurable real-world outcomes. State DOT roundtables also provided transportation leaders with a dedicated platform to exchange implementation strategies and share lessons learned from the field.

“ITS America Conference & Expo 2026 delivered an experience unlike any other,” said Jaime McAuley, Event Vice President, ITS America Events, RX Global. “The demonstration program in Detroit set a new standard, reaching far beyond the show floor and into the city itself. Connecting the ITS community to real, deployed technology along Detroit’s most iconic corridors gave every attendee something they could not experience anywhere else.”

The 2026 show floor introduced two new dedicated zones that reflected the industry’s most urgent priorities. The inaugural ITS StartUps Zone gave emerging transportation companies a platform alongside the industry’s most established players, connecting new voices in the sector with the agencies, investors, and partners needed to advance their technologies from concept to deployment. 

The new Cybersecurity & Data Zone brought together 10 exhibitors, including Palo Alto Networks, Google, and 360 Network Solutions, LLC, delivering hands-on workshops, cutting-edge solutions, and expert sessions focused on protecting connected vehicles, securing smart infrastructure, and strengthening the resilience of transportation systems nationwide. 

To demonstrate the benefits of using drone technology to deliver supplies to emergency responders, Blueflite staged a series of deliveries at the outdoor demo area. ITS America President and CEO Laura Chace, U.S. DOT representatives, Michigan DOT and ITS Michigan received deliveries of hats and koozies, and ITS Korea and the Korean Delegation received invitations to ITS World Congress 2026.

“As a former chair of ITS America, I know firsthand what this event means to the transportation community, and hosting it in Utah is something we take seriously,” said Carlos Braceras, Commissioner of the Utah Department of Transportation. “Salt Lake City is a city that embraces bold ideas, and the Salt Palace Convention Center will give transportation leaders from around the world the stage they need to share the technologies and solutions shaping the next generation of mobility. We cannot wait to see you in April 2027.” 

The Future Leaders Program, sponsored by Southwest Research Institute, challenged students and young professionals to explore artificial intelligence’s role in transforming transportation, connecting rising talent directly with industry pioneers throughout the four-day event.

Berlin, Germany, 16 June 2026 – At ILA Berlin 2026, Deutsche Aircraft demonstrated how visionary aviation concepts are advancing toward operational reality. The German OEM showcased its substantial progress across the commercial and multi-role sectors, making it clear how applied research, portfolio expansion and long-term collaboration are actively accelerating the development and industrialisation of the next-generation D328eco® turboprop.

Together, these announcements reflect Deutsche Aircraft’s broader strategy to integrate sustainable regional aviation with enhanced operational flexibility, industrial resilience and European aerospace collaboration.

During the event, Deutsche Aircraft announced a series of technological advancements, strategic milestones and industrial partnerships that underscore its commitment to innovation, defence, special missions and aerospace leadership in Europe.

Key highlights of ILA Berlin 2026 included:

• Integrated Uncrewed Capability Unveiled: Expanding its portfolio to support civil and governmental multi-role operations, Deutsche Aircraft presented its new uncrewed aircraft capability. Developed in collaboration with Sierra Nevada Corporation, the mature system is designed to complement the D328MR by extending operational reach and strengthening intelligence, surveillance, disaster response and environmental monitoring capabilities across demanding environments.
• Fuel-to-Flight Concept: In partnership with INERATEC, Deutsche Aircraft showcased a fully integrated fuel-to-flight solution, with a display featuring a D328® Multi-Role Maritime Patrol Aircraft alongside a containerised fuel production unit and autonomous refuelling concepts. This scalable aviation ecosystem enables synthetic fuel production directly at the point of use, supporting flexible, resilient and lower-emission operations in remote and mission-critical environments worldwide. The concept also highlights the potential to reduce logistical dependency while increasing operational autonomy for future aviation missions.
• Long-Term Industrial Partnership: In a major step for the D328eco production ramp-up, Deutsche Aircraft and Hexcel announced a long-term supply agreement. Hexcel’s advanced composite solutions will be integrated into the D328eco airframe, optimising weight reduction, durability and fuel efficiency to support performance and sustainability objectives. The partnership reinforces long-term operational reliability while boosting the resilience of the European aerospace supply chain.
• Research-Driven Sustainable Aviation: Supported by Germany’s LuFo Klima programme, Deutsche Aircraft demonstrated how applied research has made an impact on SAF readiness, advanced testing and acoustic optimisation. The DLR’s D328 UpLift research aircraft and simulator featured the instrumentation and systems infrastructure used for ongoing validation trials. These initiatives underline Deutsche Aircraft’s commitment to accelerating practical, data-driven advancements in sustainable regional aviation.

