Home Podcast San Diego Tech News Weekly – August 27, 2021

San Diego Tech News Weekly – August 27, 2021

by Neal Bloom

Neal: Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News by Neal Bloom and Jonah Peake from Fresh Brewed Tech. Every Friday at 12:30pm Pacific on Clubhouse and now we record them for you to enjoy as well. 

I’m Neal Bloom, entrepreneur, investor, and community builder 

Jonah: And I’m Jonah Peake, serial tech operator and investor both, both of us big fans of growing the San Diego tech community. Let’s dive into our four stories of the week:

For week of Aug 27, 2021:

  1. ​​Smartphones in the sky: Qualcomm launches first 5G and AI platform targeting commercial drones
      1. Qualcomm stated on mars
      2. Supplying chips to NASA for Ingenuity helicopter
      3. Because why not start with a challenge
      4. QQ unveiled tech to power beyond line of site flight on earth
      5. Platform is called RB5 5G platform
        1. What do you think of this name? 
        2. Operation Swarm or Digital Eagle or
      6. Enabling applications like:
        1. Crop inspection
        2. Wsin turbine monitoring
        3. Package delivery
        4. Mapping
        5. Many other application potential
      7. They are also launching a physical drone kit
        1. ModalAI
          https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210817005256/en/ModalAI-Serves-as-Distributor-for-Qualcomm%E2%80%99s-World-First-5G-and-AI-Enabled-Drone-Platform-and-Reference-Design
      8. Pretty clever strategy
        1. Speed up innovation for commercial applications
          1. Drone body, rotors, etc
      9. A quick update on Ingenuity:
        1. To date 12 flights
        2. 1 mile total flight
        3. Graduated from demonstration to aerial scout for Perseverance Rover 
  2. Rare defense unicorn: San Diego AI startup corrals $210M for drone technology used by military
    1. Shield AI is now worth over a billion
      1. After raising
    2. Unicorn status completed
    3. An AI startup making military surveillance drones
    4. Used in combat zones over last 3 years US forces in the middle east
    5. They have a platform: Nova-class
        1. Allows operations in low gps
    6. Pretty cool origin story
      1. Founded by Navy Seal Brandon Tseng
        1. Goal:
          1. Help US forces scout for threats 
          2. Enter buildings
          3. Send back surveillance (maps or photos)
      2. Brandon teamed up with brother Ryan
        1. An MIT Grad
        2. Who sold company WiPower to Qualcomm
      3. Pairing with last founder, Andrew Reiter
        1. Who worked on Draper Labs Robotic guidance system
    7. Shield has been growing through acquisition
      1. Heron Systems: which makes software designed to power autonomous jets
      2. Martin UAV: maker of 125 lb drones launched from vehicles
    8. Both acquisitions doubled the head count over night
      1. From 200 to nearly 400
    9. Shield is based out of DT SD! 
  3. Incubator News – find deadlines and links
    1. Founders Institute
      1. Final Admissions Deadline: Sep 19, 2021
      2. San Diego Virtual 2021
      3. Focus: pre-seed startup accelerator
    2. ConnectAll
      1. Fall 2021
      2. Cohort 5 applications are open! Apply by Aug. 30
      3. Focus: low to moderate income and diverse founders from broad backgrounds
    3. EvoNexus
      1. Rolling
      2. Focus: DeepTech (MedTech, FinTech, AI/ML, IoT, Hardware)
    4. Logicboost
      1. Application deadline is September 30, 2021.
      2. Focus: SaaS
    5. StartBlue – Looking for mentors – https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe6Yb63O4zwaYHqAFDDEwKJTa0tTd5X0W0QfyWIgdqWrNfwNg/viewform
      1. Focus: StartBlue, the new accelerator from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Rady School of Management
      2. Please complete this form by Friday, September 10, 2021 for consideration.
    6. Techstars Anywhere
      1. October 6, 2021
      2. Program starts January
      3. Join the Techstars Anywhere three-month virtual accelerator to gain funding, mentorship, and access to the Techstars network for life.
