DC Palter

Are electric vehicles as green as we think? I recently joined the 'ESG Detectives' podcast to discuss the true environmental impact of EVs, from manufacturing to energy consumption. We also explored the vital role of AI and semiconductors in shaping the future of sustainable transportation. Tune in to discover the surprising realities behind this rapidly evolving industry. What are your thoughts on the environmental impact of EVs? Share in the comments below! #EV #AI #Sustainability #GreenTech #Podcast #Discussion

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🔦 Spotlight on Emerging Investment Trends: Energy Transition, Robotics, and Early-Stage Unicorn Sourcing 💡 At PaperJet Ventures, we’re always looking beyond the horizon for where technology and capital are converging to create transformative opportunities. In my latest Substack post, I dive into three major themes that are shaping our investment strategy: 1️⃣ Energy Transition & Data Centers: With the rising demand for AI infrastructure, energy consumption is set to skyrocket. We’re looking at novel material technologies that can make data centers scalable and sustainable. 🌍⚡ 2️⃣ Robotics Revolution: The race to build the next-gen robotics market is heating up, but it’s not just about software. Tackling hardware challenges will be key to unlocking the potential of humanoid robotics and solving global labor shortages. 🤖✨ 3️⃣ Sourcing Early-Stage Unicorns: With over 800 unicorns emerging in recent years, early-stage investment remains highly fragmented. That’s where we see an opportunity to identify and back outlier founders before they gain broader attention. 🚀🔍 Curious about our approach or want to share your thoughts? Check out the full post below and let’s connect on these emerging themes!👇 https://lnkd.in/gU9pfgUk #DeepTech #AI #VentureCapital #Investing #Robotics #EnergyTech #TechTrends

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WAYMO -- WAYCOOL or GHOST RIDER? If you preside in San Francisco, Santa Monica or Phoenix you are now seeing driverless Waymo taxies making their way through town on an ever-increasing basis. The network is expanding, and I can honestly say that in the Santa Monica / West Los Angeles area I have not driven anywhere in the last two months without seeing one of them on the road every time. In fact, sometimes they are so prevalent that there might be three in a row waiting at a stop light. It still is kind of spooky seeing cars moving around with no driver, or anyone for that matter, in the front seat. It's not exactly the same as the Headless Horseman but it does conjure up that image in my imagination. I have not taken a ride in one, but several family members have and report their satisfaction. Waymo is a division of Alphabet (GOOGL). I have not seen any visible evidence of General Motors (GM) Cruise vehicles which I understand are still being road tested, while Tesla (TSLA) has been projecting their autonomous vehicle vision for some time. For now, Tesla seems to be behind but that could change quickly. GM is likely to use their own branded vehicles, and it would seem that Tesla will likely do the same. However, Waymo technology could be outfitted on any cars. That seems like a big advantage, staying out of the car business and just being like the "Intel/Microsoft" inside personal computers which is a much higher margin business. There has been a lot of noise in the business journals and chat rooms about a Waymo initial public offering but nothing from Alphabet itself. They recently concluded a $5.6 billion investment round; see TechCrunch post below. The autonomous race is on, and it will be expanding rapidly from here on out. I just wonder if we will ever see an autonomous police vehicle stop a wayward autonomous taxi and write it up for some violation as yet unknown. Will traffic school be an option? #waymo, #autonomousvehicles, #selfdrivingcars, #GM, #Generalmotors, #tesla, #Investing, #business,

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This is what I mean when I say AI x DEEPTECH A revolution is coming. Upending entire swaths of our economy that have been previously ignored. Nearly $10 Trillion of our GDP rebuilt with AI and software.

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Introducing Stephan Little, a pioneer in entrepreneurship, investment, and mergers and acquisitions, who will be joining the AI Panel at the California Investment Forum in Anaheim, CA, on May 8-11. Steve's journey as a serial entrepreneur began at a young age, and he has since scaled six startups to private nine-figure acquisitions and raised over $2 billion in startup and growth funding for businesses across various industries. As the founder and managing director of Zero Limits Ventures and Zero Limits Capital, Steve has become renowned for generating accelerated value growth and delivering extraordinary acquisition value multiples for his portfolio companies and clients. With a keen eye for unique opportunities and a track record of identifying untapped potential, Steve has mastered the art of spotting valuation growth where others may not. In this introduction video, Steve highlighted the transformative power of AI in three distinct areas. Firstly, he touched on the creation and development of AI and generative tools, which are reshaping industries. Secondly, he delved into AI's practical applications within enterprises, emphasizing how integrating AI can dramatically enhance productivity and growth, ultimately increasing value for entrepreneurs. The third area Steve discussed was the middle ground of AI implementation, which presents an exciting opportunity for companies lacking in-house expertise. This gap in the market suggests a burgeoning demand for external AI knowledge and solutions, which can rapidly propel a company forward. AI is accelerating at an extraordinary pace and significantly impacting market dynamics. As an "older statesman" in the tech world, Steve expressed his excitement about being part of this "big bubble" of innovation. Join us at the California Investment Forum to hear Steve's insights and expertise on AI deployment, bridging the gap between generic AI models and task-specific enterprise applications. Learn how we can harness the power of AI to drive competitiveness, efficiency, and growth, improve productivity, and enhance business values in the next decade. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from one of the industry's most respected visionaries and game-changers. #AI #CIF Daniel Sieu Darlene Bryant (Chiu)

