June 23, 2025 • 36 mins
Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde discusses the US strike on Iranian nuclear sites and the market impact. Plus, defense tech investors look for startups addressing asymmetric threats. And Tesla’s robotaxi service gets underway with a modest launch.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Bloomberg Tech is a live from coast to coast with
Caroline Hide.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
In New York and Eva Low in Sent Francisco.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
This is Bloomberg Tech coming up, Small moves and socks
this morning as traders I, Iran and Oil will bring
you the tech sector reaction.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
As Palenteer closes.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
In on a new record high plus investments in defense tech,
they continue to increase the venture capital story this hour
and Tesla's Robotaxi it finally hits the streets of Austin
shares sow we discussed the reality of the company's city expansion.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Bloomberg's un Verstelica joins us.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Now I start with Palenteer, which has in encroaching on
a record high once again. It is the defense tech
stock that's being played on today.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yes, absolutely, thanks for having me on. So it does
see a lot of demand in interest from sort of
government contracts, defense adjacent sort of services. So the fact
that you have this sort of increase in jail political
uncertainty right now, it's not surprising that Palanteer is one
of the initial beneficiaries of this.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Let's look at also what the beneficiaries could be. More broadly,
I want to highlight a note what came from Wedbush
analysts this morning, and they're really talking about how maybe
if we do dial down anxiety surrounding Iran, this could
end up refueling regalvanizing the AI trade in particular because
(01:26):
of the Middle East focus. They say, the biggest threat
to the region and the potential Blackswan event was Iran
and its nuclear program, and now that threat is gone,
so basically we can see the AI revolution come more
into play.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Which stocks does that affect?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Ryan, Well, we've seen a number of these AI companies
like Nvidia announces major sovereign deals with AI and company
or countries in the Middle East. Excuse me, So if
we do see some sort of you know, follow through
on these kinds of deals, these kinds of contracts as
kind of a region as an area for new unappreciated
revenue growth, obviously this is something we could continue to
(02:00):
see being a driver of stock prices from here.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
It's interesting though that NVIDIAs started the day lower and
it's ultimately would have pulled the benchmark itself in the red.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Why are we seeing and dialing back in risk aversion?
Do you think? Well, I think in.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
General, like when you have this kind of rise in
geopolitical uncertainty, big tech stocks often act as a kind
of safe haven in the market. I think, kind of
regardless of what else is going on, this is a
group that has seen as having pretty durable growth prospects,
pretty strong and reliable earning streams, tons of cash, very
strong economic modes and competitive modes, all these things, and
(02:35):
you kind of put them together in uncertain environment, they
still look like safe plays, you know, like all things considered. Obviously,
there are some concerns about valuation, but I think ultimately,
you know, they sort of act as you know, this
sort of generation's version of defensive and sort of safe
haven trades.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Rand Vlastelica on the market reaction. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Let's bring you more analysis on when next in terms
of the geopolitics. Emily Harding's with us from the Center
for Strategic and International Studies. You're also the director for
its Intelligence, National Security, and Technology Program and vice president
of the Defense and Security Department. Emily, we turned to
you for your tech and your intelligence expertise here and
actually you say this is the moment for intelligence officers
to shine.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Why so one of the really important questions going forward
is going to be just how much damage was done
to Iran's three main nuclear facilities. And I mean it
seems obvious to say it, but you can't exactly walk
up to these facilities on the ground and take a look.
So it's going to be the skill and the work
of people who do things like geospatial analysis, people who
collect human intelligence to really do their best work here
(03:38):
and figure out what was destroyed and what wasn't. And
why that matters is because if Iran was left with
an enrichment capability and with a weaponization capability, they could
try to sprint to a weapon as soon as the
Israeli campaign is over.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
What's really interesting is I think a military satellite makers,
in fact, one of them is eyeing an IPO at
the moment. ICI, can you tell us a little bit
about the sets that need to be in place for
us to get the imagery that's necessary here.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
It's a really interesting moment for what we call open
source intelligence. And that's just another way of saying that
all of these industry actors that are out there with
these amazing satellite constellations are doing phenomenal work trying to
map and identify things that are going on inside ORN.
So you've got the government's exquisite assets, and we call
them exquisite because they are the most advanced generally speaking.
(04:25):
They can do things like loiter over an area to
actually get continuous coverage of a space.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
But then you have this huge.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Industry space where all of these actors are coming out
with really quite good information and a lot of coverage
that the government can't provide. And the combination of those
two things is going to give us great insight into
what's going on on the ground inside Iron and.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Now the market.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
But most notably, the administration has to play out what
the best and the worst case scenarios potentially are here.
What from a defense tech perspective might come into play.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
So they're going to have to think a lot about
defense stocks. We've talked lot about the defense industrial base
inside the US and how deep our benches basically on
some of the key weaponry that we have. Before this
round of strikes, there was a big debate inside the
administration about what you needed to preserve for a China contingency,
what you could send to Ukraine, and what you could
maintain in the Middle East. This particular operation didn't really
(05:19):
draw down our stocks much at all. We can pretty
easily replace what we used. But if you're looking at
more of a drawn out contingency, if Iran were to
unwisely retaliate against the US in a really dramatic way,
and you're looking at much more activity on the ground,
what you'd want to think about is do you have
the defense stocks to backfill what you're spending and can
you do it quickly?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
And we have supply chain analysis from certain companies.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yvonne is one of them. For example.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I'm interested Emily is to which is the forward looking
analysis for whether we have the manufacturing capability here in
the United States. That is something that many people have
debated about bringing that sort of expertise back to the US.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
It is the key question for the next probably ten
years of deterrence against China. One has to think that
they looked at what we just did and went, oh,
the US is serious. However, any kind of modeling that
we've done of a conflict between US and China, you know,
if it were unfortunately to happen, shows that we would
run out of precision weaponry very quickly and have to
(06:18):
move to backfilling rapidly. With our defense industrial base, and
that involves not just manufacturing, no how, but also the.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Ability to scale up very quickly.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
The US likes to think of itself in the sort
of the World War II context, where we flipped a
switch and all of a sudden there was all this,
you know, dramatic growth in American manufacturing of planes and boats.
I hate to say it, but today's F thirty five
cannot be made in a Ford factory. You have to
have much more specific kind of construction, and we really
need to think about preparing for that contingency, in part
(06:48):
because we hope it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Happen, but emani actually we've seen that preparation.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
It's inspired the likes of pal Maerlucky, of Tray Stevens
to go out there and build and drill because they've
been worried about how quickly we can deploy and manufacture
here in the United States. Have we seen that industrial
base thicken enough in recent years for this moment.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
It has thickened, but not enough. You're absolutely right about
Palmer Lucky. Chris Brose, who also is at ANDREL, is
one of the foremost proponents of this, talking about how
we can't just depend on what we have, we have
to think about how to build I think that andrel
is leading the way in this pollunteers in a way too,
but a lot of other sort of you know, bigger
defense firms need to catch up also. I mean I
(07:27):
talked to these folks all the time, and what they
say is that they're not going to make these huge
capital investments if they don't have a demand signal from
the US government. So they look at the government and
they say, where's our demand signal? And the government sort
of shrugs and says, well, it's either stuck in Congress,
or it's stuck in the president's budget, or we kids
can't give it yet. And that kind of chicken egg
situation is what is keeping us from really building up
the way we need to.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So are they getting any more signal at this moment,
because it feels as though there's trying to be the words,
but what you're saying is that they need the walk,
not just the talk.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
At this moment. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
So it's nice to sit in a meeting and here,
we need to build up our defense industrial base. But
before you spend millions of dollars on a new facility
and the environmental studies and recruiting all of the talent
you need to recruit. What you want is words on paper,
the contracts or what's really going to have to come.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Is there enough money financing the startups or at least
the ecosystem to be able to put it there. Because
there are innovative ways in which we can finance the
build out from some of the legacy defense companies, not
just the bench capital companies that have been there to
foster the Andrills and Soronis and those sorts of companies.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Right, So, this year's one trillion dollar defense budget, depending
on how you measure it, was meant to do some
of that to really bolster that startup ecosystem. Plus, the
Defense Department has done some innovative things trying to create
alternative funding mechanisms for some of these smaller companies. Really,
what the tension is is that if you're not one
of the big prime defense contractors, you don't have the
(08:53):
multitude of lawyers and government affairs officials and people who
have run through government contracts, you know, five hundred times
to really help you break through that bureaucracy. So one
of the things that I think people are really hoping
to see out of the Trump administration is a new
way of doing business that is much more welcoming to
the tech startups and kind of the alternative defense companies,
things like Sons of and or Realmpalaneer.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
So that's the technology play of which you are key
with expertise. What about the intelligence side here as well,
because are we seeing enough innovation there to be able
to decipher what the next move is for Iran?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It's never enough innovation.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
So this is really an interesting moment for open source intelligence.
