NASA to launch spacecraft to hit a near-Earth asteroid ☄️
NASA to launch spacecraft to hit a near-Earth asteroid ☄️
#24 2021 | Sparkmate
We’re bringing back yet another event in Hong Kong, featuring an entrepreneur to talk about his journey of building an F&B empire 🍝 More about this below - and if you’re in Hong Kong, come join us and get to ask him any question you like!
And yes, we do love being connected with entrepreneurs of all industries, backgrounds and experiences! Because despite that, our struggles along with our resources and networks can be similar and be of huge support to all 💙
Here’s what we’ve put together for your weekly Spark reads:
💙 NEWS FROM OUR MATESWelcome Techstars Paris' new managing director 👋
Our mate Raphaele Leyendecker has become the Managing Director for Techstars in Paris 😍 with her investment thesis focused on Cleantech! Congratulations Raphaele, we are excited for how you'll grow Techstars in France! 👏
If you haven't heard of them yet, Techstars is one of the biggest startup accelerators in the world! Their 13-week mentorship-driven accelerator programs will prepare you to run your startup, and connects you with mentors and experts in your industry and all aspects of entrepreneurship. Techstars currently runs more than 40 mentorship-driven accelerators in over 15 countries, based around industry verticals or locations.
So if you're running an early stage startup or are willing to settle an office in France, applications are now open until January 1st! Start the new year right and get your startup off the ground ;)
🤸 FUN PRODUCT WE LOVECompany expenses made easy with iPaidThat ✅
We can all agree that keeping track of company invoices and loose receipts is a pain in the a**. Thankfully, iPaidThat lets you handle them all in one platform with ease ;)
iPaidThat is a tool that simplifies, automates and centralizes all your data needed for financial and accounting management. It compiles invoices directly from your mails, and other channels like Amazon or OVH, and automatically detects key information like invoice number, pricing and dates. When needed, they also have an app for you to take photos of receipts, so you don’t need to keep them crumpled up in your wallets!
iPaidThat also synchronizes your data with your (traditional and new modern) banks so you’ll be notified whenever an invoice is missing. Along with that, you can also pay your invoices through their platform in one click and manage your cash flow on a daily basis!
💭 TECH FOOD FOR THOUGHTNASA to launch spacecraft to hit a near-Earth asteroid ☄️
This one is HOT news: if the weather cooperates today, NASA is on a “Double Asteroid Redirection Test” (DART) mission - and it’s all about crashing a space craft into an asteroid!
As part of NASA’s planetary defense, they are seeing if they can change an asteroid's trajectory or direction when it is hit. The craft will basically be a box, 4 ft across with long solar panels on each side, on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It has an optical camera that includes an algorithm to help automatically navigate the craft as it comes closer to a near-earth Asteroid, Dimorphos, as there is too much lag time over such long distances.
Dimorphos is about 500 ft wide, around the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza, and orbits much larger asteroids, which NASA says isn’t a threat. With the spacecraft launching today, it would still be around September or November next year till we hear more about it’s impact. It’s a long way to go!
🌱 TECH FOR SUSTAINABILITYCutting Marine Transport CO2 with a robot vacuum 🤖
You know the slime and grime that ships or boats accumulate? The microorganisms, plants, algae, and barnacles that stick onto the surfaces? It’s called biofouling, and increases fuel consumption by 40%! 🤯
In hopes of decreasing that to lower carbon emissions, a little robot has been invented: Jotun’s HullSkater! It doesn’t really “skate” but rather gently vacuums away the biofouling on the surfaces of ships when they’re anchored or are still. It travels with the ships and holds on with powerful magnets.
Marine transport is responsible for more than 940 tonnes of CO2. With the HullSkater, it could cut this by a whopping 20%!
💥 WHAT’S ON @ SPARKMATEGive the Spark: Events is back in Hong Kong, featuring F&B entrepreneur Manuel Palacio 🔍
Starting a business in F&B is no easy feat ⚔️ How do you compete with hundreds of other unique restaurants, especially in a small yet cut-throat city like Hong Kong?
If you’re around, join co-founder and CEO of Pirata Group (one of the largest groups in the city!), Manuel Palacio, in going through his experiences of building Pirata, its highs and lows, ways of pivoting, and scaling it to become an F&B empire.
Not going to be around? Request a recording of the event after!
Exciting things are happening every day ⚡️ Follow us on social media to stay tuned!