Rockets, God, and Peter Thiel: 36 Hours in the Gundo, Tech’s Latest Startup Haven
“Within the Gundo, almost every startup hopes to turn the Defense Department or some other government entity into a customer. It was an unpopular strategy until Thiel’s Palantir and Musk’s SpaceX proved that startups could secure government contracts when competing against established giants like Raytheon and Boeing. And the increase in defense tech startups in the Gundo mirrors the broader rise in venture-backed startups working defense purposes over the few years, spurred on by SpaceX’s example, as well as rising geopolitical tensions in places including China, Ukraine and Israel. Realistically, of course, securing government contracts remains a long and potentially fruitless endeavor, which could mean many of the El Segundo startups disappear as quickly as they appeared.” (The Information)
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- Japanese astronaut to be the first non-American to set foot on the Moon
- Russia aborts planned test launch of new heavy-lift space rocket
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- NASA wants to come up with a new clock for the moon, where seconds tick away faster
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- New technological advance for fast and efficient 3D imaging of objects
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- TSMC receives $4.4B to build chip factories under U.S. CHIPS and Science Act
- Leash Biosciences, an AI/ML-native biotech startup, raised $9.3M seed round
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- Watttron, a developer of sustainable packaging tech solutions, raised €12M in Series B funding
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