Founder, GP @GiantStepVC | deep tech

Chicago, IL
Joined April 2009
Faraz ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ ๐Ÿš€ retweeted
Few understand this about Gundo
Blue Ocean Materials founder @lucasme_12 explains why El Segundo feels like Silicon Valley in the โ€™80s: "Youโ€™re seeing these founders tackling these very hard problems where we have no playbook. El Segundo feels like what I imagine was Silicon Valley in the โ€™80s." "Thereโ€™s no career path. Who do you mimic? How do you create a Valar Atomics? How do you make it rain like Rainmaker? Itโ€™s just a bunch of mavericks trying to solve these problems." @BOMaterials
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Supersonic travel will change this. @AstroMechanica
International travel is biological wreckage. It's not my intent to rain on your parade or suggest you not travel. I learned first hand from measuring my biomarkers traveling to China, India and Australia. Sharing to be useful in your life decision making.
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Faraz ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ ๐Ÿš€ retweeted
Woke up to @noxmetals in Times Square! We're honored to share that we've been named to the #Disruptors60 Class of 2026, curated by @GreenfieldVC at @TechCrunch Disrupt, alongside teams advancing AI... where it matters the most! Both the infrastructure powering tomorrow's models and the applications reshaping critical industries.
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Chicago. Best city 10 years in a row. Chicago is great for housing affordability and Manufacturing, Nuclear (Chicago pile), Aerospace (Boeing HQ) Startups can afford it, and thrive here - winters give even more time to be heads down on projects. Summers are unbeatable.
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On the same day that space X flew 3 rockets and made history @VardaSpace successfully launched two zero G drug manufacturing satellites at the same time and made history. The only company to ever do so, and also the only other company w licensed re-entry after SpaceX
๐Ÿš€ ๐Ÿš€ ๐Ÿš€ SpaceX just successfully launched three orbital rockets in one day, the only company to do so. It started with four astronauts in Dragon to the ISS (this photo). Then 130 satellites lofted on one Falcon 9 from Vandy. Then the Falcon Heavy in the foreground for NROL.
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Congrats @VardaSpace @CowboySpaceCorp and all the others on T18
Up next, Falcon 9 will launch 130 payloads to orbit from California aboard the Transporter-18 mission. Liftoff is targeted for 11:22 a.m. PT โ†’ spacex.com/launches/transporโ€ฆ
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๐Ÿš€ ๐Ÿš€
This is the first time Varda has launched two spacecraft on the same rocket. Weโ€™ve operated two vehicles in orbit simultaneously but launching W-8 and W-9 together represents a shift to fleet operations as we increase launch and reentry cadence.
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Remember what Eric Schmidt did while on BoD to Steve Jobs / Apple โ€ฆ
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Faraz ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ ๐Ÿš€ retweeted
Itโ€™s a double feature! Watch W-8 and W-9 deploy together with @SpaceX's Transporter-18 mission: spacex.com/launches/transporโ€ฆ
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Stay winning๐Ÿฅ‡
To everyone that passed on Varda Have fun staying poor
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Faraz ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ ๐Ÿš€ retweeted
REGENT Demo Day!ย Today, 1 Seaglider Way officially opened its doors. For the first time, people outside the REGENT team watched a Viceroy Seaglider fly. More than 600 customers, investors, government officials, partners, and media boarded ferries on Narragansett Bay to see our full-scale Viceroy prototype and Squire drone float, foil, and fly. Then we cut the ribbon on the world's first Seaglider manufacturing facility: 255,000 square feet in Quonset Business Park, built to deliver 75 Viceroy vessels and 300 Squire drones a year at rate production and put Seagliders in customers' hands as early as late 2027. Guests walked the production floor, tried the simulators, stepped inside the full-scale cabin mock-up, and heard from leaders across aviation, defense, and government about where we started and what's next. We proved the technology and the demand. Now we build. Thank you to everyone who celebrated this milestone with us. The future of maritime mobility is being built in Rhode Island.
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Faraz ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ ๐Ÿš€ retweeted
Dear Delian, I hope each round gives you a deeper sense of satisfaction as you work your way through the alphabet. D is special because itโ€™s for Delian. I hope youโ€™re significantly profitable before you get to J. There may not be a round for my name, but weโ€™ll both be deeply satisfied. P.S. I bet the E round is closed alreadyโ€ฆ
To everyone that passed on Varda Have fun staying poor
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Humanity must keep pushing innovation beyond boundaries - happy to announce that @GiantStepVC has co-led @VardaSpace series D.
Today, weโ€™re announcing Vardaโ€™s $250M Series D raise, bringing the total amount of capital raised to $598 million with a $1.6B valuation. This funding will help us build more vehicles, grow pharmaceutical partnerships, and advance toward the first medicine manufactured in space for patients on Earth.
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Faraz ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ ๐Ÿš€ retweeted
Americans are innovators 60 million Americans need water from the Colorado River Cloud seeding is an American innovation that provides water to: - help our farmers and cattlemen - housing developments and industry - make ecosystems, like the Great Salt Lake, beautiful
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Premium is up to 6.06 in Chicago. Must be winning that war that we needed so badlyโ€ฆ..
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Stock prices are up Fuel prices are going up. We must be winning the war.
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You donโ€™t have to say Hey Siri. You just say, Siri!
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Siri, text instinct โ€ฆ. Works wonders.
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