DTN 056: Rockets, God, and the Rise of Defense Tech Startups
The Big Picture
Rockets, God, and Peter Thiel: 36 Hours in the Gundo, Tech’s Latest Startup Haven
“Within the Gundo, almost every startup hopes to turn the Defense Department or some other government entity into a customer. It was an unpopular strategy until Thiel’s Palantir and Musk’s SpaceX proved that startups could secure government contracts when competing against established giants like Raytheon and Boeing. And the increase in defense tech startups in the Gundo mirrors the broader rise in venture-backed startups working defense purposes over the few years, spurred on by SpaceX’s example, as well as rising geopolitical tensions in places including China, Ukraine and Israel. Realistically, of course, securing government contracts remains a long and potentially fruitless endeavor, which could mean many of the El Segundo startups disappear as quickly as they appeared.” (The Information)
Deep Tech News
- After delay, Delta IV Heavy lifts off for the last time
- Japanese astronaut to be the first non-American to set foot on the Moon
- Russia aborts planned test launch of new heavy-lift space rocket
- Breakthrough drug trial saw cancer vanish in every patient
- NASA wants to come up with a new clock for the moon, where seconds tick away faster
- Geoengineering test launched in Alameda
JPEG of the Week
Peer Review
- Cloud engineering could be more effective ‘painkiller’ for global warming than previously thought
- New technological advance for fast and efficient 3D imaging of objects
- NASA technology helps guard against lunar dust
- Muscle tissue harvested from mice cells move ‘biohybrid’ robots
- A microbial plastic factory for high-quality green plastic
- Advancing real-time 3D holographic display: A new method for computer-generated holography
- Transistor takes advantage of quantum interference
Funding x M&A
- Basemark raises $23.9M for AI-based computer vision and AR experience in cars
- Synapses launches $125M climate and health venture fund
- Proxima Fusion raises $21M to build on its ‘stellarator’ approach to nuclear fusion
- Varda Space’s orbital drug factory success fuels $90M in new funding
- TSMC receives $4.4B to build chip factories under U.S. CHIPS and Science Act
- Leash Biosciences, an AI/ML-native biotech startup, raised $9.3M seed round
- Grow Therapy raises $88M in Series C funding
- Windfall Bio raises $28M Series A to scale methane capture and transformation solution
- Watttron, a developer of sustainable packaging tech solutions, raised €12M in Series B funding
- Kryptos Biotechnologies raises $10M in Series A funding
- Carrar raises $5.3M to deliver commercial battery modules for electric vehicles that triple battery lifetime
- HysetCo secures €200M to accelerate hydrogen refueling
- Collaborative Robotics is prioritizing ‘human problem solving’ over humanoid forms
- Zero-emission truck developer Windrose Technology Completes $110M Series B financing
- SunCulture, a Nairobi, Kenya-based solar irrigation startup, raised $27M in Series B funding
Miscellanea
TikTok plots using virtual influencers for advertising / With little urging, Grok will detail how to make bombs, concoct drugs (and much, much worse) / ‘My eyes hurt’ searches spike on Google following solar eclipse / Big Tech’s underground race to buy AI training data / Top Israeli Spy Chief accidentally revealed his true identity online / The wealthy are starting to have more babies than the poor again / Home insurers are dropping customers based on aerial images / Neurons in the brain appear to follow a distinct mathematical pattern / My son and 27 others have died at skydiving center. How is it still open? / She built a microcomputer empire from her suburban home / France has a military drone radar everyone’s desperate to get
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