Launch got cheap; moving things in orbit stayed expensive. Impulse Space's $808M round and its $28M Space Force contract are the market pricing that gap — and betting a $5.4B valuation on mobility becoming the next layer of space infrastructure.
Matternet holds the only FAA Type and Production Certification for drone delivery, began trading as MTTN in September, and unveiled the M3 the same week. The investment case turns on whether a decade of paperwork converts into unit economics before the moat closes.
Genentech paid Earendil Labs $55 million upfront for AI-designed oncology bispecifics still in discovery, with up to $1.5 billion in milestones. The structure prices uncertainty, and shows what pharma now pays for an AI platform rather than a late-stage pipeline.
Noah Shinn founded Instinct in 2025. On September 28 the personal-agent startup closed a $1B Series C at $10 billion, four times its previous mark, with a free product and no disclosed revenue. Meta's Muse is the problem.
The Pentagon keeps moving from satellite hardware to satellite services. Viasat's first task order under the Marine Corps MECS2 vehicle — $42 million against a $307 million ceiling — is the clearest test yet: watch task order velocity, not the ceiling.
TERASi, a Stockholm spinout from KTH, closed an €11M seed round co-led by the NATO Innovation Fund and JOIN Capital. Its millimetre-wave hardware pushes gigabit data past 100 km without fibre or towers, and resists jamming. The open question is whether the hardware converts into a prime contract.
ONE Nuclear's Nasdaq debut rests on a 5 GW Louisiana portfolio. Split it open and Project Amberjack's nuclear ambition is up to 1 GW and uncommitted, while two gas projects carry roughly 4.08 GW.
Molecular glues spent a decade as an accidental art. On September 25, 2026, Nutshell Therapeutics cleared an FDA IND for NTS231, an AI-designed covalent degrader of NRF2 — the second NRF2 glue in the clinic. The hard endpoint is still missing.