“ILA Berlin 2026 demonstrated the strength of collaboration across the European aerospace ecosystem,” said Nico Neumann, CEO of Deutsche Aircraft. “From sustainable propulsion concepts and applied research to multi-role mission capabilities and industrial partnerships, we are translating innovation into practical aviation solutions. The momentum and engagement we experienced throughout the week reinforce our commitment to shaping a more sustainable, resilient and sovereign future for regional aviation.”

Deutsche Aircraft extends its gratitude to partners, customers and visitors for their active engagement and support throughout ILA Berlin 2026.

Following the event, Deutsche Aircraft continues to advance the D328eco programme while strengthening the partnerships that support the future of sustainable regional and special-mission aviation.

LGM has reached a major milestone by obtaining process certification for manual wiring of electronic boards for the space sector at its Marville site in the Meuse (France), issued by CNES and compliant with the European Space Agency’s ECSS standards.

LGM announces that it has obtained accreditation for manual wiring process in electronic boards intended for the space sector. This certification, overseen by the Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), represents a major recognition of LGM’s expertise, technical excellence, and positioning in the space market—a field where quality and reliability requirements are absolute.

Certification to the Most Demanding European Standards

This certification is particularly significant as it complies with the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS) standards of the European Space Agency (ESA), and attests to the company’s ability to perform manual wiring operations on electronic boards to the strictest standards in the space sector, where even the slightest failure can have critical consequences.

Manual wiring of electronic boards for space applications requires advanced technical expertise, perfect mastery of processes, and rigorous quality control. Electronic boards destined for space must withstand extreme conditions: vibrations, shocks, significant thermal variations, radiation, and the vacuum of space.

CNES Plays a Central Role in the Approval Process

CNES, a major player in French and European space policy, oversees the certification process to ensure that approved companies meet the technical and quality requirements of the space sector. The certification process includes in-depth audits, skills assessments, and verification that production processes comply with European ECSS standards, through tests and expert assessments conducted on test structures.

CNES accreditation is a guarantee of confidence for customers in the space sector, whether they are space agencies, industrial prime contractors, or equipment manufacturers.

A Strategic Asset for LGM

For LGM, this certification represents far more than technical recognition: it opens new commercial opportunities in the European space market and strengthens the company’s credibility with major players in the sector.

“Obtaining this CNES approval is a decisive step for the LGM Group’s electronics production activities. It validates years of investment in upgrading our teams’ skills and in continuous improvement of our processes. Today, this certification enables us to position ourselves as a trusted partner for European space programs and to support our customers in their most demanding projects,” says Guillaume PETIT, Industrial Director of the Marville site.

This certification aligns with the LGM Group’s development strategy for its complex electronics activities, aimed at strengthening its expertise and presence in markets with high added value and high technical criticality.

Focus on the Marville factory:

A French industrial flagship whose origins go back to the creation of the MEUSONIC company in 1978.

Since 1985, the Marville site has been consolidating its microelectronics activity in a cleanroom environment, with niche skills and processes in the design and manufacture of radio frequency and microwave subassemblies and systems, as well as in power electronics.

In 2021, then known as ARELIS (resulting from successive mergers with the companies SERICAD and ASTEEL ANJOU—in 2010 and 2012 respectively), it strengthened its specialist positioning and technological leadership while working to preserve the sector and the sovereignty of its processes, thanks to a strategic partnership with LGM.

Now a member of the LaFrenchFab network, in the midst of a dynamic investment phase to meet demand and market diversification, the Marville site has just passed the 100-employee mark and is looking toward a promising industrial future relying on the stability and confidence of the LGM Group.

Promising Prospects in a Growing Sector

The space sector is currently experiencing sustained growth, driven by the development of satellite constellations, the boom in New Space, and Europe’s ambitions for strategic autonomy. In this context, demand for qualified subcontractors to manufacture space electronics is rising sharply.

Thanks to this certification, LGM is now positioned to respond to tenders from the main players in the European space sector and to participate in large-scale programs, whether for observation, telecommunications, navigation, or scientific exploration satellites.

