This Week in San Diego Tech News – June 17, 2022

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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. Find these episodes on Freshbrewedtech.com and favorite podcast player for Tacos and Tech Podcast

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

Sesha: Hey I’m Sesha, former biotech data person, currently working on cyber & cloud evangelism at Microsoft Azure. SD transplant by way of Seattle, fond of all things tech, startups, and data. 

 

June 17, 2022:

 

1. SD tops the list of biggest increase in tech talent
   1. SD is a “cyber-security leader, benefiting from the U.S. Navy’s big local investment in the Naval War Systems Information Command” 
      • 870 cyber firms + NAVWAR alone employs 12400 
      • Qualcomm, eset, FICO, Teradata, 
   2. Rise of “unexpected” cities making the list may highlight the remote-workplace trends post 2020
   3. No longer just including “high-paying, big tech” but also we see growth in mech, civ, chemical engineering fields 
   4. No longer connection between elite university-job funnel and tech hub growth
   5. 38% increase in tech talent since 2019 in SD, only CA city listed
2. ResMed expands its cloud software footprint by acquiring MediFox Dan
   
   1. ResMed, developer of sleep apnea devices, acquires MediFox Dan, healthcare software startup focused on subscription-based software that helps with documentation, insurance reimbursement, and analytics for nursing homes and home health care providers
   2. US-based SaaS → global 
   3. Acquisition of $1B
3. XCOM’s first product, a VR/AR wireless headset was presented at the Augmented World Expo in SF
   1. TLDR;  XCOM’s first product, a VR/AR wireless headset with cinematic resolution and reduced latency using Wi-Gig technology, was presented at the Augmented World Expo in SF
   2. While traditional VR/AR headsets reduce latency by being plugged directly into gaming computers, XCOM is going for a wireless approach by using Wi-Gig 
   3. Wi-Gig: Wi-Fi enabled devices access the uncongested 60 GHz frequency band; in combination with XCOM radios/access points to deliver up to 400 megabits/sec
   4. Still some changes with latency + losing the signal – final product to be commercially available this year/next
   5. Future use cases: location-based entertainment, remote medicine, not to mention web3!
   6. XCOM Labs founded right here in SD in 2018 by former Qualcomm execs; raised $70M so far; further investment by TDK Ventures 
4. OMG robots & drones!
   1. General Atomic & Northrop drones are in talks to be sent to Ukraine
      1. US Govt is deciding to send locally made drones to fight Russia
      2. Both can fly for 30+ hours at 50-60k feet, 5 and 15 tons respectively
   2. Speaking of Top Gun… Shield AI lands $165M in series E
      1. Shield AI builds software/hardware to power drones and autonomously power military aircrafts for use by the military and government 
      2. AI Software stack called Hivemind (“AI pilot”) powers unmanned UAVs for use in high-threat areas i.e. inside buildings/low-comm environments
         1. Perform missions such as room clearances with Novas, penetrating air-defense systems with V-BATs, even dogfighting F-16s
         2. “Welcome to the defense metaverse”
         3. How does Hivemind work? 
            1. Aircraft uses sensors to map the landscape
            2. Software tells the aircraft where to go and what to do to accomplish the mission
            3. No GPS, waypoints, comms needed
         4. Series E round led by Snowpoint Ventures, prev investors include Homebrew, a16z – 90M in equity + 75M in debt 
         5. Newest investing round gives Shield AI a valuation of $2.3B, joining a group of big hitter in tech including SpaceX, Palantir, and Anduril 
   3. Robolink Makes New Education-focused Robotics Kits
      1. Kits are being used at 2,000 schools
      2. Self-driving car kit that teaches AI!
      3. Only 20-30% of kids in US have access to learning coding
      4. Going to do $2.8M in revenue this year, 12 employees
   4. Greater Than Tech shoutout
      1. Using robotics to teach STEM & business to 4th-10th graders
      2. Underserved communities 
      3. 11 week program, includes figuring out a business plan

Shoutouts

• National Resilience lands $625M in funding 
• Carlsbad-based Airspace raised $70M Series C
• Galley Raises $14.2M Series A 
• New Product Management certificate program at USD
• Dev and Data Night on June 28
• EO’s Young Female Founder Summit June 23
• Innovate78 Startup Recruiting July 14