Jul 30, 2025 5 min read Daily Rundown

⛵ Nvidia’s New Enemy

More Stories: Pentagon's New Toy, Speed > Legacy

Good Morning, Early Adopters!

In a world where legacy drags its feet and speed rewrites the script, the crown no longer belongs to the oldest—it belongs to the fastest.

CHIPS

Groq Doubles Down to Take a Swing at Nvidia’s Throne

👀 What’s the move: Groq is back in the ring with a fresh $600M round at a doubled $6B valuation, just a year after its last raise. Led by Disruptive, this isn't just cash—it's ammo. With big-name partnerships (Meta, Bell Canada) already in play, Groq’s aiming to be more than a niche chipmaker—it wants to own the fast lane of AI inference.

💡 Why it’s not boring: This is no longer a David-vs-Goliath story. Groq’s valuation leap and infra deals signal a shift: hyperscalers are hedging against Nvidia’s supply chain chokehold. Expect future Groq-Nvidia dynamics to resemble AMD vs Intel in the 2000s—less existential rivalry, more differentiated coexistence. Nvidia owns the training stack, Groq’s gunning for inference speed supremacy.

⛵ Key takeaway: Groq isn’t trying to replace Nvidia—it’s trying to make sure Nvidia doesn’t replace everyone else.

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WEAPON

A Spy Tool You Chew On—and the Pentagon Loves It

👀 What’s the move: Integrated Tactical Technologies (iT2) makes the Molar Mic—a gum-sized, inner-mouth comms device that beams sound through bone conduction. Think: AirPods for SEAL Team Six. It’s already being quietly deployed, but you’ll never see it on shelves or a Super Bowl ad. Because the CIA's venture arm, In-Q-Tel, helped fund it—and mum’s the operational word.

💡 Why it’s not boring: This isn’t a wearable. It’s a weaponized interface. The Molar Mic skips the smartphone, the app, the UI—all of it—and speaks straight to your nervous system. That rewires the stack for defense, emergency response, and beyond. It also signals a broader trend: National security is becoming the ultimate product-market fit, and stealth tech startups are skipping consumer validation entirely to sell directly to classified buyers.

⛵ Key takeaway: When your target user wears night vision and no name tag, consumer TAMs don’t matter—survival does.

SPACE

Space Force’s $4B SATCOM Gambit: Speed > Legacy

👀 What’s the move: The U.S. Space Force just handed out five new contracts—totaling a modest $37.3M—for jam-proof satellite comms prototypes. Among the usual defense giants (Boeing, Northrop), newcomers like Astranis and K2 Space made the cut. All are racing to design jam-proof comms sats, with one winner landing the big $4B production deal in 2028.

💡 Why it’s not boring: This is more than procurement—it’s a strategic shift. The Pentagon is tapping venture-backed speed (K2 Space, Astranis) to break free from bloated timelines and legacy inertia. It’s a quiet vote of no confidence in the old guard—and a test of whether startups can deliver when the stakes are orbital and encrypted.

⛵ Key takeaway: When Space Force starts favoring YC grads over Lockheed lifers, you know time-to-launch just became a warfighting metric.

STARTUP SPOT

🎧 Integrated Tactical Technologies (iT2)
“Stealth comms woven in gear.”
Bone‑conduction Molar Mic + smart fabric “chassis” enables undetectable voice comms and AI‑drone control. Tested up to 130 dB, NFMI encrypted, Air Force SBIR-backed AI voice-operated drone control system. Team from defense R&D background; early-stage with SBIR funding; positioning as sensor/comms layer for edge AI ops—aiming broader multi-domain wearable deployments through 2026.
→ Formed via Sonitus Technologies acquisition late 2021; teamed with Bluewater Defense for garment integration. Winning DoD/AF contracts for wearable comms in defense, commercial use, expanding global wearable computing platform.

🪐 K2 Space
“Mass-class satellites for mass-scale missions.”
Mega‑class spacecraft stacking high throughput, electric‑propelled payload buses. Designed to fly dozens of national security & commercial payloads into LEO→MEO with radiation‑hardened AI‑ready architecture.
→ Founded 2022 by ex‑SpaceX lead engineers Karan & Neel Kunjur; backed by Lightspeed, Altimeter, First Round & Alpine; $180M+ raised including $110M Series B to scale factory and in-house avionics.

🪐 Astranis
“MicroGEO broadband for the world.”
Compact geostationary satellites (MicroGEO & Omega) delivering dedicated, software-defined internet to unserved regions and national networks. Arcturus beam broadband to Alaska; UtilitySat in orbit (pending orbit raise).
→ Founded 2015 by John Gedmark & Ryan McLinko; YC W16 alum; raised $350M+ from a16z, Venrock, BlackRock; signed $115M Taiwan deal with Chunghwa Telecom; U.S. Space Force pact under $4B PTS‑G program.

BAY AREA MEMOS

A former Apple engineer's Greek defense startup raises $14 million to build low-cost drones and challenge market incumbents.
Anthropic is reportedly close to raising up to $5 billion at a $170 billion valuation.
AI clinical documentation startup Ambience Healthcare secures $243 million in a round co-led by Kleiner Perkins and the OpenAI Startup Fund.
AI video startups Luma and Runway are reportedly targeting the robotics and self-driving car industries for future growth.
Matrice AI partners with Voltage Park to accelerate no-code computer vision development with access to a massive GPU cluster.

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