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Kai Nicol-Schwarz

@kainicolschwarz.bsky.social
47 followers 47 following 17 posts

Senior reporter at the Financial Times' Sifted | UK tech and healthtech | kai@sifted.eu | he/him

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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
DeepMind spinout Isomorphic Labs has poached a significant chunk of its headcount from rivals Exscientia and BenevolentAI, after they struggled to retain a foothold in a challenging drug discovery market. sifted.eu/articles/iso...
sifted.eu
DeepMind spinout Isomorphic Labs poaches talent from embattled AI rivals
The Demis Hassabis-founded company raised a $600m round from Thrive Capital on Monday
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
DeepMind spinout Isomorphic Labs has raised $600m from OpenAI and Stripe-backer Thrive Capital, as it looks to advance its AI-designed drug candidates to clinical trials by the end of the year. sifted.eu/articles/iso...
sifted.eu
DeepMind spinout Isomorphic Labs raises $600m from Thrive Capital
Google Ventures and Alphabet also participated in the company's first external round
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
US defence tech Anduril will open a factory and R&D facility in the UK, as it looks to establish a European presence in the face of rising geopolitical tensions and increased defence spending in the region sifted.eu/articles/and...
sifted.eu
Anduril to open UK factory and R&D centre
The US tech giant’s expansion follows recent moves from Germany’s Helsing and France’s Mistral to court UK armed forces
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Automation software giant UiPath has acquired SoftBank-backed data analytics startup Peak, as it looks to use the UK company's tech to roll out a suite of AI agents. sifted.eu/articles/uip...
sifted.eu
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Deliveroo reported its first full year of profit on Thursday, following a bruising few years for the food delivery sector that’s seen many make layoffs and exit international markets. sifted.eu/articles/del...
sifted.eu
Deliveroo reports first full-year of profit following layoffs and market exits
The food delivery giant announced it was shutting its Hong Kong business earlier this week
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
AI erotic companion startup Oh has plans to roll out agents that can market themselves on social media and direct message users with spicy conversation starters. But first it's got to convince enough users it’s not that weird turning to AI for romance. sifted.eu/articles/ai-...
sifted.eu
Meet the AI OnlyFans: How one startup raised millions to build an ‘erotic companions’ platform
London-based Oh has won the backing of less risk-averse investors
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Electric vehicle startup Arrival has shut down operations and made all but one member of staff redundant after a planned sale of the beleaguered company collapsed. sifted.eu/articles/arr...
sifted.eu
EV startup Arrival shuts down operations, lays off staff after sale plan collapses
Once valued at $13bn, the UK electric van maker fell into administration in early 2024
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Europe’s AI startups are being forced to ramp up creative recruiting tactics as they sweat over a talent shortage among AI workers and try to outcompete each other for the best hires sifted.eu/articles/ai-...
sifted.eu
AI talent crisis: How European startups are looking to outcompete rivals for tech workers
Execs at Europe's AI darlings are cosying up to researchers, upskilling employees and turning to AI agents to overcome the worker shortage.
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
AI analytics startup Quantexa has raised $175m as it looks to deepen its presence in the US and hunts for startups to acquire sifted.eu/articles/qua...
sifted.eu
AI analytics startup Quantexa hunts for acquisitions as it raises $175m
The Series F round sees the UK company hit a $2.6bn valuation
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Autonomous driving startup Wayve has announced plans for a new site in Germany, as the company steps up global expansion in a bid to secure its first commercial deals following a record $1bn round in 2024 sifted.eu/articles/way...
sifted.eu
AI self-driving car startup Wayve eyes global expansion with Germany launch
The SoftBank, Nvidia and Microsoft-backed company raised a record $1bn round in 2024
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Unicorn femtech Flo is on the hunt for startups to acquire, as it looks to expand into new health verticals and ramp up revenue in the wake of a record 2024 fundraise. sifted.eu/articles/flo...
sifted.eu
Unicorn Flo Health eyeing startup acquisitions following $200m fundraise
Period-tracking app Flo last year won the backing of US investor General Atlantic, and is on the hunt for other startups to buy.
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
ElevenLabs releases new AI model it says outperforms rivals at Google and OpenAI sifted.eu/articles/ele...
sifted.eu
ElevenLabs releases new AI model it says outperforms rivals at Google and OpenAI
The launch of the startup’s first speech-to-text model comes weeks on from its $180m raise
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
‘Humans need not apply’: Are AI agents already taking our jobs? sifted.eu/articles/ai-...
sifted.eu
‘Humans need not apply’: Are AI agents already taking our jobs?
Estonia's Hertwill is the latest startup advertising for "AI-only" roles
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
NEW: Luminance raises $75m as it doubles down on AI agents for legal sector sifted.eu/articles/lum...
sifted.eu
Luminance raises $75m as it doubles down on AI agents for legal sector
The round comes less than a year on from the startup's $40m Series B
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
NEW: AI compute provider Ori raises $140m to roll out access to Nvidia superchips sifted.eu/articles/ori...
sifted.eu
AI compute provider Ori raises $140m to roll out access to Nvidia superchips
The startup says a larger raise is currently underway and expected to close in 2025
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
NaturalX, the VC arm of German pharmaceutical giant Schwabe Group, has unveiled a new €100m fund to back early-stage consumer health startups in Europe, amid a flurry of big money investments in the sector. sifted.eu/articles/nat...
sifted.eu
Pharma giant Schwabe unveils €100m fund for European consumer health startups
The announcement of the new fund comes on the back of some big money rounds for the region's D2C healthtechs.
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Kai Nicol-Schwarz @kainicolschwarz.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
NEW: Keir Starmer wooed AI leaders at an invite-only Downing Street party on Tuesday. Not invited? I spoke to those on the guestlist to find out what all the fuss was about. sifted.eu/articles/kei...
sifted.eu
Keir Starmer woos AI leaders at invite-only Downing Street party
The Labour leader launched a charm offensive after months of rocky relations with business leaders
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