Latest news with #Saronic
Time of India
22-06-2025
- Time of India
Greece island hopping: Where to go in June vs July
Greece is a dream destination for many. The country is noted for its beautiful views of the ocean, scenic hotels, and breathtaking countryside. In addition to its natural beauty, the country is a perfect summer destination and is famous for its island-hopping opportunities. The best time to visit is between June and July. From fewer crowds to peaceful accommodations, Greece is all set to grant us all the best time of our lives. Perks of visiting Greece in June Fewer People: June is the beginning of the high season, but it's not as crowded as July. Beaches, ferries, and major islands are less busy, resulting in a more relaxed atmosphere. Pleasant weather: The weather remains warm but usually less hot than the peak heat of July and August. Sunny days and pleasant nights are the norm, perfect for water sports and swimming. Improved prices: Prices of accommodations and ferries are usually cheaper in June than in July, and you will have more choices, particularly if you book ahead. Local vibes : Most islands still preserve a more authentic, local atmosphere before the huge wave of tourists arrives in July. Islands to visit in June: Cyclades : Naxos, Paros, Milos, and Syros provide traditional whitewashed villages and lovely beaches without crowds. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like ¿Padece una enfermedad renal crónica (ERC)? Trialbee Más información Undo Saronic islands : Hydra and Spetses are picturesque, off the beaten path, and close to Athens, ideal for a peaceful beginning to your vacation. Dodecanese : Karpathos and smaller islands such as Lipsi or Kasos provide a more off-the-beaten-path experience. Planning a July visit? What to expect Peak season: July is peak tourist season. Expect busy ports, vibrant nightlife, and busy beaches, particularly on popular islands such as Santorini and Mykonos. Hotter weather: July has the hottest weather, sometimes reaching over 35°C (95°F) or more, particularly in the southern islands. If you enjoy the heat and an active party atmosphere, July is ideal. Higher prices: Accommodation, ferries, and activities are at their most costly. Booking ahead is a must. Vibrant Atmosphere: July is best if you desire an active atmosphere with festivals, beach parties, and plenty of international tourists. Recommended islands to visit in July: Famous Cyclades: Santorini and Mykonos are in full swing, with all restaurants, clubs, and stores open late at night. Crete and Rhodes: Bigger islands can accommodate more crowds and provide a variety of activities, from beaches to ancient sites. Lesser-Known islands: Try going to less-visited islands such as Milos, Amorgos, or Folegandros for a more peaceful retreat, even in July Before going to Greece, set your priorities straight. If you are a beach person, then June is better, but if you want to mix that party zest, then July is better than any other month. One step to a healthier you—join Times Health+ Yoga and feel the change
CNBC
10-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Anduril tops 2025 CNBC Disruptor 50 list as interest in defense tech rises
This year's Disruptor 50 list, topped by Anduril in the No. 1 spot, and then OpenAI, showcases 50 companies that are challenging the status quo and using technology (most often, AI) to transform a range of industries. What's particularly notable about this year's list is how the sectors represented illustrate key trends not just in technology and VC, but also in politics and society. This is the first time in the 13 years of the Disruptor 50 list that it's been topped by a defense tech company. The defense tech sector isn't just represented by Anduril, with Flock Safety, Saronic Technologies, and Shield AI also making the 2025 list. Their scope and scale demonstrate a rising trend. The four companies have a combined value of more than $45 billion and have raised almost $10 billion from investors. They have geographic diversity – all are headquartered outside Silicon Valley. And their focuses are varied. Flock Safety (No. 7 on this year's list) makes security hardware and software. Saronic (No. 19) builds unmanned maritime vessels. Shield AI (No. 38) is an autonomous drone company. Beyond the companies focused on building physical methods of defense, there is also Abnormal AI (No. 25), a cybersecurity company playing a key role in protecting systems from attacks that prey on human behavioral weaknesses. Gecko Robotics (No. 30) deploys its robots to capture data about the integrity of critical assets, including aircraft carriers, naval ships, and missile silos. The sector's growth is expected to accelerate thanks to a surge of funding. Last week, Anduril announced a new $2.5 billion round of funding at a valuation, $30.5 billion, double the valuation at its previous round of funding. Saronic