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Aigen Unveils the World’s First AI-Driven, Solar-Powered, Agricultural Robotics Service

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The fossil fuel-free Aigen Element helps farmers 
reduce chemicals in food, and improve human and planetary health

SEATTLE, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Aigen, a Seattle-based agricultural technology startup, today unveiled a groundbreaking autonomous, scalable robotics platform, powered entirely by solar and wind energy. Leveraging proprietary, quantized AI, the Aigen Element service is the only farming solution that decreases fossil fuel use, while also providing farmers with invaluable real-time field insights, increased time savings, and reduced costs.

 

“Aigen was founded on the idea that there should be an alternative to the fossil fuels and pesticides used to produce our food. We have been working closely with farmers, like my family in Minnesota, to develop a solar-powered, on-edge AI platform that makes precision Ag scalable,” said Rich Wurden, co-founder and CTO of Aigen. “We are excited to share those tools with the introduction of the Aigen Element.”

Earlier this year, 2024 and 2025 pre-orders for the Element Service sold out in one day, further demonstrating the excitement among U.S. commodity farmers for more effective approaches to weeding. In the U.S. alone, farmers use 900 million pounds of herbicide annually, and in the next few years, costs are expected to exceed $100 per acre. Plus, in 2019, farm equipment released 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.

“Farmers tell us again and again that weeds are the number one problem they face. So, that’s where we’re starting: developing a solution for farmers to immediately reduce their costs and get rid of weeds, all while growing healthier crops,” said Kenny Lee, Aigen’s co-founder and CEO. “The benefits of our advanced, lightweight, super agile robots go far beyond weeding. We are excited to deliver field-level network connectivity and real-time data and insights that farmers can access from anywhere.”

Artificial Intelligence, Powered by Renewable Energy
Aigen’s unique robotic solution is possible thanks to the company’s proprietary quantized AI, which is so efficient it can run exclusively on renewable energy. “The average cell phone needs 4 Watts of power. Our AI models need only 1.5W, and everything about our vehicle is just as efficient. Paired with a custom 205W solar panel, our robots often generate a power surplus at the end of a full day of running,” added Wurden.

Plant-Level Data, Planetary Connectivity
Aigen’s vehicles continuously transmit field and crop data to an in-house developed mobile app, offering farmers real-time insights. “We’re bringing satellite technology down to earth, and deploying mesh network connectivity built on a robust, self-reliant hardware platform. This offers farmers higher resolution, real-time data and helps them get ahead of problems,” said Puneet Khattar, Aigen’s head of electrical engineering, who previously worked on Amazon’s satellite program and at SpaceX.

Rugged and Agile Hardware
Every aspect of the Aigen Element robot is built for maximum efficiency on the farm. The lightweight frame and solar panel, paired with regenerative motors and rugged suspension, allow the robots to effectively navigate and weed row crops for up to 14 hours a day in nearly any weather condition.

The Aigen Element Service will debut on over 20,000 acres of U.S. farmland in 2024.

About Aigen
At Aigen, we believe in a future with no harmful chemicals in our food – where farmers prosper, people thrive, and the planet flourishes.

With roots in farming, electric vehicles, robotics and impact investing, Rich Wurden and Kenny Lee founded Aigen in 2020 to connect farmers to breakthrough technologies, decarbonize agriculture, and improve human and planetary health. Aigen’s Element vehicles can autonomously navigate, weed, and analyze row crops without any chemicals or diesel fuel. Offered as a service, Aigen’s vehicles reduce farmers’ workload and their reliance on fossil fuels, while increasing their crop and soil health.

Seattle-based Aigen is backed by New Enterprise Associates, Bessemer Venture Partners, Cleveland Avenue, ReGen VC, Global Founders Capital, Industrious Ventures, E2JDJ, and AgFunder.

Learn more at aigen.io.

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SOURCE Aigen

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Bloomberg Introduces Spread-to-Benchmark Quoting for EUR and GBP Portfolio Trading Baskets

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LONDON, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bloomberg today announced the launch of Spread-to-Benchmark quoting and trading for Euro (EUR) and Sterling (GBP) denominated portfolio trades through its Portfolio Trading Basket Builder (PTBB). The new functionality expands the range of quoting protocols available for European credit portfolio trading and reflects growing client demand for spread-based execution workflows, alongside increased dealer support for the convention across EUR and GBP markets.

