HardTech Reads vol. 20

Welcome to the exploration of the world where founders embark on bold quests and solve non-obvious problems🤘

Feb 22, 2025

🏙️ SpaceX’s Starbase — A city of the future?📡 A $10B subsea cable linking five continents — Meta’s power grab🔆 A solar umbrella that actually powers devices?!🦣 Woolly mammoths are coming back — science fiction no more🏗️ Saudi’s futuristic Line megacity takes shape🌕 NASA’s robotic Moon landing — watch it live!🏡 Freedom Cities — A bold new innovation frontier🇺🇸 Events:🏭 American Manufacturing Summit ⚙️ HardTech Summit 🔩🔬🐉 Dragonfly Tech Talk 🎙️🛸 Plus, big funding news💰 & must-know startups!🚀

HARDTECH NEWS

➡️ SpaceX is so close to turning its rocket headquarters into an actual city

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is moving closer to creating its own city, Starbase, in coastal Texas, where its Starship factory and spaceport operate. SpaceX has petitioned to incorporate the area, and Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. has approved a local vote on May 3 to decide its municipal status. The election is expected to pass easily, as most voters are SpaceX employees living in company-owned homes.

While Musk has expressed enthusiasm about the plan, local residents and environmental activists have concerns about potential overdevelopment and restricted beach access. Many also question the motives behind SpaceX’s push for cityhood.

➡️ ‘Project Waterworth,’ a global subsea cable project

Meta has confirmed Project Waterworth, a $10 billion+ subsea cable spanning 50,000 km, making it the world’s longest. The network will connect five continents, including the U.S., Brazil, India, and South Africa, enhancing Meta’s control over its services and AI expansion. Using advanced 24-fiber pair cables and deep-water routing, it aims to improve reliability. India is investing in its maintenance as part of a U.S.-India tech partnership. Unlike previous projects, this is Meta’s first wholly owned subsea cable, putting it in direct competition with Google in global infrastructure.

➡️ Anker and its solar umbrella that charges electronic devices

At CES 2025, Anker unveiled its first solar umbrella, part of its SOLIX lineup, designed to charge devices like coolers and phones outdoors. Using perovskite solar cells, it boasts 30% better performance in bright light and double the efficiency in low light. The umbrella delivers 80W via USB-C and can power Anker’s EverFrost 2 cooler through an XT-60 connection. Expected to launch in spring or summer, pricing remains undisclosed.

➡️Colossal Biosciences brings extinct mammoth back to our planet!

Fresh from securing a $200 million funding round, Ben Lamm of Colossal Biosciences — now valued at over $10 billion — joins Core Memory, valued at under $10 billion, to discuss reviving extinct species. The company is working on de-extincting the woolly mammoth, dodo bird, and thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger) to restore ecosystems. This ambitious effort requires advancements in gene editing and artificial wombs, which we explore in-depth.

➡️ Saudi’s futuristic Line megacity!

Saudi Arabia has begun construction on The Line, a 170-km megacity in the desert. The first phase, Hidden Marina, will span 2.5 km, rise 500 meters, and house 200,000 residents in over 80,000 units. The futuristic city will include AI-controlled infrastructure, commercial spaces, and high-speed rail. With $140 billion invested and 140,000 workers on-site, Hidden Marina is set to be completed by 2030 and will host a stadium for the 2034 World Cup. The project, part of Neom, is using 20% of the world’s available steel and integrating robotics in construction.

➡️First Robotic Commercial Moon Landing by NASA

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander, carrying NASA science and technology, is set to land near Mare Crisium on March 2 as part of NASA’s CLPS initiative and Artemis campaign. Live coverage begins at 2:30 a.m. EST on NASA+ and Firefly’s YouTube. Launched on Jan. 15 via a SpaceX Falcon 9, Blue Ghost carries 10 NASA investigations to study the Moon and test technologies for future missions. NASA’s CLPS program, with a $2.6 billion budget through 2028, supports commercial lunar deliveries, advancing exploration for Artemis and Mars missions.

