Connect with us
MARE BALTICUM Gaming & TECH Summit 2024

Artificial Intelligence

Spring Lane Capital Announces $35M Project Equity Commitment to Soluna – the Leading Developer of Truly Green Crypto Projects

Published

on

BOSTON, May 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Spring Lane Capital, a private equity firm focused on providing hybrid project capital for sustainability solutions in the energy, food, water, waste and transportation industries, announced today a $35M project equity commitment to Soluna Computing Inc., a developer of green data centers for cryptocurrency mining and other intensive computing. Spring Lane’s commitment will help develop at least three behind-the-meter (BTM) projects designed to convert wasted renewable energy into clean computing services such as bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence. Soluna’s total funding for data centers co-located with renewable energy assets has now reached $100 million.

“Soluna is the first company we’ve seen that is actually using bitcoin operations to directly address the global climate challenge, and we are thrilled to partner with John and his team to create ‘additionality’ through consumption of wasted renewable energy or ‘spilled power,'” said Rob Day, Partner and Co-Founder of Spring Lane Capital. “Soluna’s unique offering fixes both crypto’s climate related issues and renewable power’s grid problem. In an industry beset with greenwashing, Soluna offers a compelling solution for investment banks and technology giants who are increasingly betting on cryptocurrencies but are also concerned about its climate effects. No other developer provides a combination of low-cost mining, an inherent ESG benefit and an ability to transition towards other forms of green computing over time.”

“We are thrilled to have a pioneering sustainability project finance firm like Spring Lane Capital support our mission to make renewable energy the world’s primary energy source,” said John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna Computing, Inc.

Through its solutions, Soluna is facilitating more penetration of renewables onto the grid and true “greening” of cryptocurrencies and data center operations. The developer consumes green power that otherwise would have been “spilled” and never generated because of the limitations of the electricity grid. By providing a reliable, local demand for the power generated by wind and solar farms, the Soluna variable data center solution can significantly boost the bottom line of wind and solar farm developers. This prevents the wind and solar farm from being shut down prematurely, while further encouraging those same developers to bring future additional renewables projects onto the grid.

Cryptocurrencies are a rapidly increasing climate and environmental problem, because of the fast-growing energy consumption required. While many in the cryptocurrency mining industry acknowledge this challenge, to date most of what has been touted as “green bitcoin” do not withstand scrutiny. Beyond cryptocurrency mining in particular, data centers are also a fast-growing consumer of electricity. Traditional data centers are connected to the grid 24/7/365 with a focus on resiliency and thus often rely on a carbon intensive grid. By focusing on frequently curtailed renewable generation, and with their proprietary variable data center design, Soluna is able to consume low-cost renewable energy for more than a majority of its energy while also providing struggling renewable generators with an additional revenue stream, creating true “additionality.”

“Until now the few touted green crypto solutions have, in my opinion, been about getting to ‘net zero’ at best. Soluna has pioneered a way to power crypto using stranded energy assets from wind and solar farms. We knew they were different from our very first meeting, because the Soluna team was focused on solving a major problem for renewable power developers first, and this led them to this variable data center solution. Because it’s stranded assets, it’s cost effective. And from a green perspective, it solves a huge problem for the wind and solar energy sector while providing a wholly additive green energy solution for crypto, rather than so many other efforts that are either simply buying green power, or even worse are just using green rhetoric.”

“The Soluna approach will allow for struggling renewable projects to remain profitable and therefore keep producing renewable power; stimulate further renewable capacity expansion as developers now have additional revenue streams to finance projects; and enhance the reliability of the grid by synchronizing supply and demand. As a result, the primary environmental benefit to the Soluna model will be further penetration of renewables onto the grid, in ways that would not happen without their variable demand solution,” Day added. 

Today’s news follows Spring Lane Capital’s announcement in April regarding a second close of approximately $50 million for its second private fund, bringing this fund’s total AUM to $200M and Spring Lane Capital’s total AUM to $350M. The fund finances entrepreneurs and project developers in the sustainable infrastructure sectors including food & ag, energy, water, waste and transportation. Spring Lane Capital announced a $151M first close of the second fund in November 2021.