 

 

Flir thermal imaging technology is helping researchers in Italy unlock hidden text from the Herculaneum papyri, a unique collection of ancient manuscripts carbonized during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

 June 16: Flir thermal imaging technology is helping researchers in Italy unlock hidden text from the Herculaneum papyri, a unique collection of ancient manuscripts carbonized during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Using pulsed thermography that leverages the 2.775 MHz fast analog lock-in input port offered by advanced Flir thermal imaging cameras, scientists are recovering writing previously invisible to the naked eye while also gaining new insight into the fragile internal structure of the documents. All images are sourced from S. Ceccarelli et al., SciRep 15, 34466 (2025).

The vital project is being led by researchers at the Institute of Heritage Science, part of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), who are exploring non-destructive ways to study and preserve what remains the only surviving library from the ancient Greco-Roman world.

Discovered during excavations in the 18th century at the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, the scrolls survived the volcanic eruption through carbonization caused by intense heat and burial beneath volcanic material. While this extraordinary process preserved the manuscripts, it also created major challenges for historians and conservators attempting to read and protect them.

Many of the papyri were mechanically unrolled centuries ago and mounted to supporting boards. However, the resulting fragments are extremely fragile, often heavily layered, and in many cases almost unreadable.

Conventional Imaging Falls Short

One of the principal challenges facing researchers is that both the carbonized papyrus substrate and the ink are black, making differentiation extremely difficult using conventional imaging methods as the contrast in the visible range is lost. Other more sophisticated techniques like X-ray can work, particularly in combination with artificial intelligence, but are more complex and expensive, requiring transportation of the papyri to special labs where these techniques are available.

To address these challenges, conservators turned to pulsed thermography, a technique that combines controlled light excitation with high-speed thermal imaging. The method works by illuminating the papyrus with a short pulse of light and recording the resulting thermal response over time.

Surface inscriptions become visible almost immediately in the first few infrared frames after excitation because the ink absorbs light differently to the surrounding papyrus material. As heat propagates through the sample over the following seconds, deeper structural details and underlying features begin to emerge. This time-based thermal behavior provides researchers with a way to distinguish writing from substrate material.

 

Advanced Thermal Imaging

Central to the project is the use of Flir X-Series thermal imaging cameras. Combining high-speed, high-sensitivity infrared imaging with advanced thermal management capabilities, the cameras are ideal for scientific and research environments where precision and data integrity are vital.

Operating in the mid-wave infrared spectrum, Flir X-Series cameras enabled researchers to capture rapid thermal events with exceptional sensitivity, allowing subtle temperature differences between inked and non-inked areas of the papyri to become visible during pulsed thermography analysis. The X-Series features a fast analog lock-in input port designed to receive external reference signals, enabling high-speed thermal analysis at a sampling rate of 2.775 MHz. This capability allows researchers to detect faint signals or minute temperature differences in materials.

The researchers used dual flash lamps to generate controlled excitation while limiting temperature increases within the papyri to 2-3°C, well below any level considered harmful to the ancient material. Special filtering systems also prevented ultraviolet exposure and minimized unwanted infrared reflections.

According to the project team, the high sensitivity, spatial resolution and advanced recording capabilities of the Flir X-Series proved particularly important when identifying fine thermal contrasts and preserving image clarity throughout the acquisition process.

The ability to stream and record thermal data continuously without dropped frames also supported detailed post-processing and analysis using Flir Research Studio software.

Notably, the method remains entirely non-contact and non-destructive, a critical requirement when working with fragile cultural heritage artefacts that cannot be physically manipulated or removed from their historical supports.

 

Beyond Text Recovery

While the primary objective of the project involves revealing hidden text, pulsed thermography also provides valuable structural information for conservation specialists.

As heat diffuses through the papyrus over longer timescales, the thermal data begins to reveal features such as fiber patterns, overlapping layers, and adhesion points between the papyrus and its supporting board. These details help conservators better understand the physical condition of the manuscripts and identify areas where deterioration or detachment may be occurring.

The ability to investigate both writing and substrate morphology from the same thermal dataset provides significant advantages for restoration planning and long-term preservation strategies. The technique is particularly useful because some regions of the manuscripts contain multiple compressed layers created during the historical unrolling process. In these areas, underlying sections remained attached rather than separating cleanly, creating a complex structure that is difficult to analyze using traditional imaging methods.

