The Saturday Morning Newsletter #68
A New Development In Bird Strikes, 8 Classroom Teaching Practices, and 500,000 Satellites by 2040
This Week I’m Tracking: 13 developments across the sectors shaping our future
Reading Time: 5 minutes of curated insights
Your weekly pulse check: The most important events in venture capital, energy, space, economics, intellectual property, philosophy, and more. I distill the most important developments across sectors I track, saving you hours of research while keeping you ahead of the curve.
New to these updates? They pair with our bi-weekly Brainwave analyses for comprehensive sector coverage. Wednesday’s deep dive explored a special edition interview - catch up here.
Let’s dive in.
#1: Spoor
Description: Spoor is a developer of software to identify bird populations.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Spoor recently raised $9.4M in venture capital funding. Spoor is a technology startup aiming to solve a significant issue with wind turbines: bird strikes. Their goal is to monitor bird populations in the vicinity to minimize casualties. This helps ensure turbines are placed in the best possible locations with the least nearby flocks.
#2: K2 Space
Description: K2 Space is a developer of high-powered satellites.
Why Is This Company Interesting? K2 Space recently raised $250M in venture capital funding. K2 Space is striving to create the largest satellites in orbit. They’ve brought many of the steps in the creation process in-house, vertically integrating 80% of the process. Their modular design enables the most efficient use of space during launch, allowing them to launch more satellites for the same cost and energy consumption.
Description: Solve Intelligence is a software platform specifically for patents.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Solve Intelligence recently raised $40M in venture capital funding. Solve Intelligence is aiming to be the go-to platform for patent professionals. The functionality is end-to-end, covering prior art searches, invention disclosures, drafting, and more. In an age dominated by fraudulent AI citations, they promise only to cite, source, and generate proven historical data - all while preventing any inputs from helping train their model.
Description: Orbital Marine Power is a developer of floating tidal turbines.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Orbital Marine Power recently raised $9.3M in venture capital funding. Orbital Marine Power utilizes one of the oldest repetitive actions on Earth: waves. Their innovative tidal floating turbines promise a clean, predictable solution to the energy crisis, capable of running 24/7. Logistically, this solution might be complex, but if it works, it promises a powerful return.
#5: Quilt
Description: Quilt produces home heat pumps.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Quilt recently raised $20M in venture capital funding. Quilt is developing a ductless home heat pump that they claim is the most innovative home solution currently on the market. They boast the industry’s most extended warranty of 12 years, signalling that they believe strongly in their product and their long-term solvency.
Department of Energy: TVA and Holtec to Advance Deployment of Small Modular Reactors
The U.S. government announced that the Tennessee Valley Authority and Holtec Government Services will receive up to $800M to fund the deployment of advanced light-water small modular reactors. The goal is to deliver new nuclear generation capabilities in the early 2030s, while strengthening domestic supply chains. Early prototypes could arrive before 2030 if technology milestones are met without delays.
Recharge: Why Selling Wind Farms Has Become A Nightmare
Wind farms continue to be hammered from all sides. Given recent regulatory, political, and social scrutiny, some operators and plant owners are looking to offload assets. However, building and selling wind farms has never been so difficult, as there are very few buyers willing to take on the risk and return profile.
Science Alert: Space Telescopes Could Soon Be Obsolete
Currently, there are around 15,000 satellites in orbit. A new study published this week estimates that, if the number of satellite plans currently filed for launch continues to grow, there could be over 500,000 satellites launched by the end of the 2030s. The light pollution produced by this many satellites would disfigure results from Earth-based telescopes.
The New York Times: SpaceX to Go Public at $800B
SpaceX is currently the most valuable private company in the world. The company is planning a potential IPO in 2026, as noted in an internal memo proposing to buy back its own shares. The valuation and environment remain highly uncertain, but an IPO could help raise significant capital for future development.
Overview Energy: Space Energy for Earth
This week, Overview Energy came out of stealth mode and announced its core product: beaming energy from space back to Earth. Initial prototypes have proven that this strategy will work and can deliver efficient results. The space cost curves continue to favor innovations like this, with more to come.
TechCrunch: Founders Have the Power Now
During the 2021 - 2023 bear market, venture capital firms held the majority of the power in company fundraising processes. However, there’s been a significant shift over the last year, with venture capital firms eager to deploy capital—now, founders have more power. The good part of this is that deals can move much more quickly, but it requires ensuring founders pick the right VC firm to partner with.
Vocal Media: 7 Best Philosophy Books You Must Read in 2025
Philosophy is applicable no matter where you are in life. Here is one writer’s list of the best books to be reading:
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
Ethics by Baruch Spinoza
Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
Being and Time by Martin Heidegger
On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
Monash University: Building Children’s Resilience for Uncertain Futures
Researchers at Monash University have written a piece on how teachers can prepare students for uncertain futures.
The world continues to face more uncertainty, through climate change, the development of artificial intelligence, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, space commercialization, and many more sources.
Given this, we need to teach our kids how to address it proactively. “When classroom learning doesn’t reflect what they see around them, those worries can grow. Schools, therefore, play a key role in helping young people understand these challenges, manage their feelings, and see ways they can contribute to solutions.”
These researchers have developed a concept called “hopeful practices” that transform anxiety into empowerment. They have brainstormed eight classroom practices:
Encourage mindful thinking
Creating time and space for discussion
Build vocabulary
Model optimism
Go outside often
Share stories of action
Imagine future scenarios
Take local action
What’s the takeaway here? I think there are two main takeaways: first, we should be intentional about preparing kids for the uncertainties of the world, and second, that these skills don’t just apply to kids—adults need to be ready for the world’s uncertainties too.
That’s a wrap on this week’s roundup.
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Drew Jackson
Founder & Writer
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Next Deep Dive: What Superforecasters Know That You Don’t - December 24th, 2025
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