Investments

ABL Space Systems: The first lean, profitable space business.

The cost of getting materials into space has remained relatively static over the last 50 years, depending on the orbit, at $20k per kilogram. Utilized predominantly by governments & telecommunications, this has led to predictable demand cycles, which in turn has left the existing cost structure unchallenged. As the world consumes and is driven by more data, the demand to transport materials to space has risen, but costs remain the major barrier.

ABL Space Systems has begun in the small launch market as a leading, profitable, “low cost” provider with clear opportunities for expansion. Their rockets are smaller, more nimble, and simplified, allowing for greater ease in the transportation of goods of all kinds to fuel the ever growing “Space Economy”, currently at $500B in total spending and estimated to grow to over $1T by 2030.

Their rockets are smaller, nimbler, and simplified, allowing for greater ease in the transportation of goods of all kinds to fuel the ever growing “Space Economy”, currently at $500B in total spending and estimated to grow to over $1T by 2030..

Afterparty

AfterParty is building the Web3 infrastructure for communities, creators and brands. Powering this community is a platform to access physical and virtual experiences through NFTs, such as tickets to live concerts, exclusive events, and specific artist & creator drops. AfterParty hosted the world’s largest NFT-gated Art and Music Festival (which was held in Las Vegas), and will become the de facto ticketing platform for art & music events of all kinds. We believe AfterParty will become the “Web3 TicketMaster”, but differentiating itself in that the creative energy behind each experience comes directly from the artists themselves. The NFTs associated allow for value to accrue to both creator & fan.

Afterparty is building the defining community, creator & brand infrastructure, to help them associate with in Web3.

Blue Energy

Archer: Vertically Integrated Electric Airline

We believe: The company that can build an electric aircraft that has high performance, low cost, high safety and low noise, will have the ability to unlock a new dimension of travel. The third dimension of urban mobility is the air. Morgan Stanley has the Urban Air Mobility TAM at $1T by 2040 and $9T by 2050.

Archer has executed on key strategic partnerships with United Airlines who is a launch customer & operating partner, Stellantis who is a manufacturing and supply chain partner, and the US Air Force for flight testing. Archer is posed to be one of a very small group to bring electric air mobility to the masses.

We believe: The company that can build an electric aircraft that has high performance, low cost, high safety and low noise, will have the ability to unlock a new dimension of travel.

Avery Digital Data: Powering the Bio Revolution

Avery is putting bioengineering on a chip which will power scalable synthesis of long form DNA in genes, chromosomes, genomes, organisms and more. Estimates are that 60% of the world’s physical inputs could be made using biological means, 45% of the world’s disease burden could be addressed, and that 30% of private sector R&D spend in biology related industries could be eliminated. There are myriad large industries where Avery’s tech could be massively valuable. To name a few: agriculture, where identically DNA equivalent meat can be produced entirely without animal, in energy and materials where synthetic silks can be produced by microbes which could completely eliminate the need for many plastics, in personal health where monogenic diseases could be prevented at birth, and in consumer where personalized and precision based diets, products and services could be offered.

McKinsey estimates that the TAM could be as high as $4T given the immense scope of applications. Notably, Dr. Craig Venter serves on the board of Avery; the father of synthetic genomics and the first scientist in the world to sequence the human genome, and who said of Avery’s technology “This is the technology I have been waiting for my entire career.

Powering the Bio Revolution. Avery is putting bioengineering on a chip which will power scalable synthesis of long form DNA in Genes, Chromosomes, Genomes, Organisms and more.

Chaos Industries: New US Defense Co.

Chaos is an exciting new multi-domain defense company that sits at a historical intersection between critical geopolitical issues, technological transformation, and the re-engagement between Silicon Valley and the US industrial defense communities. The founding team includes senior alumni from Palantir and Raytheon, as well as co-founders of Epirus, bringing the institutional knowledge of what does and doesn’t work, as well as deep relationships at the highest levels in DC and the DoD.

A breakthrough generation of dual-use technology companies has emerged and is changing the status quo: technological barriers to entry are lower thanks to distributed engineering, software enabled platforms and agile manufacturing. In addition to this, Defense & Industrial technologies are now intrinsically linked from a global security perspective.