and Shield AI have also closed major fundraising rounds in 2025, according to Pitchbook, $600 million in Saronic's case. AI infrastructure company Scale AI (No. 28) secured a landmark deal last August with the Department of Defense's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office to advance AI capabilities for the U.S. military. Scale AI also announced a new multi-million dollar deal with the DoD in March to help with "Thunderforge," an initiative to develop AI agents for U.S. military planning and operations that also includes this year's Anduril. The surge in funding comes as President Trump has proposed an increase in defense spending, with a focus on modernizing military capabilities and opening opportunities beyond the legacy defense sector. There is also an increasing focus on dual-use technologies: Anduril took over Microsoft's augmented reality headset program that was in the works with the military, and then at the end of May announced a deal with Meta to create VR and AR devices for use by the Army. Along with the rise of military tech, the explosion in generative AI's capabilities is driving the transformation of a range of sectors, from farming to law and robotics. Across the list, there are 17 enterprise tech companies, seven fintechs, four health-care companies, four in food/agriculture, and three each in transportation and biotech. AI-focused investments and higher valuations are on full display up and down this year's Disruptor 50 list. The 13th annual Disruptor 50 class is valued at $798 billion, far more than last year's $436 billion total, due in large part to OpenAI's $300 billion valuation. The total amount the companies have raised increased to $127 billion, up from $70 billion last year. It's clear that the generative AI revolution has transformed the startup ecosystem as well as the list, with 20 newcomers this year. Only 11 companies on this year's list were Disruptors before the launch of ChatGPT, and many in that group — including Anduril, Databricks, and Canva — have succeeded because of their embrace of gen AI. More than two-thirds of companies on this year's D50 list — 38 companies — said that AI is "critical to their business," up from 34 last year. And 21 of this year's companies say generative AI is their essential technology, up from 13 last year. This reflects venture capital's increasing focus on AI: about 58% of global VC dollars invested in the first quarter went into AI and machine learning startups, while in North America, 70% of deal value went into AI and machine learning startups. And the funding numbers continue to grow, with $73 billion raised in the first quarter, more than half of last year's total, though that's largely due to OpenAI's $40 billion round, led by SoftBank. AI is being used in a range of diverse use cases by Disruptors, including law (Harvey), fighting crime (Flock Safety), and in the doctor's office (Abridge and Rad AI). But the sector with the most companies on this year's Disruptor 50 list is enterprise AI, with 17 companies (up from 14 last year). These range from Databricks, which helps companies mine their data, to Glean, which enables its customers to build custom AI apps and custom search tools, to collaborative workspace and note-taking tool Notion. Design platform Canva has increasingly invested in AI and made AI features the center of its toolkit. With partnerships with ChatGPT and Anthropic (No. 4 on this year's list), and the acquisition of several AI-powered companies in the past year, CEO Melanie Perkins is expected to take her $32 billion company public in the next year. "We've continuously been investing in this space with magic recommendations, and so forth, over the years with generative AI," said Perkins. "Being able to have that magic embedded as you're writing your documents and your presentations, being able to have Canva AI … it's really been an extension of that initial promise that we've had to customers, to empower the world, to design, to continue to put the latest to greatest technology in their hands." Perkins says Canva has a three-pronged approach to AI: integrating the best products that are available, deeply investing in the areas needed to bring the expertise to their customers, and having a platform where the newest AI products and other apps can come onto Canva and be accessed by the community. She is optimistic about the potential for AI to be a democratizing force for Canva's 220 million customers around the world. "I think it's critically important that as the world of humanity, we use AI to truly lift up every single person who lives here, to help everyone have their basic human needs being met," she said. "And I think there is a huge opportunity for us to be dreaming bigger about what we want with technology accelerating. I think there is a huge opportunity to rethink what we're doing with it and ensuring that it's serving our needs."
