Having spent many years as second fiddle to Barcelona, Madrid surpassed its Catalan cousin in 2023 with startups securing 605 million ( 672 million) investment above Barcelona's 457 million ( 507 million). "Lots of Latin American talent is arriving thanks to the recent entrepreneur visa and talent programs run by Telefonica to bring promising startup founders from Mexico, Argentina, Columbia and Venezuela," explains Bu Haces, innovation consultant at Madrid's Impact Hub. The city has seen solid growth in transportation, mobility and fintech startups during the last three years with AI and deep tech supercharged by an astonishing 56 universities. "The business schools in particular are providing lots of startup networking opportunities, and are keen on developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem," says Miguel Arias, general partner at VC K Fund. With Meta, IBM, Google and Amazon all expanding in the city, the main worry is lack of housing stock for the flood of students, engineers and entrepreneurs.

Automating insurance claims is a big business, and the world of AI is coming at it'full pelt'. The latest is Akur8, an insurtech automating insurance platform whose'Transparent AI' product is trying to eat into the incumbent large business of Willis Towers watson, among others. It's now closed a Series B funding round of $30m led by an undisclosed investor. This brings its total funding to $42m. The round is to support international expansion.

Shanghai-based artificial intelligence company Yitu Technology announced this month that is launching its first R&D center outside of China in Singapore. The move is part of a larger trend among Chinese tech companies hoping to achieve two goals: Access top foreign engineering and scientific talent by setting up R&D centers in key global knowledge hubs, and embed themselves deeper in local ecosystems to spur new long-term growth engines -- most notably in Southeast Asia. The ultimate goal for many of China's leading tech companies is to become true multinationals. Their strategy is to build a significant presence in their huge home market and then leverage that to branch out internationally. However, they face a steep learning curve: The free-for-all ethos and Darwinian natural selection that guide their modus operandi in China often prove to be counter-productive in smaller, more insulated markets.

Internet of Things Release 3 is published by oneM2M, the worldwide Internet of Things interoperability standards initiative. The third set of specifications deals with 3GPP interworking, especially as it relates to cellular IoT connectivity, among other features. The release is said to enable seamless interworking with narrowband IoT and LTE-M connectivity through the 3GPP Service Capability Exposure Function. More information is available here. FogHorn Systems says its Lightning Edge Industrial IoT platform received Industrial Software Competency status from Amazon Web Services, attesting that the software is capable of working in product design, production design, production, and operations.

Didi Chuxing has announced another gargantuan equity funding round, as the Chinese ride-hailing giant reveals it has raised a further $4 billion. This latest round comes just eight months after the company raised $5.5 billion, which followed a year after it raised $7.3 billion from big-name backers including Apple. This new cash injection takes Didi's total inbound investments to $19.7 billion, though the company didn't reveal who the investors were beyond stating they were "Chinese and international institutions." With another $4 billion in the bank, Didi said that it plans double down on its artificial intelligence (AI) investments, support its global expansion, and support other initiatives such as "new energy vehicle service networks," according to a statement issued by the company. Similar to Uber, Didi Chuxing offers smartphone-based car services, such as carpooling, taxis, and premium cars with drivers, while it has previously revealed how it's lending its data to cities which are leveraging it in all manner of ways to fight road congestion.

The ride-hailing company Lyft is now sending self-driving cars to pick up passengers in a Boston neighborhood. The cars will have backup human drivers at the wheel and will be limited to short routes within the city's Seaport District, a burgeoning tech startup hub. Lyft and its Boston-based partner nuTonomy, which builds self-driving software, announced Wednesday that the pilot project has begun. The Renault Zoe EVs will be limited to short routes within the city's Seaport District The cars will initially be a small number of Renault Zoe EVs, which Nutonomy began road-testing in Boston starting last November. Nutonomy engineers are already working on integrating Lyft software into'a couple of' vehicles, to be deployed sometime'in the coming months,' for actual customer pickups, though no more specific timeline was given.

Uber rival Lyft is raising an additional $500 million in funding ion its ongoinjg battle with Uber, according to a U.S. share authorization document filed in Delaware. The additional funding round, led by Alphabet's CapitalG, is an extension of the $1 billion round announced in October. Lyft spokesman Adrian Durbin, confirming the funding round, in an e-mailed statement said, 'Increasing the potential for this round will allow us to further accelerate our commitment to serving passengers and drivers.' The additional funding round, led by Alphabet's CapitalG, is an extension of a $1 billion round announced in October, and raises the firm's valuation to $11.5 billion Axios was first to report the news. In October Lyft had said that the previous round of funding boosted its valuation to $11 billion from $7.5 billion.

U.S. ride-hailing firm Lyft has secured a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California, taking it one step further in the race with several other companies to bring self-driving cars to the masses. Lyft's permit, reflected on the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) website, comes two months after it announced plans to offer a self-driving car as a ride option in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lyft already has partnerships in place with autonomous car companies to advance its self-driving strategy. Ride-hailing firm Lyft Inc said on Monday it would launch its service in Toronto, marking the first international expansion for the U.S.-based rival of Uber Technologies Inc. Ford self-driving test vehicles will be connected to Lyft's network, but at first, customers will not be able to use them, according to Sherif Marakby, Ford's vice president for autonomous vehicles and electrification.

Ride-hailing firm Lyft Inc said on Monday it would launch its service in Toronto, marking the first international expansion for the U.S.-based rival of Uber Technologies Inc. 'Before you know it, Lyft will be coming to you live in Toronto,' the company said in a blogpost, without giving a launch date. Lyft is crossing into Canada at a time when rival Uber has opted out of operating in Quebec, Canada's second-most populous province, to avoid following tough new regulations for drivers. Ride-hailing firm Lyft Inc said on Monday it would launch its service in Toronto, marking the first international expansion for the U.S.-based rival of Uber Technologies Inc. US ridesharing giant Lyft revealed in October it has received a $1 billion investment from Google's parent company, Alphabet. Lyft and Alphabet already have a relationship through a partnership Lyft struck with Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car unit, in May. The two companies are collaborating on bringing autonomous vehicle technology to market, but have not provided many details.

Lyft started the year hoping to expand into 100 new cities. As of February, the ride-hailing company smashed through that goal and later added an additional 32 states to its coverage area. Today, Lyft announced it'd move into one more place before year's end: Toronto. This marks the first time the company has expanded beyond our domestic borders. Exact timing for when the service goes live isn't known at this point, according to the CBC.