After decades of stability, we venture into uncharted territory. Rapidly evolving geopolitical turmoil coupled with the escalating effects of climate change is reshuffling the world order we’ve long taken for granted. Nations must innovate faster than ever just to stay relevant.
Simultaneously, the world is awakening to the inspiring yet daunting possibilities of emerging technologies like AI, gene editing, and fusion energy. These technologies open the possibility to create what was once unthinkable, catalyzing innovation in crucial industries that have remained stagnant for too long. This blend of macro factors and technological advances propels us into a new era that promises to birth generational companies tackling our most pressing issues.
We’re eager to meet this pivotal moment head-on with our latest $630 million fund. This fund allows us to continue our core strategy of collaborating with visionaries at the intersection of science and technology, tackling audacious challenges to build a brighter future.
We’re committed to partnering with founders from inception through growth. Given the current economic climate, where growth funding is becoming more scarce, we understand the increased importance of having ample funding to support our companies as they navigate the expanding ‘valley of death.’ This is precisely why we raised our largest fund to date — to provide the support our companies need to successfully navigate challenging times, to build in spite of them, and to embrace and conquer the obstacles ahead.
The global race for technological supremacy, driven by advancements in AI, semiconductors, and quantum computing, is the ‘Space Race’ of our time. It includes major players like the U.S. and China, along with emerging tech giants such as India, Israel, Japan, and South Korea. The UK, France, Denmark, the UAE, and Singapore are also important players. This race for technical leadership is just getting started, and we are already seeing a massive amount of resources being directed within each of these nations to fuel innovation and avoid falling behind.
AI is now a critical component in the strategy of every nation and enterprise. Foundation models have created a step function change in what is possible in everything from code generation to materials discovery to physics simulation. AI is increasingly seen as a matter of national security worldwide, with many governments closely scrutinizing open-source models. Almost all major nations have passed AI acts, and foundation model research companies are emerging in nearly all developed economies like Japan, Germany, and France. We expect tensions to increase as the prevalence of AI-generated content, including deepfakes and disinformation, continues to rise, and challenges related to the data used to train such models continue to emerge.
In tandem with the remarkable advancements in AI, there has been immense progress in computing infrastructure. GPU performance is growing exponentially, quantum computing is showing real promise, and hardware acceleration is becoming the norm in areas as far reaching as bioinformatics. This is all thanks to major advances in semiconductors. As a result, the reshoring of semiconductor fabrication continues to be a hot-button topic, with the U.S. CHIPS Act providing nearly $50 billion for semiconductor research, development, and manufacturing.
Similarly, advances in software infrastructure, especially data infrastructure and distributed computing, are critical to consider. As Moore’s law comes to an end, the rapid growth in data processing demands far exceeds the rate of processor improvement. For instance, running a state-of-the-art LLM requires thousands of GPUs to operate for nearly a month, processing trillions of data tokens. This capability is achievable thanks to significant advances in databases, distributed systems, compilers, data processing, and cloud computing.
The convergence of these computing trends is disruptive to virtually all industries, and the potential for investment in advanced computing foundations is enormous. Jobs involving the synthesis and generation of information, spanning financial research, construction, and drug filings, will undergo significant changes through the adoption of LLMs. Chemistry, biology, and physics will increasingly be modeled at meaningful fidelities. Professionals designing complex systems, such as architects, software engineers, and film editors, will leverage computationally aided tools to move 1,000x faster.
Amidst this backdrop, foundational global industries are experiencing tremendous change. Geopolitical conflict, escalating instability, and the global push to decarbonize the power sector are driving a once-in-a-century shift in the energy landscape. Through substantial legislative initiatives like the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. and Europe are reshaping natural gas and critical minerals supply chains while accelerating the domestic production and deployment of renewable energy and storage. This shift to electrifying our energy usage puts new demands on the grid, leading to record-breaking demand for electricity, especially when combined with a warming planet. These trends create unique opportunities for technology to: produce cheaper and more efficient solar cells and batteries; transform the electricity generation and distribution network to a two-way flow of electrons and data; and create a decentralized, resilient grid.
While not historically considered a climate-friendly industry, mining is taking center stage in this transition. We need battery-critical minerals to decarbonize transportation, and Plotlogic is at the forefront of this change. Using hyperspectral imaging and AI, Plotlogic aims to accelerate access to battery-critical minerals, drive operational efficiency, and reduce negative impacts from the mining process.
Foundational industries represent the vast majority of carbon emissions, and we are only at the beginning of the decarbonization journey. Because we need to retool our entire economy, there is no silver bullet. We expect myriad technologies, products, and companies to be built. We envision solutions that: accelerate the clean energy transition by making it easy for companies to understand, purchase, and de-risk; help large real estate owners decarbonize their portfolios; and leverage the latest in AI to discover the next important catalyst or sorbent.