Spread-to-Benchmark quoting is a well-established protocol for USD credit portfolio trades and is used by market participants to evaluate and execute portfolio trades. By extending this workflow to EUR and GBP portfolio trades, Bloomberg enables clients and dealers to transact using a familiar spread-based methodology across additional credit markets. 

The introduction of Spread-to-Benchmark quoting for EUR and GBP baskets reflects increased client interest in evaluating portfolio trades through a spread-based lens and the growing adoption of spread-based execution workflows in European credit markets. The workflow provides market participants with an additional framework for assessing the relationship between credit spread risk and underlying government bond yields when pricing and executing portfolio trades. 

Additional Workflow Flexibility 
The workflow complements Bloomberg’s existing portfolio trading capabilities, which support the full range of market-standard quoting conventions, including Price, Yield, Spread-to-Benchmark and Spread based workflows that reference Bloomberg’s evaluated pricing service (BVAL). This gives clients flexibility to compare and execute portfolio trades using the quoting methodology that best aligns with their investment objectives, execution preferences and internal risk management processes. 

“European credit clients continue to look for execution workflows that reflect how they evaluate risk and monitor portfolio trading outcomes,” said Harry Street, Global Head of Credit and Equities Trading Product at Bloomberg. “By expanding dealer support for Spread-to-Benchmark quoting for EUR and GBP baskets, Bloomberg is broadening the range of workflow options available to clients trading European credit portfolios.” 

“Portfolio trading workflows in fixed income continue to become more sophisticated as institutional investors look for ways to evaluate execution quality in changing market conditions,” said Kevin McPartland, Head of Market Structure & Technology Research at Crisil Coalition Greenwich. “Spread-based quoting helps market participants more clearly distinguish between the impacts of credit spread and underlying rates movements when determining how best to execute a portfolio trade.” 

Bloomberg’s Electronic Markets solutions are used by leading financial institutions to trade efficiently in over 175 markets around the world. More than 9,000 client firms use Bloomberg Electronic Markets to access industry-leading depth and breadth of liquidity across asset classes from over 800 dealers globally. Bloomberg Electronic Markets provides market participants with comprehensive solutions across the trading lifecycle, including robust price transparency, analytics, automation and execution, powered by Bloomberg’s high-quality, multi-asset class data and tools.

About Bloomberg
Bloomberg is a global leader in business and financial information, delivering trusted data, news, and insights that bring transparency, efficiency, and fairness to markets. The company helps connect influential communities across the global financial ecosystem via reliable technology solutions that enable our customers to make more informed decisions and foster better collaboration. For more information, visit Bloomberg.com/company or request a demo.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bloomberg-introduces-spread-to-benchmark-quoting-for-eur-and-gbp-portfolio-trading-baskets-302787922.html

SOURCE Bloomberg L.P.

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Dr. Sunho Kang, a senior battery-technology executive with leadership experience at major global battery and EV manufacturers, joins TeraWatt Technology as Head of Product and Technology

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SAN FRANCISCO, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — TeraWatt Technology Inc. (Headquartered in California, USA) is pleased to announce that Dr. Sunho Kang has joined the company as Head of Product and Technology.

Dr. Kang is a globally recognized battery-technology executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience spanning the United States, Asia, and Europe, and a distinguished track record of advancing innovations from laboratory research through gigafactory-scale production. He has held senior executive positions at world-leading organizations including Samsung SDI, Apple, and Volkswagen Group of America, and brings deep expertise in lithium-ion battery materials, cell engineering, and product industrialization across a broad range of applications, including electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

At TeraWatt, Dr. Kang will lead global product development and the commercialization of TeraWatt’s battery technology platform, aiming to accelerate the delivery of TeraWatt’s competitive products as well as the technology and commercialization roadmap including manufacturing scale-up.

Dr. Kang commented:

“I am thrilled to join TeraWatt Technology as Head of Product and Technology. TeraWatt’s innovative battery platform presents a tremendous opportunity to push the boundaries of lithium-ion technology, and I look forward to working with the team to accelerate product development and commercialization to deliver meaningful impact.”

TeraWatt Technology founder CEO Ken Ogata, Ph.D. commented:

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Kang as our Head of Product and Technology. His deep expertise in battery materials, cell engineering, and productization will be instrumental in accelerating TeraWatt’s product roadmap and technology leadership. Together with Dr. Kang, we will continue to drive our mission forward.”