The founding team includes senior alumni from Palantir and Raytheon, as well as co-founders of Epirus, bringing the institutional knowledge of what does and doesn’t work, as well as deep relationships at the highest levels in DC and the DoD

Dataminr: AI driven real time data insights

Dataminr’s real-time AI platform detects the earliest signals of high-impact events and emerging risks from within the vast corpus of the world’s publicly available data. Tamarack Global partner John McCormick first invested in the company in their $250k pre-seed, and the company is now valued at over $4.1B. This was an early proof point for the broader investment thesis that we are committed to at Tamarack Global.

* indicates investment made prior to Tamarack Global

Divergent 3D: AI powered manufacturing

Divergent is “category-defining” within AI & software-enabled hardware. They have built the first modular digital factory for the automotive industry, which also has capabilities for aerospace, defense, and a variety of other sectors. Kevin Czinger, founder and CEO, was ranked in 2022 as one of the top 5% of CEOs in the world in the small companies category, and is trailblazing several verticals with Divergent. Consider “Czinger”, for example, a wholly owned subsidiary of Divergent 3D, and their 21C (the world’s first 3D printed hypercar) which is turning heads and is a prime example of the magic that can occur when you combine highly trained AI & ML models with advanced manufacturing systems. At its first visit to the hallowed racetrack at Lagunas Secas, the Czinger 21C smashed the previous lap record by over 2 seconds, previously held by McLaren.

Divergent is “category-defining” within AI & software-enabled hardware. They have built the first modular digital factory for the automotive industry, which also has capabilities for aerospace, defense, and a variety of other sectors.

Figure: Autonomous Humanoids

Figure is building autonomous humanoid robots to deploy and automate manual labor globally. They have built the world's #1 AI & robotics team with 100 years of combined experience. The founder, Brett Adcock, has scaled two previous startups raising $1B+ and two successful exits in Vettery & Archer Aviation.

At $42T, global manual labor is one of the largest markets on earth. We are facing an unprecedented labor shortage and aging population in critical warehouse & logistics industries. Recent unlocks in compute power, simulation and AI make this very moment an ideal time for humanoid robotics to be deployed—much faster than conventional wisdom would assume.

Figure is building autonomous humanoid robots to deploy and automate manual labor globally. They have built the world's #1 AI & robotics team with 100 years of combined experience.

Fuse Energy: Fusion Energy

Fuse Energy is accelerating proven fusion technology, engineering the fastest practical clean energy, and is part of the next generation of pulsed power fusion. Fuse is on a mission to redefine pulsed power—an essential step to realizing the most practical fusion approach: Magnetized-Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF). Fuse is the only US company committed to MagLIF.

Achievement of net energy (where energy produced is greater than energy used) via nuclear fusion would be momentous for the $15T global energy market—and GDP. Fusion has been proven but now faces a complex engineering problem. By focusing on MagLIF, the team at Fuse is forging a realistic commercial path with a fraction of the CapEx needs of peers (each Tokemakmagnet costs >$1B). The team has 100+ years of Fusion experience, 30+ patents filed, and has already produced 1T+ Neutrons with Mini-Z.

By focusing on MagLIF, the team at Fuse is forging a realistic commercial path with a fraction of the CapEx needs of peers

Genies: Virtual Identity

Genies is Gen Z’s leading avatar technology company empowering humans to create their own avatar ecosystems. Genies provides tools that allow users to create their own avatars, avatar wearable fashion lines, avatar worlds, and avatar interactive experiences in web3. The company has 99% celebrity avatar market share through its partnerships with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group as their “official avatar and digital goods provider with thousands of Genie creators including Justin Bieber, Migos, Cardi B, and J Balvin. The convergence of the digital and physical world is well on its way with emerging technologies capturing our imaginations, and with virtual worlds and virtual economies larger than some sovereign states.

The convergence of the digital and physical world is well on its way with emerging technologies capturing our imaginations with virtual worlds and virtual economies the size of, or larger than, sovereign states.

