Latest news with #Emerge
Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
The Pentagon launched a military-grade Y Combinator, signaling that defense tech is officially cool on college campuses
The Department of Defense is scouting the next Palantir — and it's starting on college campuses. This week, the Defense Innovation Unit — the Pentagon's emerging tech arm — launched a university accelerator, open for applications through late June. The 12-week program will be a military-grade Y Combinator of sorts, offering early-stage startups funding, mentorship, and DoD connections. Fifteen teams spun out of US universities — working in AI, cyber, space, and more — will evenly split $500,000. The initiative builds on the National Security Innovation Network's earlier Emerge program, which also targeted college founders, according to DIU project manager Josh Carter. "Though its name has changed over the years, its mission remains the same: to help early-stage tech companies founded within the US university system engage with the DoD," he said in an email to Business Insider. It's also tapping into a growing appetite on college campuses for working in national security, in part fueled by geopolitical urgency and venture dollars flooding the space. Students at top colleges like Harvard and Stanford who once chased jobs at Google and Meta are increasingly eyeing Palantir — or even launching defense tech startups of their own. Beyond rising student interest, the accelerator also reflects growing investor intrigue in dual-use startups — ones building tech for both the battlefield and commercial buyers. The DIU believes this business plan gives startups a better shot at longevity. Having public and private sector applications, Carter said, gives startups "a better opportunity to achieve long-term sustainability and growth." A handful of scaling startups are already operating in both arenas. "The most promising companies will prove their product market fit in one end market — either commercial or government — and then leverage that success to break into the other," Mina Faltas, founder and chief investment officer of Washington Harbour Partners, told BI in an email. Hadrian, which is building automated factories that can make parts for hardware companies, especially those in aerospace and defense, raised $117 million in 2024 in a mix of equity and debt from investors including RTX Ventures, the venture arm of defense prime RTX, formerly Raytheon. CHAOS Industries, which develops a software platform for critical industries and defense, raised a $275 million Series C in May, co-led by New Enterprise Associates and Accel. And Scale AI, which provides AI heavyweights like OpenAI with training data, inked a contract with the Defense Department in March. Investors say that becoming dual-use doesn't just happen overnight. "Typically, startups focus first on selling to either commercial or government customers, since the execution of each lane is quite distinct," Faltas said. Jackson Moses, founder of defense tech fund Silent Ventures, said most dual-use startups only expand into a second market once they've matured. "Startups require early, narrow focus to succeed, and I prefer founders to focus on proper upfront market research and a single GTM strategy," he told BI in an email. "Some of the most successful dual-use defense plays organically achieve product market fit over a medium- to longer-term horizon, a function of strategy, execution, and patience." Moses has backed some such startups, including CHAOS. Others are still skeptical of the approach. Jake Chapman of national security-focused firm Marque Ventures says that the industry's obsession with dual-use can be a distraction for founders and investors. "Too many DoD problems are defense problems, not dual-use problems," he told BI in an email. "If we insist on directing all our early-stage support to dual-use companies, we turn defense tech startups into second-class citizens."
Sky News AU
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Kamala Down Under: Harris takes swipe at Elon Musk, Trump admin at Gold Coast real estate conference, says ‘remember the 1930s'
Former Vice President Kamala Harris took a swipe at billionaire Elon Musk and likened the Trump administration's 'America First' policy to 1930s-style isolationism, which many historians believe helped escalate World War II. During remarks at the 2025 Australian Real Estate Conference, held on the Gold Coast, the failed Democratic presidential candidate alluded to an interview Musk did with podcast titan Joe Rogan — in which the world's richest man warned that the West's empathy is being weaponized. 'There was someone that is very popular these days, at least in the press, who suggested that it is a sign of weakness of Western civilizations to have empathy,' Harris, 60, said in a sit-down with Aussie real estate behemoth John McGrath. 'Imagine,' she continued. 'No, it's a sign of strength to have some level of curiosity and concern and care about the well-being of others.' During his March interview with Rogan, the Tesla founder emphasized that 'you should care about other people,' but argued, 'we've got civilizational suicidal empathy going on.' 'The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit,' Musk contended. 'They're exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response.' Harris also appeared to lament President Trump's foreign policy approach, without mentioning him or any of his top officials by name. 'I do worry, frankly, about what's happening in the world right now,' the former vice president admitted. 'It's important that we remember the 1930s,' she went on. 'It's important that we remember that history has taught us that isolation does not equal insulation [and] the importance of relationships of trust, of the importance of friendships, integrity, honesty.' The former vice president refrained from bashing any of Trump's policies specifically, but the comments broadly took issue with his 'America First' approach to foreign affairs. Despite her crushing defeat last year, Harris had vowed not to be quiet during Trump's second term in the White House. Last month, she emerged from weeks of laying low and delivered a stern rebuke of her rival while speaking at Emerge's 20th anniversary gala in San Francisco. She lambasted the commander in chief for creating 'the greatest manmade economic crisis in modern presidential history' and engaging in a 'wholesale abandonment' of American ideals. Harris is currently thought to be mulling her political future, including whether or not she should vie to be governor of California in 2026, run for the presidency again in 2028, or stay on the sidelines. 'I am unemployed right now,' she joked earlier at the 2025 Australian Real Estate Conference. Originally published as Kamala Down Under: Harris takes swipe at Elon Musk, Trump admin at Gold Coast real estate conference, says 'remember the 1930s'
