Jeremy Conrad

Who doesn't love chatting about the frontier of Space?! Loved getting this insiders look from Epsilon3 CEO Laura Crabtree (ex-SpaceX, Northrop Grumman) as the industry reshapes into a lightening fast startup ecosystem for us to marvel. Small teams are lowering the cost to access space. Homegrown automation software is dramatically reducing team size -- as Laura puts it: "You won’t see 50 people in a control room for launch…you’ll see 5 controlling 50 different assets and a couple of 100 assets that are mostly operating on their own." Personally i'm keeping a close eye on the new interconnectedness between space and the broader economy will spark a flywheel of innovation. 🎙️ Listen in to our discussion (link in comments) as we release today -- 5YF#16: Space command reimagined, automating mission control, new deep tech hubs, interstellar missions, and the future of space operations w/ Epsilon3 CEO Laura Crabtree To infinity!

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There is so much that is so damn impressive about Nominal's execution. The team identified a truly needed product in the world. More than that... They serve their customers. Sometimes Nominal is saving days of work for an engineer detangling the performance of new hardware in an autonomous fixed wing drone. Other times, helping implement a transformational change for engineering orgs, delivering iteration speed from simulation to range to unlock an RFP goal and contract win. They are building dual use -- powering the best of commercial and public sector teams. Whether a government contractor delivering on a $12b contract. A scaled public company, integrating AI into your roadmap on to your existing HW platform. A startup which is willing a first product into existence. Nominal is there for all the dual use hardware builders who live real time, live in physical world time. The real world runs real time. The real world runs Nominal and so excited to be on the journey. Also, hiring, https://www.nominal.io/, kind of a lot. If you are awesome, they want to talk to you.

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What's the best training environment for autonomous vehicles? "Bad driving is probably playing a bigger role in the fatality rate than larger cars and longer journeys." This article from Financial Times and John Burn-Murdoch about the crazy US traffic we've all (?) experienced made me think about the development of autonomous vehicles. Companies like Tesla and Waymo are preferably training their autonomous systems on US roads, and now I understand why! It's because they want their systems to be trained under the most difficult circumstances. or It's because a sub-par autonomous driving system can excel among bad US drivers, and it's the fastest way to market acceptance. Either way, as Europeans, we should be grateful that the systems are trained on US roads, where many distracted drivers create fringe situations that would never happen in other parts of the world. Car manufacturers send their development teams to the Nordics to test winter behavior before sending them to the US to get road rage training data... #autonomuscars #fsd #ai #automotive https://lnkd.in/dU7MqW2y

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Check out how Inertial Labs and Stitch3D are bringing LIDAR data to the tactical point of need for the US Air Force and many other industry applications in this new blog!

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Can poop save the planet? 🤔 Well, in Silicon Valley, it's not just a punchline—it's a multimillion-dollar climate solution. Big players are teaming up with startup Vaulted Deep, paying $58.3 million, to pump organic waste underground. The deal was brokered by Frontier Climate, a coalition launched in 2022 by Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, Shopify, and McKinsey Sustainability. But why are tech giants getting their hands dirty with sewage and manure? Vaulted Deep's technology, rooted in decades-old methods used for oil and gas fracking cleanup, gives them an edge. But instead of sludge, they're tackling carbon-rich waste, aiming to sequester CO2 underground. They plan to sequester 152,480 tons of carbon dioxide by 2027 as part of the deal (That equates to 36,000 gas cars off the road for a year). Is this greenwashing, or a silver bullet? Critics warn of cost, the need for rigorous carbon accounting, and potential environmental trade-offs - i.e. emission prevention versus carbon removal. #decarbonization

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Breaking down our latest newsletter section by section, starting with our expanded focus in Deep Tech: --- We have built expertise in the robotics sector, and will continue to double (and triple) down on investing in this category, but we have been increasingly finding that robotics is naturally steering us into two exploding adjacent areas: Aerospace, and Advanced Manufacturing (which we define as industrials, semiconductors, materials science, and energy production). Stepping back, this expansion makes perfect sense. Robotics is an inherently horizontal platform - meaning it can be applied productively across multiple industries. This quality, paired with the fact that robotics has long shown the highest TRLs of any deep tech technology, makes it a kind of “gateway” to other sectors in the hard sciences. Now with the recent breakthroughs in AI for robotics, growing semiconductor demand, and the resurgence of aerospace and defense tech, we are seeing a dramatic uptake of robotics and relevant technologies in both advanced manufacturing and aerospace. As an added bonus of the expansion, many of the founder (and funder) networks across these landscapes have natural overlaps and linkages. For AlleyCorp Deep Tech this means that we can be extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and engaged across all three sectors right away, and continue to be the best-in-class investing team across these categories.  --- More in our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ewiTuYq6