I grew up in the intelligence community. I grew up
believing that what we were getting on the classified side
was going to be far better than what we could
ever get on the open source side. And for a
long time that was true. But the space has really changed.
The amount of open commercially available data that's out there
in the world really can bolster and change the game
(09:49):
for intelligence. And there's some companies out there that are
trying to do that, that are working with AI, that
are working with huge amounts of data to try to
pull the signal out of the noise. So a moment
I think for the intelligence community to sort of be
open minded. Are there some great leaders inside the IC
right now who are working on this and working to
partner with the private sector to make the intelligence that
(10:10):
we collect on the classified side fit really well with
that open source intelligence, and the two together is going
to be much stronger than anything we.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Had in the past.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Be open minded on open source, Emily Harding, we love it.
Thank you from the Center of Strategic and International Studies.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Stay well. Like another story that we're watching.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Deep Seek, Well, it's assisting China's military and intelligence officials
while exploring ways to help Beijing circumvent sanctions and gain
access to advanced chips. That's all according to a Reuters
report citing a US State Department official who says that
Deep Seek was mentioned more than one hundred and fifty
times in procurement records for the military and defense affiliated entities.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Coming up, Tesla's long.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Promised driveris taxi service. It hits the road in Austin.
We'll discuss the rollout next. This is blueleg Tech.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Tesla.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
It rolled out its long promise driveral as taxi service
to a handful of riders on Sunday. It was pretty
modest debut from what in OMSKS is as a transformative
new business line joining us now is Regina Klilo, CEO
and co founder of Populus is, a mobility analytics software company. Regina,
what do you make of the initial rollout, Well.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
It's very exciting to have another big player in the mix.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
As I'm sure many folks know, Weimo has been active
in the market for at least twenty months with commercial service,
and so it's a pretty big development to have Tesla
now delivering fully autonomous vehicle service.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Might have been a modest rollout, it's not a modest
stock move round more than ten percent. There's a lot
of hopes and prayers based on why this technology takes us.
In your mind's eye, Regina, how will we see the
roll out in Austin be picked up by other cities.
What is pressure is it putting on others in terms
of their regulatory environment.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
Well, San Francisco has been an operation for over twenty months,
but Weimo then very quickly began expanding into Los Angeles, Austin, Phoenix,
Atlanta with partnerships with Uber, and they have Miami and
Washington coming up next year. And it is putting extreme
pressure on cities to really catch up and build their
digital infrastructure. So they can communicate with these vehicles and
(12:19):
make sure that these rollouts occur safely, because in the
case of Weymo, they've grown very very quickly in the
San Francisco market.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
And populous is all about that communication, right, Just tell
us about what are the learnings, what's the experience. So
the states and the cities that are watching Austin in
particular in Texas do this, what do you think then
they need to learn what is it that Weymo and
Tesla need to do more efficiently to ensure that streets
do remain safe well.
Speaker 6 (12:42):
Many cities are building digital infrastructure to begin preparing for
the future of mobility. We work with cities to help
them manage shared mobility, so micromobility, shared scooters services like
Lime and Bird they actually do need to digitally communicate
with cities, and cities can digitally communicate back. They can
share parking policies, no rite policies, and these same exact
(13:05):
policies are really important for services like autonomous vehicles, whether
or not there are major events occurring or protests, and
cities need to close roads for emergencies all the way
to you know, basic planning services like making sure they're
enough pickup and drop off zones in a city.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
To this point, you talk about Mobility Data Specification MDS.
This is basically the establishment of open source standard that's
already in place. How quickly do you think these companies,
private companies have been willing to adopt this to be
able to share their data and get the data in return.
Speaker 6 (13:37):
Well, we saw with micromobility the transition happened very very quickly.
Cities were more prepared after having experienced Uber and Lyft
in cities to put down some regulations that required mobility
operators to share data in the case of scooters. So
it happened within the course of you know, a few
months to a year. Almost every city in America and
now around the world requires data from those operators through
(14:00):
that Mobility Data Specification standard, and standardization makes it easy
for those large operators to then turn on data feeds
in cities from Redwood City all the way to New
York City. And so we delivered data through our platform
using that data standard and with larger operators like Uber,
lyftwaimos have a little bit more resistance. But what we've
(14:22):
seen is that when cities have put down policies that
require that data sharing. They are often able to get
operators to comply. Maybe there are some battles here and
there with states in terms of who's in charge, but
we've seen cities prevail on that front in terms of
data sharing and the sharing mobility space.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
So it's kind of their having to deploy the stick
attitude here rather than the carrot of saying like, here's
the rules and regulations for you to.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Ascribe by, but talk us through the carrot.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Because these companies will glean a lot if they get
the data back from the city right.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
Well, they'll gain to a couple of things.
Speaker 6 (14:57):
One, they'll be able to operate more efficiently if cities
are able to then carve off the space that they
need in order to do really efficient pickups and drop offs.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
We've seen, for example, with a surge of delivery.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
You have ups and FedEx trucks that really don't have
the space that they need for the volume of delivery
that we experience in cities, and it's very difficult, I
believe you know. There are a lot of conversations around
bureaucracy and how governments can sometimes move slowly. It's really
important for cities to be able to have data in
order to facilitate making change more quickly.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
And we've seen when operators share.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
Data with cities, cities are able then to respond much
more quickly to create the space that they need to
run efficient services.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
I mean mobility is slowly, slowly, then all at once.
I mean it's extraordinary to think how we all have
access to an electric bikeron electric scooter now most cities
in the way from which we sort of expanded the
catchment areas. How quickly do you think that adoption will
be replicated when it comes to actually not having someone
in the front of the car and steering a vehicle.
Speaker 6 (15:57):
The growth of Weymo in San Francisco has been pretty
inc ardible. They only launch to their widespread commercial service
that anyone could sign up for about eighteen months ago,
and now they have more than twenty seven percent of
the market.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
So they've already passed Lifts, one of the earlier players
in the space.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
And so I would anticipate that we'll see similar rapid
adoption of other av services in other cities because people
enjoy the service. Some data shows that people are willing
to pay over twenty dollars an hour for a Weimo
versus just over fifteen dollars for an uber. So I
expect we'll see pretty rapid adoption in other major metros
as well.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Because we get a humanous price point a full dollars
twenty coming from you know, Musk company.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
How do things differ with Tesla.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Well, I think that you know Tesla is catching up
on that front.
Speaker 6 (16:45):
So they do have a brand that's interesting, and so
there are definitely people who really enjoy that experience who
have been I Heard customers for a while, and so
we'll see how how their rollout is different from Weimo's
and how quickly they're able to grow.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
It's been great speaking with you, Regina Klilo, Thanks so
much for your time. The CEO of Populace, It is
time now for talking tech.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
First up, open ai has.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Removed details of its deal with former Apple designer Johnny
Eyes from the web over a trademark dispute. Now, the
six and a half billion dollar acquisition of I's startup
called io Products is meant to help the chatchubt make
a move into AI devices.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
A judge temporarily blocked.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Open ai from using the io Moniker after a wearable
audio device maker accused it of trademark infringement plus tech
investor process where What did a profit for the first time.
Under its new CEO, the company has acquired businesses including
online travel firm that Dispago and food delivery business Just Eat,
with an eye toward building out large e commerce platforms.
