Latest news with #InventWood
TechCrunch
17-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
TechCrunch Week in Review: Coinbase gets hacked
Welcome back to Week in Review! We've got tons of news for you this week, including a hack at Coinbase; YC thinks Google is a 'monopolist'; layoffs at Microsoft; and much more. Have a great weekend! Uh-oh: Coinbase says that customers' personal information, including government-issued IDs, was stolen in a data breach. The hackers demanded $20 million from the company, CEO Brian Armstrong said in a post on X. Coinbase said it will not pay the hackers' ransom. IPO time, baby: After filing confidentially in December, Chime filed for an IPO this week. There are a ton of blanks in the S-1, so we didn't get much information, like how many shares insiders plan to sell as part of the IPO. But we did learn one tidbit: Chime entered a deal with the Dallas Mavericks in 2018, which gained it the Chime logo on the team's jersey, among other marketing benefits. Knock on wood: This story has been popping off all week — InventWood created wood called 'Superwood' that's as strong as steel. Ultimately, InventWood is planning to use wood chips to create structural beams of any dimension that won't need finishing. This is TechCrunch's Week in Review, where we recap the week's biggest news. Want this delivered as a newsletter to your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. News Image Credits:Granola A big bowl of Granola: VCs and founders love talking up the apps they're using. The most recent case: Granola, an AI note-taking app that's recently seen a boost in usage, even though it launched a year ago. And when there's usage, money follows. The company announced it has raised $43 million in a Series B funding round at a valuation of $250 million. Choice words: 'Google has chilled independent firms like YC from funding and accelerating innovative startups that could otherwise have challenged Google's dominance,' YC wrote in an amicus brief it submitted in the U.S.' antitrust case against the search giant. But YC isn't calling for a complete breakup of Google. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW Love to see it: Apple announced a bunch of accessibility features, including Accessibility Nutrition Labels that will inform users of accessibility features within apps and games in the App Store; a new magnifier for Macs; a new Braille experience; and more. Layoffs at Microsoft: The company is reportedly laying off 3% of its workforce, or around 6,500 people, affecting all levels, locations, and teams. This follows a solid quarter for Microsoft, with $70.1 billion in revenue (up 13%) and net income profits of $25.8 billion (up 28%). In Washington, around 40% of the 2,000 people laid off were engineers. Gemini in your car: At the Android Show — Google's Android-only event a week ahead of Google I/O — the company announced that it's bringing Gemini to cars that support Android Auto. Drivers (and passengers) will be able to send texts, play music, and all the other things a smart assistant does, but using natural language. LOL: What once was called HBO Go before it changed its name to HBO Now, which later became HBO Max, before settling on Max, announced this week that it's once again changing its name back to HBO Max. Just call it a bus: Uber is introducing Route Share, a commuter shuttle service that will pick up passengers at pre-set stops in 20-minute intervals. 'You can see a natural extension of us being able to bring Route Share to autonomous vehicles as well,' Sachin Kansal, Uber's chief product officer, told us. Wait, what? The New York Times spoke with two investors who said they were pitched a new startup that aims to deliver 'human health optimization' using blood testing. Sound familiar? But wait till you hear who pitched the startup: Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes' partner, Billy Evans. Maybe it'll work out better this time? Analysis Image Credits:Uber And speaking of Uber: In 2022, senior reporter Rebecca Bellan wrote an article titled 'The Amazonification of Uber' about how the company was becoming more of a closed loop to keep customers engaged. Now the company is taking it a step further, introducing Uber One Member Days, a week of discounts designed to boost its subscription program and expand its role beyond transportation.
