Welcome to issue #8 of Companies You Should Care About, where we explore interesting companies and founders worth following.
This week, as 2022 winds down, we’re doing something a little bit different. Call me an optimist, but I think the start of a new year is always an exciting time. January 1 is just so loaded with possibilities for the year to come, and so many incredible things can happen in a year.
Just look at what we did in 2022. We sent new spacecraft to the moon, came closer to harnessing nuclear fusion, and broke the damn internet with an AI chatbot. And that was just in the last 30 days!
Imagine what we can do in 2023…
So, instead of focusing on just one company, today we’re looking at 7 moonshot ideas. These are companies that could literally change the way we live. The problems they are tackling are big and success is definitely not guaranteed—but that’s what makes them all so exciting.
So strap in, start the ignition countdown, and get ready for some big ideas.
👋 One more thing before we get started. I recently addended an awesome (free) workshop on venture capital hosted by INSEAD Professor Henning Piezunka.
He is hosting another free session on March 8, 2023. If you’re interested in venture capital, I highly recommend checking it out. I can’t remember the last time I learned so much while laughing so often. Learn more and register here.
Ok, on to the moonshots!
Moonshot #1: Gravitics—modular space stations.
Quick Stats 🚅
Year founded: 2022
Founders: Colin Doughan, Gary Hudson
Industry: Space
HQ: Marysville, Washington
Total funding: $20M
What they’re working on 🚀
While we still have a lot to focus on here on Earth, the future of humanity probably lies in space. Gravitics aims to accelerate that process with modular space stations that fit together like building blocks.
Their debut product, StarMax, is planned to offer 1/2 the volume of the International Space Station in the form of a customizable spacecraft lined with solar panels. Multiple StarMax modules could then be linked together to create larger space stations at a low(er) cost. The first StarMax is currently under construction with spaceworthiness tests scheduled for 2023.
How the world changes if they succeed 🌍
Instead of 10 people living in space, we could have thousands living and working in StarMax space stations customized for their needs. In time, the tech is able to simulate Earth’s gravity and enable long-term stays in space.
Moonshot #2: OpenAI—artificial general intelligence.
Quick Stats 🚅
Year founded: 2015
Founders: Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Wojciech Zaremba and John Schulman
Industry: Artificial Intelligence
HQ: San Francisco, California
Total funding: $1B
What they’re working on 🚀
When it comes to artificial intelligence, an easier question here may be “what isn’t OpenAI working on?” Their self-stated mission is “to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.” Artificial general intelligence, or AGI, has a loose definition, but OpenAI defines it as AI that can “outperform humans at most economically valuable work.”
AGI could be the greatest double-edged sword humanity ever creates—with the potential for massive productivity gains and benefits, or massive destruction if it turns ugly.
En route to that long-term goal, OpenAI has already created or contributed to several mindblowing innovations—including the GPT language model, DALL·E image generation, and GitHub Copilot’s companion programming tool.
How the world changes if they succeed 🌍
AGI forms a symbiotic relationship with humanity, unlocking a tremendous boost to human creativity, productivity, and quality of life. The enchanted notebook becomes reality and new software and technology can simply be spoken into existence. Advancements in science are catapulted forward with the help of AI.
Moonshot #3: Prometheus Fuels—turning CO2 into net-zero fuel.
Quick Stats 🚅
Year founded: 2019
Founders: Rob McGinnis
Industry: Energy
HQ: Santa Cruz, California
Total funding: $50M
What they’re working on 🚀
Humanity is struggling with two big, related problems: we rely on carbon-based fuels, but those same fuels pollute the air and are becoming increasingly expensive to extract from the ground. Prometheus Fuels plans to tackle both problems at once by removing CO2 from the air and turning it into affordable, net-zero fuel.
If all goes to plan, each of their solar and wind-powered Titan Fuel Forges would turn 900 tons of CO2 into 100,000 gallons of fuel every year.
How the world changes if they succeed 🌍
Prometheus Fuel’s net-zero products power vehicles and planes for as little as $3 a gallon. In the process, we stabilize our changing climate by removing excess CO2 from the atmosphere.
Moonshot #4: Lilium—electric jets for sustainable, regional travel.
Quick Stats 🚅
Year founded: 2015
Founders: Daniel Wiegand, Sebastian Born, Patrick Nathen, Matthias Meiner.
