Doug Philippone

Entrepreneur, Mathematician, Cyclist, Former Army Ranger, Founder Snowpoint Ventures, former Global Defense Lead @ Palantir Technologies

[Doug Philippone @DougPhilippone]

Isaiah and his team of wizards at Valar are some of the most impressive people I’ve ever met. Their drive, skill and dedication embodies the very best of us and it’s a joy to be part of this journey.

[Jemima McEvoy @jemimacmcevoy]

Could a 27-year-old be the answer to America's nuclear power problem?

I wrote a long deep dive on @valaratomics for @theinformation that includes fun quotes like this.

https://t.co/hsyCKa8rVw

[Doug Philippone @DougPhilippone]

Couldn’t be more happy to help lead this round. Astranis is at the perfect intersection of doing something necessary for the country, being super interesting technically and poised to be an epic investment.

[John Gedmark @Gedmark]

I'm excited to announce @Astranis has raised $450 million of new capital.

All of it so we can scale to meet surging demand for advanced high-orbit spacecraft— for GEO, MEO, and beyond.

This includes a Series E led by Snowpoint and Franklin Templeton, with Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity, BAM Elevate, Nimble Partners, and Friends & Family Capital, participating alongside many others, totaling $300 million.

A delayed-draw credit facility by Trinity Capital adds up to $155 million of additional capital to support the addition of new manufacturing capacity and support future growth.

This comes at a turning point in the space industry, and for higher orbits specifically.

In our commercial business, we've seen more demand than ever for sovereign systems. As countries and large enterprises need dedicated, secure communications infrastructure. Something that can only be provided from GEO.

For our US Government customers, Astranis has proven we can serve as a Neo Prime for some of the most important defense missions. And we are now spooling up to support multiple US Government Programs of Record simultaneously.

Astranis has now been selected as Prime for the initial phase of 3 separate Programs of Record— PTS-G, Resilient GPS, and RG-XX/Andromeda. And we’re just getting started.

This comes as Space Force is seeing one of the largest budget increases ever seen by a service branch with this year’s budget increasing to $71.1 billion. That is in direct response to new space threats posed by adversaries China and Russia.

With GEO being where our most critical national security space assets are, we can’t afford to delay. We need to get new capability deployed with incredible speed, and Astranis is ready to serve.

Special thanks to the Astranis existing investors who also participated in this financing round and have backed us from the beginning, including ACE, Elefund, Garage Capital, Helium-3, Liquid2, Metaplanet, and Uncorrelated. This brings Astranis’s total raised to more than $1.2 billion, and this capital goes straight to work.

[Doug Philippone @DougPhilippone]

@hardaway_cam Florida is open for business :) freedom!

[Doug Philippone @DougPhilippone]

Haha, epic Florida

[Ron DeSantis @RonDeSantis]

Florida Man doing Florida Man things.

[Doug Philippone @DougPhilippone]

At the end of the day, security did their job, so I want to start with “well done.” However, there is so much to learn.. including the dog handler who literally followed the dog after the gunman and all these folks that are doing almost negative work. Three of these folks ran away! Literally.. wtf please fire them. Another learning point is a concept called range fans or what is your sector of fire. In this case and most of the others I’ve seen everyone is pointing weapons at each other. They have a known mission, you can talk through the most likely threat and what to do.. I just can’t imagine this was the plan, we won, but we can learn and be better.

[Clay Travis @ClayTravis]

10 of the 11 guards weren’t paying attention when the guy with the gun came running at them attempting to kill the president. And the one guy who was watching fired multiple shots from this close without hitting the would be assassin.

[Isaiah Taylor - making nuclear reactors @isaiah_p_taylor]

The main factor in whether or not states grow or decline is whether they allow industries to develop. Industry brings jobs, opportunities, livelihoods, and hope for the future. Utah is a lucky to have such a strong champion in Governor Cox! We’re glad to be building in Utah.

[Logan Hall @loganclarkhall]

You are not an American if this video doesn’t instantly activate an ancient blood memory in your soul.

[Isaiah Taylor - making nuclear reactors @isaiah_p_taylor]

China makes 99% of the world’s gallium because they make most of the world’s aluminum, and gallium is a byproduct of making aluminum from bauxite.

This is a process that we invented in the United States, but it requires very cheap energy.

Valar Atomics is working to fix this.

[Valar Atomics @valaratomics]

The has been a monumental effort from both the Department of Energy and the Valar Atomics team.

Unlike Project Nova, the cold criticality we accomplished in November, our goal for July 4th is power operations. This is a massive leap in capability and complexity.

[Doug Philippone @DougPhilippone]

The speed and execution of the Valar team has been nothing short of phenomenal! Can’t wait to turn this baby on!!

[Isaiah Taylor - making nuclear reactors @isaiah_p_taylor]

So proud of my team, and grateful for the leadership of the DOE and POTUS.

This is not a normal DSA. Power is a different level—the volume and complexity of systems required when you have burnup is a massive step up. The Valar team is showing that they are up to the challenge.

[Isaiah Taylor - making nuclear reactors @isaiah_p_taylor]

So proud of my team, and grateful for the leadership of the DOE and POTUS.

This is not a normal DSA. Power is a different level—the volume and complexity of systems required when you have burnup is a massive step up. The Valar team is showing that they are up to the challenge.

[Doug Philippone @DougPhilippone]

@PLTRs_Palantir Thank you!

[Doug Philippone @DougPhilippone]

@eliano Thank you!! Certainly epic recognition, but I promise to never lose the fire!

[Doug Philippone @DougPhilippone]

@hardaway_cam Haha, that’s definitely true :)

[Doug Philippone @DougPhilippone]

Thank you Isaiah! Will do my best to uphold the great lineage of the Rangers.

[Isaiah Taylor - making nuclear reactors @isaiah_p_taylor]

Very proud of Valar Atomics board member Doug Philippone on his induction into the Ranger Hall of Fame. Thank you for your service Doug!

https://t.co/ffwP8ZLpwd

[Isaiah Taylor - making nuclear reactors @isaiah_p_taylor]

Very proud of Valar Atomics board member Doug Philippone on his induction into the Ranger Hall of Fame. Thank you for your service Doug!

https://t.co/ffwP8ZLpwd

[Isaiah Taylor - making nuclear reactors @isaiah_p_taylor]

You Will Be Unleashed

[zerohedge @zerohedge]

Trump's Blockade Is Breaking Iran... And European Elites Are Angry https://t.co/sNUNtSSSZk

[Rivet Industries @Rivet_US]

The Alpha, not the Omega...

[Isaiah Taylor - making nuclear reactors @isaiah_p_taylor]

My generation grew up frustrated that our grandparents unlocked the “nuclear energy and space travel” game level, and then quickly shuttered it again in order to play some thoroughly uninspiring side quests.

It feels like we’re finally getting back on the tech tree all at once