About Spring Lane Capital: 
Spring Lane Capital is a private equity firm based in Boston, MA and Montreal, QC focused on providing hybrid project capital for sustainability solutions in the energy, food, water, waste and transportation industries. The firm’s structured financial model seeks to tap into some of the fastest growing segments of these markets, that more traditional forms of project capital cannot access due to their scale and the limitations of existing investment models. For more information, please visit springlanecapital.com.

Media Contact:
Cindy Stoller
Confluence Partners
917-331-0418
[email protected]

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

GlobeNewswire is one of the world's largest newswire distribution networks, specializing in the delivery of corporate press releases financial disclosures and multimedia content to the media, investment community, individual investors and the general public.

Artificial Intelligence

Elevate Your Virtual Reality Experience with KIWI design RGB Vertical Stand, Now Available on Meta’s Website

Published

on

elevate-your-virtual-reality-experience-with-kiwi-design-rgb-vertical-stand,-now-available-on-meta’s-website

LOS ANGELES, May 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Top-tier VR accessories provider KIWI design has launched its latest product, the RGB Vertical Stand. This Meta-authorized accessory, designed to deepen users’ immersion in the metaverse, is now available on the official Meta website.

“KIWI design’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of virtual reality accessories takes another leap forward with the introduction of our new products,” said Ray,the CEO of KIWI design. “We are always dedicated to bringing innovative upgrades to VR device accessories, with the goal of enriching users’ virtual reality experiences.”
The newly launched RGB Vertical Stand features a user-friendly modular design with push-in assembly, making it easy to set up and use. It is compatible with Meta Quest 3, Quest 2, and Quest Pro, ensuring widespread usability. With a magnetic USB Type-C connector, it provides an effortless way to charge and display your headset. Users can also customize their display with 16 pre-set ambient multicolor RGB light options.
With VR technology constantly evolving, users are seeking more immersive experiences. As a leading manufacturer of VR accessories, KIWI design is committed to enhancing the user experience, through unique product designs. Since its establishment in 2015, KIWI design has acquired over 100 patents and has a diverse product lineup, including head straps, facial interfaces, VR stands, charging accessories, and controller grip covers.
KIWI design has also actively participated in the Made for Meta program, which is provided by Meta to strengthen its partnerships with leading brands to deliver accessories that enhance Meta products with more choice and a richer experience for everyone. KIWI design’s participation in this program validates its high-quality design standards.
The RGB Vertical Stand for Meta Quest 3, Quest 2, and Quest Pro and another specially designed authorized charging dock for the Meta  Oculus Quest 2 are now available for purchase on both KIWI design’s website and Amazon. For more information about our brand and products, please visit our website and follow KIWI design on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube and TikTok.
https://www.kiwidesign.com/
https://www.facebook.com/KIWIdesignOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/kiwidesignins/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOzFWarIschBuBfNz01Oucw
TikTok – Make Your Day
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2410344/image.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/elevate-your-virtual-reality-experience-with-kiwi-design-rgb-vertical-stand-now-available-on-metas-website-302142936.html

Continue Reading

Artificial Intelligence

WIO Taps Gracenote to Revolutionize Television Broadcast Reporting

Published

on

wio-taps-gracenote-to-revolutionize-television-broadcast-reporting

LOS ANGELES, May 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — WIO LLC, parent company of the global TV broadcast airings platform, WIOpro™, has announced a new strategic agreement with Gracenote, the global content data business unit of Nielsen, to address the longstanding challenge of accurately tracking and collecting music royalties generated by broadcast television and digital programming, With this agreement, WIO will integrate Gracenote TV program metadata and show airings into its WIOpro™ (“When’s It On – Professional”) platform enabling performance rights organizations, copyright management organizations and other entities to better monitor broadcast schedules and identify when royalties have been earned.

