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Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche. Zetsche will be stepping down from the CEO role by May 2019. image: Daimler German automaker Daimler has filed a complaint to European Union antitrust regulators concerning Nokia patents in the field of car communications. This move highlights what can be termed as growing tensions between tech companies and auto companies concerning use of essential technologies. In this age of burgeoning automobile fields like ride-hailing and driverless vehicles, Auto companies and tech companies now work more closer than never, developing technologies to help both parties keep pace. To cite a few cases: As of recent, Volkswagen partnered with AWS , Toyota and Nvidia reached a deal to collaborate on driverless vehicles, Hyundai invested $300 million in Ola Cabs, Daimler -- of importance here -- acquired a majority stake in Virginia based self-driving company Torc Robotics. Daimler incoming CEO Ola Källenius. Källenius is set to replace Dieter Zetsche and

image: Apple According to CNET , a top Apple semiconductor engineer, Gerard Williams III, who has led the company's development of every processor core from the A7 to the A12x, departed the company last month after a nine year stint. This departure comes as Apple boosts efforts to create more of its components and reduce dependence on external suppliers. The company's latest spat with Qualcomm  might be a reason for this. Many phone manufacturers rely on processors made by Qualcomm. Manufacturing its own components gives Apple more control over its own devices and differentiates it from rivals. The company may also be doing this to keep up with competition from the likes of Apple and Huawei who  manufacture the bulk of its own modem chips . image: Apple Williams' departure might be a notable loss for Apple where he's listed as an inventor for more than 60 of its patents .  Before joining Apple in 2010, he held positions at chip companies Intel, Texas Instr

TransferWise co-founder and CEO  Kristo Käärmann   Photo by Eóin Noonan/MoneyConf via Sportsfile TransferWise - a U.K. payments startup valued at $1.6 billion  from a previous round - is reportedly raising $300 million in new funding at a $4 billion valuation. Reuters reports this , citing people familiar with the matter. A $4 billion valuation would set TransferWise as the top-most valued fintech in Europe, surpassing N26's $2.7 billion valuation from a January round. Reuters says the latest fundraising round for TransferWise is being organised by Goldman Sachs. TransferWise has already raised some $480 million in debt and equity funding according to Crunchbase data . Investors in the company include Andreessen Horowitz, Sapphire Ventures, Virgin Group, Baillie Gifford, JP Morgan, IVP (Institutional Venture Partners) and LHV Ventures. TransferWise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus Foto: picture alliance für DLD According to its website, TransferWise currently moves

Benchmark Capital general partner Matt Cohler. Cohler led a previous round - via Benchmark - for 1stdibs and sits on its board Photograph by Kevin Moloney/Fortune Brainstorm Tech 1stdibs - a marketplace for luxury goods and accessories like jewelry, furnishings, fine arts and vintage clothing - has raised $76 million in Series D funding led by funds advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, with participation from luxury goods holding company Groupe Artémis, former Alibaba executive Michael Zeisser, and Allen & Company. 1stdibs says it plans to use the investment to boost its core business, grow other categories, expand into international markets and make strategic acquisitions. Including this round, 1stdibs - which had $250 million in sales last year - has raised $170 million in equity funding. Other investors in the company include Index Ventures, Spark Capital, and Benchmark. Index Ventures partner Danny Rimer. Rimer previously co-led a round for 1stdibs - via Index Ve

image: Toast Toast - a Boston based restaurant management startup - has raised $250 million Series E funding led by TCV and Tiger Global, with participation from existing investors like Bessemer Venture Partners. This comes on the heels of a $115 million round in July 2018 that valued the company at $1.4 billion. That valuation has nearly doubled with this round to $2.7 billion. Toast has now raised some $500 million in total, according to Crunchbase data . Other notable backers include T. Rowe Price, Lead Edge Capital, Eight Roads Ventures and Generation Investment Management. The 2013 founded startup has seen some 148% growth in revenues, according to CFO Tim Barash in a statement to TechCrunch . image: Toast Toast joins other startups like Rent the Runway , Airwallex , Casper , PayIt , Tarana Wireless , and Doctolib  that have raised huge funding recently. According to TechCrunch's post, Toast has committed some $1 billion over the next five years into R&D aim