(17:45):
And Chinese tech giant Shaomi will be releasing a host
of new products and an event later this month. They
include a tablet powered by self developed O one chip
and its first suv. Pricing for the new vehicle, the
Yu seven is also supposed.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
To be released at the event.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Welcome back to Blue meg Tech and Caroine Hide in
New York. Let's get your check on these markets because
the geopolitical anxiety is starting back just a little bit.
We're still all focused on Israel, Iran and of course
what occurred over the course of the weekend as US
struck those three sites in Iran.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
We're seeing that.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
We're bounced back in stocks are up by five tens percent,
and I want to dig into some of the individual.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Moves in a moment.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
But Bitcoin as well looking more like a proxy for
well some stability rather than risk a version. Over the
course of the weekend, we saw some of the old
coins perform much worse than Bitcoin renown our one oh
one thousand level. I'm looking at what's happening for the
individual names though, and Palo Alto Networks up more than
a percentage point. I'm looking also at checkpoint why, because
we're thinking about the cyber implications here after the US
(18:50):
attack on Iran and what's happening between Israel and ram More. Generally,
US officials are in fact issuing a warning to businesses
to brace the potential cyber attacks from Iran. This following
US air strikes that we saw the country's nuclear facilities
really be targeted. Lumergs, Patrick how O'Neil joins us some
more and Patrick, some of the names that we're highlighted
are on the higher side because people are thinking company
(19:12):
is going to have to double down.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Here, that's right.
Speaker 7 (19:16):
So the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning over
the weekend that US companies are going to have to
watch out for Irani and cyberactivity. But I think one
important note here to make is that they specifically emphasize
that it would be quote low level activity. And the
key there is that this is a thread actor who's
been prolific and brazen, but not particularly sophisticated, And so
(19:38):
it really speaks to the kind of level of a
thread and the specific things that US companies and organizations
and individuals are going to have to be looking out for.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
So perhaps not that sophisticated. Perhaps the bark is worse
than the bite. But Iran has primarily targeted who in
the past.
Speaker 7 (19:55):
Well, the real answer to that would be Israel. There's
been incredible amount of Israel aro on cyberactivity over the
years back and forth. But in the US there's been
a long history of Iranian cyberactivity of varying levels. They've
targeted famously, they targeted US financial institutions about ten.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Or fifteen years ago.
Speaker 7 (20:14):
They were able to get some top Wall Street banks
off the Internet. They've also targeted individuals that they deem
to be enemies of the regime. They've done defacements, they've
done ransomware. So it's a wide gamut of targets and
a lot of it is about the psychological impact. A
lot of it is about looking powerful intimidation rather than
(20:35):
a real demonstrable impact. In many cases, and.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
I imagine defense contractors, government bodies right now are really
bracing themselves, Patrick, But what has also been demonstrated is
the impact that Israel has had on Iran in terms
of cyber as well.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
What have we've seen over the last few weeks.
Speaker 7 (20:54):
It's been really interesting. So to describe what we've seen,
we have to preface it with the potentially obvious that
there is a really significant fog of war right now,
so we're still doing our best to understand. But most notably,
there is a group called Predatory Sparrow, and it maintains
this image of a activist, activist group, but it's been
(21:15):
engaged in some really high profile activity. It's taken a
huge Iranian bank offline because of alleged links to the IRGC,
the Republican Guard. It's essentially burned tens of millions of
dollars in crypto from a major Iranian crypto exchange, again
because of links to evading sanctions. And it's all really
(21:36):
been in the effort of having a psychological impact.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Again.
Speaker 7 (21:39):
I mean, don't get me wrong, the financial impact is significant,
but I think it's about in their case, showcasing that
the emperor has no clothes in this case, and that Israel,
this group that most experts say is aligned with Israel
is really able to operate freely during this conflict.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Fascinating, Patrick Howl O'Neil do come back, Thanks so much,
and let's just stick with defense tech more broadly now.
Marlin Spike is a notable VC investor in the sector,
backing companies such as Palenteers, Shield Ai Andre Will Marlin
Spike CEO Keegan joins us.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Now, look, you've been in this game a long time.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
What is it since twenty twenty, I've been backing some
of these names. Palenteer's near a record high today, So congratulations.
What are we seeing in terms of the rest of
the VC industry following your lead?
Speaker 7 (22:25):
Sure?
Speaker 8 (22:25):
Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me, Caroline.
It's an honored bey on Bloomberg, particularly on a day
where there's a lot more green than red on the screen.
So what we're seeing, particularly as it relates to defense
technology and dual use, which is where we spend our
time investing, We're looking for very disruptive companies that can
make an impact on our industrial base. I mean, we're
here to build with these hygro technology companies the most
(22:49):
robust and durable industrial base that we can, and as
it relates to Iran, look, this is a long time
common for this strike and we've significantly degraded their capabilities.
But I think it highlights that that, you know, a
country like Iran and some of our other competitors are
not going to come at us in traditional ways. We
need to be ready for asymmetric threats and that is
(23:09):
one of the real goals for where we're investing and
looking for companies that can not suffer a failure of imagination.
After nine to eleven, we need to focus on all
the tools that we have at hand in terms of AI,
autonomous systems and advanced manufacturing. These are the new companies
that are going to work in concert with some of
the great defense companies that we have that produce our
(23:29):
exquisite capital systems that we actually saw on display over the.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Weekend working concert. Is that happening more at the moment.
Speaker 8 (23:35):
Neil, absolutely, and first of all, hats off to our
brave men and women that plan this decisive strike. There
was a lot of thought and coordination that went into this,
and I like to paraphrase you know Admiral Palparo, who
likes to say we need not only the will, but
the capability, and I think we demonstrated both with a
(23:57):
high degree of success on Saturday evening. I do see,
or we do see from our team, more coordination with
the large legacy primes and really the new you can
call them new kids in the block, but companies like
SpaceX and Palneer have been around for over twenty years.
And what I think is really fascinating is we're seeing
(24:17):
a very open tie up between these market leaders to
work together so we can effectively renew freedoms Forwards two
point zero, which is the coming together of the public
and the private markets to defend America in our allies,
so we can be ready with the best possible tech
to give it to our war fighters and an intelligence community.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Neil, it's interesting you say the intelligence community. We do understand. Still,
really a battle damage assessment is needed to show clarity
of the effectiveness of what happened over the course of
the weekend. We started this conversation this show with the
csis Emily Harding on the show really talking about how
now intelligence can be an area of innovation and of fostering.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Is that something you've been looking at? How is AI
changing that game?
Speaker 8 (24:58):
Sure is and it's an integrated part. I mean you mentioned,
you know, Palneer Palenteer was really formed in the wake
of nine to eleven. They were an early Inky Tel investment.
Ink you tell, as you and a lot of your
viewers may know, has been investing in the intelligence community
on behalf of our country for over twenty five years.
This is a group that we're very close to. We
(25:19):
understand their return on mission. You know, we're also in
this to make great returns for our investors, but it's
very important that these groups, you know, work handing glove together.
And I see that happening more and more and more,
and that's a great thing, not only at the at
the later stage where these companies have really blossomed and
they've got product market fit, growing revenues, getting major contracts,
(25:41):
but also on the earlier stage. You know, we're very
excited to see that. It seems like almost every day
there are bright young men and women that are leaving
great companies like Tesla and Androl and Palneer and space Act,
and they're starting new companies with new capabilities, and we're
excited to spend time with them and to back them
in the earlier stages. As well.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
What's interesting is we're still perhaps wondering what the key
buy signal is here for yet more contracts, Neil. We
keep saying the same names time and time again, Pal
Andeer Andrel because they have made such moves they have
managed to intertwine themselves with the administration and get more contracts.
But is that going broader? Because Emily Hardening at the
top of the show was sort about lning that there's
(26:21):
a lot of talk about allocating funds towards these startups,
but sometimes not enough walk.