Decarbonization, however, is not the only tectonic shift in the industry. We are seeing significant reshoring of manufacturing to secure supply chains and a doubling down on defense innovation and infrastructure. This domestic reindustrialization demands automation due to domestic shortages of skilled labor — enter Machina Labs. By marrying industrial robotics, AI, and simulation, Machina Labs offers a solution to scaling advanced domestic manufacturing. We expect entrepreneurs to build generational companies here, whether automating and optimizing industry, developing intelligent software to digitize these markets, or creating next-generation tooling for hardware engineers.
In a changing world, the enduring human quest to understand and harness the natural world for the betterment of our species remains constant. Today, we have amplified our needs. Our healthcare system is fragile with overworked clinicians, limited patient access to timely care, rising costs, and declining health outcomes in the U.S. amid an aging population and a chronic disease epidemic. Yet amidst these challenges, scientists have driven remarkable technological progress, including the accelerated COVID-19 vaccine development, approval of the first gene editing therapy, and mega-blockbuster GLP-1 agonists.
We are entering a new era of experimental workflows in the life sciences. Biological, clinical, and computer scientists are directly integrated with and generating data for machines. This continued convergence of science and technology will greatly enhance our understanding and intervention capabilities in disease. Companies like Eikon Therapeutics, Think Bioscience, and Character Biosciences are pioneering truly creative platforms that harness the power of computation to build a new type of drug discovery company — one that combines sensing, data, and computation to address clinical unmet needs.
We are entering a golden age of scientific discovery and deployment.
Similarly, in healthcare, there has been tremendous progress demonstrating the potential of AI in both operational and clinical settings in the past year alone. While there are significant challenges to ensure safe, reliable, trustworthy systems, AI leveraged in tandem with healthcare workers has the potential to improve health outcomes. Viz.ai integrates directly into clinical workflows and enables clinicians to use their time most effectively, ensuring patients receive timely and appropriate care, saving countless lives.
Companies today are different at their core. Founders are solving real-world problems and attracting top talent motivated by a mission. These companies are not just ambitious; they’re redefining critical industries with cutting-edge technologies that seemed like science fiction just a year ago. Achieving this involves assembling diverse teams of technologists and scientists. A notable trend is the rise of AI-native scientists — physicists, biologists, and chemists — who leverage AI as a fundamental tool in their work — innovating at a much larger scale but at a fraction of the time and cost.
As a firm, we’ve also evolved. Our journey is not about reflecting on past accomplishments but about continuous growth to be an exceptional partner for our founders through this challenging journey.
First and foremost, our focus has always been on people. The journey to build a team of exceptional partners for our founders spanned over a decade. The result is an extraordinary mosaic of individuals who not only excel individually but also collaborate seamlessly. Scott, Sam, Davis, Ali, Harpi, Rick, Bridget, Joel, Nick and Josh represent a dynamic blend of company builders, technologists, scientists, Stanford professors, and operators. Each is a thought leader in their respective field, bringing a rich set of capabilities, knowledge, experience, and network. These are vital attributes for startups at the forefront of technology, science, and foundational industries.
Our partnership has grown with the addition of specialized partners like Josh Berglund, who brings a wealth of knowledge in engaging with government and defense sectors. Moreover, our startups have the unique opportunity to work with luminaries who have built some of the world’s most successful companies, including our founding partner, Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, and Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, former CEO of the LEGO Group.
This group is unparalleled, but our aim was never just to assemble a collection of partners. What truly sets us apart is our culture. Drawing from the unity and camaraderie experienced during my special forces days, we rally together as a cohesive force behind our companies. In our model, you gain unrestricted access to all our partners when we invest in your company. Each one brings a unique ‘superpower’ and a distinctive network, crucial for navigating the long journey of growth. This collective spirit forms the cornerstone of our culture, ensuring that every founder we partner with feels heard, supported, and genuinely valued.
In terms of innovation, we are not just participants; we are pioneers. From developing new frameworks like Research Driven Ideation, which revolutionizes how entrepreneurs ideate, to partnering with Stanford University on initiatives like dy/dx, to convening the world’s top talent at Curiosity Camp — we’re constantly seeking ways to better support our entrepreneurs. But it’s not about being the biggest or the best; it’s about being the most helpful, the most genuine.
Ultimately, every step we take is with one goal in mind: to walk alongside the dreamers and doers, supporting them in their journey to shape a brighter future. In this rapidly changing landscape, the visionaries will see beyond the immediate challenges, finding opportunities to build not just solutions but generational companies that change the world. In these tumultuous times, the greatest opportunities arise: to create, innovate, and build something substantial from the challenges we face. We’ve been building Innovation Endeavors with these visionaries in mind.
Together, let’s shape the future!
