Assertion Not checkable as stated
K2 Space delivers comparable power to Viasat-3 at a 10x lower price
“Viasat-III, one of the most high-powered, sort of, like, satellites ever launched into orbit. I think it was, like, 26 kilowatts of power. Cost 500 plus million dollars to make. You can launch one of them at a time. K-II's satellites are 20 kilowatts apiece. Y…”
Insight
Diversification is the enemy of outlier returns for venture capitalists
“We are highly concentrated investors. We think diversification is the enemy of outlier returns.”
Opinion
The US government gets far more value per dollar from Anduril
“Ultimately, like, the government is just getting a lot more value per dollar of spend by buying from Andrel”
What-if
Technologies acquired by Anduril would not have reached the military otherwise
“They've identified the technology and that technology probably never would have found its way into the hands of, you know, the government or the warfighter without Andrel”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Only a couple of massive drone companies will emerge despite growing demand
“I don't think there are going to be a hundred massive drone companies. I think there will be a couple. I do think that drones are going to play a major role in, you know you know, future conflicts and defense.”
Insight
Hardtech startups gain an advantage by monopolizing talent against fewer competitors
“You kind of can attract, like, exceptional talent into your company at an early stage because there's kind of, like, nobody else doing this thing, and so if someone is passionate or wants to come work on something that's meaningful, that's difficult, that's ch…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
K2 Space produces reaction wheels 10x to 100x cheaper than Honeywell
“Where you're going to buy a reaction wheel from Honeywell that's going to cost Two million dollars a piece. Well, they can build theirs for, again, like, you know, a 10 or a hundred x reduction in price, and you do that across the entire bus.”
Insight
Falling launch costs make larger, high-power satellite designs strictly superior
“Bigger is better in space. You can have, you know, more power, more aperture, more mass. All of that leads to being more effective. The more power you have, Like, it's directly tied to, for instance, if it's a communications use case, like, it's directly tied …”
Insight
Biannual tender offers allow elite companies like SpaceX to stay private longer
“As we've seen with SpaceX you know, they do biannual tenders where if you're an early stage investor or an employee there's opportunities for liquidity, and they've done that very successfully, and you're gonna continue to see that. Now you're seeing that more…”
Prediction Held up
SpaceX will complete more than 160 rocket launches in 2025
“I think it will for sure be above one 50, but given those options, above one 60, maybe even one 70.”
Disclosure
Anduril is Altimeter Capital's biggest bet by position size
“Biggest bet right now in terms of position size is Andrel.”
Assertion Supported
Index Ventures sourced and co-led the seed round for Bridge
“That led us to kind of like source and co-lead the seed for bridge, which eventually got acquired by Stripe after I had since left.”
Disclosure
Altimeter's investment in SpaceX informed its bet on K2 Space
“Obviously our investment, you know, in SpaceX helped inform our investment in K-II.”
Disclosure
Altimeter made its first investment in Anduril in fall 2023
“In, in fall of 20, 23, we made our first investment.”
Disclosure
Public Nvidia and Snowflake positions informed Altimeter's private CoreWeave investments
“All of the private sort of, you know, investment in stuff that was going on in 2022 informed, you know, our public investment into NVIDIA and our public investment in NVIDIA helped inform our private investment into CoreWeave and our, you know, relationship wi…”
Assertion Contradicted
Altimeter Capital has made fewer than 70 private investments across seven funds
“We're investing out of our seventh venture fund right now. I, you know, don't quote me on this, but I think like less than 70 total investments on, on the private side across those seven funds.”
Disclosure
Altimeter writes $15M to $25M for Series A and $250M+ for growth
“If we're doing a Series A, it's typically like a 15 to twenty million dollar check, or maybe 25, and then, you know, at growth stages, call it 50 to, you know, two 50 or more.”