The AirPower wireless charging mat image: Apple Apple has announced it's discontinuing the AirPower wireless charging mat that it unveiled in 2017 on the same day it revealed the iPhone X. This is rare retreat for Apple which made the AirPower mat with intention to wirelessly charge up to three Apple devices at a time. Apple is not known to cancel already announced devices, making this a kind of surprising one. Apple said it concluded that the AirPower mat “will not achieve our high standards”, leading to its shutter. “We apologize to those customers who were looking forward to this launch,” Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, Dan Riccio, said in a statement. “We continue to believe that the future is wireless and are committed to push the wireless experience forward.” image: Apple Just recently, Apple released a new version of the AirPods  with support for a wireless charging case. This led to speculations that an accompanying wireless charging

(From left-right) Torc Robotics CEO Michael Fleming and Daimler Trucks CEO Roger Nielsen image: Daimler Daimler Trucks has reached a deal to acquire a majority stake in Torc Robotics - a Blacksburg, Virginia based self-driving company founded in 2005 - for an undisclosed sum. Both parties will join forces to work on commercialisation of automated trucks on U.S. roads. Torc's team will collaborate with Daimler Trucks' developers, particularly its R&D team in the state of Oregon for this. Torc will continue to develop the Asimov automated driving software it's known for at its Virginia facility. It'll still remain a separate entity maintaining its name, team, facilities and existing customers in the state of Virginia. The partnership with Daimler will enable it significantly expand its team and service its customer base in other markets, a press release noted. A Torc self-driving vehicle image: Torc Robotics Torc Robotics with around 100 emplo

Andreessen Horowitz co-founder and general partner Ben Horowitz image: (cc) Kenneth Yeung - www.snapfoc.us On the heels of an $80 million raise that valued the company at $800 million, Carta - a startup that lets founders, investors and employees manage investments and stakes in private companies - is said to be raising $300 million in new funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Goldman Sachs. The report comes from The Information , which says Andreessen Horowitz (also known as a16z) is leading the round with a $100 million investment. Carta will be valued at $1.8 billion with this round, the tech news site also said. Such valuation would imply a new addition to the unicorn club, one that recently welcomed the likes of Airwallex , Casper and Rent the Runway , with China's Mobvoi also  gearing for that . Andreessen Horowitz co-founder and general partner Marc Andreessen image: JD Lasica on Flickr Carta - whi

image: BMW The new BMW 1 Series is currently under test at a BMW testing centre in Miramas, Southern France. This would mark the final test for the vehicle before it heads to the markets. Extensive tests will be made on camouflaged pre-series versions of the new vehicle, which BMW says is a result of five years of "intensive" development work. The new BMW 1 Series will come with features like: A newly developed 4-cylinder engine More legroom / interior space Increased luggage compartment capacity (from 360 litres to 380 litres) ARB technology (a wheel slip control system), a feature only previously available on the BMW i3 BMW front-wheel drive architecture. The new vehicle will be officially unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show holding from 22 November - 2 December. Have more looks at the upcoming vehicle in the pictures below: image: BMW image: BMW image: BMW image: BMW image: BMW

PayIt co-founder and CEO John Thomson image: PayIt PayIt, a Kansas City, Missouri fintech known for its payments platform targeted at public services, has raised more than $100 million in funding from New York-based VC firm Insight Partners. The company had previously raised some $4.5 million prior to this round, according to Crunchbase data . Investors include Missouri Technology Corporation, KCRise Fund, Royal Street Ventures, Weatherford Partners, Advantage Capital and Zego CEO Adam Blake. PayIt says the new funding will allow it to expand its reach and product capabilities. PayIt partners with the three levels of government: state, local and federal, enabling a digital payments platform for public services. PayIt co-founder and COO Mike Plunkett image: PayIt "As consumers, we increasingly expect world-class mobile experiences in everything we do, from booking hotel rooms to getting rides to ordering groceries," Insight Partners Managing Director Ryan

