🚛  Who’s driving this thing?

👋  Happy Friday. Counting the seconds until the long weekend? You might want to be more precise: Scientists in Vienna and Beijing just built the world’s first nuclear clocks, so accurate that they’d only lose one second every few million years. The clocks shine a laser on the nucleus of an atom and count each time the nucleus changes shape as a tick. While not quite ready to dethrone atomic clocks (those are still 10k times more accurate), it’s certainly better than your Apple Watch.

P.S. We’re off Monday in observance of Indigenous Peoples' Day. See you back here bright and early Tuesday morning.

NEWS FLASH 

🧑‍🚀  Kevin Costner would be proud: They say in space, no one can hear you scream, but what about quietly calling for help? Southern California-based startup Fortastra, founded by a former SpaceX engineer, closed a $30m funding round to launch "bodyguards in space." The company's maneuverable spacecraft can help protect civilian and defense satellites for the US and allies against adversaries. The new funding will help scale production and develop zone defense to intercept threats — ideally without a steamy love affair.

⌚  Don’t let your mom read this: 19-year-old founder Zach Yadegari just raised $10m to build Persona, a $180 privacy-focused wearable wristband that can be turned on and off instead of always listening. It’s his second venture — he sold his calorie-tracking app, Cal AI, to MyFitnessPal earlier this year after it hit $30m+ in annual revenue. Not quite what we were up to as sophomores in college…

🌊  The other chicken of the sea: French startup Edonia closed a $16.8m funding round to scale up its spirulina-derived protein. Edo, the minimally processed mince, is made from only nutrient-dense blue-green algae and oil, while offering 27 grams of protein, amino acids, more iron than beef, and fewer ingredients than most meat alternatives. The company's process changes the algae's color, texture, and taste — not everyone's cup of tea — into a fluffy umami-packed grain with a meaty bite.

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

• Quantum leap: Quantum computing startup Oratomic just raised $475m, bumping its valuation to $5.4B — an appropriately large number for a company focused on creating a powerful large-scale, fault-tolerant, error-corrected computer by 2030. Let's hope nobody gets caught in a time warp like Dr. Sam Beckett.
  
• Skip the scalpel: Phantom GI is developing PercStoma, a device that uses an X-ray guided needle and local anesthesia to create an ostomy — a surgical opening that lets waste exit the body — in ~20 minutes to help inoperable bowel obstruction patients.
  
  
• How to train your robot: Robot data startup Mecka AI raised a $60m Series B to train robots on human-generated data. The company pays people to record themselves with body sensors while performing everyday tasks like making coffee and fixing cars — hopefully not at the same time.
  
• Berry good news: California startup High Degree is testing a steam-powered machine that treats soil before farmers plant crops, leading to bigger yields without the use of chemicals. 
  

STARTUP SHORTCUTS

Your shortcut to profitable ideas

You may not have heard of even one startup on this list — but they stand out to us, and may stick around for years to come.

For our “Startup Up” Database, we spotlit trending ventures that have found their perfect-proper edge. A built-to-last selling point. A purpose that makes sense.

Inconspicuous startups:

• Toothpod – Teeth-cleaning chewing gum
• Rodeo – Turning scrolling into real plans with friends
• Cambiotics – “Forever chemical”-fighting probiotics
• Forever Harvest – Cultivating lab-grown fruit
• Fort – Workout-tracking, rep-counting wearable
• Croissant – Resale shopping with buybacks

Stop itching for a signal — here are over 50.

Read for free

THE BIG IDEA

Who’s driving this delivery truck? Nobody

More than 50 years have passed since the road rage thriller film Duel aired, and we still don’t know who’s behind the wheel of that menacing truck — it could have been anyone… or no one. (Yes, film buffs, we glimpse a boot and arms) It's since made some drivers a little uneasy when passing a truck.

So would it ease your mind to know that, literally, “no one” is driving the truck next to you?

It’s increasingly possible, thanks to the autonomous shipping company Gatik.

"Fully driverless means exactly that: there is no driver or safety observer in the vehicle," Gatik told The Hustle.

Retailers and grocers that run their own trucks are shipping more each year, and replacing a driver costs them $12k+ in 2025, according to the National Private Truck Council.

How it started

Gatik said they “started with an existing customer problem: retailers and grocers needed a more reliable way to move goods through the regional networks between distribution centers and stores.”

The trucks, which remotely alert for help when needed, serve urban, semi-urban, and highway settings, focusing on short B2B hauls — moving goods between distribution centers, stores, and fulfillment centers.

Within five years after its formation in 2017, the startup:

• Raised $4.5m in seed funding
  
• Landed Walmart as its first big customer
  
• Raised a $25m Series A
  
• Ran the world's first driverless middle-mile deliveries for Walmart, per Gatik
  
• Raised an $85m Series B led by Koch, bringing its total to $114.5m
  
• Expanded to Texas and Canada

Gatik’s main focus is on high-frequency repeatable routes. That attention to a niche gap in shipping worked.

How it's going

Today, Gatik says its biggest hurdle is scaling safety across its vehicles, routes, and customer networks, while working with regulators and lawmakers across all levels of government. But its track record since 2017 has given it momentum.

Now, Gatik:

• Runs driverless trucks in multiple regions in North America
  
• Has PepsiCo and Loblaw as customers
  
• Completed 85k+ driverless orders, 99%+ on time
  
• Booked $600m+ in contracted revenue
  
• Raised a $200m Series D

“Human-driven and autonomous trucking will coexist for a long time,” Gatik said. So chances are there won’t be a duel — just a truck minding its own business.

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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Enthusiasm is the moat… and your niche hobby just could be your hidden business goldmine.

NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

Acres of land that comprise Canyon View Ranch in Topanga, California, AKA “Disneyland for dogs.” The luxury canine retreat — dreamt up by owners Joe Timko and Randy Neece ~30 years ago — features bone-shaped pools, underground tunnels for running, size-specific playgrounds dubbed Munchkinland and Adventureland, Pirates of the Caribbean-themed sleeping quarters (why not?), and more. It costs $100 a night, boards up to 60 dogs at a time, and, like Disneyland, also has long lines: Wait lists often extend beyond six months, per the LA Times, with some devoted pet parents flying their fur babies in from as far as Dubai to experience it. 

AROUND THE WEB

📅  On this day: In 1992, a 28-pound meteorite crashed into an orange Chevy Malibu in Peekskill, New York.

🛌  Take a trip: Scout some of the planet’s strangest places to sleep.

🐬  Whoa: Dolphins engage in kleptoparasitism, which is gross. What is it?

🚗  That’s interesting: Investigating the death of the small car.

🦫  Aww: Just a light snack.

SHOWER THOUGHT

The use and value of physical art such as paintings and sculptures may increase with the rise of AI. SOURCE

Today's email was brought to you by Ben Berkley, Singdhi Sokpo, and Bill Meincke.

Editing by: Sara "Asleep at the wheel" Friedman.

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