The researchers also noted that some competing technologies can involve bulkier equipment, more restrictive positioning requirements, or lower image definition when examining layered material.

Future Potential
One of the remaining challenges involves identifying text located on the reverse side of the papyri or buried within heavily layered sections where only limited excitation light can penetrate. Although possible to detect residual thermal information from deeper layers, the resulting signals become increasingly weak and blurred as heat diffuses through the material.

To help overcome these limitations, the CNR team is now exploring the use of AI-based processing techniques. AI-assisted analysis could further enhance differentiation between the ink and the papyrus substrate, potentially improving readability and supporting future interpretation of the texts.

Whatever the future holds, the team is confident that pulsed thermography is set to become an increasingly valuable complementary tool alongside other advanced heritage science techniques. This exciting project has demonstrated the growing role of Flir thermal imaging technology in scientific research and preservation. By combining high-speed thermal acquisition with advanced analysis methods, researchers are now able to study some of the world’s most fragile historical artefacts in ways that were previously impossible.

Taipei, Taiwan – June 16, 2026: AVer Information Inc., an award-winning provider of AI audio-video solutions, has been honored as the “Best Telehealth Communication Technology Solutions” at the prestigious Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards 2026 presented by UK‑based Global Health & Pharma (GHP). The international accolade recognizes AVer’s commitment to advancing remote healthcare communication for patients and caregivers worldwide.

This achievement was made possible by AVer’s comprehensive portfolio of medical grade cameras, engineered to meet the demanding needs of clinical settings. From teleconsultation and virtual rounding to patient monitoring and cross-site medical collaboration, AVer’s technologies help healthcare teams communicate more clearly through reliable video, audio, and intelligent clinical support.

A prime example of AVer’s ongoing telehealth innovation is the MD331UI Medical Grade PTZ Camera, the newest addition to its line of medical grade cameras. Built with 4K clarity, 30X optical zoom, and embedded two-way audio, the MD331UI is designed to support more natural and effective communication between patients and remote care teams. Its latest Audio Processing AI captures the patient’s voice clearly while minimizing environmental background noise, helping clinicians hear every word with greater focus during virtual rounding and remote consultations. To help care teams stay focused on patient communication rather than equipment operation, the MD331UI also features effortless camera positioning, allowing nurses to manually fine-tune¹ the camera’s angle without recalibration. With 12–24V wide voltage input, optional Wi-Fi® connectivity, and image stabilization, the camera can be seamlessly integrated with battery-powered medical carts, enabling flexible deployment as part of a complete telehealth solution.

Also worth noting are two well‑established models in AVer’s medical grade cameras line — the MD720UIS and MD330UI. They deliver dependable 4K video, clear audio, and straightforward integration for telemedicine, virtual rounding, and telesitting. Their proven reliability and simple deployment have made them go‑to options for providers seeking trustworthy telehealth tools, and both are Zoom‑certified for seamless collaboration on a widely used platform.

“We are proud that our solutions are helping medical teams provide safer, smarter, and more connected patient care in hospitals and clinics around the globe,” said AVer President David Kuo. “This award fuels our commitment to innovate further, ensuring that every caregiver, no matter where they are, can deliver the highest standard of care with confidence.”

 

 

Following the release of the Intel Core Series 3 processors (formerly Wildcat Lake), AAEON has announced four upcoming platforms set to feature them.

 

(Taipei, Taiwan – June 16) Following the unveiling of the new Intel Core processors (Series 3) (formerly Wildcat Lake) in April, AAEON’s UP brand (stock code: 6579) has announced its development timeline for four new platforms that will feature the processor line, with both developer boards and edge systems included.

Expected to enter mass production in late Q3, 2026, the developer boards included in AAEON’s roadmap are the UP WCL and UP Nexus WCL. The first of these is a credit card-sized board consistent with the original UP board’s form factor, while the UP Nexus WCL represents a branding shift for the UP Squared Pro form factor, measuring 101.6mm × 101.6mm. Both boards will also offer a fully embedded edge system version, the UP WCL Edge and UP Nexus WCL Edge, designed to appeal to customers requiring plug-and-play systems.