U.S. Army Chief of Staff, General Mark A Milley U.S. Army photo by Timothy L. Hale Palantir has landed a contract with the U.S. Army to deploy a complex battlefield intelligence system for soldiers, The Washington Post reports . The contract is potentially worth over $800 million, the paper noted. According to industry experts, this will mark the first time the U.S. government had sought the services of a Silicon Valley software company to lead a noteworthy defense program with a dedicated line of funding from the U.S. Congress. According to the Post, The U.S Army chose Palantir and defense contractor Raytheon to contend for the next phase of Distributed Common Ground System (or DCGS-A, for Army), a software that lets its users fetch and analyze information about enemy movements, weather, and terrain to generate real-time reports and detailed maps. Palantir co-founder and Executive Chairman Peter Thiel Photo: picture alliance/Tobias Hase Critics within the Army a

image: Geely Daimler and Chinese auto manufacturer Geely has entered a joint venture to "own, operate and further develop smart, the pioneer of small urban vehicles". Daimler and Geely will assemble EV models at a new electric car factory to be built in China, with sales aimed to begin by 2022. This joint venture comes on the heels of another collaboration by automakers Toyota, Hino, Honda and Softbank . The new joint venture will be headed by six executives: three each from Daimler and Geely. Geely chairman Li Shufu and CEO An Conghui will be among the six. (From left-right) Geely chairman Li Shufu and Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche image: Daimler The new vehicles to be produced by the joint venture will be styled by Mercedes-Benz while Geely provides the engineering facilities. Prior to launch of new models from 2022, Daimler will continue the production of its "smart vehicles" at its Hambach plant in France and at Novo Mesto, Slovenia. The Ge

The Honda Asimo humanoid robot image: Honda Monet - a joint venture between Softbank and Toyota - has entered into a partnership with Japanese manufacturer Hino Motors and Honda. Hino and Honda will each invest 249.95 million yen ($2.6 million) for stakes of 10%. This partnership involves Monet harnessing data Hino collects from its trucks and buses and that of Honda's. "Through this collaboration with Monet, Honda hopes to realize the more efficient promotion of acquiring users and social acceptance of mobility services, various experimental projects, and public relations activities for necessary regulatory changes. Honda wants to contribute to the revitalization of the mobility service industry in Japan and solve traffic-related problems facing Japanese society." Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo said in a statement. Honda Ie-Mobi image: Honda Softbank, Toyota and Honda have made several efforts in the automobile 'mobility' space. Toyota recently coll

image: Casper Casper - the New York based startup known for its line of direct-to-consumer sold mattresses and other sleep items - has been valued at $1.1 billion with $100 million in new funding, according to Bloomberg . The report says Casper plans to officially announce the funding soon and that it'll be geared towards international expansion and growth of its physical retail locations. Casper has already raised some $240 million: $13.1 million Series A funding, $55 million Series B funding and $170 million Series C funding. Investors include Target, rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Lerer Hippeau, Norwest Venture Partners, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), SV Angel, Slow Ventures, and celebrities Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Adam Levine, and Scooter Braun. image: Casper According to Bloomberg, Casper surpassed $400 million in revenue last year. The company is part of a burgeoning list of startups that sell niche items directly to consumers mostly