Speaker 8 (26:27):
I would say that's a fair assessment, and I want
to be labor the Valley of Death comment. In our space,
there's been a lot written about that we must change
what we buy, how we buy it, and get new
technology with a lot of the newer entrance in the
space to the warfighter, and thankfully that is happening in
our Vieu's not happening fast enough, but there are pockets
(26:48):
of opportunity. I think Golden Dome is going to be
a really good example. We're very pleased to see the
new energy around this because I think this is something
that is much bigger than just counter defenses. This is
an integrated, layered system, both at home and abroad. It's
going to involve very exquisite programs but also asymmetric defense. Again,
(27:10):
I said it before and I'll see it again. We
can't failure the lack of imagination after nine to eleven,
so we need to be very creative as it comes
to homeland defense, securing our border, critical infrastructure, cyber capital
markets and some of these newer, more innovative companies are
going after this, and I think they've got a real
role to play in concert with the large legacy primes
(27:32):
as well as the new market leaders like Androl and
Poundteer Neil.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
I like the way you said there's new energy. There
is new energy.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Around well defense tech investing more broadly, far more vcs
getting in on it, but far more big tech company
is willing to go there. I think meta and an
error relationship that they're now having with Andrew, you're thinking
of the relationship that we're seeing Google now redeploying and
focusing on military applications.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Has that taken by surprise?
Speaker 1 (27:57):
As someone who's been working on this intersection since twenty twenty.
Speaker 8 (28:01):
I wouldn't say it's taken me by surprise or our
team by surprise. I mean, our team has been in
this space a long time. You know, my background, I
was a Naval Academy graduate or naval officer, was actually
in the Arabian golf in the in the late nineties,
going through the straits of Horror Mouz. So you know,
we were ready. We were ready then and as we're
ready now, and we need to continue to be ready
for these asymmetric threats. And I think this is where
(28:24):
you know, we're going to shine. And I'm actually very
pleased and gratified to see this continued, not only public recognition,
but having the private sector really stepped into this. And
I think a lot of the tech leaders back in
the late teams, you know, I think again Andrell, you know,
is a great example where you know, this is private capital.
These are founders. These are folks that are very tech
(28:46):
savvy that they took a risk, they've built a great company,
and then now more have followed. So I think that's
going to be a continued trend. And again there are
more entrants in the defense tech dual use investing space,
and that's a good thing. We need that we are
our missions driven, we co invest together, we share ideas,
and at the bottom line is you know, we're in
(29:06):
this not only for profit, but also for purpose and
that's the mission mindset I see of our cohort in
this space.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Well, we take note that you've invested in twenty five
companies so far and some of the leading names that
have stood out in defense tech. So, Neil Keegan, we
listen to you with Marlin Spike, thanks so much for joining.
Coming up, Thank you CenTra Systems. It aims to modernize
the way a key component in aerospace and defense tech
is made. We speak with CenTra system CEO John and Black. Next,
this is a Bloomberg Tech. We have some breaking news
(29:44):
for you. Let's just take you out to Kata to
temporarily suspend traffic over its airspace. This is of course,
as anxieties have dialed up and indeed real world implications
for Iran after the attacks from the US over the
course of the weekend and Israel in Iran, the tensions
continued to foster over this weekend. We have seen notable
lack of access to Dubai for example, certain airlines British
(30:06):
Shareways for example, curtailing some of their flights to those destinations.
Now we understand that Kata is to temporarily suspend traffic
over its airspace.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
We'll keep you up to date with all the news.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Meanwhile, CenTra Systems, I want to talk about how it's
announced it's raised twenty five million dollars in a Series
A funding round and then aim to modernize whire harnesses
using the aerospace and defense industry. Jordan Black, CenTra system
CEO and co founder, joins us. Now, congrats on the rays.
Talk to us about harnesses. What exactly is it that
you're making, What exactly is it that you feel needs
(30:37):
to be disrupted?
Speaker 9 (30:39):
Yeah, thank you for having me so, probably don't have
too much no wire harnessing, but it's in everything. It's
in your rockets, it's in your cars, it's in your
coffee maker. It's what connects all electronic components together. Without it,
nothing would fly, nothing would run, nothing would work, nothing
would turn on. And it's an industry that hasn't changed
(30:59):
since the World War, mainly because it's an entirely manual
process to design it and to also manufacture it from
scratch too. It's entirely done by labor. It's fairy arts
and crafts like and it's one of those really un
sexy businesses that has just been in the US for
a while and all over the world, but we're excited
(31:20):
to disrupt it from starting to finish.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
You found it sexy.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
You went around the world when you're working with SpaceX
to go and see what really the bottlenecks were as
to why you can't scale this. So what's your answer,
how do you end up making this more automated more
quickly to replicate.
Speaker 9 (31:36):
The way we believe we have to solve this thing
is that it comes both from the input and the
output side of it too. And what I mean by
that is some of the largest companies today are using
Excel spreadsheets and powerpoints slides to design their electrical wire
harnessing because there's no industry standard to actually design it
to give it to a contract manufacturer like ourselves to
(31:57):
build off of. And this is where they have the
back and forth and a lot of the inefficiency in
the process too. So we're creating a design tool called
AMP where anyone can pretty much design a wire harness
within minutes versus months. Then we take that data and
we send it to our manufacturing facility. So right now
the headquarters is in southern California, Redondo Beach, and we
(32:18):
use that data to streamline the entire process from ordering
the parts, giving work constructions, to the technicians using machines
that we either build internally or off the shelf, to
empower almost anyone to be able to build the wire
harness too. The thing that was really the biggest struggle
even at SpaceX was it would take at least twelve
months for someone to be able to be a skilled
(32:39):
technician to touch a wire harness that goes into a
SpaceX rocket or satellite or anything else like that.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
And it's just.
Speaker 9 (32:45):
This process of it hasn't changed since the Cold War,
like I mentioned too.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
So you got twenty five million, Where does that go?
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Because is it about ensuring that you can scale the
manufacturing the footprint You say you're in Soco, Los Angeles
as well with a factory, do you scale that out?
Is it about hiring more technicians of your own?
Speaker 2 (33:06):
It's both.
Speaker 9 (33:07):
It's putting more effort into our software design tool. We've
already released our beta and we have customers actively using
it too and really being able to create that industry
standard right off the bat. And then we're scaling manufacturing
we can't keep up with the demand. Two years ago
I started building wire harnesses in my apartment. A year
after that, we're in our current facility and we've already
(33:27):
most outgrown it, and so it's continued to keep up
with the demand as we continue to grow too.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I mean, that feels weird that you were able to
build a wire harness in your apartment from just a
regulatory perspective, I mean, Jordan, what are the sort of
boxes you have to take when you make these things?
Speaker 9 (33:42):
When I started, I unfortunately my first customer wasn't a
SpaceX or a large company like that, but it was
actually a pizza automation company, and so I started with
just going to almost every startup.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
Probably the third week, I.
Speaker 9 (33:55):
Opened up and said, I don't care what you pay me,
I don't care what the harness is. I will just
build it for you because I want that eager to
just get my hands dirty and be able to start
this company round the scratch. But it shows also how
manual the processes that I'm able to build into my
apartment because I don't need very expensive machines or the
crazy technology to build this, and that's what the industry
needs to be able to scale out of an apartment.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
When the industry is getting it not just from you,
but also from Hadrian. For example, there is now this
push for automated manufacturing here in the United States. You
share similar vcs for example Founders fund a sixteen Z
caffeinated capital. You seeing this desire come from the capital
markets right now.
Speaker 9 (34:36):
It's really this push to keep up with the demand
because I think the industrial supply chain is just it's dwindling,
and there's in at least in wire harnessing, there's eight
hundred plus mom pop shops that build this and they're
struggling to scale, the struggle to keep up with demand.
