1Dec2021
UAE and IRENA Launch USD 1 billion Global Finance Platform to Accelerate Renewable Energy
The United Arab Emirates and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) announced the Energy Transition Accelerator Financing (ETAF) Platform, a new global climate finance facility to accelerate the transition to renewable energy in developing countries. The UAE committed USD 400 million in funding provided by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) toward the platform’s goal of securing a minimum of USD 1 billion in total funding. The formal launch took place on the sidelines of the COP 26 United Nations Climate Summit in Glasgow.
Through co-financing, ETAF will aim to mobilize an additional USD 2 billion in energy transition investments, targeting a total deployment of 1.5 GW of clean renewable energy generation and storage by 2030. ETAF will be managed by IRENA from its Abu Dhabi headquarters, capitalizing on the UAE’s climate finance market and renewable energy innovation infrastructure. The new accelerator platform will help mitigate investment risks and finance renewable energy projects in developing countries that may otherwise struggle to secure sufficient capital
IRENA is the lead intergovernmental agency for the global energy transformation that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future and serves as the principal platform for international co-operation, a center of excellence, and a repository of policy, technology, resource, and financial knowledge on renewable energy.
Meal delivery business consolidates as DoorDash joins forces with Wolt
DoorDash, Inc. and Wolt Enterprises Oy announced they and certain stockholders of Wolt have entered into a definitive agreement whereby DoorDash will acquire Wolt in an all-stock transaction. Both companies share a mission to build a global platform for local commerce that connects consumers with the best of their community, drives incremental revenue for merchants, and provides meaningful earning opportunities for millions of Dashers and couriers around the world. The companies expect this partnership to accelerate the progress towards their common goals.
“DoorDash has built an incredible business in one of the most significant markets in the world, while we came from a small home country and had to master the art of expansion very early on. During this process, we’ve come to appreciate the many similarities of our two teams, cultures, and companies, as we’ve been molded by similar circumstances. We’re incredibly excited to be joining forces with Tony and the DoorDash team to build something even greater together,” said Miki Kuusi, Wolt Co-Founder and CEO.
“We have an opportunity to build a global platform for local commerce in the internet era,” said Tony Xu. “Joining forces with Wolt will deepen our pool of superb talent and allow us to accelerate our international growth, while elevating our focus on the U.S. We expect the ingenuity, product expertise, and operational excellence of our combined company to expand our TAM, improve our investment efficiency, increase our long-term profit potential, and generate significant shareholder value.”
Siemens partners with Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation for digital mobility transformation
Siemens and Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation (Hyundai and Kia) announced today a new technology partnership to accelerate their digital transformation and a new future of mobility-Hyundai and Kia has selected Siemens as the preferred bidder and strategic partner to provide next generation engineering and product data management through NX™ software and the Teamcenter® portfolio from Siemens’ Xcelerator portfolio of integrated software, services and development platform. Hyundai and Kia has evaluated and assessed various alternatives including incumbent solutions and selected Siemens’ software, embracing the world’s most comprehensive digital twin. Hyundai and Kia will cooperate with Siemens as its key trusted partner, to drive the future of mobility.
“Selecting NX software and the Teamcenter portfolio from Siemens’ Xcelerator portfolio for our core design and data management platforms will introduce a new working environment for our teams that will pave the way for a leap forward in future car development,” said Albert Bierman, Head of R&D Division, Hyundai Motor Company. “This is the beginning of a huge transformation and an important point of change for Hyundai Motor Company and with Siemens as our trusted partner we will work together to achieve our goals through mutual cooperation and teamwork.”
Hyundai and Kia and Siemens will collaborate to establish design methods and develop custom solutions that consider the lifecycle of all automobiles and associated processes and activities, such as production, purchasing and partners research and development. In addition to providing software, Siemens will provide professional and specialized training to help Hyundai and Kia ensure efficient use/operation of Siemens’ software across its network of suppliers.
Hacking people is too easy: CultureAI announces 4M USD seed round to measure and mitigate human cyber security risk
CultureAI, the human cyber security platform founded by professional hackers, announced the closing of a USD 4 million seed round to fuel its rapid growth. Founded when professional hacker James Moore saw even the best security awareness training made no difference to attackers’ ability to compromise organizations, CultureAI is being adopted by a rapidly growing number of organizations to easily identify and prevent security incidents caused by employees.
“CultureAI is revolutionizing human security with a data-driven approach, disrupting the USD 1 billion security awareness industry,” says Jon Stokes, chief technology officer. “Within minutes our platform is detecting human security incidents across the organization and combining those events with machine-learning to automatically drive cyber security coaching programs that are intelligently tailored to each employees’ cyber strengths, weaknesses and job role. As human risk events are detected, the platform creates employee security scores to allow organizations to understand their entire human risk surface for the first time. Human security event data is also pushed to clients’ existing security tools in real-time, enabling automated mitigation of human security incidents. The result is people preventing breaches, instant responses to protect people when security incidents occur and the ability to measure security behavior improvement – something awareness training has never managed.”
