As an engineering project it sounds really cool, but is the application really commercial travel? I would have thought the military would be far more interested and much better funded.
The guy was former Lockheed. One night at dinner I told him to cut the BS and that their real goal was to target military/government contracts. He said "off the record" this is correct. This an unspoken goal by everyone involved - management, investors, etc.
My understanding is it can be hard to position yourself as a defense company as a start up if you don't already have a foothold in the space.
I mean, that pitch is an accurate claim if the insights in mind are "We just told the pentagon to blow up these pixels". That tends to affect global trade and futures markets.
"We're actively engaged with US defense and national security agencies as well as commercial partners exploring hypersonic applications in logistics, aerospace, and future mobility—including large primes," she said. "The enthusiasm we’re seeing reflects a broad recognition that Venus’s technology can unlock new operational and economic possibilities across multiple markets."