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🚀 San Francisco: Still the Undisputed Tech Capital of the World Despite headlines suggesting otherwise, new research from SignalFire reveals that San Francisco's tech scene is not just alive—it's thriving. Here's why SF remains the epicenter of innovation: 📊 Key Findings: - SF dominates in tech talent and capital concentration - The Bay Area has more big-tech engineers than the next 10 markets combined - SF, East Bay, and Silicon Valley have more top startup engineers and VC-backed startups than Seattle, New York, and Austin combined - 26% of seed or Series A rounds from top VCs are in SF, with numbers rising since 2022 🧠 AI Boom: San Francisco's lead is even more pronounced in AI, cementing its position as the "epicenter of the new AI gold rush." 💼 Startup Haven: Y Combinator startups increasingly choose SF as their home base, especially in AI. 🌉 Why SF? - Unparalleled concentration of tech talent - Proximity to VCs, clients, and other entrepreneurs - Resurgence of in-person networking and collaboration 💡 The Big Picture: While other cities are growing their tech sectors, SF's lead "looks unlikely to be challenged any time soon." The city's tech ecosystem creates a flywheel effect that continues to attract talent and capital. https://lnkd.in/gCnPCBRU

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I've been thinking a lot about how Tesla's vehicle infrastructure can leverage inference compute, distributing computational load and reducing data center energy usage. Dr. John Gibb does a nice job of summarizing these concepts in his video (Starting around 8:10). Inference Arbitrage: A Game Changer for AI Compute As AI continues to evolve, the demand for computational power is skyrocketing. Giants like OpenAI, Meta, and Google are pouring billions into training and inference compute, facing looming shortages of transformers and electricity. Here's where inference arbitrage, a novel concept leveraging Tesla's infrastructure, comes into play. The Challenge: Soaring AI Compute Costs Leading AI companies are investing billions to power their AI programs. However, the energy and computational needs are outpacing infrastructure capabilities. This bottleneck isn't just financial; it's physical. The growing demand for AI services could soon exceed available power and hardware. The Solution: Inference on the Edge xAI, in collaboration with Tesla, offers a groundbreaking solution: using Tesla vehicles for AI inference tasks. Tesla's fleet, equipped with powerful hardware and large batteries, can perform AI inference during idle times (about 90% of the time), reducing strain on central data centers How Inference Arbitrage Works Distributed Computing: Instead of relying solely on massive, centralized compute farms, inference requests (e.g., generating an email or image) are processed by idle Tesla vehicles. This distributed approach taps into the existing infrastructure efficiently. Energy Optimization: Tesla vehicles can perform inference tasks using their batteries during peak electricity demand times, avoiding high energy costs. At off-peak times, they recharge at lower costs, ensuring energy-efficient operations. Commercial Benefits: This model allows Tesla owners to earn money by utilizing their vehicle's idle time for AI computations. Tesla benefits from additional revenue streams with minimal overhead, and xAI gains a scalable, cost-effective solution for AI service delivery. Impact on the AI Industry By integrating AI inference with Tesla's distributed compute network, xAI can deliver services faster and more economically than competitors. This innovative use of existing resources not only addresses the infrastructure bottleneck but also offers a sustainable path forward for AI growth. Conclusion Inference arbitrage provides a strategic edge for xAI and Tesla, combining AI innovation with smart energy use. As the demand for AI compute continues to rise, this approach could redefine the landscape, positioning xAI and Tesla as leaders in efficient, scalable AI service delivery. Stay tuned as this exciting development unfolds and reshapes the future of AI. #ElectricVehicles #InferenceCompute #DataCenters #Electrification #AI #FrontierTechnology #FutureFrontier

