The Saturday Morning Newsletter #92
Living in the Wilderness, Deepfake Laws, and NASA Buying Two Cars for the Moon
This Week I’m Tracking: 15 developments across the sectors shaping our future
Reading Time: 6 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 an interview with Joe Biel - catch up here.
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Let’s dive in.
#1: Casimir
Description: Casimir is an energy harvesting technology provider.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Casimir recently raised $12M in venture capital funding. Casamir is developing a new type of energy-harvesting technology that uses quantum fields. Their chips have created the world’s first unlimited power source. This will change the way we think about electronics and capabilities. For instance, small but interesting examples are tire sensors, smoke detectors, hearing aids, and many more.
#2: Mantle8
Description: Mantle8 is developing subsurface modeling and exploration technologies.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Mantle8 recently raised $36.2M in venture capital funding. Mantle8 is revolutionizing hydrogen discovery and acquisition, dramatically reducing production costs and lowering overall energy costs. In comparison to gasoline, hydrogen shines, burning without releasing CO2. Beneath the Earth’s surface lies a large quantity—finding it efficiently and effectively is the secret.
#3: Magrathea
Description: Magrathea is an extractor of magnesium from waste brines.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Magrathea recently raised $24M in venture capital funding. Magnesium is a critical metal to many supply chains. Magrathea is optimally positioned to help establish a significant domestic share in the United States. They’ve formed a joint venture with TETRA to deploy their electrolytic magnesium technology at their brine conversion plant in Arkansas.
#4: Fermtech
Description: Fermtech is a sustainable cocoa developer.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Fermtech recently raised $2.5M in venture capital funding. Fermtech has developed a way to produce cocoa that reduces CO2 emissions by 98% compared to traditional cocoa. They use spent grains and fermentation to create Koji Cocoa. Their goal is to deploy this technological development across 10B+ chocolate bars by 2040, a lofty goal.
#5: Sora Fuel
Description: Sora Fuel is a sustainable aviation fuel startup.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Sora Fuel recently raised $14.6M in venture capital funding. Sora Fuel is a company that creates jet fuel from just air, water, and renewable energy. Their technology combines these variables with carbon capture using a single process to derive jet fuel. This is a sustainable way to create future jet fuel, offsetting direct air capture. Their supply chain is carbon-negative, which is unique for jet fuel companies.
European Commission: 5 Things You Should Know About Nuclear Energy
Here are 5 things you should know about nuclear energy in the EU:
Almost 25% of electricity produced in 2024
Nuclear energy is one of the lowest carbon-emitting sources of electricity
Only spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste require deep geological disposal
Nuclear power plants are designed to rigorous safety standards
Replicating the power of the sun on Earth
The National Interest: The Race to Quadruple US Nuclear Generation Is Underway
While other energy sources have flip-flopped in public perception, nuclear has remained in relatively good light throughout the Biden and Trump administrations. The Biden administration called to triple nuclear by 2050, with the Trump administration expanding that to 4x by 2050. Since the explosion in AI, the demand for nuclear energy has continued to increase.
Reuters: Global Wind and Solar Power Outpace Gas for First Time
Wind and solar, combined, generated more electricity than gas globally in April for the first time ever. This continues a broader trend rather than a reaction to soaring fossil fuel prices following the conflict in Iran. They combined to be 22% of global electricity, compared to only 20% from gas. This share continues to increase as countries nearshore to provide further domestic energy stability.
The New York Times: NASA Buys Two Cars for the Moon
This week, NASA awarded $220M two Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab to create lunar vehicles for the moon. The agency wants the rover to be ready on the moon when the astronauts arrive, meaning it needs to be ready in less than 2 years, which is a very expedited timeframe. Each will weigh around 2,000lbs and need to be an all-terrain vehicle.
The New York Times: Blue Origin Rocket Explodes
This week, the major rocket built by Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos, blew up during a test at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It’s a great explosion if you haven’t seen it yet. These events put a damper on the current Blue Origin SpaceX competitive streak—only time will tell if they continue to compete.
The New York Times: GDP is a Flawed Measure of Prosperity
GDP is hardly a good measure of how much people are flourishing. For decades, economists have tried to devise an alternative metric. A recent UN study produced a dashboard of 31 metrics, representing the four key buckets of peace and human rights, sustainability, quality of life, and inequality.
The New York Times: How Anthropic Got So Big, So Fast
Anthropic is more valuable than OpenAI. This writer broke their meteoric rise down to figure out how they got so big so fast. A main reason is that their Claude Code programming tool was exponentially better than other solutions on the market. Additionally, their run-rate revenue has now increased dramatically to $47B, justifying the $900B price tag.
Pitchbook: Want to Invest in My Startup? Talk to My Agent
This month, Polsia used its AI agent to raise $30M in funding at a $250M valuation. This is an extreme example; however, it’s becoming an increasing trend for AI to be used as a critical component of the dealmaking process. It’s used in the NDA stage, evaluation stage, drafting of materials stage, and many other areas.
Politico: Deepfakes Are Testing the Limits of IP Law
Deepfakes are becoming increasingly popular. Now, Congress is trying to use intellectual property laws to curb the spread and damage caused by these technologies. This week, lawmakers introduced the NO FAKES Act, which would give all Americans an IP right to their own voice and likeness.
Reddit: Living in the wilderness is not an option in today’s world
I think this deep thought is so interesting. People often say “go live in the wilderness” or a version of that (in a Thoreau-style manner); however, that’s not very realistic in today’s climate.
Why? There’s limited wilderness left on Earth. More and more of it is becoming private property and state-controlled land, with little to no large-scale public access. Additionally, the little private property that exists is generally off-limits to activities other than recreation.
Long-term stays in the wilderness don’t really work these days—to everyone’s dismay.
What’s nuanced here is that there is more wilderness than we think; it’s in locations people don’t want to go, for instance, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, etc.
So, should you go disappear into the wilderness? Maybe—it might be more accessible than you think.
That’s a wrap on this week’s roundup.
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Drew Jackson
Founder & Writer
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