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Since 2016, SpaceX has launched ~300 Falcon 9 rockets into space. Every single one has been successful. The consistency is remarkable, but how did they achieve this across different weather conditions, payloads, and rocket designs? The answer is testing… and lots of it. On the surface, testing hardware is relatively simple. Build it, test it, see what breaks. Rinse and repeat until you have a robust product. This works great in theory, but it’s much harder when software is antiquated and the data volumes are overwhelming. As the number of variables increases, the number of trials needed increases exponentially. Let's do some quick math assuming we want to isolate different numbers of variables… 5 variables → 120 trials 10 variables → 3,628,800 trials 20 variables → 2,432,902,008,176,640,000 trials (2.4 quintillion) You get the idea. For complex hardware (like Falcon 9), it’s incredibly difficult and expensive to test all aspects of a system. Yet there are significant real-world consequences when mission-critical hardware fails. This is why Nominal is so critical. Nominal’s software platform streamlines testing and deployment of complex hardware so engineering teams can speed up innovation cycles and lower costs (and angst) in the process. It’s a godsend for industrial companies and is going to play a key role in enabling America’s manufacturing future. Overmatch is excited to be part of Nominal’s Series A and support Cameron McCord, Bryce Strauss, and Jason Hoch as they build the modern industrial data stack. We invested alongside Paul Kwan and Alexa Liautaud at General Catalyst; Bilal Zuberi and Josh Wolfe at Lux Capital; Delian Asparouhov and Trae Stephens at Founders Fund; Ross Fubini at XYZ Venture Capital; Semil Shah and Aashay Sanghvi at Haystack; and Matthew Colford and Baris Akis at HUMAN CAPITAL.

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🚀 Excited to announce our investment in Satellites on Fire. Their cutting-edge technology is making a significant impact in preventing fires and addressing climate change. What excites me: 🌟 Product: I'm particularly impressed by how they use various technologies to solve a very specific problem – wildfire detection and prevention. Their use of satellites and #AI allows for real-time wildfire detection, outperforming traditional methods and providing early alerts to protect communities and ecosystems. 🔥 Traction: already monitoring 34M hectares across 11 countries in Latin America, helping over 400 organizations with real-time alerts. Their rapid adoption by large-scale public and private institutions speaks volumes about their impact. 💪 Amazing Team: Franco Rodriguez Viau, Joaquin Chamo and Ulises L. have shown incredible passion, grit, and growth mindsets. Exactly what you look for in founders. Can't wait to see how they grow the business. Forests are crucial for climate stability, water regulation, biodiversity, and livelihoods. We need to protect them! Satellites on Fire is here to help us protect our forests and neighboring communities. 🌎 Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/eMRai9UA #ClimateTech #WildfirePrevention #SustainableFuture #Innovation #SatellitesOnFire #MCV

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The most impactful technology augments human capability. Take assembly line work as an example: Robots enhance speed and precision but still require human oversight. This dynamic mirrors our evolving relationship with AI, especially within the service-as-software paradigm shift. As Jaya and I wrote in our recent blog post, AI's evolution from a basic tool into an autonomous agent isn't about replacing jobs. It's about reshaping them. This shift is part of a $4.6 trillion opportunity where AI not only boosts efficiency but also creates new roles, blending tech with human insights. AI doesn’t just replace—it reinvents how we work, creating more value than ever.

