Stuff worth sharing
Rent seeking in tweed - The UK tech scene has a number of problems. One of the most prominent examples is the borderline criminal practices that are commonplace with university tech transfers. For the unfamiliar, when a researcher at a University starts a company off the back of said research his / her University typically gets an equity stake in the new venture to reflect the support given to date. Fair enough in the abstract, but the devil is in the details. While in the US it’s fairly common to see ~5% equity given, UK universities are anything but standardized. In my time as an investor I’ve seen huge ranges of equity stakes, royalty rates and even perpetual licensing agreements. This article in the FT takes the cake though. An Oxford spinout is currently fighting the University’s claim to 50% (!!!!) ownership of the biotech; an absolutely absurd figure by any measure.
Related - some great stats from my friend Nathan Benaich, who is a leading voice in this fight with his fantastic for at Spinout.fyi.
Unforced talent errors - The UK tech scene has a number of problems. One of the more recent examples is the government’s disastrous decision to end TechNation. For the unfamiliar, TechNation has been the UK’s main organizing body for tech ecosystem building, grant financing and the awarding of talent-based visas to aspiring founders and startup operators. I myself hold a TechNation visa and I can’t speak highly enough of the org. For some reason the UK government is winding down TechNation and migrating funds to Barclay’s for grant responsibility. Many are up in arms over the grant capital but the real loss is talent-based immigration. Without a solid talent visa I see no way the UK continues to remain the leader of EU tech.
Related - the UK was already seeing a drop in EU talent due to Brexit.
The two best friends that nobody would have - very interesting Economist podcast on the history and recent, debated repositioning of the partnership (alliance?) between China and Russia; to use Xi’s words, “a friendship without limits”. The war in Ukraine has certainly tested that resolve but this uneasy alliance seems surprisingly strong. I’m still forming my view on China, but there’s a lot to say about the company one keeps.
Very cool company #1 - Early stage spacetech startup, Orbital Sidekick, announced a $10 million funding round, which is how I learned of their super cool product. The company is building a nano-satellite constellation and uses hyperspectral imagery to chemical presence….from space.
Corporate B&E - An appalling story of the abuse that incumbent debt collection agencies (DCA) inflict on their supposed "customers". A major UK utility company learned that a 3rd party DCA broke into the homes of customers behind on their energy bill to install pay-as-you-go meters. This is exactly why the world needs the socially conscious, digitally native solution that Ophelos is bringing (Fly portfolio company).
Very cool company #2 - Biomaterials platform, Dimension Inx, announced a $12 million Series A. They engineer three-dimensional micro-environments that direct cell behavior and allow the body to restore tissue and organ function more effectively. Tl;dr - they regrow tissue and organs a la The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
(Magic) Leap of (blind) faith - A very long, but very good deep dive AR / VR and why it’s failed to meet expectations by de spiritual tech leader, Matthew Ball. A lot of people shit on this space, I admit I’ve done a bit myself, but rarely consider the technical requirements needed to deliver a meaningful product - e.g. 16K resolution at 60 Hz minimum, multi-hour battery life with little to no heat exhaust, 2,000 nits of brightness, bluetooth + wifi + 5G(?) all weighing ~150 grams.
Unclean Energy - NPR interview with Siddharth Kara, an undercover reporter who dives into the extremely dark world of rare Earth metals mining. More specifically the mining of cobalt and its “slave-like conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo”. It’s a hard listen and gives a sobering look at the human impact of technological advancement.
Blown out of proportion - (see what I did there?) There’s almost no way you haven’t read / heard / watched the absurd saga over the Chinese spy(?) balloon. Time will tell how serious this was but it’s undeniable that if you made up the story no one would buy it.
Related - SNL had a good take.
Very, very rare meats - Occasionally life imitates art and this time it’s researchers imitating blockbuster classic, Jurassic Park. Although this time instead of vicious dinosaurs it’s the genetically unfortunate dodo bird.
Shameless plug
Fly portfolio company, Metaview, announced a big product release, AI Notes. AI Notes is a first-of-its-kind feature that gives automatic, AI-generated notes after every interview. Auto-transcription services sound cool, but a 30 minute call can yield 20 pages of unstructured text so this can be quite a game changer.
Another Fly portfolio company, Pyka, was featured in Forbes for their fully electric, fully autonomous, freight-hauling drone. Their aircraft, Pelican, has a maximum range of 150 miles when carrying a full load of 400 pounds, which it fits within 66 cubic feet of interior space.