Edeka wants to invest another 250 million in Picnic

1. Edeka wants to pump another 250 million into Picnic

German supermarket chain Edeka plans to invest up to 250 million euros in Picnic in the next investment round of the delivery service. Picnic reportedly wants to raise half a billion euros in the next investment round, reports the German Lebensmittelzeitung. Edeka would increase its stake to 25 percent with the new round. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would donate 50 million to keep the stake at 10 percent. Picnic is currently heading towards a turnover of 1.2 billion euros. A loss of 23 cents would still be made on every euro converted.

2. Investments in Dutch startups are declining

In the third quarter of 2023, Dutch startups raised 420 million euros in venture capital. This is evident from the Quarterly Startup Report from Dealroom and Golden egg Check, among others. A year earlier, the investment level was slightly higher at 435 million. The number of deals also fell from 98 to 85. According to the start-up organizations involved, the sharp decrease is ‘a point of concern’. The largest deal in the third quarter came from Bunq, which attracted 44.5 million euros from the market, followed by Smart Photonics (40 million euros) and Lepaya (38 million dollars).

3. ‘Most innovative student’ comes with sustainable foam

Lisanne Peters, founder of Symbiomatter, has been named ‘Most Innovative Student of 2023′. The competition was organized by Gelderland innovation platform Innovation and the popular science magazine Quest. Symbiomatter is developing a more sustainable alternative to soft foam. “It is in your shoes, in the construction of every building, in the packaging that protects your package and the chair you are currently sitting on…,” Peters explains to Quest. Peters’ alternative is made from seagrass. Peters wins a ‘growth trip’ through Silicon Valley and a golden ticket for The Next Web in Amsterdam.

4. TikTok has taken action against fake news about Israel conflict

TikTok says it has taken action to combat fake news and hate speech about the conflict in Israel. The social media company is responding to criticism from European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who felt that the platform was doing too little. TikTok has deployed more moderators and is working to improve automatic signaling systems to remove fake news and hate speech. Breton previously also warned X, YouTube and Facebook parent Meta.

5. DNB boss sees an end to rapidly rising wages

Klaas Knot thinks that a wage-price spiral can be averted. The foreman of De Nederlandsche Bank sees ‘first signals of decreasing wage pressure’. Knot refers to figures from employers’ association AWVN, which show that wages in collective labor agreements concluded in September increased less rapidly than collective labor agreements concluded in the preceding months. The DNB boss also sees that unions no longer impose very high wage demands across the board. Knot is only in favor of large collective labor agreement wage increases if no ‘repair’ has yet taken place in the sector in question.

6. And then this: ANP bans generative AI

With the help of generative AI, it is a lot easier to manipulate a photo. And that can undermine the reliability of news photos. News agency ANP has therefore restricted the use of generative AIs in photos. The press agency sent hundreds of freelance photographers a clear email. Generative AI is prohibited under all circumstances. ‘Altering images is not acceptable, not even a little. The context must also remain the same, so that as a viewer you ultimately see the same thing if you had been standing next to the photographer,” says editor-in-chief Freek Staps.

What we also read:

• Sorrow! A specialty beer could be two cents more expensive next year due to the increase in excise duties. (RTL)
• With CES approaching, the tech differences between Europe and the US are greater than ever. (BNR)
• Fine for Dutch companies that collaborated on the Crimean bridge. (NOS)