By integrating Gracenote historical program data into WIOpro’s new LookBack™ feature, WIO is enhancing its reporting capabilities and empowering Collection Societies, Rights Management Companies and the royalty-earning community to more easily monitor and export broadcast airings and better understand collections opportunities.
“At WIO, we are committed to empowering collection societies and copyright holders around the world with our platform tools and unprecedented access to the best and most accurate television broadcast and streaming data available,” said Shawn Pierce, Co-Founder and CEO of WIO LLC. “We have enjoyed an incredible relationship with Gracenote for 10 years. With the solidification of this agreement, we are able to deliver an unrivaled dataset to the royalty and residual community in a way that has not been offered before.” said Adam Shafron, Co-Founder and CTO of WIO LLC.
“WIO’s platform developed to solve the difficult matter of royalty tracking only becomes more powerful based on the integration of accurate, timely and comprehensive Gracenote metadata,” said Scott Monahan, Director, Strategic Partnerships, Gracenote. “We look forward to the combination of WIOpro’s technology and Gracenote’s program metadata delivering on the promise of transforming music royalty collection so that rights holders can be fairly compensated for use of their work.”
WIO and Gracenote will be at the MusicBiz 2024 conference in Nashville, TN May 13 – 16. Contact Dave Pelman, COO of WIO LLC at [email protected] for media queries or to book an appointment for a product demonstration.
About WIO:WIO is a technology company dedicated to providing broadcast television and digital programming data tailored specifically for the royalty and residual collection industry. Through its platform WIOpro (wiopro.com), users obtain access to real-time broadcast insights, reporting and curated data delivery.
About Gracenote:Gracenote is the content data business unit of Nielsen providing entertainment metadata, connected IDs and related offerings to the world’s leading creators, distributors and platforms. Gracenote enables advanced content navigation and discovery capabilities helping individuals easily connect to the TV shows, movies, music, podcasts and sports they love while delivering powerful content analytics making complex business decisions simpler.
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2410159/wio_gracenote.jpg
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2410160/powered_by_gracenote_logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/wio-taps-gracenote-to-revolutionize-television-broadcast-reporting-302142826.html

Continue Reading

Artificial Intelligence

IDTechEx Explores Printed Electronics in Electrified and Autonomous Mobility

Published

on

idtechex-explores-printed-electronics-in-electrified-and-autonomous-mobility

BOSTON, May 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Electrification, autonomy, and vehicle ownership saturation are causing a technological revolution in the automotive sector. These automotive meta-trends are driving drastic changes in electronic component requirements and present a high-volume opportunity for printed electronics to capitalize on.

