My Favorite Portfolio Company?
Not an easy question to answer given all our hard tech investments are changing the world for the better.
Many people ask me what my favorite portfolio company is or what technology am I most excited to invest in? As VP of Engineering of a hard tech venture capital firm that values service as much as funding, that’s like asking a mother who her favorite child is. But I will try to answer…
Having recently joined Prime Movers Lab, I’ve been getting to know our portfolio. Last week, we held a retreat to engage our founders from our portfolio with our investors. Discussions and debates informed a deeper understanding of our entrepreneurs’ vision — and their approach to accomplishing them — as well as constructing plans on how we can help accelerate their success.
Not only did we learn about our founders’ breakthrough science and resulting tech and systems, but we also learned first-hand of their progress. This progress is what gives me confidence in our future outcomes, and our future outcomes are what excites me. In exploring what excites me most, I consider the many current issues being addressed by those with whom I engaged at the retreat. I imagine our future and the statements we will be able to make…
Supply chain shortages like the 2021 chip shortage are minimized!
Using methods developed by Halo Industries, 50% of unrecoverable material waste is eliminated in processing ingots. More efficient and precise use of silicon and silicon carbide reduces the burden on the supply chain and reduces cost. Solar modules, flexible electronics, and power electronics for electric vehicles and 5G infrastructure are more affordable. Eventually, the process is applied to other materials to enable new technologies otherwise not achievable.
Cases of ransomware do not disrupt the economy, and factory injuries are at an all-time low.
The manufacturing process is eventually automated. I see a slew of smart machines working autonomously around people performing safety-critical operations on secure wireless networks protected from cyber attacks. These operations can autonomously and remotely coordinate across facilities, and across cities of a nation. The implementation of such efficient and robust infrastructure happens over months, not years, because companies leverage Fort Robotics certified, safety-critical, reliable, and secure protocols and software that are now the standard.
Traffic congestion is eliminated, commute times and fuel consumption are reduced, and car crashes are no longer the leading cause of death for children and young people.
Products from these facilities are picked up in automated delivery vehicles that sense at the same rate as human cognition using Spartan Radar. Rather than laboring on mapping everything, the radar discerns only the most important information resulting in performance similar to that of human decision-making — but better with the aid of onboard computing. The proven, inexpensive radars are incorporated into an abundance of autonomous taxis and self-driving cars which take over the roadways and now also deliver people more safely to their destinations. Destinations can be in city centers or, now because commuting is easier, further out in suburbs where family lots are larger and less expensive.
Aviation’s trend to produce 9% of global carbon emissions is reversed!
Getting to these destinations is easier with all-electric urban air mobility provided by Archer. Additional affordable regional mobility is provided by Pyka’s safe, emissions-free air transportation. Their technology was originally proven to be agile and robust enough to autonomously perform the complex aerobatic ballet of low ground navigation crop dusting. These zero-emission air transports now quickly deliver people for events like business meetings, site visits, doctor appointments, quick get-aways, and family reunions via the new sky highways. In this future, electric aviation is now the standard of commercial air travel.
Healthcare costs plummet while human augmentation improves the quality of life.
Mental disorders such as opioid addiction and post-traumatic stress syndrome are treated with only a few doses of psychedelic medicines provided by Gilgamesh. These therapies reset the brain to not even recognize the painful, debilitating call for substances or disruptive thought patterns triggered by otherwise inconsequential events enjoyed by others. Brain-to-computer interfaces by Paradromics enable thoughts to be verbalized at a conversation’s pace. Unlimited Tomorrow provides affordable bionic limbs, custom matched to physique and skin tone with sensing technology for intuitive control.
Deaths due to infrastructure failures decrease; global awareness and collaboration increase.
I see Alpha Insights synthetic aperture radar imaging the entire world daily from space. Scanning hundreds of kilometers and then focusing on an area of interest to 0.5 m resolution, on-orbit processing can inform real-time decision-making. Through the night, through clouds, through trees, and into infrastructure, we monitor risks and events like those due to shifting oil and gas pipelines, land subsidence, commodity traffic patterns, and people migration. Global matters are resolved in a day when heads of state jump on a Venus Aerospace hypersonic plane to arrive on the other side of the world in an hour. Everyone knows somebody who has left the Earth on a voyage with Space Perspective to experience first-hand the reminder of our fragility. Viewing the sliver of atmosphere in which we survive invokes the overview effect. Our children not only have the excitement of meeting somebody who has traveled to space but because that someone is their teacher they are mentored and taught to preserve our environment and see the humans beyond their borders. They think globally for all of humanity.
I recognize the future I see may be a bit idyllic but together our founders, investors, and we at Prime Movers Lab will do great things. There is a lot to be excited about. And this future I describe only represents the potential of about a third of our portfolio! Take a look at the rest of our portfolio and imagine how their outcomes impact the future for the better. I really can’t choose a favorite. Could you?
Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation, and agriculture.
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