    7. We Tha Plug – We Tha Incubatorhttps://www.wethaplug.com/new-page 
      1. Application for Cohort 2 due September 24, 2021
      2. Focus:
        1. Have applied to an accelerator or incubator, but have not been accepted.
        2. Have been working on an idea, but cant figure out steps next.  
        3. Launched and still not getting the traction you need to scale.
    8. Torrey Projecthttps://www.torreyproject.org/bootcamp
      1. We are offering a discounted early bird rate for our tuition until August 31st.
      2. Entrepreneurs who embrace stakeholder capitalism and use their business as a force for good. 
  4. PureWater SD project – San Diego launching Pure Water, largest infrastructure project in city’s history
    1. It’s formally been launched 3 years ago
    2. sewage recycling system that will boost local water independence
    3. Multi Billion Dollar Project named: Pure Water
    4. That has navigated through a number of lawsuits
      1. Slowing it down
      2. Some Nimby
      3. Some Toilet to Tap
    5. This story might be a little misleading
      1. Broke ground 3 years ago
      2. Stalling at a construction of a few critical components
    6. The 3 essential pieces:
      1. Sewage purification plant in Miramar
      2. A pipeline through Clairemont supplying the plant
      3. Pump station in Morena
    7. At completion of the first phase in 2025
        1. 34 million gallons of potable water / day
    8. Another 53 million gallons come online in 2035
    9. This project will drop imported water from 85% to less than 50%
    10. Prior to this project, only 8% of sewage had been recycled into irrigation water
    11. What are the steps of the water purification?
    12. Steps:
      1. Ozonization:
        1. Ozone gas destroys microorganisms, 
        2. then consumers and converted them into O2
      2. Biological activated filters,
        1. helpful bacteria thrive in O2 environment
        2. Consuming 30-50% anything that was or is living
      3. Membrane filtration
        1. Particles, viruses, bacteria 
        2. Only salt, water and other very small molecules can pass through
        3. 300 times narrower than a human hair
      4. Reverse osmosis,
        1. pulling out additional materials
        2. 50k smaller than smallest bacteria
      5. Ultraviolet Disinfection
        1. Light (similar to extremely concentrated sunlight)
        2. Destroys DNA of any microbes left
        3. Other contaminants
    13. This results in water that meets or exceeds standards
    14. This is slightly more expensive at current rates
      1. But we need to factor in a rise in price
    15. Orange County produces 70 million gallons of purified water per day and is in the process of expanding production to 100 million gallons per day.
    16. Growing need and others are looking at this system:
      1. Singapore, Australia, Virginia, Texas, and Colorado
  5. IPOS
    1. Carlsbad-based Tyra Bio files for IPO https://endpts.com/ra-capital-aims-to-take-preclinical-biotech-to-nasdaq-as-tyra-files-s-1-during-summer-lull/ 
  6. Fundings
    1. ShieldAI – $200M Series D
    2. AdarxPharm – $75M
    3. ContaktWorld – $1.35M
  7. Acquisitions
    1. SOCi acq Anaheim-based Brandify
      https://www.sdbj.com/news/2021/aug/15/soci-makes-first-acquisition/ 
    2. Highmetric acquires NewRocket
      https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/highmetric-acquires-newrocket-301359129.html
    3. Ra Medical  acq by Strata Skincare
      https://www.marketwatch.com/story/strata-skin-sciences-acquires-u-s-dermatology-business-of-ra-medical-271629147631
    4. Copia
      https://www.sdbj.com/news/2021/aug/19/san-diego-based-biosurplus-merges-form-copia-scien/
    5. Carwave acq by Kar for $450M
      https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kar-to-accelerate-dealer-to-dealer-growth-profitability-through-acquisition-of-carwave-301360260.html

 

Find us on twitter / Linkedin: @NealBloom & @JonahPeake

And find this news and more at FreshBrewedTech.com

 

 

 

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