Tesla chooses NV for Gigafactory
After conducting a five state competition, Tesla announced Thursday that it would be building its Gigafactory in Nevada. The Silver State beat out California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas to land the lithium-ion battery production facility and the projected 6,500 jobs that should come with it. The batteries will be used to power the company’s Model-3, which it hopes to sell for $35,000. Although the details of the arrangement are not yet public, it was reported that Tesla was seeking up to $500 million in state tax incentives in exchange for building the facility. The Gigafactory is a joint venture between Tesla and Panasonic, which is slated to handle the actual manufacturing of the cylindrical lithium ion cells.
“I am grateful that Elon Musk and Tesla saw the promise in Nevada. These 21st century pioneers, fueled with innovation and desire, are emboldened by the promise of Nevada to change the world,” said Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval through a statement on the Tesla website.
Apple under fire over celebrity photo hack
Apple made headlines last weekend, and it wasn’t for the upcoming release of the iPhone 6. Instead, the company was blamed for allowing an unidentified hacker to leak the personal photos of a number of celebrities and then post them on Reddit. An internal investigation concluded that the photos were secured not through a bug within Apple’s Find my iPhone service, as was first believed, but by a “very targeted attack on user names, passwords, and security questions.” Apple will now send emails and push notifications to users when there is an attempt to restore iCloud data to a new device, and is likewise encouraging use of the two-factor authentication feature in the new iOS. The iPhone 6 is set to be released to the public on September 9.
Germany bans Uber
A Frankfurt court has ruled that Uber, specifically its UberPop service, lacks the necessary insurance-related paperwork to continue operations. Uber has appealed the decision, and despite warnings of a €250,000 fine for failing to comply with the ruling, has not discontinued any of its services in the country. The suit was brought by Taxi Deutschland, a German taxi trade group that has described Uber as an example of the “locust-share economy” and “anarchy capitalism.” Uber joins Amazon and Google as American technology companies to have faced legal obstacles in Germany.
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This week in numbers
Delivery Hero, a Berlin-based online and mobile food ordering service, raised approximately $350 million in funding.
MetricStream, a governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions provider, secured $60 million in Series D funding led by Sageview Capital, with participation from Goldman Sachs and Kaiser Permanente Ventures.
IEX, a New York-based equity trading venue, has finalized a $75 million Series C funding round led by Spark Capital. Bain Capital Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, and Franklin Resources also participated.