And I think our customers they're emerging, such as like
(34:56):
the Andrels of the world, They need a supply chain
can quickly iterate that can build them high quality harnesses, faster, cheaper,
everything else on that side of it too. But I
think this is why this capital market's very excited for
this is they're not only putting their capital into some
of the new incumbents in the space like Anderid, but
also the industrial supply gen that's going to make them
successful in the long run too.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Jordan Black of Central Systems. Thanks so much for talking
about the rays.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
We appreciate it. Now.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
That does it for this edition of Bloomberg Tech. You
do not want to forget about our podcast. You find
it on the terminal as well as online on Apple, Spotify,
and iHeart from New York.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
This is bloombag Tech
Bloomberg Tech is a live from coast to coast with
Caroline Hide.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
In New York and Eva Low in Sent Francisco.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
This is Bloomberg Tech coming up, Small moves and socks
this morning as traders I, Iran and Oil will bring
you the tech sector reaction.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
As Palenteer closes.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
In on a new record high plus investments in defense tech,
they continue to increase the venture capital story this hour
and Tesla's Robotaxi it finally hits the streets of Austin
shares sow we discussed the reality of the company's city expansion.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Bloomberg's un Verstelica joins us.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Now I start with Palenteer, which has in encroaching on
a record high once again. It is the defense tech
stock that's being played on today.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yes, absolutely, thanks for having me on. So it does
see a lot of demand in interest from sort of
government contracts, defense adjacent sort of services. So the fact
that you have this sort of increase in jail political
uncertainty right now, it's not surprising that Palanteer is one
of the initial beneficiaries of this.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Let's look at also what the beneficiaries could be. More broadly,
I want to highlight a note what came from Wedbush
analysts this morning, and they're really talking about how maybe
if we do dial down anxiety surrounding Iran, this could
end up refueling regalvanizing the AI trade in particular because
(01:26):
of the Middle East focus. They say, the biggest threat
to the region and the potential Blackswan event was Iran
and its nuclear program, and now that threat is gone,
so basically we can see the AI revolution come more
into play.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Which stocks does that affect?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Ryan, Well, we've seen a number of these AI companies
like Nvidia announces major sovereign deals with AI and company
or countries in the Middle East. Excuse me, So if
we do see some sort of you know, follow through
on these kinds of deals, these kinds of contracts as
kind of a region as an area for new unappreciated
revenue growth, obviously this is something we could continue to
(02:00):
see being a driver of stock prices from here.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
It's interesting though that NVIDIAs started the day lower and
it's ultimately would have pulled the benchmark itself in the red.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Why are we seeing and dialing back in risk aversion?
Do you think? Well, I think in.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
General, like when you have this kind of rise in
geopolitical uncertainty, big tech stocks often act as a kind
of safe haven in the market. I think, kind of
regardless of what else is going on, this is a
group that has seen as having pretty durable growth prospects,
pretty strong and reliable earning streams, tons of cash, very
strong economic modes and competitive modes, all these things, and
(02:35):
you kind of put them together in uncertain environment, they
still look like safe plays, you know, like all things considered. Obviously,
there are some concerns about valuation, but I think ultimately,
you know, they sort of act as you know, this
sort of generation's version of defensive and sort of safe
haven trades.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Rand Vlastelica on the market reaction. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Let's bring you more analysis on when next in terms
of the geopolitics. Emily Harding's with us from the Center
for Strategic and International Studies. You're also the director for
its Intelligence, National Security, and Technology Program and vice president
of the Defense and Security Department. Emily, we turned to
you for your tech and your intelligence expertise here and
actually you say this is the moment for intelligence officers
to shine.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Why so one of the really important questions going forward
is going to be just how much damage was done
to Iran's three main nuclear facilities. And I mean it
seems obvious to say it, but you can't exactly walk
up to these facilities on the ground and take a look.
So it's going to be the skill and the work
of people who do things like geospatial analysis, people who
collect human intelligence to really do their best work here
(03:38):
and figure out what was destroyed and what wasn't. And
why that matters is because if Iran was left with
an enrichment capability and with a weaponization capability, they could
try to sprint to a weapon as soon as the
Israeli campaign is over.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
What's really interesting is I think a military satellite makers,
in fact, one of them is eyeing an IPO at
the moment. ICI, can you tell us a little bit
about the sets that need to be in place for
us to get the imagery that's necessary here.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
It's a really interesting moment for what we call open
source intelligence. And that's just another way of saying that
all of these industry actors that are out there with
these amazing satellite constellations are doing phenomenal work trying to
map and identify things that are going on inside ORN.
So you've got the government's exquisite assets, and we call
them exquisite because they are the most advanced generally speaking.
(04:25):
They can do things like loiter over an area to
actually get continuous coverage of a space.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
But then you have this huge.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Industry space where all of these actors are coming out
with really quite good information and a lot of coverage
that the government can't provide. And the combination of those
two things is going to give us great insight into
what's going on on the ground inside Iron and.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Now the market.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
But most notably, the administration has to play out what
the best and the worst case scenarios potentially are here.
What from a defense tech perspective might come into play.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
So they're going to have to think a lot about
defense stocks. We've talked lot about the defense industrial base
inside the US and how deep our benches basically on
some of the key weaponry that we have. Before this
round of strikes, there was a big debate inside the
administration about what you needed to preserve for a China contingency,
what you could send to Ukraine, and what you could
maintain in the Middle East. This particular operation didn't really
(05:19):
draw down our stocks much at all. We can pretty
easily replace what we used. But if you're looking at
more of a drawn out contingency, if Iran were to
unwisely retaliate against the US in a really dramatic way,
and you're looking at much more activity on the ground,
what you'd want to think about is do you have
the defense stocks to backfill what you're spending and can
you do it quickly?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
And we have supply chain analysis from certain companies.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yvonne is one of them. For example.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I'm interested Emily is to which is the forward looking
analysis for whether we have the manufacturing capability here in
the United States. That is something that many people have
debated about bringing that sort of expertise back to the US.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
It is the key question for the next probably ten
years of deterrence against China. One has to think that
they looked at what we just did and went, oh,
the US is serious. However, any kind of modeling that
we've done of a conflict between US and China, you know,
if it were unfortunately to happen, shows that we would
run out of precision weaponry very quickly and have to
(06:18):
move to backfilling rapidly. With our defense industrial base, and
that involves not just manufacturing, no how, but also the.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Ability to scale up very quickly.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
The US likes to think of itself in the sort
of the World War II context, where we flipped a
switch and all of a sudden there was all this,
you know, dramatic growth in American manufacturing of planes and boats.
I hate to say it, but today's F thirty five
cannot be made in a Ford factory. You have to
have much more specific kind of construction, and we really
need to think about preparing for that contingency, in part
(06:48):
because we hope it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Happen, but emani actually we've seen that preparation.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
It's inspired the likes of pal Maerlucky, of Tray Stevens
to go out there and build and drill because they've
been worried about how quickly we can deploy and manufacture
here in the United States. Have we seen that industrial
base thicken enough in recent years for this moment.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
It has thickened, but not enough. You're absolutely right about
Palmer Lucky. Chris Brose, who also is at ANDREL, is
one of the foremost proponents of this, talking about how
we can't just depend on what we have, we have
to think about how to build I think that andrel
is leading the way in this pollunteers in a way too,
but a lot of other sort of you know, bigger
defense firms need to catch up also. I mean I
(07:27):
talked to these folks all the time, and what they
say is that they're not going to make these huge
capital investments if they don't have a demand signal from
the US government. So they look at the government and
they say, where's our demand signal? And the government sort
of shrugs and says, well, it's either stuck in Congress,
or it's stuck in the president's budget, or we kids
can't give it yet. And that kind of chicken egg
situation is what is keeping us from really building up
the way we need to.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So are they getting any more signal at this moment,
because it feels as though there's trying to be the words,
but what you're saying is that they need the walk,
not just the talk.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
At this moment. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
So it's nice to sit in a meeting and here,
we need to build up our defense industrial base. But
before you spend millions of dollars on a new facility
and the environmental studies and recruiting all of the talent
you need to recruit. What you want is words on paper,
the contracts or what's really going to have to come.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Is there enough money financing the startups or at least
the ecosystem to be able to put it there. Because
there are innovative ways in which we can finance the
build out from some of the legacy defense companies, not
just the bench capital companies that have been there to
foster the Andrills and Soronis and those sorts of companies.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Right, So, this year's one trillion dollar defense budget, depending
on how you measure it, was meant to do some
of that to really bolster that startup ecosystem. Plus, the
Defense Department has done some innovative things trying to create
alternative funding mechanisms for some of these smaller companies. Really,
what the tension is is that if you're not one
of the big prime defense contractors, you don't have the
(08:53):
multitude of lawyers and government affairs officials and people who
have run through government contracts, you know, five hundred times
to really help you break through that bureaucracy. So one
of the things that I think people are really hoping
to see out of the Trump administration is a new
way of doing business that is much more welcoming to
the tech startups and kind of the alternative defense companies,
things like Sons of and or Realmpalaneer.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
So that's the technology play of which you are key
with expertise. What about the intelligence side here as well,
because are we seeing enough innovation there to be able
to decipher what the next move is for Iran?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It's never enough innovation.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
So this is really an interesting moment for open source intelligence.
