It is supposed to be “komkommertijd” (the silly season) – but startup news keeps coming these days! Here’s your weekly update.
News & Updates
Of course there is loads of news on Greece. Despite the crisis, an important part of the European startup ecosystem. In support of it StartupJuncture is participating in an international summer seminar at Patras. We will be talking about Lean startup innovation on July 7th.
Meanwhile, the Dutch startup scene is discovered internationally: “Behind London and Berlin, the Dutch startup scene is already considered to be one of the most prominent in Europe, writes TechCrunch.
Renown American investor Peter Thiel (born in Germany) is spreading his wings to Europe. Last year his fund Valar invested in London-based Transferwise. In the last months more European startups followed. (link in Dutch)
Eyewear today is still mass manufactured and sold in standard sizes. But our heads, noses and ears are not standard at all. That’s why Boulton Eyewear wants to produce tailor-made 3D-printed glasses, using a digital replica of your face.
Funding & Deals
3D printing giants Shapeways announced they a new “monster” funding round of US$30.5 million (EUR27.2m). The scale-up’s SEC filing states the full round will eventually close at an even higher US$34 million.
Investment fund Peak Capital last week opened up a new fund containing 12 million euro for tech startups. The money must be invested in at least ten promising companies.
Events
The Lean Startup Machine (LSM) lands in Breda this weekend. A 48-hour business crash course.
Imagine a room full of hackers traveling at 300 kph in the hackatrain. Take the train from Amsterdam to Berlin July 14.
Check out all events on our events page.
Monday morning read
More coffee please…
Kenya set in motion the construction of Africa’s biggest wind power farm this week, near Laisamis, 550km north of Kenya’s capital Nairobi. Known as the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, the wind farm site covers 40,000 acres (162km2), which will be powered by the ‘Turkana Corridorwind.’
Get your credit cards ready. Amazon says that it’s celebrating its 20th birthday with what it’s calling Prime Day, a massively discounted 24 hours of shopping which will feature “more deals than Black Friday.”
Hundreds of sections of Reddit, the popular online message board, were unavailable Friday in what appeared to be a protest by many of the site’s moderators after the abrupt dismissal of a high-ranking company employee.