The Saturday Morning Newsletter #24

👋 Hello friends,

Thank you for joining this week's edition of The Saturday Morning Newsletter. I'm Drew Jackson, and today we're exploring 13 articles, essays, companies, ideas, podcasts, videos, or thoughts that caught my attention this week for their potential to significantly impact our future.

Before we begin: The Saturday Morning Newsletter by Brainwaves arrives in your inbox every Saturday, a concise and casual digest of current events, optimistic news stories, and other interesting tidbits about venture capital, economics, space, energy, intellectual property, philosophy, and beyond. I write as a curious explorer rather than an expert, and I value your insights and perspectives on each subject.

Time to Read: 6 minutes.

Let’s dive in!

#1: Ionate

Description: Ionate is a developer of next-gen transformers.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Ionate recently raised $17M of venture capital funding. All electricity grids rely on transformers, a component that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another circuit. The concept of a transformer hasn’t changed in 100 years, and with the massive increase in electrical demand, they need innovation. Ionate’s technology replaces transformers, bringing new innovations to an incredibly old sector.

#2: MacroCycle

Description: MacroCycle is a plastic technology developer.

Why Is This Company Interesting? MacroCycle recently raised $6.5M in venture capital funding. MacroCycle is redoing the plastic production process, starting at the beginning. Their new design satisfies all of the regulation, without creating landfill/ocean-bound plastics, has lower emissions and no green premium attached. With technologies like this, our landfills and oceans can see a reduced supply of garbage (which is actually recyclable).

#3: KoBold Metals

Description: KoBold Metals is a mining mineral exploration company.

Why Is This Company Interesting? KoBold Metals recently raised $537M in venture capital funding. Their mission is similar to Earth AI’s: find materials faster, cheaper, and easier. They focus on aggregating data and using their AI algorithms to analyze and predict where to look, with higher precision for each look.

#4: Origen

Description: Origen is a carbon removal startup.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Origen recently raised $13M in venture capital funding. Origen’s limestone-based carbon removal technology absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, safely storing it underground to create the mineral lime. Their investors believe their model is capable of being deployed at scale, potentially putting a significant dent into the existing CO2 buildup.

Grist: The Global Economy Could Face 50% Loss in GDP Between 2070 and 2090

Experts at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries estimated that if climate change continued (specifically surpassing the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold), the plausible worst-case scenario for global economies would be a 50% decrease in GDP before 2090. Granted, that’s the worst case scenario, but it does emphasize that the consequences of our actions could be very drastic over the course of our lives.

GoodGoodGood: Portland Pays Homeless Residents to Clean Up Trash

Ground Score, a Portland nonprofit, has begun hiring homeless people to pick up waste within their city. Workers are paid $20+/hr. Their program has hired 55 people so far, 95% are formerly or currently homeless. Over 70% of those workers have become housed through this program. Residents of Portland are happy since this initiative is helping reduce the homeless population while also cleaning up their city.

Environment America: Solar Power Surged in 2024

During the first 11 months of 2024, 81% of the new energy that came online in the United States was from solar energy. Solar now seems to be the standout renewable energy solution, beating out competitors such as wind, geothermal, and nuclear. Now, a large portion of the world’s solar panels continues to come from China, so many in this industry are beginning to look for adequate solutions elsewhere in the world.

Freight Waves: The Necessity of Nuclear Power

Increasing the United States’ nuclear power capacity is considered a crucial component of reindustrialization. The reliability and high power output make it a great source of energy for the manufacturing sector and generally drives economic growth. The NRC’s proactive facilitation of new plant approvals is a good shift in the right direction, “a hopeful sign that the United States has turned the corner on nuclear energy policy.”

The New York Times: Where Coal Is Retiring, and Hanging On, in the US

Starting in the Obama administration and continuing since, there has been the mass retirement of coal plants. Continued use of coal means more CO2 emissions, with around 1/3rd of plants even extending their intended timelines. Why? Grid stability needs and energy requirements from data centers and AI.

Space.com: A Potential Leap in Electric Spacecraft Propulsion

A new supercomputer simulation found that spacecrafts powered by electric propulsion could be better protected against their own exhaust. For some background, electric propulsion is becoming more popular than traditional chemical rockets, however electricity is not perfect. The ion plume released in the back of the ship can redirect itself and impact the spacecraft, damaging critical components. This supercomputer simulation potentially brings in a solution to this problem, making electric propulsion more widely used.

Pitchbook: US Corporates Continue Their Preference for Larger VC Deals

The median venture capital deal with a corporate venture capital fund participating (usually from a large public company) was more than 3x as large as those in the rest of the market. Corporate venture capitalists continue to prefer backing later-stage companies, yet these companies continue to wait to acquire companies (around 4% of the companies they back). This slowdown continues to impact the broader market, although people see a potential increase in 2025.

The Federalist Society: Why Weak Intellectual Property Rights Threaten Innovation and Competition

Over the last couple of decades, policymakers have weakened protections for the originators and owners of IP-protected assets. The thought was “information wants to be free”, it’s argued, has gone too far. The erosion of IP rights doesn’t favor the independent innovators and creators that build and curate knowledge ecosystems over time. Some argue that this has harmed innovation and competition.

A cute little guide on how to not be hard on yourself:

Moral of the story: don’t be overly hard on yourself.

See you Wednesday for Brainwaves,

Drew Jackson

Twitter: @brainwavesdotme

Email: brainwaves.me@gmail.com

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this content are my own and do not represent the views of any of the companies I currently work for or have previously worked for. This content does not contain financial advice - it is for informational and educational purposes only. Investing contains risks and readers should conduct their own due diligence and/or consult a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Any sponsorship or endorsements are noted and do not affect any editorial content produced.