CNBC
10-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
19. Saronic Technologies
Founders: Dino Mavrookas (CEO), Rob Lehman, Vibhav Altekar, Doug LambertLaunched: 2022Headquarters: Austin, TexasFunding: $850 millionValuation: $4 billionKey Technologies: Artificial intelligence, autonomous vehiclesIndustry: DefensePrevious appearances on Disruptor 50 list: 0 Defense startup Saronic Technologies is working with the U.S. Navy to design and manufacture autonomous surface vessels, to enhance national security in the maritime sector for both the U.S. and its allies. Through combining artificial intelligence, data analysis, advanced sensors and communication technologies, Saronic ships are built to endure challenging conditions at sea and respond to various forms of attack. In the past two years, the startup has released five smaller autonomous surface vessels, ranging from 6 feet to 60 feet long. The smallest model, the 6-foot Spyglass, is designed for tactical deployment through at-sea launches. Its larger 24-foot Corsair, released last October for urgent operations, has a range of 1,000 nautical miles, a maximum speed of over 35 knots, or 40 mph, and a payload capacity of 1,000 pounds. In April, it introduced two even larger vessels: Mirage, a 40-foot vessel with a range of over 2,000 nautical miles and a carrying capacity of 2,000 pounds; and Cipher, a 60-foot vessel with a range exceeding 3,000 nautical miles and a carrying capacity of 10,000 pounds. "We've been able to execute at a speed and a scale that hasn't been seen before in the maritime environment," Saronic Technologies CEO and co-founder Dino Mavrookas said in an interview on CNBC's "Closing Bell: Overtime" in February. In April, the company also acquired Gulf Craft, a Louisiana-based shipbuilder, to gain a foothold in a Gulf Coast shipyard and serve as production hub for its medium-sized unmanned surface vessel fleet, Marauder, a 150-foot autonomous surface vessel. The U.S. ship industry is ripe for disruption and innovation. Domestic shipyards built up to 25 ships per year back in the 1970s, but this number fell to roughly five ships per year in the 1980s and continues at a low rate while other countries, particularly in Asia, produce ships at much lower costs, according to a congressional report. The U.S. shipbuilding industry has been a focus for both the Biden and current Trump administration, for commercial ship and military security reasons. The U.S. Navy has lost ground to China in new naval builds, according to government reports. As the U.S. Navy continues to work toward a hybrid fleet of manned and unmanned ships, Saronic Technologies is competing with the likes of MARTAC and Maritime Applied Physics Corporation that are also looking to reshape naval warfare, and capitalize on new approaches to defense spending. Saronic Technologies secured major classified government contracts last year, along with acquiring a private lake to use for testing its autonomous surface vessels in Austin, Texas. In February, the company announced $600 million Series C funding, which quadrupled Saronic Technologies' total valuation in just seven months since its previous VC round. "It is our initiative to build the shipyard of the future, to invest billions of dollars into the defense industrial race, create thousands and thousands of jobs in the process and bring shipbuilding back to this country in a way that we haven't seen since World War II," Mavrookas said at the time of the latest fundraise, referring to its plans for what it calls "Port Alpha."
