LATEST TECH NEWS: Musk challenges authorities as he opens Tesla plant. 4 other things and a trivia you need to know today, May 12, 2020

These 5 latest stories from the tech space will keep you updated with trends today.

1. Musk challenges authorities as he opens Tesla plant

Engineer and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has restarted production at Tesla’s only US car plant, flouting county officials who ordered the company to stay closed. According to the tech leader, his action was to acknowledge risking arrest for himself and his employees.

On Monday, the CEO said in a tweet: “I will be on the line with everyone else.” Adding that “If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.” This comes after fending off a potentially costly defamation lawsuit and emerging with mild consequences from a court battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission last year. According to industry leaders, Musk, with this new open confrontation, seems emboldened to again try his luck with the law.

2. Egyptian Brimore raises $3.5m to fund its end-to-end distribution platform

To fund its end-to-end distribution platform, Egyptian Brimore has raised $3.5m in a Pre-Series A round led by Algebra Ventures, with participation from Disruptech, Vision Ventures, and returning investors, 500 Startups, and Flat6labs. The 3 year old Brimore made the announcement on Monday, May 11, 2020.

Although, one of the participating VCs, Disruptech had hinted last month that it had invested in the startup. According to Brimore, it further plans to raise a Series A round within a year. Analysts have remarked that the company has been aggressive about raising funds since 2019. This new raiser comes after the startup announced in April last year that it had raised $800 000 in a seed round co-led by Algebra Ventures and Endure Capital.

Tech Trivia: Robot, in linguistics context, means?
A. Forced labour
B. Machine labour
C. Cheap labour
D. Manual labour

Answer: See end of post.

3. Village Capital unveils selected NextGen Ecosystem Builders Africa 2020 cohort

US venture capital (VC) company Village Capital has unveiled names of the business advisors and hub representatives selected for its NextGen Ecosystem Builders Africa 2020. The programme, according to plans, will run in collaboration with the African Management Institute with support from the Dutch Good Growth Fund.

The VC company had earlier launched a call for applications in January for a management training programme aimed at helping train those that work at entrepreneur support organisations in Africa. Following the application stage, Village Capital has vetted and selected 47 mid-level managers for its NextGen Ecosystem Builders Africa 2020 programme.

4. UpKeep raises $36 million Series B to go mobile

UpKeep has today announced the close of a $36 million Series B financing round. The round, according to press, was led by Insight Partners, with participation from existing investors Emergence Capital, Battery Ventures, Y Combinator, Mucker Capital and Fundersclub.

UpKeep’s business plan is to meet maintenance workers where they are to link them up with available jobs. Before UpKeep, the requester would either send an email to the facilities manager or perhaps use some other software to let them know of the problem. Today, UpKeep is planning to Go-Mobile with the support from this new raiser.

 

READ ALSO: LATEST TECH NEWS: WHO to launch COVID-19 symptom-checking app. 4 other things and a trivia you need to know today, May 11, 2020

5. SiMa.ai closes $30M Series A to build out lower-power edge chip solution

Power startup, SiMa.ai, has announced a $30 million Series A led by Dell Technologies Capital with help from Amplify Partners, Wing Venture Capital and +ND Capital. Company review indicates that this new investment brings the total raised to $40 million.

Krishna Rangasayee, founder and CEO, at SiMa.ai, has 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, and seems to have decided to put that experience to work in a startup when he launched SiMa.ai last year. Although, according to him, the goal was to build an ultra low-power software and chip solution for machine learning at the edge.

Tech Trivia Answer: Forced labour
In Czech, the etymology of “robot” comes from the word “robota” which translates to forced labor or work.

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