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It is serendipitous that I just posted about how forward thinking Nevada is and then this article popped up in my feed! Congrats Piotr Tomasik 🌊 Jeff Tatarchuk 🌊 Darrick Horton 🌊 you guys are on fire! #vegas #startups #tensorwave

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Who Will Win the Race for Next-Generation Battery Technologies? The race to dominate next-generation battery technologies is intensifying, driven by venture capital, governments, startups, and established players, all vying to control key innovations and raw materials. https://lnkd.in/gTnUfFz4 Innovative battery technologies are a key focus area for us at Ventioneers #Venture #Capital #Startups #Battery #Ventioneers

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https://lnkd.in/dn_CRSwH "Generative AI is having far reaching impacts on datacenters and new data shedding light on the nature and extent of the impacts. Analysts Melissa Incera and Dan Thompson return to the podcast to dig into the data and discuss the ramifications for enterprises, datacenter builders and operators and those putting AI to work with host Eric Hanselman. The computational requirements of generative AI are unique, taking demands similar to high performance computing or cryptomining and spreading them across a vast new community of users. The demands for GPU-based capacity are consuming more power, sometimes with order of magnitude increases. It’s also driving retrofitting of existing datacenters. The need for higher capacity and innovations like liquid cooling are causing a new surge. We’re at the beginning of the shift from a focus on model training to greater amounts of inferencing, changing where capacity is needed.  Looking at money flows in this market offers additional nuance. Investments in AI startups have been massive. Capital investments from hyperscalers in their own infrastructure is also massive, but it remains to be seen if they’ll pay off in equivalent amounts of revenue. Is all of this sustainable? It’s an complicated question in the many aspects of the word."

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Just finished reading "The Next Giant Leap" by Space Capital - a pioneering VC investing in the emerging Space Economy. The report speaks to how SpaceX’s Starship is more than just the most powerful rocket ever built—it is poised to reshape the global space economy in profound ways. With its immense payload capacity, reusable design, and lower cost per launch, Starship will unlock entirely new industries and transform existing business models. But how should industries and businesses evolve to align with this paradigm shift? 📈 Rethinking Business Strategies & Supply Chains - For businesses, Starship represents an era of mass-production over precision engineering. This means moving away from the focus on mass efficiency toward cost-effective, redundant, and scalable production. - In terms of supply chains, this opens opportunities for new players in manufacturing, materials, and space components. The demand for off-the-shelf parts and non-aerospace suppliers will rise dramatically. 💡 New Use Cases & Opportunities   The opportunities Starship unlocks go beyond launching satellites. - In-space manufacturing of high-value products like pharmaceuticals and advanced materials that cannot be created on Earth. - Mega-constellations of satellites for global broadband, expanding on what Starlink has already begun. - In-orbit assembly and servicing, allowing for larger space structures like telescopes or even habitats to be built in orbit, radically reducing costs. - Lunar infrastructure and resource extraction will become more viable, paving the way for sustainable human presence on the Moon and, eventually, Mars. 📊 What Should Businesses Do Now?   1. Embrace Redundancy & Scale – Instead of focusing on one-off, high-cost solutions, businesses should embrace redundancy and mass production.    2. Simplify Design – With Starship’s payload capacity, there is less pressure to optimize for mass efficiency. Simplified, scalable designs will allow for faster production and iteration cycles, akin to how SpaceX rapidly tests and evolves Starship itself. 3. Develop Strategic Partnerships – Collaborating with forward-thinking space startups, suppliers, and even non-aerospace sectors will be essential to capitalize on the opportunities Starship provides. 🌌 A New Era of Innovation   Starship will democratize access to space, lowering the barriers for businesses to create and scale. The next decade will witness breakthroughs in scientific exploration, energy production, and in-space transportation that we can only begin to imagine today. #SpaceEconomy #Starship #Innovation #SupplyChain #Manufacturing #SpaceTech #Entrepreneurship #FutureOfSpace https://lnkd.in/gNdbwXdq

