High-Tech Alliance

Pentagon Makes Silicon Valley Gambit, SR One Raises $600 Million for Sequel Fund, and a Startup looks to Transform Space Launches.

Author

Adam from VC Brags
March 27, 2023

Welcome Shareholders,

In this daily edition of the Brags Newsletter, we'll cover how the US DoD is turning to Silicon Valley startups to beat out China, a life sciences VC beats expectations for its second fund, and a startup looks to launch a responsive space revolution.

So sit back, grab a snack, and enjoy!

Venture Today 👏

  • The US Department of Defence (DoD) is looking towards Silicon Valley to fund and develop new military technology and access nimble suppliers as it looks to keep up with China's recent weapons advances.

The drive for private capital arises amidst concerns that US defense-industry consolidation has created a reliance on a few major firms dependent on government research funding, potentially stifling innovation. Concurrently, China has gained a lead in key technologies, such as small drones and hypersonic missiles, facilitated by Beijing's utilization of external public-private guidance funds. Market experts anticipate that Beijing's capital infusion into the tech and adjacent sectors stands at close to $1 trillion.

The Biden administration recently requested $115 million to establish the Office of Strategic Capital, a new Pentagon unit aimed at attracting investments, especially venture capital, into companies developing technologies and products crucial to the military. The efforts from the DoD and the Federal government also come at a time when Venture Capital interest is at an all-time high for military-focused startup applications. Venture Investments into the Defense and Aerospace market have skyrocketed from $1 billion in 2017 to $6 billion annually now.

Who's Raising?

  • Transatlantic life sciences investment firm SR One said that it had raised $600 million from investors for its second fund.

The fundraising was significantly higher than the company's original target of raising $500 million and included participation from existing and new investors such as endowments, foundations, pharmaceutical companies, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices.

SR One spun out of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in 2020 to become an independent investment firm. With the new funds raised, SR One now has over $1.5 billion in assets under management. With Fund II, SR One said that it would continue to invest in biotech companies addressing treatment gaps, focusing on providing financial and operational support to help companies achieve value-generating milestones.

Startup of the Day

  • Launch startup ABL Space Systems secured a $60 million contract to expand its responsive launch capabilities under the US Space Force and Air Force's Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) program.

ABL said that the primary obstacle for responsive space launches lies in moving away from predetermined orbits, trajectories, and launch sites. To address this, the company plans to develop new operational capacity for short-notice launches. The new funding comes as the company gears up for its RS1 rocket's second launch attempt.

The company's first launch attempt in January resulted in the rocket's destruction when all nine first-stage engines shut down simultaneously, causing it to hit the launch pad; fortunately, no injuries occurred. Although ABL has not disclosed the date for the next launch, it is already planning expansion, with the Space Force recently granting dedicated launch space at Launch Complex 15 in Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Base.

Fresh Finds

  • With Architect and a Single Command, developers can create, dev, preview, stage, and even production environments.

  • Architect recurses through developers' dependencies and auto-deploys anything missing from the target environment so that the app always has what it needs to run.

  • Developers can use simple declarations, like which database type they need to describe their application, and Architect automatically generates the pipelines and infrastructure needed.

Memes and Other Things

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