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Creating Collaboration in an “Ever Evolving City" It was from the stage of the CES 2025 in Las Vegas that Toyota Motor Corporation Chairman Akio Toyoda announced the completion of building construction at Toyota Woven City – from the very spot where in 2018, he declared Toyota’s goal to transform into a mobility company, and in 2020, shared with the world his intention to develop Woven City, a test course for mobility. After a groundbreaking in 2021, buildings for the first phase of the project were completed in October 2024, and we have been busy preparing for the official launch planned for the fall of 2025, which will see the first residents move in. “For me, at its core, Woven City is about collaboration… it's about the opportunity to weave together diverse points of view, talents and abilities… to create a new kind of fabric for our future – a future where we hope to not only move people… but move hearts,” said chairman Toyoda at the CES press conference on...

Sony Innovation Fund and Genesia Ventures raises 3 billion yen in a series A funding round for donation settlement service provider Con Grant Co., Ltd. (Congrant, Head office: Nishi-ku, Osaka; Representative Director: Masataka Sato). The sum includes loans from the Japan Finance Corporation (JFC) and will be used to accelerate the development of Japan's donation culture and systems to realize a world where donations can reach all segments of society including the underfunded. Company profile Con Grant Co., Ltd. provide a "donation DX system" centered on donation settlement for the social sector and companies. Congrant provide a one stop service for everything necessary for fundraising such as donation solicitation, settlement, CRM, etc., with more than 2,800 organizations using it, and 80 total donation distributions, it has already processed over a billion yen of donations to date. Con Grant is also developing businesses that promote corporate and employee donation DX, a...

AI chip startup Gemesys raises €8.6m pre-seed round, led by Atlantic Labs and Amadeus Apex Technology Fund. Sony Innovation Fund participated in the funding round. The company says it's seeking to reduce the energy consumption of training and running AI models by 10,000 times by having chipsets with trained AI models run directly on smartphones and other devices, without the need to transmit any raw data to a data center. It is currently working with three pilot customers in energy grid, hearing implants and security.