Newsweek
14-05-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
What Is 'Superwood'? New Material Strong as Steel Nears Mass Production
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A new kind of wood, stronger than steel and created from ordinary timber, is approaching full-scale production. The material, named "Super Wood," by creators InventWood, could provide an alternative to using tropical hardwoods from forests at risk of deforestation. Why It Matters Buildings and infrastructure are major contributors to global carbon emissions, primarily through the use of concrete and steel. By replacing these with a renewable and significantly less carbon-intensive material like Super Wood, it could be possible to make construction both more sustainable and cost-effective. What To Know In 2018, Liangbing Hu, a materials scientist at the university, discovered a way to transform regular wood into a high-performance structural material by altering its molecular composition. Hu then licensed the technology to InventWood, a startup now preparing for its first commercial production run. Superwood starts with regular timber, which is mostly composed of two compounds, cellulose and lignin. The goal is to strengthen the cellulose already present in the wood, according to an interview with Tech Crunch. A customer selects a piece of wood from the lumber section of Home Depot on March 3, 2025 in Pasadena, California. A customer selects a piece of wood from the lumber section of Home Depot on March 3, 2025 in Pasadena, California. Getty Images Superwood is created by chemically treating wood with food-industry chemicals to remove most of its lignin and then compressing the material to strengthen the hydrogen bonds between cellulose molecules. The final product has 50 percent more tensile strength than steel and a strength-to-weight ratio 10 times greater. It is also Class A fire-rated and resistant to rot and pests, according to InventWood's factfile. Super Wood is set to be produced in a $15 million factory backed by top construction investors, including Baruch Future Ventures, Builders VC, and Muus Climate Partners. What People Are Saying In a statement on their website, InventWood said: "Our patented molecular-level transformation process works by bringing out the incredible strength hidden in every tree to achieve up to 10-20x strength improvements, ultimately providing a strength-to-weight ratio up to 10x that of steel. InventWood CEO Alex Lau said in a statement on LinkedIn: "We're not gluing or mixing wood with synthetic polymers. We're fundamentally restructuring and compressing it to create incredibly strong hydrogen bonding between the cellulose fibers. "The results are remarkable: a natural material with up to 50 percent greater tensile strength than steel and 10 times the strength-to-weight ratio. It's Class A fire-rated and naturally resistant to rot and pests, while displaying the rich, lustrous beauty of tropical hardwoods—all sourced from undervalued domestic reclaimed trees. What's Next InventWood plans to launch its first commercial products this summer. The aim for production is to use low-value wood chips to manufacture structural-grade beams of any dimension that will not require finishing.
TechCrunch
12-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
InventWood is about to mass-produce wood that's stronger than steel
It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but it actually comes from a lab in Maryland. In 2018, Liangbing Hu, a materials scientist at the University of Maryland, devised a way to turn ordinary wood into a material stronger than steel. It seemed like yet another headline-grabbing discovery that wouldn't make it out of the lab. 'All these people came to him,' said Alex Lau, CEO of InventWood, 'He's like, OK, this is amazing, but I'm a university professor. I don't know quite what to do about it.' Rather than give up, Hu spent the next few years refining the technology, reducing the time it took to make the material from more than a week to a few hours. Soon, it was ready to commercialize, and he licensed the technology to InventWood. Now, the startup's first batches of Superwood will be produced starting this summer. 'Right now, coming out of this first-of-a-kind commercial plant — so it's a smaller plant — we're focused on skin applications,' Lau said. 'Eventually we want to get to the bones of the building. Ninety percent of the carbon impact from buildings is concrete and steel in the construction of the building.' To build the factory, InventWood has raised $15 million in the first close of a Series A round. The round was led by the Grantham Foundation with participation from Baruch Future Ventures, Builders VC, and Muus Climate Partners, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW InventWood's Superwood product starts with regular timber, which is mostly composed of two compounds, cellulose and lignin. The goal is to strengthen the cellulose already present in the wood. 'The cellulose nanocrystal is actually stronger than a carbon fiber,' Lau said. The company treats it with 'food industry' chemicals to modify the lignin in the wood, he said, and then compresses the result to increase the hydrogen bonds between cellulose molecules. 