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When I talk about investing in SpaceTech startups, people are often skeptical. They believe that it's impossible to make money in this sector. Today, at Space Ambition, we interviewed Michael Mealling, a partner of Starbridge Venture Capital. The fund invests in Seed - Series B. Among their portfolio companies are Axiom Space, Umbra, Lynk Global, AlumaPower Corporation, SpaceX, Commonwealth Fusion Systems. They have made a 80x return on invested capital on their first space fund! I hope this article will also inspire you to start investing in SpaceTech or building space startups:)  https://lnkd.in/ex7HJRJq

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Space tech-focused investment firm Seraphim Space Space launched its second VC fund, SSV II, to back early-stage startups in the global space tech market. The fund aims to build a portfolio of 30 startups, investing in seed and Series A stages. The latest fund's target size is larger than its predecessor's, which closed at £70M ($90M) in 2017. The fund's investment themes include AI applications for space data, in-orbit computing, space-enabled communications, and microgravity for science. Eutelsat is one of the limited partners that contributed to the latest fund. Seraphim Space aims to stand out with its track record, having returned three times the original investment from its first fund. The first fund's returns were driven by five exits, including Siemens' acquisition of UltraSOC and four IPOs of Arqit, AST SpaceMobile, Nightingale, and Spire Global. The British firm listed its growth fund Seraphim Space Investment Trust (SSIT) on the London Stock Exchange in July 2021, getting about £250M (~$300M) in gross proceeds. The fund's market cap touched an all-time low of £130M ($162M) in July 2023. The market for space tech is expected to grow significantly, with the World Economic Forum and McKinsey estimating it could be worth $1.8R by 2035.

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🤖 Mindtech New Sensor Features 🧠 Mindtech, one of Edge’s new portfolio companies and the developer of its end-to-end DataOps platform for synthetic data, has announced the launch of support for two new sensor types, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and NIR (Near-infrared) for its “Chameleon” platform. Mindtech Chameleon Editor instantiating a Lidar sensor Mindtech’s “Chameleon”, a platform enabling rapid creation of synthetic data matched to the real world, has added support for these two additional sensor types, allowing AI system developers to create Lidar and NIR training and test data. Today’s systems often require to see beyond the visual, to help with accurate depth perception (LiDAR) and low light monitoring applications (NiR) for example. Combining these non-human visible sensors with traditional human-vision (RGB-type) sensors, allows Chameleon users to create precise, synchronised data, with full annotations.

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The news is out about Vigilant Aerospace's new project to develop a distributed version of FlightHorizon! What does this mean, you ask? Isn't the software already "distributed"? Isn't it already hosted in the cloud for most clients? Yes and no. Yes, we deliver a standards-compliant automatic detect-and-avoid system for UAS of all sizes with either ground-based or onboard sensors. We've done that for a long time now for a wide variety of users. Yes, the system provides UTM functions and is compliant as a USS with ASTM F3548-21. Yes, the system is fully hosted and managed for most commercial clients (not including our military and NASA users, who tend to do their own thing...). But now we are adding the ability to manage, aggregate and fuse data from an unlimited number of remote sensors and data sources. We are integrating new and larger air traffic surveillance radars at key locations on our network. And we are doing pilot projects with major national programs, like the federally funded Skyway Range project in north central Oklahoma. So yes, it is a lot of new work with several partners and a lot of moving parts. And I'm delighted that we can finally share this project publicly! Thanks to our partners: Oklahoma State University , Oklahoma Aerospace Institute for Research and Education , Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) , Jamey Jacob, Jennifer McGrail, Cody Cramer, M. S., Zach Peterson, DeTect, Inc., Tulsa Innovation Labs, DronePort Network Want to know more? You can read the details here: https://lnkd.in/dNBAVzEe

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Fantastic event (and ecosystem) that Patrick Meier, PhD and his team at the Climate Robotics Network are creating. Highly recommend you check out the Climate Robotics Summit, done in partnership with EPFL, SOSV, Cybernetix Ventures, ETH Zürich, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. I just had the pleasure of moderating a panel just now on investing in climate robotics, alongside Urvi Nagrani, Malini Samtani, Sashi Jayatileke and Fady Saad. Here are some of the key insights: 1) Applications for robotics to climate challenges (adaptation AND mitigation) are enormous: support to farmers as conditions for humans become too hot to farm for long hours, drones that help capture data on forests and wildlife, supporting with installation of maintenance in large solar fields, wind turbines, circular economy applications - e.g. de-manufacturing - to just name a few. 2) Investing in robotics is simply different - it doesn't fit the standard SAAS VC strategies, often having a lot of engineering input and require non-dilutive funding upfront - e.g. similar barriers to investing in hardware writ large. Thus, it sits in a bit of its own asset class, so investors and entrepreneurs alike need to understand how these solutions behave, esp. in the early-stages of building/testing. That said, there is a growing pool of funds that have been specializing in this area. 3) So how do we move robotics solutions up the TRL ladder faster? It can take a LONG time for any robotics solution to be truly market ready. Even when there is theoretical product-market fit doesn't mean that it's ready in investors' eyes. Lots of testing as well as setting proper expectations with customers is critical, and part of this long process. Non-dilutive funding is rare to find in most countries, but in the US in particular there is a growing pool of grant funding that can help. 4) Development finance institutions and donors have a critical role here, especially in vulnerable countries/communities: Robotics could have bit impact in supporting climate solutions in vulnerable communities, but we need to ensure that there is an enabling environment for these solutions, which means that the policy, academic, and traditional finance space (e.g. local commercial banks)

