The Saturday Morning Newsletter #6
Brands, Food Waste, Big Tech, Africa IP, Crime, and More
Hello!
Welcome to The Saturday Morning Newsletter, a concise and casual digest of current events, optimistic news stories, and other interesting tidbits to round out your week. The concept is simple: 16 articles, essays, companies, ideas, podcasts, videos, or thoughts that caught my attention this week for their potential to significantly impact our future.
I want this to be a collaborative effort, so if you see examples of things that truly impact our future, let me know here. I’ll give you credit for sharing them.
Let’s get started.
#1: MarqVision
Description: MarqVision is an online brand and intangible asset protection technology provider.
Why Is This Company Interesting? MarqVision recently raised a $16M round of venture capital funding. MarqVision is an AI tool that monitors the online landscape to look for counterfeit products, brand impersonations, and brand infringements. As companies continue to mature and grow, protecting their brands has become increasingly important. MarqVision is leading the way in providing an efficient and effective platform to easily protect your company’s brand.
#2: Polarium
Description: Polarium is a European battery developer for residential and industrial entities.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Polarium recently raised a $49M round of venture capital funding. Polarium has installed over 440k lithium-ion batteries around the world and is one of the leaders in next-gen battery technology. These battery reserves help renewable sources of energy provide continuous output, a critical factor in the shift from fossil fuels to renewable sources.
#3: Impulse Space
Description: Impulse Space is an in-space transportation services company.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Impulse Space recently raised a $150M round of venture capital funding. Impulse Space is a pioneer of in-space payload delivery and hosting. The satellite market is demanding enhanced maneuverability and rapid on-orbit responsiveness, for which Impulse Space is a perfect solution provider. These solutions are still quite far away from being widely deployed in space, but they help build the foundation for space commercialization efforts.
#4: Foodforecast
Description: Foodforecast is a software provider that optimizes the food supply chain by reducing waste and automating order processes.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Foodforecast recently raised a $3.3M round of venture capital funding. Foodforecast’s AI technology optimizes sales planning, automating 100% of production and ordering processes to reduce food waste. Through their platform, companies realize up to 30% less food waste, up to 11% more sales, and up to 15% lower personnel costs. Lowering costs and reducing food waste can provide powerful incentives for businesses to change their behavior.
#5: Utility Global
Description: Utility Global is a startup developing technology to convert industrial waste gasses into clean fuels.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Utility Global recently raised a $53M round of venture capital funding. Utility Global is the first-ever hydrogen production from steel off-gas. Their technology helps convert many environmental and business challenges into competitive advantages. The zero-electricity reactor reduces carbon emissions and lowers operational costs, making the energy transition for businesses more economically viable.
Reuters: US nuclear plants won’t power up Big Tech’s AI ambitions right away
Plans by Microsoft and Amazon were to use nuclear power for their new AI data centers in the hope that nuclear energy could be a quick and climate-friendly answer to their massive electricity needs. These companies face many regulatory hurdles, potential fuel supply obstacles, and sometimes stiff local and environmental opposition. Due to these factors, there is the potential that they may choose to switch to other forms of renewable energy like solar, wind, or hydropower.
GIS Reports: Nuclear Energy Outlook
Nuclear energy lags behind other sources of energy, with only 4% of the global energy mix. Asia-Pacific leads nuclear development, with China at the forefront. Political tensions, economics, and renewable energy threaten a nuclear renaissance. Nuclear energy offers some undeniable advantages over renewable energy, yet zero-emission nuclear power receives scant attention in the ongoing debate about the energy transition.
Canary Media: Solar Power Keeps Beating Expectations
Energy forecasters have long underestimated the speed at which solar power is growing around the world. The price of panels has continued to plummet and their efficiency keeps rising, while deadlines for meeting climate laws creep closer. The world is installing more solar than ever before at a pace that even many top energy analysts didn’t see coming. This exponential growth trajectory is critical in the switch to renewable sources and shows how human innovation can surpass even our own expectations.
Department of Energy: Advanced Nuclear Commercial Liftoff
A new report by the Department of Energy explains how renewables and storage only are more expensive per megawatt than renewables and storage with nuclear power. The report also states, “Nuclear does not “displace” or “compete with” renewables; decarbonization will require both new nuclear and renewable capacity. Including nuclear and other clean firm resources reduces the cost of decarbonization by reducing the need for variable generation capacity, energy storage, and transmission.”
The New York Times: Where Americans Have Been Moving Into Disaster-Prone Areas
The population shift in the United States has led to more people being exposed to the risks of natural hazards and dangerous heat. The more that people are moving into areas exposed to hazards, the more that these hazards can turn into disasters of larger and larger scale. Yet, studies show people continue to flock to many “hazard hotspots.” Moral of the story, no matter where you live, you should fully understand the potential climate and geographical hazards potentially possible and have plans in place in the event something happens.
New York Times: SpaceX Launches Mission to Bring Back Starliner Astronauts
Two astronauts left Earth this week aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The purpose of the launch is to bring a new group of crew to the International Space Station. This mission will be the ride home for the previously stranded astronauts (post Boeing ship troubles). It’s good that we finally get to bring these astronauts home, but it also means disrupting normal ISS operations, so space findings via the ISS may be limited in the near future.
Pitchbook: Startup Founders and VCs Find More Equal Footing
The venture market is slowly edging back up. More players are returning to the marketplace as startups begin to see a friendlier dealmaking environment. Falling US interest rates have also increased investor hopes for a more robust exit market ahead. VCs still have less capital to deploy, but the market is slowly becoming in balance again. If these trends continue in the positive direction, many companies that have been wary of any M&A activity in the last couple of years may decide to return to the market, a powerful indicator of economic growth and security.
Marsh: Intellectual Property Trends, Risks, and Solutions
Current trends in intellectual property: increase in disputes for trade secrets, greater use of arbitration to resolve IP disputes, everyone agrees that the use of Generative AI does present an extra level of IP risk, and an increase in activity from “patent trolls”. Overall, intellectual property, from a legal standpoint, only continues to increase in popularity as intellectual property becomes more valuable to companies.
The United Nations: The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Promoting Africa’s Development
Intellectual property rights are essential for fostering science, technology, and innovation. Africa is home to approximately 33M farms, which contribute to up to 70% of the food supply. Many African farmers possess valuable traditional knowledge associated with plant and animal genetic resources. Therefore, it is crucial to protect and promote Africa’s traditional knowledge and the rights and ownership of agricultural data held by farmers.
FBI: Crime Statistics
Long story short, violent crime decreased by ~10% in the last year. Murder decreased by 22.7%, rape decreased by 17.7%, robbery decreased by 13.6%, and aggravated assault decreased by 8.1%. This is great news! Yet, it isn’t without error. Not all police departments report these statistics, so this data is most likely skewed (if you don’t have to report data, you’re more likely to report if your crime stats went down).
The interesting thought this week is the Rule of 100:
If you spend 100 hours a year in any discipline (only 18 minutes a day), you’ll be better than 95%+ of the world in that discipline. Consistency is everything.
See you Wednesday for Brainwaves,
Drew Jackson
Website: brainwaves.me
Twitter: @brainwavesdotme
Email: brainwaves.me@gmail.com
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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this content are my own and do not represent the views of any of the companies I currently work for or have previously worked for. This content does not contain financial advice - it is for informational and educational purposes only. Investing contains risks and readers should conduct their own due diligence and/or consult a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Any sponsorship or endorsements are noted and do not affect any editorial content produced.