A man and a woman rock Mobvoi smartwatches image: Mobvoi Mobvoi - A Chinese AI and smartwatch startup known for its development of in-house voice search technologies - is close to securing funding at a $1 billion valuation, Bloomberg reports . It says Mobvoi is seeking to raise $100 million ahead of planed IPO on a proposed board for tech companies in Shanghai. A $1 billion valuation would imply a new addition to the unicorn club from the Chinese region. Mobvoi has already raised nearly $250 million according to Crunchbase data , from investors including Google, Sequoia Capital China, ZhenFund and Volkswagen. Mobvoi has a noteworthy link with Google, having marked as the tech giant's first direct investment in China after shuttering its search engine in the country in 2010. Mobvoi CEO Zhifei Li image: Mobvoi Mobvoi was founded in 2012 by ex-Googlers and also counts Google as a partner. Google collaborated with the company in 2015 to get Android Wear into the C

image: Volkswagen Amazon Web Services continues to be on a tear, with Pinterest's recent IPO prospectus revealing a commitment to spend $750 million on AWS through 2023 . Now automaker Volkswagen has tapped AWS to developed what it calls the "Volkswagen Industrial Cloud". The agreement is a multi-year one that'll involve combination of data of machines, systems and plants from all Volkswagen's 122 facilities. Volkswagen is adopting a portfolio of AWS services including internet of Things (IoT), machine learning analytics and compute services for this effort. The company says the platform it aims to create will "standardize and simplify" exchange of data between its automotive systems and plants. Such platform will aid in deployment of technologies like robotics and analysis of production processes. The platform Volkswagen is creating will also be made open to other industrial companies. image: Volkswagen “Volkswagen's and AWS's co

McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook image: McDonald's Popular restaurant chain McDonald's has reached a deal to acquire Dynamic Yield, a New York and Tel Aviv based 'personalization' startup. McDonald's says it will utilize Dynamic Yield's technology - which applies machine learning for product and content recommendations - to "provide an even more personalized customer experience by varying outdoor digital Drive Thru menu displays to show food based on time of day, weather, current restaurant traffic and trending menu items." Dynamic Yield's tech will also enable it instantly suggest and display additional items to customers' orders based on their selections. This will make McDonalds one of the first to integrate "decision technology" into point of sale at brick and mortar solutions. The restaurant chain has already tested this technology in several U.S. restaurants last year. image: McDonald's Once the Dynamic

image: UPS UPS has partnered with drone startup Matternet to deliver medical samples via unmanned drones. Deliveries will take place at the hospital and campus of WakeMed in Raleigh, North Carolina. Test flights have already taken place at the campus in August 2018 as part of a pilot program set up by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA has set up a three-year long program that aims to test practical applications of drones by working with private companies and local governments. UPS will make use of Matternet's M2 quadcopter - one powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, capable of ferrying medical payloads weighing up to about 5 lbs. over distances of up to 12.5 miles. - for the deliveries. The Matternet M2 quadcopter image: Matternet The quadcopter will fly through a pre-determined path - while monitored by a specially trained pilot - to a fixed landing pad at WakeMed’s main hospital and central pathology lab. The three parties involved - UPS

Airwallex co-founder and CEO Jack Zhang image: Airwallex Airwallex - a facilitator for cross-border payments - has raised  $100 million Series C funding led by DST Global, hitting a $1 billion valuation in the process. Existing investors including Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, Horizons Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Gobi Partners and Square Peg Capital also participated in this round. Australian founded Airwallex has now raised more than $200 million in total funding, just three years after its start. The company says it'll deploy the new capital to expand its suite of payments products and to support expansion into the US, UK, and Southeast Asia. It'll also further product development with this new funding. Airwallex co-founder and president Lucy Liu image: Airwallex Airwallex notably provides a solution for businesses to process international transactions. Customers can create accounts on Airwallex with local bank details and pay for services globally. C

image: Apple Apple has unveiled the Apple Card , a new type of credit card that's built into the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone, offering customers a similar experience to Apple Pay and the ability to manage their cards right from the smartphone. There'll also be a physical titanium card, but one without a credit card number, CVV, signature or expiration date. The Apple Card carries no fees and also "interest rates that are among the lowest in the industry" according to Apple. It says the card will offer the "flexibility to schedule more frequent payments" and show a range of payment options and calculate the interest cost on various payment amounts in real-time. image: Apple One unique feature of the Apple Card is privacy and security, with a unique card number created and stored on a microprocessor chip on the iPhone for each card. Every transaction will have to be authorized with Face ID or Touch ID and a one-time unique dynamic security cod