Mint
24-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Nikita Papers IPO to open on May 27, price band fixed at ₹95-104 per share
Kraft paper manufacturer Nikita Papers on Saturday fixed the price band at ₹ 95-104 a share for its ₹ 67.5 crore initial public offering. The initial share sale will open for public subscription on May 27 and conclude on May 29. The shares of the company will be listed on the NSE's SME platform Emerge, the company said in a statement. Investors can bid for a minimum of 1,200 equity shares and in multiples thereof. At the upper end of the price band, the company is going to mobilise around ₹ 67.54 crore, it added. The Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the company is entirely a fresh issue of 64.94 lakh equity shares. The net proceeds from the fresh issue will be utilised to meet capital expenditure for setting up a power plant, funds will also be used towards the working capital requirements of the company, and rest balance for general corporate purposes and issue expenses. 'As we take the next step in our journey through the proposed initial public offering, our focus remains on building long-term value through responsible growth. At Nikita Papers Ltd, we have steadily expanded our capabilities in Kraft paper manufacturing while maintaining a clear commitment to sustainability and operational efficiency," Nikita Papers Chairman Sudhir Kumar Bansal said. Incorporated in 1989, Shamli, Uttar Pradesh-based Nikita Papers is engaged in the manufacturing of paper and paper products. The company specialises in producing a range of paper grades suitable for industrial, commercial, and printing applications. The company reported revenue of ₹ 338.60 crore and a profit after tax of ₹ 16.60 crore in FY24.
Mint
24-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Nikita Papers IPO to open on May 27, price band fixed at ₹95-104 per share
Kraft paper manufacturer Nikita Papers on Saturday fixed the price band at ₹ 95-104 a share for its ₹ 67.5 crore initial public offering. The initial share sale will open for public subscription on May 27 and conclude on May 29. The shares of the company will be listed on the NSE's SME platform Emerge, the company said in a statement. Investors can bid for a minimum of 1,200 equity shares and in multiples thereof. At the upper end of the price band, the company is going to mobilise around ₹ 67.54 crore, it added. The Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the company is entirely a fresh issue of 64.94 lakh equity shares. The net proceeds from the fresh issue will be utilised to meet capital expenditure for setting up a power plant, funds will also be used towards the working capital requirements of the company, and rest balance for general corporate purposes and issue expenses. 'As we take the next step in our journey through the proposed initial public offering, our focus remains on building long-term value through responsible growth. At Nikita Papers Ltd, we have steadily expanded our capabilities in Kraft paper manufacturing while maintaining a clear commitment to sustainability and operational efficiency," Nikita Papers Chairman Sudhir Kumar Bansal said. Incorporated in 1989, Shamli, Uttar Pradesh-based Nikita Papers is engaged in the manufacturing of paper and paper products. The company specialises in producing a range of paper grades suitable for industrial, commercial, and printing applications. The company reported revenue of ₹ 338.60 crore and a profit after tax of ₹ 16.60 crore in FY24. Fast Track Finsec is the book running lead manager and Skyline Financial Services is the registrar of the issue.
Trade Arabia
22-05-2025
- Business
- Trade Arabia
Emerge in deal to deploy solar, battery energy storage unit at RAK
Emerge, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi future energy company Masdar and global defence major EDF Group, has signed an agreement with Turbotim, a UAE-based energy solutions company, at the Make it in the Emirates Forum to develop a new solar and battery energy storage project at Turbotim's facilities in Ras Al Khaimah. The project will feature a rooftop solar PV system with a total capacity of 1.52 megawatts peak (MWp) and a 5 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system (BESS). It will be implemented as two identical hybrid installations – each comprising 763kWp of rooftop solar and 2.5MWh of battery storage. Emerge will provide a full turnkey solution, including finance, design, procurement, construction, operations and maintenance, under a 20-year contract. Turbotim is currently operating its facilities using diesel generators. The company will significantly reduce its environmental impact by transitioning to a solar PV electricity generation and BESS, and is expected to cut significantly its electricity bills. The project will prevent more than 2.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually - equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 240 households or removing 474 petrol-powered cars from the road. Turbotim Chairman Dr Saad Al Tameemi said: "This partnership with Emerge marks a major step forward in Turbotim's journey toward cleaner, more efficient energy solutions. By integrating solar and battery storage into our operations, we're not only reducing our environmental footprint but also creating long-term value through energy cost savings and greater energy independence." "We're proud to align with Emerge and support the UAE's broader sustainability and decarbonization goals," he stated. Emerge was formed in 2021 to develop distributed solar, battery storage, off-grid solar and hybrid solutions for commercial and industrial clients. The company currently supplies clean electricity to more than 40 commercial, industrial, educational and hospitality sites across the GCC region. Emerge General Manager Michel Abi Saab said: "The agreement signed with Turbotim, a leading industrial player, highlights the value of distributed solar and storage installations in reducing reliance on fossil fuels, while promoting cost-effective and sustainable solutions."