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If you’re not ok investing in dual use, then you’re not ok investing in deeptech. Anything "deeptech" is potentially dual use. Any European LP opposed to defensetech investing is, let's be honest, a hypocrite. They may be well intentioned, but they are hypocrites nonetheless, and naive. Those same LPs benefit from the security of living in safe countries with commerce and trade and a way of life protected by militaries, police, and intelligence services. They wouldn't exist without a robust and innovative Western defense sector. So for them to be anti defensetech reeks of entitlement, and is little more than a luxury belief draped in superficial virtue signalling. Sadly, many people today have forgotten that freedom isn't free, and that democracy is very much worth defending. We have a moral obligation to remember and act accordingly. ⚔️ 🛡 https://lnkd.in/eVXZEsAF #vc #venturecapital #startups #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #tech #technology #innovation #deeptech #money #business

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This is not how you win #WW3. The US has become the high-cost producer of everything defense-related. The F-35 is not a new new thing. It is just the best expression of an old thing. At multiples of the cost. The new new thing is a drone. An F-35 is a very expensive drone with a pilot riding in it instead of controlling it from the ground. The only reason to put a human in a drone is to prevent jamming of the control of the drone. Is the juice worth the squeeze? It is $7mm per year just to keep an F-35 operational. That's a lot of drones. The problem to be solved is not how to get humans to ride more expensive jet fighters. The problem to be solved is how to prevent jamming of drones. #defenseinnovation Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) European Defense Investor Network Heather Jo Richman United States Department of DefenseUnited States Air Force #drones Creighton Holt Timothy D. Otten Graham Scarbro Defense News Defense One Drones https://lnkd.in/gjEK4HtB

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🚨 🚀 8090 Industries is incredibly excited to unveil our latest investment last year, in Atomic Alchemy Inc. led by Thomas Eiden whose building the 'SpaceX for the radioisotopes manufacturing' - reinforcing our commitment to revitalizing the capabilities America lost after the Manhattan Project, decoupling our dependency on Russian and foreign interests and unleashing energy and industrial abundance. Read more : https://lnkd.in/gD2xTatB There's a supply crisis today in radioisotope manufacturing. With hundreds of millions of commitments from the nuclear medicine market from cancer therapies to X-rays, Atomic Alchemy Inc. is positioned to not only win today but also ramp up to address the massive scarcity bottlenecking nuclear fusion: nuclear fuels -- namely deuterium and tritium. Atomic Alchemy Inc. is on its way to be the 'Aramco' for fusion fuels. Stay tuned! More coming soon! 👀 This partnership is just the beginning of an industrial effort for all involved to vertically integrate US domestic isotope manufacturing and represents a cornerstone of the new American industrial revolution, fueling innovations from healthcare to energy. Chairman of Oklo Inc, Sam Altman added, "This partnership is an example of some of the promising aspects of Oklo's recycling plans, with large potential benefits to a number of industries." "Industrial and medical isotopes are indispensable to many sectors of the economy, from treating diseases like cancer to fueling clean energy technologies like radioisotope thermoelectric generators, fission power plants, and even fusion research. The domestic and global demands for these crucial elements are growing at an accelerated pace," said Jacob DeWitte, co-founder and CEO of Oklo Inc. cc Kerem Ozmen Charles Oppenheimer Wes Mendenhall Filip Vurdelja Haluk Sabanci Dincer Grant Brown Ishan Meswani Garuth A. Andrew Irwin

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As a founder, asymmetry is your superpower. This is how you use it to win 🇺🇸🇺🇸

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