X: @NASA and Instagram: @NASA

➡️Freedom Cities

Freedom Cities are innovative urban districts built on federal or voluntarily designated private land, designed to bypass bureaucratic hurdles and accelerate advancements in housing, biotech, aeronautics, and energy. By streamlining NEPA reviews, fast-tracking permits, and introducing targeted tax incentives, these zones aim to revitalize U.S. manufacturing and global competitiveness. Proposed legislation includes regulatory exemptions, pro-growth building codes, and a dedicated White House task force to ensure swift approvals and seamless interagency collaboration. Conservative estimates project $94–$99 billion in direct investment and the creation of approximately 768,000–783,000 new jobs across ten pilot cities. Potential locations range from Utah’s open landscapes to San Francisco’s Presidio, leveraging both existing infrastructure and underutilized federal land. Freedom Cities offer a bold blueprint for driving American innovation, expanding affordable housing, and fostering cutting-edge industries.

STARTUPS TO KNOW

Figure AI is reportedly in talks to raise $1.5 billion at a $39.5 billion valuation — 15 times its previous $2.6 billion valuation from last year’s $675 million Series B. The round is expected to be led by Align Ventures and Parkway Venture Capital. The company, which builds humanoid robots for commercial and residential use, has already sold robots to BMW and secured a second unnamed customer, with plans to ship 100,000 units. The AI-driven robotics boom has also attracted major players like Apptronik and Meta. And Figure AI just unveiled Helix, new “generalist” model for human-like robotics. I think it will help them with fundraising as it looks super cool! We’re getting closer :)

Safe Superintelligence is reportedly raising over $1 billion at a valuation exceeding $30 billion, with Greenoaks Capital Partners leading the round with a $500 million investment. This follows a $1 billion funding round in September at a $5 billion valuation, backed by Sequoia Capital, a16z, and DST Global. Founded in June by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, the company is focused on developing safe AI systems.

Junevity has raised a $10 million Seed round to advance its mission of reversing cellular dysfunction and extending human longevity. The company focuses on cutting-edge longevity therapeutics (LT), aiming to address age-related cellular decline through innovative biomedical research. Junevity’s approach involves targeting cellular repair mechanisms to enhance overall healthspan and prevent age-associated diseases. With this fresh funding, the company plans to accelerate its research, expand its scientific team, and develop novel interventions that could redefine aging. The investment underscores growing interest in longevity biotech, as advancements in cellular rejuvenation continue to attract significant venture backing.

AAC Clyde Space has secured a $32.2 million deal to enhance maritime domain awareness in collaboration with AST Marine, Bright Ascension, and Iceye. The partnership aims to develop advanced satellite-based solutions for real-time monitoring of maritime activities, improving security, navigation, and environmental tracking. By leveraging its expertise in small satellite technology, AAC Clyde Space will provide critical data to optimize maritime operations and detect potential threats. Existing partners AST Marine, Bright Ascension, and Iceye will contribute complementary capabilities, from satellite manufacturing to data analytics and radar imaging. This deal highlights the growing demand for space-based maritime intelligence and the strategic role of satellite technology in enhancing global maritime security.

K2 Space has secured a $100 million Series B round to advance its development of medium Earth orbit (MEO)-bound electric propulsion spacecraft. The funding will enable K2 Space to scale its propulsion technology, enhance spacecraft performance, and support deployment for commercial and defense applications. As satellite demand for MEO operations increases, this investment positions K2 Space as a key player in next-generation space mobility.

Latent Labs has emerged from stealth with $50 million in funding to revolutionize protein design using AI-driven computational modeling. The company aims to accelerate drug discovery and synthetic biology applications by leveraging artificial intelligence to engineer novel proteins with enhanced functionality. This investment will support research, expand its AI platform, and bring next-generation protein therapeutics to market.

FAVORITE RESOURCES

💡El Segundo’s Discipulus Ventures is back for their Spring Cohort — Learn more & apply

💡Marc Andreessen — The Battle For Tech Supremacy

💡Clone Robotics has introduced the Protoclone V1, a full-body synthetic humanoid featuring over 200 degrees of freedom, 1,000 Myofibers, and 500 sensors. The faceless android, highlighted in a viral video, merges human-like anatomy with cutting-edge robotics. Currently utilizing pneumatics, it is set to transition to hydraulics for broader real-world applications beyond research. Both fascinating and unsettling, it pushes the boundaries of robotics and human simulation.