Historically, printed electronics technologies have nurtured a close relationship with the automotive sector, with printed force sensors pioneering passenger safety through seat occupancy and seatbelt detection. As such, the automotive sector continues to represent the lion’s share of the global printed and flexible sensor market, which IDTechEx’s report on the topic evaluates as worth US$421M in 2024. However, if the automotive sector is to continue to be a reliable revenue stream, printed electronics technology providers must adapt to address the emerging technical challenges facing future mobility.
Augmenting autonomous vehicles with printed electronics
As vehicle autonomy levels advance, the increasing number and distribution of spatial mapping sensors required will need continuous performance improvements to ensure passenger safety. Emerging printed electronics technologies can augment these sensors, extending detection bandwidth and maximizing reliability during operation.
Transparent conductive films (TCFs) are being developed to heat and defog LiDAR sensor panels, ensuring the function is unperturbed by external environmental conditions. Properties such as high transparency and low haze are important for defogging. These properties can be easily tuned using the wide variety of material options available for TCFs, including carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires.
IDTechEx identifies printed heating as a leading application of transparent conductive films. This is attributed to diminishing growth prospects in capacitive touch sensing applications. Innovations in thin film coating techniques have enabled indium tin oxide (ITO) to dominate touch sensing applications, all but displacing TCFs completely.
Looking towards the future, printed electronics technologies could play a more active role in advanced autonomous driving. Emerging semiconductive materials, such as quantum dots, printed directly onto conventional silicon image sensor arrays can extend detection range and sensitivity deeper into the infrared region. Augmenting existing image sensor technology with enhanced spectral range could facilitate the competition of hybrid silicon sensors with established InGaAs detectors.
Printed sensors promise granularized battery health monitoring
Vehicle electrification is driving the sustained development and evolution of electronic management systems, particularly in the battery and electric drivetrain. A strong market pull exists for technologies that increase vehicle efficiency, range, and lifetime while reducing recharge times.
Printed pressure and temperature sensors measure battery cell swelling and thermal profiles, providing granularized physical data that can be used to optimize battery deployment and recharging. Moreover, hybrid printed sensors that combine integrated printed heating elements promise a solution to actively address battery temperature. IDTechEx estimates that printed sensor-enabled battery deployment and charging optimizations could be worth up to US$3000 in savings per vehicle.
There remains uncertainty about whether electrification trends will correspond to increased demand for physical sensors in electric vehicle batteries, owing to the utility of existing electronic readouts for managing deployment. Virtual sensors also pose a threat, where AI-enabled software models interpret data to predict and emulate physical sensor functions without the need for discreet components. However, emerging regulations regarding safety and sensor redundancy will likely favor measurable metrics and see automotive makers continue to adopt physical sensors. IDTechEx predicts that virtual sensors are unlikely to displace their physical counterparts – so long as low-cost sensors remain widely available.
Embedding printed electronics in the car of the future
IDTechEx predicts that global car sales will saturate over the next decade, with automakers increasingly looking for premium features and technical innovations to differentiate themselves from the competition. In-cabin technologies will be highly desirable – as the location where passengers reside and interact with the vehicle the most.
Lighting elements are emerging as a prominent differentiator, described as “the new chrome” by Volkswagen’s chief designer. The use of in-mold structural electronics (IMSE) enables the integration of embedded lighting elements using existing manufacturing processes. 3D electronics technologies are intrinsically attractive for automotive integration, as functional layers are conformable and lightweight while easily embedded within existing aesthetic elements.
Despite strong tailwinds, the adoption of in-mold electronics within automotive interiors has been sluggish. This is attributed to the challenges of meeting automotive qualification requirements, as well as stiff competition with less sophisticated alternatives such as applying functional films to thermoformed parts. Nevertheless, momentum is building, with technology providers like Tactotek partnering with Mercedes-Benz and Stallantis to progress the automotive validation of IMSE to TRL5.
Outlook for printed electronics in automotive applications
Just as printed force sensors heralded early passenger safety systems, printed electronics technology is poised to underpin next-generation innovations for the car of the future. But this time, the competition will be stiff. Critical cost requirements must be met, while desirable new functionality must address existing challenges faced by manufacturers. Printed electronics can play a role in supporting emerging electrified and autonomous mobility, such as augmenting LiDAR sensors or optimizing electric battery deployment. Demand for technologies that enhance passenger experience and vehicle aesthetics will continue to grow, and printed electronics can supply low-power, lightweight lighting solutions for these.
Sustained engagement from tier suppliers and manufacturers continues to make the automotive sector key to printed sensor market growth opportunities – a total market IDTechEx predicts will reach US$960M by 2034. Strong partnerships between material providers and printed electronics technology providers are complementary to those of the highly vertically integrated automotive value chains between tier suppliers and OEMs. Leveraging printing techniques to provide solutions that slot into existing manufacturing processes and designs will be crucial. In the medium term, the printed electronics technologies most likely to realize revenue potential are those that can adapt to service emerging challenges already known to the automotive industry.
For more information on IDTechEx’s research on this topic, please see their report, “Printed and Flexible Sensors 2024-2034: Technologies, Players, Markets”. Downloadable sample pages are available for this report.
For the full portfolio of printed and flexible electronics market research from IDTechEx, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/Research/PE.
About IDTechEx:
IDTechEx provides trusted independent research on emerging technologies and their markets. Since 1999, we have been helping our clients to understand new technologies, their supply chains, market requirements, opportunities and forecasts. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.IDTechEx.com. 
Image download:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/26ylbecu6ztl4larjuycj/AFbRjqvsovp8yj-f9JOQLEg?rlkey=4e2lb1pqbl9rsfzp73bunm57j&st=t60swtdx&dl=0 
Media Contact:
Lucy RogersSales and Marketing [email protected] +44(0)1223 812300
Social Media Links:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/IDTechExLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/IDTechEx
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2408851/IDTechEx_applications.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/idtechex-explores-printed-electronics-in-electrified-and-autonomous-mobility-302141570.html

Continue Reading

Trending