European startups

European startups

Overview Energy emerged from stealth today with a plan to use the world's solar panels as nighttime collectors of power beamed down from space. The startup plans to use large solar arrays in geosynchronous orbit - about 22,000 miles above the Earth where satellites match the planet's rotation - to harvest sunlight. It will then use infrared lasers to transmit that power to utility-scale solar farms on Earth, allowing them to send power to the grid nearly round the clock.

Einride said Wednesday it plans to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, just six weeks after the Swedish electric and autonomous truck startup raised $100 million from investors. The SPAC merger with Legato Merger Corp. values Einride at $1.8 billion in pre-money equity, according to the companies. The deal is expected to generate about $219 million in gross proceeds, a figure that doesn't take into account any redemption of Legato's public shares.