About TeraWatt Technology Inc.
TeraWatt Technology Inc. is a California-based company that produces lightweight, high-power, and safe next-generation lithium-ion batteries.

Company Overview
Name: TeraWatt Technology Inc.
Representative: Co-founder and CEO Ken Ogata
Headquarters: 28 Geary St, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94108, United States
Founded: January 2020
Established: December 2019
URL: https://www.terawatt-technology.com/

 

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SOURCE TeraWatt Technology Inc.

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Tencent Cloud and Soniox Announce Strategic Partnership: Combining Advanced Speech-to-Text (STT) Technology with Global Real-Time Infrastructure

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HONG KONG, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of global technology company Tencent, today announced a strategic partnership with Soniox, a San Francisco-based speech AI company that specializes in developing high-accuracy, low-latency speech AI solutions. The collaboration integrates Soniox’s speech-to-text (STT) technology with Tencent Cloud’s Real-Time Communication (TRTC) enterprise-grade global infrastructure, enabling enterprises to build and deploy multilingual voice AI applications across 200+ countries and regions.

Elevating Enterprise Voice AI at a Global Scale

In enterprise voice AI deployments, latency directly affects user experience and application reliability. The integration of Soniox’s high-accuracy, low-latency STT with TRTC’s global transmission infrastructure reduces latency across the entire pipeline, creating a comprehensive end-to-end solution for enterprises deploying conversational AI applications worldwide.    

Soniox is the voice platform for every language. Unlike legacy speech AI, which was built primarily for English-speakers, Soniox delivers native-speaker accuracy across 60+ languages. Its technology can handle mid-sentence language switching — a user can switch between English and Chinese in a single utterance, and Soniox will capture every word with complete accuracy. All of this works through a single API that works for both speech-to-text and text-to-speech.

By integrating TRTC, the partnership leverages an enterprise-grade real-time communication backbone featuring more than 3,200 global nodes, sub-300 ms worldwide latency, and advanced capabilities such as AI noise suppression and weak-network resilience. These capabilities enable conversational AI applications to operate reliably across diverse network environments, including regions such as Southeast Asia and Africa.

With the roll out of this partnership, developers can integrate the Soniox STT API directly within the Tencent Cloud console. Whether targeting English-speaking markets or supporting languages such as Arabic, Hindi, and Malay, enterprises can build global voice applications — including intelligent customer service, voice assistants, real-time translation, and meeting transcription — to address the demands of expansion into emerging markets and multilingual scenarios.

Wison Xie, Head of Product at Tencent RTC, stated: “Tencent RTC has always been committed to providing reliable real-time communication infrastructure for global enterprises. Our partnership with Soniox brings together our strengths in enterprise-grade audio transmission and Soniox’s advanced speech recognition technology. Together, we are making it easier for businesses to deploy accurate, low-latency voice AI applications across any language and any market.”

Klemen Simonic, CEO at Soniox Inc., stated “At Soniox, our mission is to help businesses understand every word, in any language, with native speaker accuracy and exceptional speed. Partnering with Tencent Cloud combines our speech AI with world-class real-time infrastructure, enabling enterprises to build voice AI experiences that scale globally with low latency and reliability.”

About Tencent Cloud:

Tencent Cloud, one of the world’s leading cloud companies, is committed to creating innovative solutions to resolve real-world issues and enabling digital transformation for smart industries. Through our extensive global infrastructure, Tencent Cloud provides businesses across the globe with stable and secure industry-leading cloud products and services, leveraging technological advancements such as cloud computing, Big Data analytics, AI, IoT, and network security. It is our constant mission to meet the needs of industries across the board, including the fields of gaming, media and entertainment, finance, healthcare, property, retail, travel, and transportation.

About Tencent RTC:

Tencent RTC provides real-time communication solutions, including audio/video calling, live streaming, and in-game voice. With enterprise-grade security, AI-powered enhancements, and a global network of over 3,200 nodes, Tencent RTC powers mission-critical communication for customers worldwide.

About Soniox:

Soniox is a next-generation voice AI company bringing about the end of English-first speech AI. Most people on the planet did not grow up speaking English and often mix languages mid-sentence; and yet legacy speech AI was built for just English. Soniox is different: native-speaker accuracy across 60+ languages, true mid-sentence language switching, and flawless alphanumeric recognition that legacy providers still can’t match. For developers building global apps, Soniox is the only option. Try it for yourself at soniox.com.

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SOURCE Tencent Cloud

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