image: Apple Along with a new games subscription service and news subscription service , Apple has premiered a new video subscription service - Apple TV+ - that'll feature new content from the likes of Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, J.J. Abrams, Jason Momoa, Octavia Spencer, Jennifer Anniston, Reese Witherspoon and more. Exclusive shows, movies, and documentaries are what users will be getting from the new service, signaling more competition for the likes of Netflix and Amazon. This comes on the heels of YouTube reportedly canceling plans for all its high-end Hollywood dramas and comedies, to focus on music and gaming. In addition, Apple has also unveiled a new Apple TV app and new channels that'll launch in May. Users are now able to subscribe to new Apple TV channels like HBO, Starz and Showtime, and pay for only the services they want with the new version. The new app will offer suggestions for movies and shows from more than 150 video streaming apps, inclu

image: Apple Apple has unveiled a new news subscription service - Apple News+ - that features more than 300 popular magazines, newspapers, and digital publishers. They include The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic Magazine, People, Vanity Fair, The Oprah Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, GQ, Condé Nast Traveler, Rolling Stone, theSlimm, Vox, Extra Crunch from TechCrunch, Grub Street, ELLE and more. The new news subscription service is optimized for the iPhone, iPad and Mac, showcasing magazines "...in richly designed layouts, featuring animated covers, vivid photography and bold typography", according to Apple. It'll be available in the U.S. and Canada. Apple will keep supporting the free Apple News service the US, Canada, UK and Australia. The company has also unveiled a game subscription service that'll debut on the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV later this year.

"The Pathless" is an upcoming game from Annapurna Interactive, that'll be available on Apple Arcade later this year image: Apple Apple has unveiled a game subscription service - dubbed Apple Arcade - that it says will feature more than 100 new and exclusive games, including original titles from popular game creators Will Wright, Hironobu Sakaguchi and Ken Wong at launch. The new games subscription service will focus on paid games, and feature other games from the likes of Cartoon Network, Annapurna Interactive, Bossa Studios, Giant Squid, Konami, Lego, Snowman, Finji and more. To make it simple, Apple Arcade will be sort of a Spotify for games, with users able to access several paid games on the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV for a monthly fee. That entails players getting the opportunity to try various paid games without breaking bank. Apple says every game available on the upcoming service will be playable offline, with users able to pick up where they left off

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki image: Jolanda Flubacher / World Economic Forum According to a Bloomberg report , YouTube has axed plans for high-end Hollywood dramas and comedies, bowing out of competition with the likes of Netflix and Amazon. The report says canceled shows include sci-fi drama Origin and comedy Overthinking with Kat & June , citing people with knowledge of the matter. A pull-back likely reflects high expenses for scripted shows. Even for a tech giant for YouTube parent Google, original shows could cost much amid competition from video streaming leader Netflix and Amazon which have spent billions of dollars on content production and acquisition. In 2018 alone, Netflix spent $8 billion on content and is expected to spend up to $15 billion this year. A Google office image: Google Apple is also getting into the video streaming space, with a service expected for debut soon. It'll reportedly charge $10 per month for access to channels like HBO, Showt

Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla image: JD Lasica / Flickr Tarana Wireless - a Santa Clara, California based company focused on wireless network access services - has announced $60 million in new funding from Khosla Ventures and satellite communications giant EchoStar. With this round, Tarana has now raised nearly $200 million in total funding. As part of the round, EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen, Khosla Ventures partner Samir Kaul and OneWeb chairman Greg Wyler are joining Tarana's board. This comes on the heels of former EchoStar EVP Kranti Kilaru joining Tarana Wireless as president. Khosla Ventures partner Samir Kaul image: Juccce / Flickr Tarana currently employs some 165 people and aims to grow its team by 35 employees by mid-year. “We are excited to complete this round of financing, which allows us to finish our product development efforts and start commercial trials with a number of tier 1 operators who are now making plans for that phase.” COO S