I grew up in the intelligence community. I grew up
believing that what we were getting on the classified side
was going to be far better than what we could
ever get on the open source side. And for a
long time that was true. But the space has really changed.
The amount of open commercially available data that's out there
in the world really can bolster and change the game
(09:49):
for intelligence. And there's some companies out there that are
trying to do that, that are working with AI, that
are working with huge amounts of data to try to
pull the signal out of the noise. So a moment
I think for the intelligence community to sort of be
open minded. Are there some great leaders inside the IC
right now who are working on this and working to
partner with the private sector to make the intelligence that
(10:10):
we collect on the classified side fit really well with
that open source intelligence, and the two together is going
to be much stronger than anything we.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Had in the past.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Be open minded on open source, Emily Harding, we love it.
Thank you from the Center of Strategic and International Studies.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Stay well. Like another story that we're watching.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Deep Seek, Well, it's assisting China's military and intelligence officials
while exploring ways to help Beijing circumvent sanctions and gain
access to advanced chips. That's all according to a Reuters
report citing a US State Department official who says that
Deep Seek was mentioned more than one hundred and fifty
times in procurement records for the military and defense affiliated entities.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Coming up, Tesla's long.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Promised driveris taxi service. It hits the road in Austin.
We'll discuss the rollout next. This is blueleg Tech.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Tesla.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
It rolled out its long promise driveral as taxi service
to a handful of riders on Sunday. It was pretty
modest debut from what in OMSKS is as a transformative
new business line joining us now is Regina Klilo, CEO
and co founder of Populus is, a mobility analytics software company. Regina,
what do you make of the initial rollout, Well.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
It's very exciting to have another big player in the mix.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
As I'm sure many folks know, Weimo has been active
in the market for at least twenty months with commercial service,
and so it's a pretty big development to have Tesla
now delivering fully autonomous vehicle service.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Might have been a modest rollout, it's not a modest
stock move round more than ten percent. There's a lot
of hopes and prayers based on why this technology takes us.
In your mind's eye, Regina, how will we see the
roll out in Austin be picked up by other cities.
What is pressure is it putting on others in terms
of their regulatory environment.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
Well, San Francisco has been an operation for over twenty months,
but Weimo then very quickly began expanding into Los Angeles, Austin, Phoenix,
Atlanta with partnerships with Uber, and they have Miami and
Washington coming up next year. And it is putting extreme
pressure on cities to really catch up and build their
digital infrastructure. So they can communicate with these vehicles and
(12:19):
make sure that these rollouts occur safely, because in the
case of Weymo, they've grown very very quickly in the
San Francisco market.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
And populous is all about that communication, right, Just tell
us about what are the learnings, what's the experience. So
the states and the cities that are watching Austin in
particular in Texas do this, what do you think then
they need to learn what is it that Weymo and
Tesla need to do more efficiently to ensure that streets
do remain safe well.
Speaker 6 (12:42):
Many cities are building digital infrastructure to begin preparing for
the future of mobility. We work with cities to help
them manage shared mobility, so micromobility, shared scooters services like
Lime and Bird they actually do need to digitally communicate
with cities, and cities can digitally communicate back. They can
share parking policies, no rite policies, and these same exact
(13:05):
policies are really important for services like autonomous vehicles, whether
or not there are major events occurring or protests, and
cities need to close roads for emergencies all the way
to you know, basic planning services like making sure they're
enough pickup and drop off zones in a city.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
To this point, you talk about Mobility Data Specification MDS.
This is basically the establishment of open source standard that's
already in place. How quickly do you think these companies,
private companies have been willing to adopt this to be
able to share their data and get the data in return.
Speaker 6 (13:37):
Well, we saw with micromobility the transition happened very very quickly.
Cities were more prepared after having experienced Uber and Lyft
in cities to put down some regulations that required mobility
operators to share data in the case of scooters. So
it happened within the course of you know, a few
months to a year. Almost every city in America and
now around the world requires data from those operators through
(14:00):
that Mobility Data Specification standard, and standardization makes it easy
for those large operators to then turn on data feeds
in cities from Redwood City all the way to New
York City. And so we delivered data through our platform
using that data standard and with larger operators like Uber,
lyftwaimos have a little bit more resistance. But what we've
(14:22):
seen is that when cities have put down policies that
require that data sharing. They are often able to get
operators to comply. Maybe there are some battles here and
there with states in terms of who's in charge, but
we've seen cities prevail on that front in terms of
data sharing and the sharing mobility space.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
So it's kind of their having to deploy the stick
attitude here rather than the carrot of saying like, here's
the rules and regulations for you to.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Ascribe by, but talk us through the carrot.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Because these companies will glean a lot if they get
the data back from the city right.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
Well, they'll gain to a couple of things.
Speaker 6 (14:57):
One, they'll be able to operate more efficiently if cities
are able to then carve off the space that they
need in order to do really efficient pickups and drop offs.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
We've seen, for example, with a surge of delivery.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
You have ups and FedEx trucks that really don't have
the space that they need for the volume of delivery
that we experience in cities, and it's very difficult, I
believe you know. There are a lot of conversations around
bureaucracy and how governments can sometimes move slowly. It's really
important for cities to be able to have data in
order to facilitate making change more quickly.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
And we've seen when operators share.
Speaker 6 (15:31):
Data with cities, cities are able then to respond much
more quickly to create the space that they need to
run efficient services.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
I mean mobility is slowly, slowly, then all at once.
I mean it's extraordinary to think how we all have
access to an electric bikeron electric scooter now most cities
in the way from which we sort of expanded the
catchment areas. How quickly do you think that adoption will
be replicated when it comes to actually not having someone
in the front of the car and steering a vehicle.
Speaker 6 (15:57):
The growth of Weymo in San Francisco has been pretty
inc ardible. They only launch to their widespread commercial service
that anyone could sign up for about eighteen months ago,
and now they have more than twenty seven percent of
the market.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
So they've already passed Lifts, one of the earlier players
in the space.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
And so I would anticipate that we'll see similar rapid
adoption of other av services in other cities because people
enjoy the service. Some data shows that people are willing
to pay over twenty dollars an hour for a Weimo
versus just over fifteen dollars for an uber. So I
expect we'll see pretty rapid adoption in other major metros
as well.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Because we get a humanous price point a full dollars
twenty coming from you know, Musk company.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
How do things differ with Tesla.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Well, I think that you know Tesla is catching up
on that front.
Speaker 6 (16:45):
So they do have a brand that's interesting, and so
there are definitely people who really enjoy that experience who
have been I Heard customers for a while, and so
we'll see how how their rollout is different from Weimo's
and how quickly they're able to grow.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
It's been great speaking with you, Regina Klilo, Thanks so
much for your time. The CEO of Populace, It is
time now for talking tech.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
First up, open ai has.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Removed details of its deal with former Apple designer Johnny
Eyes from the web over a trademark dispute. Now, the
six and a half billion dollar acquisition of I's startup
called io Products is meant to help the chatchubt make
a move into AI devices.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
A judge temporarily blocked.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Open ai from using the io Moniker after a wearable
audio device maker accused it of trademark infringement plus tech
investor process where What did a profit for the first time.
Under its new CEO, the company has acquired businesses including
online travel firm that Dispago and food delivery business Just Eat,
with an eye toward building out large e commerce platforms.
