Sylvee Walenczewski Moore

🌱 This week’s startup highlights: 1) Poseidon Aerospace raised $11M in seed funding to develop unmanned cargo aircraft platforms optimized for heavy-lift missions. The funding will support manufacturing of the Egret and Heron models, scalable production in a new facility, and enhancing logistics for commercial and defense applications in remote environments. The round was led by Tamarack Global. 2) Adam raised $4.1M in seed funding to expand its AI-driven CAD platform for conversational design of mechanical components. The funding will support improvements in spatial reasoning, hiring across AI and engineering, and development toward professional-grade workflows. The round was led by TQ Ventures. 3) Valar Atomics raised $130M in a Series A round to advance its nuclear reactor technology. The funding will support mass manufacturing of small modular reactors designed for clustering at gigasites aimed at providing scalable power for AI data centers and industrial manufacturing. The company is currently constructing its first Ward 250 reactor in Utah to demonstrate 100 kW of thermal energy production. The round was led by Snowpoint Ventures and co-led by Day One Ventures and Dream Ventures. 4) Neros Technologies raised $75M in a Series B funding to scale production of its FPV drone systems and strengthen a sovereign supply chain. The funding will support expansion of its Archer platform, insource key manufacturing steps, and advance R&D for next-generation autonomous systems. Neros builds military-grade drones and has shipped thousands of units to Ukraine and the U.S. military. The company was recently selected for the U.S. Army’s Purpose-Built Attritable Systems program. The round was led by Sequoia Capital. 5) Terranova raised $7M in seed funding to develop terraforming robots that elevate land to prevent flooding. The funding will accelerate deployment of modular autonomous vehicles capable of injecting wood slurry underground, lifting an acre by roughly a foot per day. Costs start around $50K per acre-foot for new development and wetland restoration (rough napkin math), offering a faster and lower-cost alternative to sea walls. The round was led by Outlander VC and Congruent Ventures.

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I’m excited to be presenting at AIAA SciTech 2026 next week in Orlando. Our Eos Atomics team, in collaboration with Kevin Bowcutt and the University of Maryland, has been exploring direct fusion-to-air heat exchanger windows for hypersonic propulsion applications. This work tackles a demanding set of challenges - surviving extreme temperatures, radiation, and pressure differentials, while maintaining chemical compatibility in both oxygen and hydrogen-rich environments. One particularly compelling outcome of this study is the identification of novel hypersonic operating envelopes that appear well suited for direct fusion-driven propulsion. These occur at extreme altitudes (>130,000 ft), where dynamic pressure and thermal loads are significantly reduced - beyond the limits of conventional combustion, yet still firmly within the realm of sustained flight. We’re looking forward to sharing these results at SciTech and engaging in discussions on what this could mean for the future of high-altitude, high-speed flight. AIAA-2026-2214: Hypersonic Nuclear Fusion Combined Cycle Propulsion Enabled by Direct Charged Particle-to-Air Beam Window Array Thursday, Jan 15, 1:00pm

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Rogue Space Systems Corporation expands staff ahead of planned double launch: SALT LAKE CITY – Rogue Space Systems is reorganizing to prepare for growth in its space logistics business and a double launch in 2027. Brook Leonard, a retired U.S. Space Force major general, is the new CEO. Former CEO Jon Beam will serve as Rogue president and chief strategy officer. David Franklin, a retired Space […] The post Rogue expands staff ahead of planned double launch appeared first on SpaceNews. #neuco

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