All four platforms will be available with the option of Intel Core 7 processor 350 and Intel Core 5 processor 320 CPUs from the Wildcat Lake family, while the UP WCL will also provide SKUs with the Intel Core 3 processor 304. Delivering up to 40 TOPS of AI performance via integrated GPU and NPU but with a CPU prioritizing low power E-cores, the Intel Core series’ first integrated heterogeneous compute architecture sees AAEON position its upcoming products as suitable for building advanced applications across market segments, but with the benefit of a lower power footprint than platforms tailored to high-performance computing needs.

Both the UP WCL and UP Nexus WCL present a number of notable improvements on previous generations. For the UP WCL, a substantial boost in available system memory from the previously capped 8GB can be found, with standard UP WCL SKUs equipped with 24GB of onboard LPDDR5. Meanwhile, the UP Nexus WCL, which had previously only seen a maximum of 16GB of LPDDR5 for its UP Squared Pro line offers up to 48GB. The standard 64GB of eMMC storage typically found listed among UP product specification sheets has also seen an upgrade, with both the UP WCL and UP Nexus WCL both coming with 256GB of UFS3.1.

Standing out among the preliminary specifications for the UP WCL are a 10-pin wafer for I2C, PWM, and SPI, GPIO 8-bit, 2.5GbE LAN, and three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. Meanwhile, the UP Nexus WCL retains the conventional 40-pin GPIO offered by traditional UP boards, while adding two 10-pin headers for RS-232/422/485, two 2.5GbE LAN ports, and both dual USB Type-A (USB 3.2 Gen 2) and dual USB Type-C (USB 3.2 Gen 2×2) ports.

With respect to OS compatibility, all four offerings list support both Windows 11 LTSC and Linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

The UP WCL, UP Nexus WCL, and their corresponding edge systems are expected to enter mass production in late Q3, 2026. However, preliminary specifications are already available on the product pages located on the UP product series section of the AAEON website.

 

Specialist food and agriculture investor announces $100 million first close of Fund III as the sector enters the most attractive deployment moment in twelve years.

AMSTERDAM and BOSTON – June 16; Food and agriculture has been through a noisy capital cycle. A lot of money chased capital-intensive stories that attempted to rebuild the food system from scratch. Anterra Capital’s view is simpler and more practical. The food system is too large and too entrenched to be replaced, but it can be transformed from within, particularly by companies operating at deep leverage points that can scale on existing industry infrastructure, on economics that make sense from day one.

The close

Fund III’s first close, at $100 million against a target of $200 million, marks an important milestone for Anterra. The firm was built on the conviction that the tools that had already transformed other industries — life science tools that reshaped human health, and software that rewired sectors from logistics to financial services — would eventually transition to, and transform, food and agriculture.  

“The firm has now successfully navigated two capital cycles in food and agriculture,” said Maarten Goossens, Partner at Anterra Capital. “Each one rewarded the same discipline: backing companies that deliver real returns for their customers and to their investors. What’s different this time is that the real-world industries we operate in — large, complex and historically resistant to change — are now ready to be rewired, and the tools to do it have arrived.”

Why Fund III, why now

Food and agriculture remains the largest industry on the planet, roughly $10 trillion in size, employing around 1.3 billion people, nearly 40% of the world’s workforce. It is also where a set of structural forces is converging — margin volatility, food security, climate and water constraints, tightening regulation, and health outcomes increasingly tied to what the system produces — each one a reason the old way of operating no longer holds.

Those same forces drew a wave of capital chasing the change they promised. Global investment in food and agriculture technology surged to a historical peak of nearly $52 billion in 2021 before falling back to roughly $16 billion — 2016 levels. Much of that generalist capital backed ambitious, capital-intensive bets that failed to scale: indoor vertical farms, plant-based processed meat alternatives and 10-minute grocery delivery. Anterra took a different approach — backing science-backed companies built on real unit economics and designed to scale through existing industry channels. That retreat of capital from hype back to fundamentals is precisely what now opens the door for disciplined specialists.

And now there is AI — the defining technology shift of our era, and its impact runs deepest in the industries the last generation of software never reached: those which still run on manual workflows, fragmented data and analogue infrastructure. None is larger than food and agriculture. Two engines are now firing at once: vertical AI, the fastest-growing category in enterprise technology with investment tripling in a single year, is finally digitizing how these industries operate; in biology, AI is compressing R&D timelines, shrinking teams and slashing the capital needed to reach a first commercial milestone — unlocking a generation of opportunities that were previously out of reach for venture capital. The capital cycle has cleared the noise. And Anterra has spent twelve years building the knowledge and relationships to deploy into both.