(17:45):
And Chinese tech giant Shaomi will be releasing a host
of new products and an event later this month. They
include a tablet powered by self developed O one chip
and its first suv. Pricing for the new vehicle, the
Yu seven is also supposed.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
To be released at the event.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Welcome back to Blue meg Tech and Caroine Hide in
New York. Let's get your check on these markets because
the geopolitical anxiety is starting back just a little bit.
We're still all focused on Israel, Iran and of course
what occurred over the course of the weekend as US
struck those three sites in Iran.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
We're seeing that.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
We're bounced back in stocks are up by five tens percent,
and I want to dig into some of the individual.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Moves in a moment.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
But Bitcoin as well looking more like a proxy for
well some stability rather than risk a version. Over the
course of the weekend, we saw some of the old
coins perform much worse than Bitcoin renown our one oh
one thousand level. I'm looking at what's happening for the
individual names though, and Palo Alto Networks up more than
a percentage point. I'm looking also at checkpoint why, because
we're thinking about the cyber implications here after the US
(18:50):
attack on Iran and what's happening between Israel and ram More. Generally,
US officials are in fact issuing a warning to businesses
to brace the potential cyber attacks from Iran. This following
US air strikes that we saw the country's nuclear facilities
really be targeted. Lumergs, Patrick how O'Neil joins us some
more and Patrick, some of the names that we're highlighted
are on the higher side because people are thinking company
(19:12):
is going to have to double down.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Here, that's right.
Speaker 7 (19:16):
So the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning over
the weekend that US companies are going to have to
watch out for Irani and cyberactivity. But I think one
important note here to make is that they specifically emphasize
that it would be quote low level activity. And the
key there is that this is a thread actor who's
been prolific and brazen, but not particularly sophisticated, And so
(19:38):
it really speaks to the kind of level of a
thread and the specific things that US companies and organizations
and individuals are going to have to be looking out for.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
So perhaps not that sophisticated. Perhaps the bark is worse
than the bite. But Iran has primarily targeted who in
the past.
Speaker 7 (19:55):
Well, the real answer to that would be Israel. There's
been incredible amount of Israel aro on cyberactivity over the
years back and forth. But in the US there's been
a long history of Iranian cyberactivity of varying levels. They've
targeted famously, they targeted US financial institutions about ten.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Or fifteen years ago.
Speaker 7 (20:14):
They were able to get some top Wall Street banks
off the Internet. They've also targeted individuals that they deem
to be enemies of the regime. They've done defacements, they've
done ransomware. So it's a wide gamut of targets and
a lot of it is about the psychological impact. A
lot of it is about looking powerful intimidation rather than
(20:35):
a real demonstrable impact. In many cases, and.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
I imagine defense contractors, government bodies right now are really
bracing themselves, Patrick, But what has also been demonstrated is
the impact that Israel has had on Iran in terms
of cyber as well.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
What have we've seen over the last few weeks.
Speaker 7 (20:54):
It's been really interesting. So to describe what we've seen,
we have to preface it with the potentially obvious that
there is a really significant fog of war right now,
so we're still doing our best to understand. But most notably,
there is a group called Predatory Sparrow, and it maintains
this image of a activist, activist group, but it's been
(21:15):
engaged in some really high profile activity. It's taken a
huge Iranian bank offline because of alleged links to the IRGC,
the Republican Guard. It's essentially burned tens of millions of
dollars in crypto from a major Iranian crypto exchange, again
because of links to evading sanctions. And it's all really
(21:36):
been in the effort of having a psychological impact.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Again.
Speaker 7 (21:39):
I mean, don't get me wrong, the financial impact is significant,
but I think it's about in their case, showcasing that
the emperor has no clothes in this case, and that Israel,
this group that most experts say is aligned with Israel
is really able to operate freely during this conflict.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Fascinating, Patrick Howl O'Neil do come back, Thanks so much,
and let's just stick with defense tech more broadly now.
Marlin Spike is a notable VC investor in the sector,
backing companies such as Palenteers, Shield Ai Andre Will Marlin
Spike CEO Keegan joins us.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Now, look, you've been in this game a long time.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
What is it since twenty twenty, I've been backing some
of these names. Palenteer's near a record high today, So congratulations.
What are we seeing in terms of the rest of
the VC industry following your lead?
Speaker 7 (22:25):
Sure?
Speaker 8 (22:25):
Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me, Caroline.
It's an honored bey on Bloomberg, particularly on a day
where there's a lot more green than red on the screen.
So what we're seeing, particularly as it relates to defense
technology and dual use, which is where we spend our
time investing, We're looking for very disruptive companies that can
make an impact on our industrial base. I mean, we're
here to build with these hygro technology companies the most
(22:49):
robust and durable industrial base that we can, and as
it relates to Iran, look, this is a long time
common for this strike and we've significantly degraded their capabilities.
But I think it highlights that that, you know, a
country like Iran and some of our other competitors are
not going to come at us in traditional ways. We
need to be ready for asymmetric threats and that is
(23:09):
one of the real goals for where we're investing and
looking for companies that can not suffer a failure of imagination.
After nine to eleven, we need to focus on all
the tools that we have at hand in terms of AI,
autonomous systems and advanced manufacturing. These are the new companies
that are going to work in concert with some of
the great defense companies that we have that produce our
(23:29):
exquisite capital systems that we actually saw on display over the.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Weekend working concert. Is that happening more at the moment.
Speaker 8 (23:35):
Neil, absolutely, and first of all, hats off to our
brave men and women that plan this decisive strike. There
was a lot of thought and coordination that went into this,
and I like to paraphrase you know Admiral Palparo, who
likes to say we need not only the will, but
the capability, and I think we demonstrated both with a
(23:57):
high degree of success on Saturday evening. I do see,
or we do see from our team, more coordination with
the large legacy primes and really the new you can
call them new kids in the block, but companies like
SpaceX and Palneer have been around for over twenty years.
And what I think is really fascinating is we're seeing
(24:17):
a very open tie up between these market leaders to
work together so we can effectively renew freedoms Forwards two
point zero, which is the coming together of the public
and the private markets to defend America in our allies,
so we can be ready with the best possible tech
to give it to our war fighters and an intelligence community.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Neil, it's interesting you say the intelligence community. We do understand. Still,
really a battle damage assessment is needed to show clarity
of the effectiveness of what happened over the course of
the weekend. We started this conversation this show with the
csis Emily Harding on the show really talking about how
now intelligence can be an area of innovation and of fostering.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Is that something you've been looking at? How is AI
changing that game?
Speaker 8 (24:58):
Sure is and it's an integrated part. I mean you mentioned,
you know, Palneer Palenteer was really formed in the wake
of nine to eleven. They were an early Inky Tel investment.
Ink you tell, as you and a lot of your
viewers may know, has been investing in the intelligence community
on behalf of our country for over twenty five years.
This is a group that we're very close to. We
(25:19):
understand their return on mission. You know, we're also in
this to make great returns for our investors, but it's
very important that these groups, you know, work handing glove together.
And I see that happening more and more and more,
and that's a great thing, not only at the at
the later stage where these companies have really blossomed and
they've got product market fit, growing revenues, getting major contracts,
(25:41):
but also on the earlier stage. You know, we're very
excited to see that. It seems like almost every day
there are bright young men and women that are leaving
great companies like Tesla and Androl and Palneer and space Act,
and they're starting new companies with new capabilities, and we're
excited to spend time with them and to back them
in the earlier stages. As well.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
What's interesting is we're still perhaps wondering what the key
buy signal is here for yet more contracts, Neil. We
keep saying the same names time and time again, Pal
Andeer Andrel because they have made such moves they have
managed to intertwine themselves with the administration and get more contracts.
But is that going broader? Because Emily Hardening at the
top of the show was sort about lning that there's
(26:21):
a lot of talk about allocating funds towards these startups,
but sometimes not enough walk.