Impulse Space: In-Space Logistics

Impulse Space provides in-space logistics in both LEO (low earth orbit) and GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit). This includes last mile payload delivery, debris mitigation and repositioning, enablement of Earth reentry for in space manufacturers, satellite life extension, and payload delivery to Mars (2024 mission scheduled). Founded by Tom Mueller, SpaceX employee #1, designer of the Falcon 1 & 9 and the key architect behind SpaceX's pole position in the ever-expanding Space Economy. Impulse has the engineering talent to do everything in house at a fraction the cost of the defense primes. Their orbital transfer vehicle (going up on Starship this year) costs ~$15M to build, can sell multiple missions on each for $80-100M, and will eventually be able to 3D print one vehicle per day—all in house.

Morning Consult: Data Driven Company Intelligence.

Over 500 of the world’s leading Global Organizations rely on Morning Consult to provide intelligent + data-driven decisions, get insights, track consumer behavior, and learn about their competitors in seconds.

Smart Enterprise will disrupt nearly every major sector of the global economy and dramatically improve productivity in those sectors, because it provides massive improvements to decision-making processes that are central to how major industries conduct business to create value. Companies are now starting to be able to measure, analyze, and aggregate large data sets to inform mission critical projects.

Over 500 of the world’s leading Global Organizations rely on Morning Consult to provide intelligent + data-driven decisions

Natrion: Semi-solid state batteries

Natrion is developing battery technologies that can push the capabilities of electric vehicles (EVs) by solving the biggest issues being faced by automaker and battery manufacturers. Their proprietary semi-solid state electrolyte promises to replace liquids currently used in Lithium-Ion batteries, creating significant increases in thermal stability, improving battery durability, and vastly increasing their life-cycles. Creating a solid-state battery that is adequate for an Electric Vehicle has long been considered the sector’s holy grail given the immense TAM it would unlock, and we believe Natrion is well positioned to be a contender in this important race.

Creating a solid-state battery that is adequate for an Electric Vehicle has long been considered the sector’s holy grail given the immense TAM it would unlock

Radiant Nuclear

Radiant builds compact and portable nuclear fission reactors. Their "Kaleidos" unit, delivered on a flatbed truck, produces 1.2 MW of electricity (1k homes per year). "Kaleidos" also produces 1.9 MW of thermal power for heating or water desalination or powering a remote community, commercial facility, or military base with five years of clean energy before needing to be refueled.

An antiquated grid is failing us during a time of increasing natural disasters & extreme weather events. The need to power mission critical sites with zero downtime like military camps or cloud compute centers, is growing exponentially. "Kaleidos" will be the first nuclear alternative to diesel generators, providing 110X the energy density diesel can supply, and are "smart" units that operate autonomously and stream data back to Radiant's fleet monitoring system 24/7.

Radiant designs and builds portable, low-cost 1.2-megawatt nuclear fission micro reactors that fit in a shipping container, powering about 1,000 homes

Rainmaker

Water scarcity is not just an issue in the developing world; it's an impending calamity in the United States. California's Department of Water Resources anticipates 1.5M acres of farmland to desertify in the next decade. The Ogalala aquifer, the primary water source for the American Great Plains, is in a state of "managed depletion", endangering the viability of life west of the Mississippi. Rainmaker is solving this problem by using advanced cloud seeding technology to enhance precipitation over drought ridden regions and mitigate drought. With meteorological software specialized for identifying seeding opportunities, icing-resistant UAVs, novel nucleation agents, and new spraying mechanisms, Rainmaker can reduce the cost, improve the yield, and mitigate ecological concerns of cloud seeding.

Root Finance

Root, a favored DeFi play of ours, has moved into an exciting new space with the moniker “Bet to Earn”, in which they are building on-chain betting markets via permissionless oracle-settled mechanisms that reliably beat Vegas odds. They achieved considerable success through the World Cup in 2022, and the alpha, or simply put, better odds are achieved by two things: first, leveraging a permissionless and uncollateralized fiat stablecoin protocol that is currently one of one, and secondly, through a partnership with Paradox, a peer-to-peer parimutuel betting platform. The global gambling market hit $702B in 2023 which was a 56% YoY growth rate from 2022; this was in large part due to the ease of use of online betting becoming a bigger and bigger part of the overall market, and we believe Root is well positioned to capitalize on a very large and rapidly expanding market.