'We might densify the material by 4x and you might think, 'Oh, it'll be four times strong, because it has four times the fiber.' But it's actually more like 10 times stronger because of all these extra bonds that get created,' Lau said. The result is a material that has 50% more tensile strength than steel with a strength-to-weight ratio that's 10 times better, the company said. It's also Class A fire rated, or highly resistant to flame, and resistant to rot and pests. With some polymer impregnated, it can be stabilized for outdoor use like siding, decking, or roofing. InventWood's first products will be facade materials for commercial and high-end residential buildings, Lau said. Compressing the material also concentrates the colors. 'You end up with something that looks like these richer, tropical hardwoods,' he added. Ultimately, InventWood is planning to use wood chips to create structural beams of any dimension that won't need finishing. 'Imagine your I-beams look like this,' Lau said, holding up a sample of Superwood. 'They're beautiful, like walnut, ipe. These are the natural colors. We haven't stained any of this.' Topics buildings Climate construction materials Exclusive materials science Tim De Chant Senior Reporter, Climate Tim De Chant is a senior climate reporter at TechCrunch. He has written for a wide range of publications, including Wired magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Ars Technica, The Wire China, and NOVA Next, where he was founding editor. De Chant is also a lecturer in MIT's Graduate Program in Science Writing, and he was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT in 2018, during which time he studied climate technologies and explored new business models for journalism. He received his PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BA degree in environmental studies, English, and biology from St. Olaf College. View Bio May 13, 2025 London, England Get inside access to Europe's top investment minds — with leaders from Monzo, Accel, Paladin Group, and more — plus top-tier networking at StrictlyVC London. REGISTER NOW Most Popular Congressman is investigating fintech Ramp's attempt to win $25M federal contract Mercury's CEO formalizes bets on early-stage founders with a $26M fund Google launches new initiative to back startups building AI Saudi prince launches AI venture as Trump, Musk, Altman, and Zuckerberg arrive for conference Sam Altman apparently does not respect olive oil OpenAI's Stargate project reportedly struggling to get off the ground, thanks to tariffs GM taps Aurora co-founder for new chief product officer role Loading the next article Error loading the next article
TechCrunch
12-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
InventWood is about to mass produce wood that's stronger than steel
It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but it actually comes from a lab in Maryland. In 2018, Liangbing Hu, a materials scientist at the University of Maryland, had devised a way to turn ordinary wood into a material stronger than steel. It seemed like yet another headline grabbing discovery that wouldn't make it out of the lab. 'All these people came to him,' said Alex Lau, CEO of InventWood, 'He's like, OK, this is amazing, but I'm a university professor. I don't know quite what to do about it.' Rather than give up, Hu spent the next few years refining the technology, reducing the time it took to make the material from more than a week to a few hours. Soon, it was ready to commercialize, and he licensed the technology to InventWood. Now, the startup's first batches of Superwood will be produced starting this summer. 'Right now, coming out of the this first-of-a-kind commercial plant — so it's a smaller plant — we're focused on skin applications,' Lau said. 'Eventually we want to get to the bones of the building. Ninety percent of the carbon impact from buildings is concrete and steel in the construction of the building.' To build the factory, InventWood has raised $15 million in the first close of a Series A round. The round was led by the Grantham Foundation with participation from Baruch Future Ventures, Builders VC, and Muus Climate Partners, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | BOOK NOW InventWood's Superwood product starts with regular timber, which is mostly composed of two compounds, cellulose and lignin. The goal is to strengthen the cellulose already present in the wood. 'The cellulose nanocrystal is actually stronger than a carbon fiber,' Lau said. The company treats it with 'food industry' chemicals to modify the lignin in the wood, he said, and then compresses the result to increase the hydrogen bonds between cellulose molecules. 'We might densify the material by 4x and you might think, 'Oh, it'll be four times strong, because it has four times the fiber.' But it's actually more like 10-times stronger because of all these extra bonds that get created,' Lau said. The result is a material that has 50% more tensile strength than steel with a strength-to-weight ratio that's ten-times better, the company said. It's also Class A fire rated, or highly resistant to flame, and resistant to rot and pests. With some polymer impregnated, it can be stabilized for outdoor use like siding, decking, or roofing. InventWood's first products will be facade materials for commercial and high-end residential buildings, Lau said. Compressing the material also concentrates the colors. 'You end up with something that looks like these richer, tropical hardwoods,' he added. Ultimately, InventWood is planning to use wood chips to create structural beams of any dimension that won't need finishing. 'Imagine your I-beams look like this,' Lau said, holding up a sample of Superwood. 'They're beautiful, like walnut, ipe. These are the natural colors. We haven't stained any of this.'