Speaker 8 (26:27):
I would say that's a fair assessment, and I want
to be labor the Valley of Death comment. In our space,
there's been a lot written about that we must change
what we buy, how we buy it, and get new
technology with a lot of the newer entrance in the
space to the warfighter, and thankfully that is happening in
our Vieu's not happening fast enough, but there are pockets
(26:48):
of opportunity. I think Golden Dome is going to be
a really good example. We're very pleased to see the
new energy around this because I think this is something
that is much bigger than just counter defenses. This is
an integrated, layered system, both at home and abroad. It's
going to involve very exquisite programs but also asymmetric defense. Again,
(27:10):
I said it before and I'll see it again. We
can't failure the lack of imagination after nine to eleven,
so we need to be very creative as it comes
to homeland defense, securing our border, critical infrastructure, cyber capital
markets and some of these newer, more innovative companies are
going after this, and I think they've got a real
role to play in concert with the large legacy primes
(27:32):
as well as the new market leaders like Androl and
Poundteer Neil.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
I like the way you said there's new energy. There
is new energy.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Around well defense tech investing more broadly, far more vcs
getting in on it, but far more big tech company
is willing to go there. I think meta and an
error relationship that they're now having with Andrew, you're thinking
of the relationship that we're seeing Google now redeploying and
focusing on military applications.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Has that taken by surprise?
Speaker 1 (27:57):
As someone who's been working on this intersection since twenty twenty.
Speaker 8 (28:01):
I wouldn't say it's taken me by surprise or our
team by surprise. I mean, our team has been in
this space a long time. You know, my background, I
was a Naval Academy graduate or naval officer, was actually
in the Arabian golf in the in the late nineties,
going through the straits of Horror Mouz. So you know,
we were ready. We were ready then and as we're
ready now, and we need to continue to be ready
for these asymmetric threats. And I think this is where
(28:24):
you know, we're going to shine. And I'm actually very
pleased and gratified to see this continued, not only public recognition,
but having the private sector really stepped into this. And
I think a lot of the tech leaders back in
the late teams, you know, I think again Andrell, you know,
is a great example where you know, this is private capital.
These are founders. These are folks that are very tech
(28:46):
savvy that they took a risk, they've built a great company,
and then now more have followed. So I think that's
going to be a continued trend. And again there are
more entrants in the defense tech dual use investing space,
and that's a good thing. We need that we are
our missions driven, we co invest together, we share ideas,
and at the bottom line is you know, we're in
(29:06):
this not only for profit, but also for purpose and
that's the mission mindset I see of our cohort in
this space.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Well, we take note that you've invested in twenty five
companies so far and some of the leading names that
have stood out in defense tech. So, Neil Keegan, we
listen to you with Marlin Spike, thanks so much for joining.
Coming up, Thank you CenTra Systems. It aims to modernize
the way a key component in aerospace and defense tech
is made. We speak with CenTra system CEO John and Black. Next,
this is a Bloomberg Tech. We have some breaking news
(29:44):
for you. Let's just take you out to Kata to
temporarily suspend traffic over its airspace. This is of course,
as anxieties have dialed up and indeed real world implications
for Iran after the attacks from the US over the
course of the weekend and Israel in Iran, the tensions
continued to foster over this weekend. We have seen notable
lack of access to Dubai for example, certain airlines British
(30:06):
Shareways for example, curtailing some of their flights to those destinations.
Now we understand that Kata is to temporarily suspend traffic
over its airspace.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
We'll keep you up to date with all the news.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Meanwhile, CenTra Systems, I want to talk about how it's
announced it's raised twenty five million dollars in a Series
A funding round and then aim to modernize whire harnesses
using the aerospace and defense industry. Jordan Black, CenTra system
CEO and co founder, joins us. Now, congrats on the rays.
Talk to us about harnesses. What exactly is it that
you're making, What exactly is it that you feel needs
(30:37):
to be disrupted?
Speaker 9 (30:39):
Yeah, thank you for having me so, probably don't have
too much no wire harnessing, but it's in everything. It's
in your rockets, it's in your cars, it's in your
coffee maker. It's what connects all electronic components together. Without it,
nothing would fly, nothing would run, nothing would work, nothing
would turn on. And it's an industry that hasn't changed
(30:59):
since the World War, mainly because it's an entirely manual
process to design it and to also manufacture it from
scratch too. It's entirely done by labor. It's fairy arts
and crafts like and it's one of those really un
sexy businesses that has just been in the US for
a while and all over the world, but we're excited
(31:20):
to disrupt it from starting to finish.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
You found it sexy.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
You went around the world when you're working with SpaceX
to go and see what really the bottlenecks were as
to why you can't scale this. So what's your answer,
how do you end up making this more automated more
quickly to replicate.
Speaker 9 (31:36):
The way we believe we have to solve this thing
is that it comes both from the input and the
output side of it too. And what I mean by
that is some of the largest companies today are using
Excel spreadsheets and powerpoints slides to design their electrical wire
harnessing because there's no industry standard to actually design it
to give it to a contract manufacturer like ourselves to
(31:57):
build off of. And this is where they have the
back and forth and a lot of the inefficiency in
the process too. So we're creating a design tool called
AMP where anyone can pretty much design a wire harness
within minutes versus months. Then we take that data and
we send it to our manufacturing facility. So right now
the headquarters is in southern California, Redondo Beach, and we
(32:18):
use that data to streamline the entire process from ordering
the parts, giving work constructions, to the technicians using machines
that we either build internally or off the shelf, to
empower almost anyone to be able to build the wire
harness too. The thing that was really the biggest struggle
even at SpaceX was it would take at least twelve
months for someone to be able to be a skilled
(32:39):
technician to touch a wire harness that goes into a
SpaceX rocket or satellite or anything else like that.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
And it's just.
Speaker 9 (32:45):
This process of it hasn't changed since the Cold War,
like I mentioned too.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
So you got twenty five million, Where does that go?
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Because is it about ensuring that you can scale the
manufacturing the footprint You say you're in Soco, Los Angeles
as well with a factory, do you scale that out?
Is it about hiring more technicians of your own?
Speaker 2 (33:06):
It's both.
Speaker 9 (33:07):
It's putting more effort into our software design tool. We've
already released our beta and we have customers actively using
it too and really being able to create that industry
standard right off the bat. And then we're scaling manufacturing
we can't keep up with the demand. Two years ago
I started building wire harnesses in my apartment. A year
after that, we're in our current facility and we've already
(33:27):
most outgrown it, and so it's continued to keep up
with the demand as we continue to grow too.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I mean, that feels weird that you were able to
build a wire harness in your apartment from just a
regulatory perspective, I mean, Jordan, what are the sort of
boxes you have to take when you make these things?
Speaker 9 (33:42):
When I started, I unfortunately my first customer wasn't a
SpaceX or a large company like that, but it was
actually a pizza automation company, and so I started with
just going to almost every startup.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
Probably the third week, I.
Speaker 9 (33:55):
Opened up and said, I don't care what you pay me,
I don't care what the harness is. I will just
build it for you because I want that eager to
just get my hands dirty and be able to start
this company round the scratch. But it shows also how
manual the processes that I'm able to build into my
apartment because I don't need very expensive machines or the
crazy technology to build this, and that's what the industry
needs to be able to scale out of an apartment.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
When the industry is getting it not just from you,
but also from Hadrian. For example, there is now this
push for automated manufacturing here in the United States. You
share similar vcs for example Founders fund a sixteen Z
caffeinated capital. You seeing this desire come from the capital
markets right now.
Speaker 9 (34:36):
It's really this push to keep up with the demand
because I think the industrial supply chain is just it's dwindling,
and there's in at least in wire harnessing, there's eight
hundred plus mom pop shops that build this and they're
struggling to scale, the struggle to keep up with demand.
And I think our customers they're emerging, such as like
(34:56):
the Andrels of the world, They need a supply chain
can quickly iterate that can build them high quality harnesses, faster, cheaper,
everything else on that side of it too. But I
think this is why this capital market's very excited for
this is they're not only putting their capital into some
of the new incumbents in the space like Anderid, but
also the industrial supply gen that's going to make them
successful in the long run too.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Jordan Black of Central Systems. Thanks so much for talking
about the rays.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
We appreciate it. Now.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
That does it for this edition of Bloomberg Tech. You
do not want to forget about our podcast. You find
it on the terminal as well as online on Apple, Spotify,
and iHeart from New York.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
This is bloombag Tech
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!