We are a venture capital fund envisioning a future civilization that is not only self-sufficient, but also interplanetary.
We invest in startups building the technologies, infrastructure, and services that will be integral as we progress towards a Type I Civilization.
—Tarek Waked, Founding Patner, Type One Ventures
The Kardashev Scale
The Kardashev scale is a classification system proposed by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev in 1964 to categorize hypothetical advanced civilizations based on the amount of usable energy they can harness and utilize.
Type I Civilization
A Type I civilization can harness and utilize all the energy available on its home planet, estimated at around 10^16 watts.
Type II Civilization
A Type II civilization can harness the total energy output of its parent star, estimated at around 10^26 watts. This would involve building mega-structures like a Dyson sphere to capture the star's entire energy output.
Type III Civilization
A Type III civilization can control the energy resources of an entire galaxy, estimated at around 10^36 watts. This would require harnessing the energy from billions of stars within a galaxy.
Type .73
Freeman Dyson, a British-American theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his work in quantum field theory, suggested that humanity is currently at a Type 0.73 civilization level, due to the fact that we continue to maintain our energy needs through use of fuels such as coal, oil or natural gas.
In order to achieve Type I civilization status, we’d need to effectively have control over the entire energy output of our host planet, reducing losses where possible, and thwarting the potential dangers of climate change.
This may require a change to the current world system. For more on that, check out my article here → on The Current State of the World System.
But for now, funds like Type One Ventures, and the companies they back, are filling the gap. Included in their portfolio are heavy hitters like:
SpaceX
OpenAI
Anthropic
Neuralink
Plaid
But I wanted to highlight a few other companies you may not have heard of just yet.
Radian Aerospace
Radian Aerospace is a private American aerospace company based in Seattle, Washington, founded in 2016.
They’re main product line is a revolutionary spaceplane concept called Radian One, which aims to be the world's first single-stage-to-orbit, fully reusable space vehicle capable of horizontal takeoff and landing.
Radian One is designed to carry up to 5 crew members and payloads to low Earth orbit, with a downmass capability of up to 10,000 pounds.
It will use a rocket-powered sled for horizontal takeoff, and be able to land on any runway for rapid reusability, with a targeted turnaround time of just 48 hours.
In January 2022, Radian closed a $27.5 million seed funding round led by Fine Structure Ventures to support development of Radian One.
The company aims to enable new industries like space manufacturing, research, terrestrial observation, and even rapid global delivery of payloads to anywhere on Earth within an hour.
Building Radian One would be the "holy grail" of spaceflight and potentially revolutionize access to space.
Daanaa
Daanaa is a Canadian startup company based in Vancouver and developing efficient, wireless energy transfer.
Founded in 2018, Daanaa (meaning "wise" in Farsi) aims to be the standard for power transactions across industries and create a sustainable energy future.
They are creating a unique chip-based solution called the Power Transaction Unit (PTU) that enables free, safe, and efficient wireless power transfer through various materials like wood, plastic, glass, and concrete.
The PTU technology allows bidirectional and position-free power transactions between multiple devices of different sizes, shapes, and power requirements, ranging from 1W to 10kW and beyond.
It can perform multiple power electronics functions like generation, storage, distribution, consumption, and management of energy from any source using a single programmable module.
For solar power, Daanaa's technology increases energy generation from the same surface area by eliminating losses from series connections.
It simplifies installation, reduces maintenance costs, and enables power generation even in partially obstructed conditions.
In electric vehicles (EVs), it allows wireless charging with parking position freedom and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) functionality to support grid infrastructure.
For battery management systems (BMS), it optimizes battery life, storage, and system efficiency through cell-level power conversion monitoring and management.
The technology improves overall system efficiency, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and enables new use cases previously limited by conventional methods.
OrbitFab
Orbit Fab is an American startup company based in Lafayette, Colorado, that specializes in developing in-space refueling systems and services for satellites and spacecraft.
Yes they are building a space gas station.
CEO Daniel Faber and CDO Jeremy Schiel co-founded the company in 2018 with the goal of extending the operational lifetime of satellites through refueling by developing the “Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface” (RAFTI), a standardized refueling port for spacecraft that enables docking without robotic arms.
As early as 2025 they plan to offer refueling services starting in geostationary orbit, initially providing hydrazine propellant at $20 million per 100 kg, with plans to expand to other orbits and propellants like xenon, water, and nitrogen.
They already have contracts with NASA, Northrop Grumman, the U.S. Air Force, Astroscale, and the U.S. Department of Defense worth over $21 million for refueling demonstrations and services.
This "gas stations in space" ecosystem, could enable new business models like space manufacturing, tourism, and mining.
Conclusion
The single most important thing is to make sure that this spark that exists here on planet Earth, gets to be elsewhere…
…I think the universe is empty and quiet, and it wants to be woken up and filled with beautiful things.
—Claire Elise Boucher (Grimes)
Great spotlight
Talking of Daana l would want to read more about it and the technology they are developing, it seems to be revolutionary. The space industry seems to be evolving with time and l think with spaceships like Radian one this brings us to a new era of space technology lets see how this goes. This was an interesting article to read, well researched and written. Great insights man