Track record

Anterra’s investment thesis has been consistent across two funds — and with valuations reset and AI now changing the economics of building in both software and biology, the moment has finally arrived to deploy it at scale.

Anterra’s first two funds have produced top tier returns and multiple exits, including one of the largest exits ever in early-stage veterinary medicine, a Nasdaq IPO, and several other acquisitions by industry leading strategics across the value chain.

Company-building is a core part of how Anterra operates, deployed where the firm identifies white space the market has not filled. Its first company creation, Enko Chem, is discovering & developing next-generation crop protection chemistry through rational design to replace old, ineffective and unsafe products such as glyphosate, and partnering with key industry leaders, including Syngenta and Bayer Crop Science. Invetx, founded in 2018 and built by the firm from the ground up, applied proven biological approaches from human medicine to veterinary medicine and was acquired by Dechra Pharmaceuticals for over half a billion dollars within 6 years of inception.

Investor base

Anterra’s investor base spans institutional investors, food system operators and industry innovators across North America, Europe and APAC. It includes the world’s largest food and agriculture bank, one of the largest life sciences investors globally, a leading Asian sovereign wealth fund, and the world’s largest animal health company — institutions that understand both the scale of the opportunity and what it takes to capture it. Alongside them sit operators who between them farm more than 13 million acres and include leaders of some of the world’s largest CPG, bakery, produce logistics and food retail businesses.

“The vote of confidence from our investor base is what gives this close its weight,” said Adam Anders, Partner at Anterra Capital. “The combination of leading global asset managers, the institutions that know our sector backwards and the operators who farm millions of acres all backing the same thesis is an unrivalled force supporting the Anterra portfolio”.

What’s next

Fund III has already backed Anchr, an AI-native platform modernizing the back office of food distribution — a trillion-dollar industry still running largely on paper — alongside a16z Speedrun. The fund’s second investment is Animerra, a veterinary biologics company founded and built by Anterra, applying proven biological approaches to our sector and advancing its science with a lean team at a pace that would not have been possible five years ago.

“We’ve spent twelve years and two funds proving you can build category-defining companies in food and agriculture — and generate real returns doing it,” said Brett Wong, Partner at Anterra Capital. “What’s changed is that the world has finally caught up to that thesis. The technology is here, the valuations make sense, and the founders building in this sector are the best we’ve ever seen. This is the most exciting moment in our firm’s history, and Fund III is how we intend to make the most of it.”

 

The MENA Fintech Association and Swiss Fintech Association Forge Strategic Alliance to Accelerate Global Fintech Integration, Cross-Border Innovation, and Ecosystem Empowerment

 

June 15 – Abu Dhabi, UAE – The MENA Fintech Association (MFTA) and the Swiss Fintech Association (SFTA)  announced a landmark strategic partnership designed to advance a new era of cross-border collaboration, ecosystem integration, and innovation-led financial transformation across global markets.

This alliance reflects a shared conviction that the future of financial services will be defined by interconnected ecosystems, seamless knowledge exchange, and the collective empowerment of institutions, innovators, and talent across geographies.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was formally signed with the Swiss Fintech Association, represented by its President, Phillip Weights, marking a significant milestone in strengthening institutional ties between the two ecosystems. The engagement was held under the presence and facilitation of H.E. Arthur Mattli, Ambassador – Embassy of Switzerland to the United Arab Emirates & Kingdom of Bahrain, whose support underscored the strategic importance of deepening bilateral cooperation in financial innovation and reinforcing cross-border ecosystem linkages.

Philip J. Weights, SFTA President, comments: “This strategic MOU between the Swiss FinTech Association (SFTA) in Zurich and the MENA Fintech Association (MFTA) in Dubai creates a powerful cross-border corridor for wealth, innovation, and digital finance. It establishes a bridge between two of the world’s most prominent financial technology hubs.”

“This alliance is a defining step toward deepening cross-border collaboration and co-creating the future of financial innovation between our two ecosystems. It reflects a shared ambition to enable sustainable growth and global connectivity in fintech.” — Nameer Khan, Chairman, MENA Fintech Association