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☆ Investing in Space: Regulatory hold up keeps Varda spacecraft stuck in orbit
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter offers a view into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. There's a small spacecraft zipping around Earth right now, but, unlike most satellites in orbit, it wants to come down. The launch went great, the spacecraft has been healthy, drugs were made, but the necessary license for capsule reentry has not been granted. That may make sense for launch but it's a bit more difficult for reentry," Asparouhov said. How the stratosphere reacts to a reentry capsule in September is very different than February, which is very different than June."

Persons: CNBC's Michael Sheetz, it's, Varda —, Delian Asparouhov, Varda's, Varda, Asparouhov, " Varda Organizations: Air Force's Utah, Federal Aviation, Air Force, FAA Locations: Varda, Australia, Utah

☆ Why startups are investing millions to make drugs and semiconductors in space
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( Magdalena Petrova | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Now, several space startups see an opportunity to satisfy in-space manufacturing demand using compact space factories. One company is Varda Space Industries in Southern California. Varda Space Industries' first pharmaceutical manufacturing satellite and reentry vehicle attached to a Rocket Lab Photon bus. Years of research have shown that protein crystals grown in space are much higher quality than those grown on Earth. Across the Atlantic in Cardiff, Wales, Space Forge is working on designing its own in-space factory to manufacture next-generation semiconductors.

Persons: Ilan Rozenkopf, Joe Biden, Varda, Asparouhov, we've, Andrew Parlock Organizations: pharma, McKinsey . Space, NASA, ISS, Varda Space Industries, Pfizer, Space Locations: vacuumless, Southern California, U.S, Cardiff , Wales, Space Forge's

☆ SpaceX to launch the first test payload for a bold new drug development company
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

Its research, company officials hope, could lead to better, more effective drugs — and hefty profits. Varda Space industriesHow it worksVarda’s vision is straightforward: The company’s capsule will launch with an experiment already on board. Varda Space IndustriesDrugs in spaceMuch of the legwork for Varda’s drug experimentation can be done on the ground. The exorbitant price tag of drug research is often passed on to consumers in the form of eye-popping prices, which frequently draws critical headlines. “You’ll see like this entire ecosystem coming up to create this fertile ground for commercialization of space,” Bruey said.

Persons: El, Varda, “ It’s, ”, Will Bruey, ” Varda, what’s, Merck, Keytruda, Varda’s, Covid, that’s, Gabe Ramirez, ” Bruey, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, “ I’ve, ” Asparouhov, Asparouhov, “, who’s, You’re, Nicholas Cialdella, Bruey, Jon Barr, Mark Herbert, there’s, Eric Lasker, ” Lasker, Varda isn’t, It’s, Paul Reichert, Merck hasn’t, Reichert, Herbert Organizations: El Segundo , California CNN, Citigroup, Varda Space Industries, SpaceX, Vandenberg Space Force, Big pharma, Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, ISS, Laboratory, Space Station, Rocket, CNN, NASA, Company, Founders Fund, PayPal, Pharmaceuticals, Fortune, Space Industries, US Air Force, Utah Test, pharma, “, Congressional, International Locations: El Segundo , California, California, Los Angeles, Delian, Salt Lake City, ”

☆ The unraveling of fintech darling Vise
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +28 min

It was April, and more than two dozen salespeople who worked for the fintech startup Vise had been ordered to a multiday off-site at the W Hoboken hotel in New Jersey to share exhaustive reports on their performance. Even salespeople at bigger, established, top-tier investment-management firms typically wouldn't close $250 million in a year, multiple sales employees said. (K-means clustering is an unsupervised machine-learning algorithm often referred to as a form of AI, Vise's founders said). (Vise's founders disputed this, saying the company received updated financial data only once a day for its portfolio-construction engine.) And to address its "leaky funnel" of overestimating prospective sales, Vise was to stop outreach to new clients while it onboards and upsells to existing clients, the document said.

☆ Elon Musk thinks some of ChatGPT's responses are 'concerning'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk has taken issue with some of ChatGPT's responses. Among them, apparently, is Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter and one of the founders of OpenAI, which created ChatGPT. On Monday, in response to a retweet of a screenshot of a ChatGPT's answer to a question about a hypothetical scenario involving racial slurs, Musk said, "Concerning." It was unclear which part of the response Musk was referring to. Researchers said in December that ChatGPT appeared to be capable of passing the US medical-licensing exam, though the research was still being peer-reviewed.

☆ Billionaires like Elon Musk want to save civilization by having tons of genetically superior kids. Inside the movement to take 'control of human evolution.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +40 min

"We are the Underground Railroad of 'Gattaca' babies and people who want to do genetic stuff with their kids," Malcolm told me. Ellison, meanwhile, who has two children in their 30s, has reportedly resumed having kids — with his 31-year-old girlfriend. "The person of this subculture really sees the pathway to immortality as being through having children," Simone said. The person of this subculture really sees the pathway to immortality as being through having children. Before she met Malcolm, Simone was convinced she wanted to live her life single and child-free.

☆ Sequoia Capital took a $213 million bath on FTX after the crypto exchange imploded. That's not that bad, VCs say.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

FTX investor Sequoia Capital has marked down its position to $0 as the crypto exchange crumbles. Sequoia Capital now views its $213.5 million investment in FTX as worthless as the crypto exchange teeters on the brink of collapse after an eleventh-hour deal to salvage the business fell apart. "Somehow Sequoia capital turned a FTX write down to zero into a humblebrag. It invested $150 million into FTX through its third growth fund, which Sequoia said totaled less than 3% of that fund's capital commitments. In its letter to investors, Sequoia said it does "extensive research and thorough diligence" on every investment it makes.

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