Industry: Aviation
HQ: Wessling, Germany
Total funding: $945.45M
What they’re working on 🚀
Lilium has created the world’s first vertical take-off and landing electric jet. While it isn’t exactly a flying car, it’s pretty dang close. With a top speed of 175 mph and capacity for up to 6 passengers, these jets will be able to quickly and sustainably whisk passengers between destinations.
Lilium plans to have flight operations fully operational in 2024 but already has a working prototype of their jet. You can see it in action in this satisfying-to-watch video.
How the world changes if they succeed 🌍
Lilium’s electric jets move millions of people between sleek vertiports. Trip times for regional travel are cut in half compared to trains and cars, all without burning any fossil fuels.
Moonshot #5: Commonwealth Fusion Systems—limitless energy from nuclear fusion.
Quick Stats 🚅
Year founded: 2018
Founders: Bob Mumgaard, Brandon Sorbom, Dan Brunner, Martin Greenwald, Dennis Whyte, Zach Hartwig.
Industry: Energy
HQ: Devens, Massachusetts
Total funding: $2B
What they’re working on 🚀
Plenty of companies harness the power of the sun as a clean source of energy. Commonwealth Fusion Systems is part of a small group aiming to create a tiny sun of its own. Using a system of super-powerful magnets, CFS hopes to build a fusion reactor capable of generating enough energy for a person’s lifetime from a single glass of water.
CFS has already created the strongest supermagnets of their kind and has begun work on a pilot device to test production of net-positive (Q>1) nuclear fusion.
How the world changes if they succeed 🌍
We have access to virtually limitless, clean power, without the risk of a nuclear meltdown—revolutionizing the energy sector.
Moonshot #6: BioNTech—vaccines to combat cancer.
Quick Stats 🚅
Year founded: 2008
Founders: Ugur Sahin, Özlem Türeci
Industry: Biotechnology
HQ: Mainz, Germany
Total funding: $1.9B
What they’re working on 🚀
BioNTech rose to international prominence after partnering with Pfizer on their ground-breaking mRNA Covid-19 vaccine. But, for over 10 years before that they had been working on another critically important problem—cancer. Using mRNA technology, BioNTech believes they can create immunotherapies and vaccines to combat specific cancers.
From their efforts to quickly create, test, and distribute a Covid-19 vaccine, BioNTech has gained valuable experience developing mRNA vaccines at scale, positioning them to accelerate their work on cancer vaccines.
Their development pipeline currently includes 14 cancer treatments with four in phase 2 trials. Along with companies like Cambridge, MA-based Moderna, BioNTech is taking big steps to unlock the power of mRNA to increase human longevity and wellness.
How the world changes if they succeed 🌍
Cancers can be treated with targeted vaccines that destroy cancerous tissues without affecting healthy parts of the body. Tumors are eliminated before they can fully form.
Moonshot #7: Caltech Space Solar Power Project—beaming solar energy from space to earth.
Quick Stats 🚅
Year founded: 2013
Founders: N/A
Industry: Energy
HQ: Pasadena, California
Total funding: $117.5M
What they’re working on 🚀
In 1964, astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev created his famous, pseudonymous Kardashev Scale to measure how advanced a civilization is based on the amount of energy at its disposal. Kardashev imagined 3 types of civilizations:
Type I: captures all available energy on their home planet.
Type II: captures all available energy from a star.
Type III: captures energy from an entire galaxy.
Unfortunately for us, we’re not even on the scale yet. We remain firmly stuck at Type 0. But the Caltech Space Solar Power Project could help us change that.
One way to become a Type II civilization could be with a Dyson Sphere—a hypothetical mega-engineering project that could fully encase a star in an energy-capturing shell. Of course, this could also block out all available light from that star, and if we did it to the sun it probably wouldn’t end well.
The Caltech Space Solar Power Project is not that. But it does offer some of the same benefits. They are currently developing ultralight solar panels that could be launched into space and beam back energy to the earth.
We’re likely a few decades away from drawing meaningful amounts of power from solar panels in space, but we’re making progress! Along with the Caltech initiative the European Space Agency also plans to invest $15-$20 billion toward a similar project.
How the world changes if they succeed 🌍
Solar power would be available all the time, anywhere on earth. Day or night, rain or shine, we could draw previously unimaginable amounts of power from the stars.
The future is now 🤯