Daily Mirror
23-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Brits urged to ditch Santorini and Mykonos for beautiful crowd-free island
The absence of mass tourism means you can connect with Greek island life and enjoy the company of likeable locals without the hustle and bustle of the country's holiday hotspots British holidaymakers often default to Santorini or Mykonos when planning a Greek island getaway, drawn by the stunning beaches, whitewashed villages, iconic sunsets and buzzing nightlife. But while these islands have become victims of their own popularity — crawling with tourists, commercialised and increasingly expensive — the lesser-known isle of Hydra offers a crowd- and car-free alternative promising a more authentic, tranquil and enriching escape. This Saronic gem, renowned for its calming atmosphere and absence of automobiles — the sole exception to the vehicle ban is bin collection trucks — is located just an hour and a quarter from Athens. Without honking horns and revving engines, the tiny island exudes a rare peacefulness that encourages visitors to mellow out and truly unwind. On Hydra, goods and luggage are transported by donkeys and mules — it houses the largest herd of working equines in the world. Cat lovers are also in for a treat, as Hydra's streets are full of friendly felines. Much of Hydra's charm lies in its preservation of traditional Greek island life. The absence of mass tourism means you can wander whitewashed lanes, marvel at the and Neoclassical mansions, discover hidden courtyards and enjoy the company of likeable locals without the hustle and bustle. Even in peak season, Hydra remains blissfully uncrowded compared to its Cycladic cousins. Hydra has long been a haven for artists, writers and musicians. The legendary Leonard Cohen famously lived there for several years, drawing inspiration for this song Bird on the Wire (1969) from the island. Today, the island continues to attract creative souls, with contemporary art galleries nestled alongside historic heritage sites. The Deste Foundation Project Space, perched above the sea, hosts edgy exhibitions, while the Historical Archive Museum offers a deep dive into Hydra's pivotal role in the Greek War of Independence. The rugged landscape is ideal for exploration, with over 300 chapels and monasteries scattered across Hydra. Hiking enthusiasts can wander scenic trails through the isle's olive groves and along dramatic cliffs. The coastline is dotted with hidden coves and pebbly beaches, many of which are only accessible by boat — perfect for those seeking solitude and unspoiled swimming spots. Adventurous visitors can also try diving among ancient shipwrecks or join local fishermen for a traditional line-fishing experience. Unlike Santorini and Mykonos, which often require long ferry rides or chaotic airport transfers, Hydra is a straightforward 75-minute catamaran journey from Athens' port of Piraeus. As soon as you arrive, you'll be immersed in a world that feels both ancient and alive. So while Santorini is famed for its volcanic caldera views and stunning sunsets, and Mykonos its buzzing beach clubs, Hydra invites you to slow down, decompress and connect with the simple joys of Greek island life.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Unmanned undersea vessels eyed by Pentagon as key part of Navy growth
As pressure rises on the U.S. Navy to boost its shipbuilding capacity, the Pentagon has released a call for a new type of undersea vessel called the Combat Autonomous Maritime Platform, or CAMP, an unmanned system built 'to maximize operational effectiveness in contested environments,' according to the solicitation released by the Defense Innovation Unit. This new class of remotely operated vessel aims to take the Navy's capacity for undersea warfare to the next level — maneuvering in GPS-denied environments at a range greater than 1,000 nautical miles and diving to more than 200 meters underwater during missions, one of which would include dropping 'various payloads to the sea floor.' Integrating AI technology into U.S. shipbuilding comes as part of a widespread effort to revitalize an industry described by the Government Accountability Office as lingering in a 'perpetual state of triage.' The nation's shipbuilding industry has been trailing far behind China and recently gave rise to concern about whether the U.S. would be able to replace disabled or sunken ships in a near-peer combat environment. The Navy plans to boost its number of battle force ships over the next three decades from 296 to 381 vessels. While the CAMP initiative is expected to be cost effective and 'minimize surface expression and duration,' it must also be designed for transport, deployment and recovery with 'commonly available commercial freight and transport equipment,' the solicitation stated. The CAMP document comes on the heels of recent undertakings by private industry to venture deeper into autonomous shipbuilding to address growing demand. HavocAI recently announced the upcoming launch of a 38-foot unmanned vessel known as the Seahound. Additionally, Saronic Technologies, an autonomous vessel startup company, announced its acquisition of Gulf Craft, a Louisiana-based shipbuilder, last week. The company retained the shipbuilder's current workforce and has stated that it aims to create over 500 jobs within the next three to four years. Saronic also announced the debut of a 150-foot autonomous surface vessel (ASV) called 'Marauder.' The vessel is designed to travel up to 3,500 nautical miles or loiter for over 30 days, according to a company release. In February, Saronic raised $600 million in funding to achieve its goal of building Port Alpha, a shipyard for autonomous vessels. And in March, the company announced a partnership with Palantir Technologies to enhance vessel software capabilities. 'By revitalizing our industrial base right here in Louisiana, we are taking a critical step toward building our own supply chains and countering foreign competitors like China,' said House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, according to the release. 'All of this is essential to our national security. We are grateful to Saronic for their commitment to this industry and our great state.'