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Goldman Sachs recently published a report on falling Lithium Ion battery prices. They estimate the "EV market could achieve cost parity, without subsidies, with internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles around the middle of this decade on a total-cost-of-ownership basis." Despite the buzz around emerging technologies like solid-state and sodium-ion batteries, lithium-ion continues to dominate the energy storage landscape. According to GS' research here's why: 1. Established Supply Chain: Lithium-ion benefits from a mature, efficient supply chain built over decades. 2. Market Concentration: Just five companies control nearly 80% of the market share, each with 20+ years of industry experience. 3. R&D Advantage: These leaders have intensified their R&D spending in recent years, widening the gap with newcomers. 4. Manufacturing Efficiency: New entrants struggle to achieve the yield and cost structure of established players. 5. Skilled Labor Shortage: The industry faces challenges in finding experienced workers, favoring established companies. 6. Economic Pressures: A cyclical downturn is making it difficult for new technologies to gain a foothold. 7. Rapidly Falling Prices: The cost of lithium-ion batteries continues to decrease, further solidifying their market position. This price reduction is expected to accelerate EV adoption in the coming years. While innovations like solid-state batteries show promise, they face an uphill battle against the lithium-ion juggernaut. The entrenched players' decades of experience, economies of scale, and continued innovation create a formidable barrier to entry. Looking ahead, GS expects a strong resurgence in EV demand around 2026 as battery prices continue to fall, potentially reaching total cost of ownership parity with ICE vehicles in markets like the US. This trend is likely to further cement lithium-ion's position in the market. You can read the whole article here: https://lnkd.in/gtQnHsr5 #Lithium #BatteryTech #EVs #EnergyStorage #MarketTrends

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🤖 Robotics: What's new, and why now is the time to pay attention 🤖 The robotics sector is undergoing transformative changes, fuelled by advancements in AI, machine learning, and automation. 🚀 Read the latest MMC Ventures research to learn more. My colleagues Advika Jalan and Alexandra Reinert outline what’s driving the new wave of robotics innovation and why now is the perfect time to engage in the space. 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 🤖 #Automation #Robotics #AI

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Check out my recent post on why President Trump is the forcing function for us to solve the “Missing Middle” and catch the industrial Tsunami of onshoring coming to the US!

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With electricity demand rising for the first time in decades on the back of exponentially growing demands for AI data center workloads, the reflexive response has been to pose a false choice: cede our global advantage in AI and innovation, or cede our climate goals. The reality is that the opposite is true: we can't win the AI race without developing and deploying, at unprecedented speed and scale, novel, power-dense, clean energy resources, and taking advantage of the the critical innovation feedback loops at the convergence of these two fields. Lisa Hansmann and I discuss this in greater detail in the MIT Technology Review. https://lnkd.in/e-Y4SReu

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Can poop save the planet? 🤔 Well, in Silicon Valley, it's not just a punchline—it's a multimillion-dollar climate solution. Big players are teaming up with startup Vaulted Deep, paying $58.3 million, to pump organic waste underground. The deal was brokered by Frontier Climate, a coalition launched in 2022 by Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, Shopify, and McKinsey Sustainability. But why are tech giants getting their hands dirty with sewage and manure? Vaulted Deep's technology, rooted in decades-old methods used for oil and gas fracking cleanup, gives them an edge. But instead of sludge, they're tackling carbon-rich waste, aiming to sequester CO2 underground. They plan to sequester 152,480 tons of carbon dioxide by 2027 as part of the deal (That equates to 36,000 gas cars off the road for a year). Is this greenwashing, or a silver bullet? Critics warn of cost, the need for rigorous carbon accounting, and potential environmental trade-offs - i.e. emission prevention versus carbon removal. #decarbonization

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🚀 While the world grapples with access to baseload energy for compute, we've been proud to watch 8090 Industries portfolio founders Hannan P. and Jack Abraham of Exowatt quietly build. 🤯 Today, Exowatt unleashes a new dawn for the energy industry with unveiling P3s - with the ability to generate electricity at scale at just a $0.04 LCOE and with entirely baseload renewable tech. That’s lower than the cost of most fossil fuels and doesn’t account for subsidies. The company has already amassed a 1.2 GW backlog, worth $Billions from mega tech hyperscalers, energy giants and data center companies. Renewable energy can power the data centers of the AI era, and Exowatt founders Jack Abraham and Hannan P. are building that future. We're honored to be backing Exowatt alongside Sam Altman, Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis, Atomic, Overmatch Ventures and Climate Capital. Read more about their launch today here: https://lnkd.in/gZDKZdk8 cc Kerem Ozmen Wes Mendenhall Filip Vurdelja Haluk Sabanci Dincer Grant Brown Ishan Meswani Garuth A. Andrew Irwin Shilpa Patel

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This is quite a piece on accusations of unethical pay-to-play within the #cyber #VC ecosystem. -Guaranteed first-year sales for portfolio companies -Formal loyalty program for CISOs -Points awarded within the program for CISO commitment level to portfolio companies (meetings, PoCs, product purchases) -Share of GP fees for CISOs in the loyalty program https://lnkd.in/gDta7Gp7

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