Aerospace played the host at its El Segundo campus for the latest in TechCrunch's StrictlyVC series of events. These gatherings convene investors, startups, industry specialists, and local talent together with a tightly curated set of speakers.
This particular evening featured candid talk from Mach Industries CEO Ethan Thornton, a fascinating take on embodied AI in, of all things, fish harvesting, and some straight talk on the AI investment landscape from leading venture capitalists — all moderated by TechCrunch Editor in Chief Connie Loizos.
The opening conversation was between Saif Khawaja of Shinkei, and one of his investors, Delian Aspahourov from Founders Fund. Shinkei's system automates a more humane method of, there's no other way to say it, killing fish. Computer vision systems identify the fish and its dimensions, and quickly destroy the brain and brain stem in a way pioneered by high-end Japanese chefs. This leads to a better-tasting and longer-lasting fish.
It's not quite on-orbit servicing, but there are considerable overlaps. Shinkei's systems, like many in space, must perform precision tasks offline in complex and dangerous conditions. Khawaja and Aspahourov discussed the difficulty of this kind of engineering — and of building a business model around it.
Next, venture capitalists Chang Xu and Carter Reum, from Basis Set and M13 respectively, who discussed the question on all investors' minds: is there an AI bubble? While both agreed that the numbers are going up faster than anything we've ever seen before, they point out that there is revenue and adoption to match it.
Even so, they note, the place to watch for innovation may not be in AI itself, but in the industries being reshaped by it. "Everyone knows that AI is going to change the world — it doesn't take a rocket scientist sitting in this building to know that," said Reum. "But the key is, where's the value layer?" For example, Xu offered: "Last year, I would never have thought that you would need a new GitHub." But now there are a dozen teams scrambling to build just that.
Last in the evening was Ethan Thornton, CEO and founder of Mach Industries. Thornton started Mach when he was a teenager and has quickly built it into a force in defense tech. He described how the company has worked to insert itself into the defense stack at the vehicle layer first because it's the best place to innovate, and now is working its way down that stack to make and distribute its own components and refurbish the supply chain.
He cautioned, however, that America's advantage is not in out-manufacturing its rivals. "The thing America continues to do well time after time, compared with China, is creativity and productization," he said, and this in turn provides a huge "first mover advantage" and significant deterrence.
Over a hundred guests attended the event, hailing numerous sectors, both commercial and government.