BC Hydro launches first grid-scale battery for Vancouver Island
BC Hydro issued a formal supplier request today for a 100+ MW battery storage project near Duncan, marking Canada's first major utility-owned grid-scale BESS, targeted for 2030 service.
Circular Materials closes €11.8M to mine metals from wastewater
Italian startup Circular Materials raised €11.8 million to scale recovery of critical metals from industrial wastewater, backed by EU policy infrastructure designed to reduce European dependence on foreign supply chains.
DIU picks six drone startups to break Pentagon's operator bottleneck
Defense Innovation Unit selected Tesseract Ventures, Quantum Systems, and four others to demonstrate containerized autonomous drone platforms that operate with two people instead of one-per-drone.
Europe's largest battery storage debt deal locks in before subsidy window closes
Giga Storage closes €450M financing for a 700 MW Belgian battery project, capturing a grid-fee exemption that future European developers cannot replicate.
U.S. battery storage capacity to hit 67 GW in 2026, reshaping grid economics
EIA projects U.S. battery storage will reach 67 GW this year, a 56% jump from 2025, upending wholesale pricing and grid dispatch economics across three states controlling 80% of new capacity.
Polymarket enables instant Bitcoin deposits over Lightning via Spark
Polymarket integrated Spark's channelless Lightning protocol for sub-second Bitcoin deposits, bypassing node management and extending self-custodial payments to a major non-Bitcoin platform.
AeroVironment locks $500M Army counter-drone contract through 2029
AeroVironment won a $500M firm-fixed-price Army C-UAS contract covering layered drone defeat from RF jamming to lasers, consolidating commercial counter-UAS spending after cost-exchange failures in the Iran conflict.
CarbonSix raises $40M on factory-floor revenue, challenges AI generalists
CarbonSix closed a $40M Series A with full seed follow-on participation, validating its deployment-first approach to robotic manipulation against the generalist foundation-model playbook dominating the sector.
20,000 attack drones arrive at U.S. military units as Gauntlet I deliveries continue
The Pentagon's Drone Dominance Program enters hardware delivery phase as 11 vendors ship drones from initial 20,000-unit order, with deliveries ongoing but incomplete, marking a significant autonomous-systems acquisition milestone.
Agility Robotics goes public via $2.5B SPAC, first US humanoid on markets
Agility Robotics' $2.5B SPAC merger with Churchill Capital XI produces $620M in proceeds and reveals a $300M single-customer order for 1,000 Digit v5 robots, positioning the company as America's first publicly listed pure-play humanoid manufacturer.
Australia awards 4.2 GW battery storage in single tender round
Australian government selects 15 lithium-ion battery projects totaling 4.2 GW and 16.1 GWh in Capacity Investment Scheme Tender 8, unlocking AU$6B in private investment and establishing battery storage as the only viable dispatchable technology under long-term revenue guarantees.
Air Force picks Anduril, GA-ASI for fighter-class drone production
Air Force awards Anduril and General Atomics production contracts for 150+ collaborative combat aircraft, locking out legacy primes from the hardware market and accelerating autonomous wingman deployment by four months.
Memento Medicines launches with $93M to fix retinal disease vasculature
Memento Medicines raised $93M Series A to advance a bispecific antibody that simultaneously activates Tie2 and blocks VEGF, a dual mechanism no approved retinal therapy currently uses.
Sweden commits $3.3B to Rolls-Royce SMRs, lifts coastal nuclear bans
Sweden's government injected SEK 34.3B (~$3.3B) into a three-reactor Rolls-Royce SMR project and lifted coastal nuclear bans, marking the country's first major nuclear expansion in 40+ years and Rolls-Royce's third straight European tender win.
NRL laser demo collapses two defense missions into one platform
NRL demonstrated a single laser system that transmits power wirelessly and switches to counter-drone defense without interruption, collapsing two separate logistics and defense functions onto one Boeing-integrated platform.
CNH invests €21M in R&D simulation hub to cut tractor dev time
CNH inaugurated a €21M dual R&D facility in Modena combining virtual simulation and automated logistics to compress agricultural equipment development cycles and scale precision farming tech.
Proton VPN ships WireGuard rewrite, eyes post-quantum encryption
Proton VPN's new client-side WireGuard codebase enters beta on Android and Windows, marking the largest infrastructure overhaul in the platform's history and setting the stage for post-quantum resistance.
Memento launches $93M bispecific bet against retinal disease standard
Memento Medicines raised $93M to develop MMT-205, a dual-mechanism antibody challenging anti-VEGF monotherapy dominance in nAMD and DME markets worth billions annually.
Helion clears first fusion plant regulatory licenses globally
Helion Energy received the world's first operating licenses for a fusion power plant from Washington state, clearing construction barriers for its 50 MW Orion facility and its Microsoft power purchase agreement.
Senate moves to mandate human control over autonomous drone swarms
Sen. Kelly's NDAA amendment requires human authority over lethal autonomous systems, directly constraining platforms like Shield AI's LUCAS and Anduril's Lattice already under Pentagon contract.