accelerate

Enterprise, Transportation, Venture

Orbex’s Latest Funding Could Propel Prime Microlauncher to Space

Founded in 2015, Orbex is one of a handful of firms racing to develop the next generation of European launch vehicles. The company is developing what’s sometimes called a microlauncher: a two-stage vehicle called Prime that stands just 19 meters tall, designed to carry payloads up to 180 kilograms. A larger vehicle could eventually be in the plans as well, though Chambers was clear that Prime was the company’s first priority. The new capital comes after Orbex closed a £40.4 million ($50 million) Series C in October 2022. While a spokesperson confirmed the new funding will “help Orbex ramp up the development of Prime … to ensure full readiness and scalability for its launch period,” a firm launch window has yet to be announced.

Max Chen
April 18, 2024

Enterprise, Gadgets

“Accelerating America: A Cohort of Founders Uniting in Gundo with Discipulus Ventures”

Scores of accelerator programs run every year with the aim of identifying and cultivating founders in the earliest stages of building a company. Only a fraction seek out founders who are explicitly aligned with some set of values — let alone classically conservative values like family, patriotism and faith. Discipulus Ventures, which kicked off its first 10-person cohort yesterday, is a singular exception. “You can’t say what matters, you can’t say what you think is true, and that’s obviously not going to be good if you want to solve these problems,” he said. The city’s reputation has grown in recent months as a breeding ground for a new type of hard tech founder, one very much like the type Discipulus is trying to attract.

Kira Kim
March 26, 2024
1 Comment

Apps, Enterprise, Robotics & AI

“Advancing AI-Enhanced Security: Cycode’s Acquisition of Bearer”

With its recently launched AI assistant, Bearer also bet on generative AI to suggest code fixes and explain vulnerabilities. As Cycode co-founder and CEO Lior Levy told me, this acquisition now provides the company with all of the capabilities it needs to become a full-fledged application security platform. “The missing part was a SAST tool that can be fast and connected easily to the Cycode platform. And the Bearer team invested a lot in the brain of the SAST engine — not only the rules and stuff like that — but the engine itself. Together, we’re set to continue redefining the standards of the complete approach to application security posture management.”

Kira Kim
March 5, 2024

CES, Enterprise, Startups

“Nuview, a Geospatial Start-up, Achieves Rapid Growth with Acquisition of Astraea: Surpassing Original Expectations”

So it is with Nuview, a startup aiming to map the world from space using lidar, who announced today that its acquisition of analytics platform Astraea. In a recent interview, Nuview CEO Clint Graumann also declined to specify how many of Astraea’s employee’s would be joining the company. Nuview is relatively young to be executing on an acquisition; Graumann founded the company in January 2022, and has raised at least $15 million to date. “I’ve always seen Earth observation companies who try to build every capability from the ground up, struggle,” he said. Spoc”, though Graumann declined to specify whether Nuview had booked a firm launch date for that demonstration mission.