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Electric seaglider startup raises $60 million and partners with Japan Airlines
Venture fund 8090 Industries co-led Regent’s series A round alongside Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, with Japan Airlines Innovation Fund and Point72 Ventures also participating among others. The new funding brings Regent’s total capital raised to $90 million to-date, according to co-founder and CEO Billy Thalheimer.
Read more here.
Packy McCormick on Anduril
Just six years old, Anduril has made a splash with five acquisitions since 2021. I wanted to understand why, and how, they do it. In the process, I learned a ton about the future of defense, Anduril’s ambitions to connect the old way of doing things with the new, and what it takes to build a generational Hard Startup.
Read the whole story here.
Microsoft is going nuclear to power its AI ambitions
Microsoft thinks next-generation nuclear reactors can power its data centers and AI ambitions, according to a job listing for a principal program manager who’ll lead the company’s nuclear energy strategy.
Data centers already use a hell of a lot of electricity, which could thwart the company’s climate goals unless it can find clean sources of energy. Energy-hungry AI makes that an even bigger challenge for the company to overcome. AI dominated Microsoft’s Surface event last week.
Read more here.
Other deep tech stories
US Army Receives High-Energy Laser Weapon Prototypes (US Army)
Palantir Wins $250 Million AI Deal With US Defense Department (Yahoo)
The Air Force took delivery of the service’s first eVTOL, from Joby Aviation (Air Force Research Lab)
Astroscale and the Space Force are co-investing in a satellite to refuel other satellites (SpaceNews)
SpaceX wins first Pentagon contract for Starshield, its satellite network for military use (CNBC)
US issues first ever fine for space junk to Dish Network (BBC)