The Walt Disney Company has announced the six companies that will be joining the 2022 Disney Accelerator.

This year's class is focused on building the future of immersive experiences and specialises in technologies such as augmented reality, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and artificial intelligence characters.

The Disney Accelerator kicks off this week. Over the course of the programme, each participant company will receive guidance from Disney's senior leadership team, as well as a dedicated executive mentor.

It will conclude with a Demo Day during the autumn at The Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, CA.

Disney is taking web3 very seriously In a unique move, the 2022 Disney Accelerator consists of 6 innovative web3 companies Here's the break down 🧵 pic.twitter.com/1I236j0KFv

Toonstar has become the official Web3 partner for Hot Topic.

It will be the US retailer’s preferred Web3 provider to produce NFTs and other digital activations for both original projects and Hot Topic developed IP.

Hot Topic will officially launch the relationship at Comic-Con on 21st July with an exclusive opportunity for The Hot Topic HT Fanatics community to have a cameo in an upcoming episode of The Gimmicks, a Web3 animated series that Toonstar co-produces with actress Mila Kunis’ digital studio Sixth Wall.

Just dropped: the third limited virtual Lola bag from Burberry x @Roblox is now available to shop for 24 hours only Shop Hydro at https://t.co/yttEi4OJ8W#BurberryRoblox pic.twitter.com/cFsEY4uFC4

Online luxury marketplace Farfetch is revamping its Dream Assembly initiative after a two-year hiatus to focus solely on Web3 in partnership with European VC firm Outlier Ventures.

Dream Assembly Base Camp will provide a cohort of Web3 startups in the luxury fashion and lifestyle sectors with mentorship, networking, and support.

The remote 12-week programme will be tailored to each startup and will focus on digital fashion, tokenized loyalty, immersive experiences, and the creator economy.

Participating companies will gain access to Farfetch and Outlier Ventures’ network of mentors from the fashion, technology and Web3 industries, as well as investors, to support their future fundraising efforts.

Co-op and Starship Technologies have partnered with North Northamptonshire Council to roll-out autonomous grocery delivery to residents across Wellingborough, Higham Ferrers and Rushden in Northamptonshire.

The service starts this week and the partnership will see up to 45,000 residents in 33,000 households able to access on-demand delivery from four Co-op stores located in Olympic Way and, Northern Way, Wellingborough; Grangeway, Rushden and High Street, Higham Ferrers.

We’re proud to share we’ve partnered with @NNorthantsC & @CoopUK to expand our robotic delivery service to new pavements in the UK. Thousands of residents in Rushden and Wellingborough can now access on-demand grocery delivery from Co-op stores! 🤖 More: https://t.co/3UuM1wd5sL pic.twitter.com/7SDLg4hDT9

Studenac Market, Croatia’s largest retailer by number of stores, has teamed up with Wolt, a European delivery platform, to launch dark stores offering grocery products.

Studenac will provide the products and equipment, while Wolt will take responsibility for logistics and delivery.

The first dark stores will be opened in the Adriatic coast city of Split in late July, and in Croatia’s capital Zagreb in early August. Users will be able to order products via Wolt, and the latter will provide delivery in 30 minutes or less.

Kyle Field, home of the Texas A&M Aggies, is set to become the first collegiate venue in the world to open stores equipped with Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology and the Amazon One palm recognition and payment service.

Three checkout-free stores are slated to open this autumn so fans can use them during the college football season.

They will be able to insert their credit card at the entry gate or hover their palm over an Amazon One device to enter.

Just Walk Out technology determines what items shoppers take from or return to the shelves, and when they leave, the credit card they inserted or linked to their Amazon One ID will be charged for the items they took, with no checkout required. 

A new Dash Cart is coming to select Whole Foods Market locations this year, with the aim of making in-store shopping frictionless and more convenient by eliminating the need to stand in checkout lines or unload and reload items at self-checkout stations.

Today we've opened our first ever lower environmental impact store in Little Clacton, Essex. A huge step forward for us all in reducing both plastic and food waste, our carbon emissions and improving local sourcing ♻️ pic.twitter.com/e95NO5X2cO

Public electric vehicle charging app Bonnet has announced a partnership with parcel delivery company DPD.

The tie up will provide DPD’s EV drivers in the UK with access to 32,000 charge point locations through Bonnet’s app.

Boots UK is working on drone deliveries, featuring temperature controlled storage, with Apian.

The latter is a startup working with the NHS on delivery capability in harder to reach areas.

The Boots UK tie up kicked off last week, with flights between Southampton and the Isle of Wight to ensure critical time sensitive patient needs are being met on the island.

The @BootsUK partnership with @Apianaero ‘took off’ this week with us utilising flights between Southampton & the IoW to ensure critical time sensitive patient needs are met on the island. #TechAtBoots is the future. pic.twitter.com/8YxupLhABs

Sports company ASICS has hired conversational AI software tool Amelia as a digital service agent.

ASICS says that it will be able to boost its customer experience by enabling 24/7 omnichannel support, as well as reducing the time employees spend on repetitive and mundane issues.

Swedish pharmacy Apotek Hjärtat is partnering with GreyOrange to develop automation solutions for its new 20,000 square metre e-commerce warehouse that will open in September in Norrköping. 

On-demand delivery firm Zapp has announced a partnership with Certific to bring its medical diagnostics products directly to the patient.

Customers can now order testing kits for UTI and STI screening (including gonorrhoea and chlamydia) via Zapp.

They will get results and diagnosis for STIs within 24 to 48 hours (via Royal Mail), as well as results and diagnosis for UTIs in 60 minutes, without the need for a medical centre visit.

Certific’s service can be accessed through an application with guided screening, which, it says, reduces inaccurate results, diagnosis, and the unnecessary prescription of antibiotics.

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