Root […] are building on-chain betting markets via permissionless oracle-settled mechanisms that reliably beat Vegas odds.

Spexi Geospatial

The Spexi team is building a new platform called Spexigon: the first of its kind Fly-to-Earn aerial imagery marketplace that provides operators with the opportunity to earn rewards by collecting imagery with drones and uploading it to the platform. Each mission that pilots fly will help create an ultra-high resolution base layer image of the earth. This new base layer will enable governments and organizations of all kinds to make better decisions about real world assets like buildings, utilities, infrastructure, insurance companies, and natural resources, without requiring people on the ground. Using the Spexigon marketplace, data buyers will also no longer need to hire drone pilots or own their own drones; they can simply purchase the imagery they need and use it in their existing applications

…the first of its kind Fly-to-Earn aerial imagery marketplace that provides operators with the opportunity to earn rewards by collecting imagery with drones and uploading it to the platform.

Stealth Cyber Company

Stealth: EV OEM

EV 2.0 - New electric vehicle entrants haven’t focused on challenging the status-quo, they have merely attempted to create a 2% better Tesla. No one has redefined the experience, pulled the threads at the questions of what a modern car shopper actually wants, or maximized the possibilities around modern manufacturing.

This team, based in the US, Italy & Amsterdam brings incredible pedigree (Ferrari, Ford EV) and a vision to rethink Production, Refurbishment, Customer Acquisition and more. By reducing complexity, they are shifting the cost curve freeing up capital so it can be deployed where it matters: design, safety and user experience. We believe this is the next Rivian-sized story.

EV 2.0 - New electric vehicle entrants haven’t focused on challenging the status-quo, they have merely attempted to create a 2% better Tesla.

Steelhead Composites: Advanced Manufacturing in the Space & Hydrogen Economy

Steelhead Composites is a unique vertically integrated US hydrogen storage solution provider dedicated to the design, manufacturing and testing of specialty high pressure, lightweight composite pressure vessels to be used for weight-sensitive energy and fuel storage applications. The US is now the unexpected leader in hydrogen with the $3/kg PTC and the 30% ITC from the Inflation Reduction Act. Steelhead is uniquely positioned to benefit from these tailwinds with their hydrogen storage solutions.

The US is now the unexpected leader in hydrogen with the $3/kg PTC and the 30% ITC from the Inflation Reduction Act, and Steelhead is uniquely positioned to benefit from these tailwinds with their Hydrogen Storage solutions.

Terminal Industries

Venus AeroSpace: The future of hypersonics

Venus Aerospace is building dual-use rocket engines and thrusters powering hypersonic drones and spaceplanes. The team hails from NASA, Virgin Orbit, and Blue Origin and is building the world's first Spaceplane that can fly at hypersonic speeds in Low-Earth Orbit, allowing for a commercial flight from NY to Tokyo in ~1 hour. With that as the eventual commercial use case, they are now finding initial customer traction within the DoD who is currently underwriting several Venus programs.

While the eventual commercial travel case is catchy and we believe eventually achievable, the non-dilutive government interest in Venus' proprietary thruster engines is more interesting to us. The DoD has cited hypersonics as their highest priority (flying a drone at Mach 6 over the Donbass in Ukraine completely undetected, as an example). Because Venus's technological breakthroughs provide the fastest way to reusable hypersonic vehicles, we expect the government will continue to underwrite the company alongside private investment.

Venus Aerospace is building dual-use rocket engines and thrusters powering hypersonic drones and spaceplanes.

Vest: Investment Tools in LATAM

Opportunity exists for better investment platforms in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil as they remain extremely difficult to access markets. Lack of access to financial markets leads to unhealthy savings behaviors, such as relying on cash or zero-interest savings deposits. Inflation, especially in many emerging markets, steadily eats away at the value of local currency assets. Without asset appreciation and compounding interest, global wealth inequality only continues to worsen.

We believe Vest, a LatAm app-based investment platform, will help to solve this problem by providing access to financial markets of the developed world, further democratizing finance and investment as we know it. Vest will provide the financial access and insights needed for base-case investment purposes, but will also open up distribution and tap into latent demand for more sophisticated products.

Opportunity exists for better investment platforms in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil as they remain extremely difficult to access markets.