Very cool idea. AfterWork Ventures, a “micro” venture capital fund - led by younger generation - could this new VC support under-represented entrepreneurs? Is this the makings of a fierce community? Since 2017, Afterwork has made thirty investments across two portfolios including into a fintech start-up (Wagetap) that lets employees access part of their pay before payday and a healthy pet food delivery company called Lyka. Their proof of concept fund had $1 million under management from around fifteen different investors. Nice to see diversity in the VC industry! https://www.afterwork.vc/ Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

Manta Network recently closed a USD$1.1M funding round to create a fully private decentralized exchange. At the moment, some would consider the blockchain too transparent for a number of finance transactions enabling someone to see the transaction and commit it with a higher fee before you do. Perhaps privacy is important on the blockchain after all?Manta wants to create an automated market maker exchange on Polkadot that would feature fully private swaps, and obfuscate wallet addresses (among other attributes). Could a privacy-preserving decentralized finance stack be a reality sooner than we think?https://cointelegraph.com/news/manta-aims-to-bring-a-private-decentralized-exchange-to-polkadot-with-1-1m-raiseImage by V

A three year old Germany startup is on its way to taking advantage of the low-code movement globally. Having raised USD$4M seed funding recently, Next Matter hopes teams are well and truly over the emails/ spreadsheets/ chat/ productivity tools and apps and looking for something more end to end.An end to end operationally focussed toolchain, that integrates with the usual salesforce, hubspot, slack etc?Look forward to more drag & drop user interfaces wrapping around these tools to simplify our working lives!https://www.nextmatter.com/image credit: pixabay

There’s been research to date on kinetic energy, using human gait as an identity fingerprint and others for new battery like contraptions and more. As a side note, this Editor hopes we skip the Matrix phase above!The latest US researchers are trying to find ways for our human body heat and energy to power wearable devices. If they succeed, what environmental & sustainable benefits could we see? No more pesky 6month battery lives? If our energy and movement could be distinct, perhaps it is a bio marker for identity and more? https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/02/12/wearable-tech-using-body-battery-created-colo-researchers/6735709002/image credit: The Matrix movie

We've seen in the last few years how 'viral' theories and conspiracies have swirled in social media and our communities to appear truthful (2016: Pizzagate?). Can AI help us verify the narrative and complex constructions and connections? Researchers from the University of California have developed an approach that automates social media analysis in specific recent examples such as COVID, anti-vax movement and QAnon. Could this be an early warning system of social unrest/ disruption centred in misinformation & distrust? https://theconversation.com/an-ai-tool-can-distinguish-between-a-conspiracy-theory-and-a-true-conspiracy-it-com

Munich based startup DataGuard is one of many EU-based startups looking to help businesses with their privacy compliance requirements - GDPR in the first instance. As virtual Data Privacy Officers, this could be the start of tech-led innovation into the complexity of operating global businesses and managing cyber and privacy obligations more effectively.https://www.dataguard.de/plattform