Latest / Elon Musk Podcast / This SpaceX engineer-founded startup raised $10 million in 36 hours

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This SpaceX engineer-founded startup raised $10 million in 36 hours · Elon Musk Podcast

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  Your ultimate authority for daily Elon Musk news.
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  Exploring the world's biggest ideas with your host Will
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  Walden. There's something new everyday.
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  Adrina M raised $10 million in seed funding in 36 hours.
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  This event prompts 1 clear question What makes investors
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  moves so fast to fund a company working on underwater sensing
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  technology now? The answer lies in how Andrina M
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  blends artificial intelligence with a century old defense tool
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  to address modern national security challenges.
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  The company was founded in just 2024 by a former SpaceX engineer
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  and a technologist, and they're developing software and hardware
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  that analyzes sonar data in real time to detect underwater
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  targets like submarines. This fast infusion of capital
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  reflects how much confidence investors have in the startups
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  ability to reshape underwater surveillance.
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  Andrea M focuses on updating hydrophone technology by using
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  machine learning to process sonar data.
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  Hydrophones have assisted us for over a century and remain a
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  primary tool for spotting enemy submarines, but much of the data
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  analysis still relies on manual processes.
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  Operators typically sit in small, enclosed stations wearing
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  headphones and attempt to interpret fuzzy sonar screens.
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  Andreena M Software replaces these analog methods with an
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  automated system that provides immediate, clearer insights into
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  underwater activity. This approach promises faster
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  and more accurate detection of underwater threats.
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  The company intends to use the $10 million to expand its eight
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  person team to 16 employees. Most new hires will be software
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  engineers who will advance the machine learning capabilities of
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  Adrenal AM Systems, and the funding will also support
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  hardware development. The team plans to move beyond
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  pairing off the shelf hydrophones with their software.
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  They aim to build custom buoys embedded with their technology.
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  Building their own hardware will help Adrina M reduce costs while
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  generating richer data to improve their algorithms.
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  Now the founders believe that vertical integration offers a
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  competitive advantage. Centosec points out that many of
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  their competitors combined parts from various sources, creating
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  systems that are expensive and difficult to maintain.
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  Adrina Ms. strategy is to design a complete solution in house,
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  which will make their sensing network cheaper and more
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  reliable. And the company envisions A
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  distributed sonar mesh that provides comprehensive coverage
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  of critical maritime zones. A first round Capital led the
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  seed round, which also included investments from Also Capital,
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  Long Journey Home Brew and Colorado School of Minds Venture
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  Fund. The speed of the deal stemmed in
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  part from how Adrina M team presented a working system
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  rather than a theoretical prototype concept.
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  They also already deployed prototypes off the California
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  coast, demonstrating functional technology.
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  This readiness convinced investors that the company was
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  not years away from meaningful deployment, unlike many early
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  stage defense startups. Investor Mika Osanai of First
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  Round Capital reacted strongly to the potential after reviewing
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  the company's pitch materials, he piloted his own plane from
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  San Francisco to Hawthorne to meet the team.
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  The meeting took place on a Saturday because the startups
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  team was already working through the weekend and by the following
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  Monday they received a term sheet.
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  The pace of these discussions shows how compelling the
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  readiness and technology appear to investors and their
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  technology appeals. Beyond military uses, though,
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  the company sees opportunities in commercial sectors,
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  particularly in port security. The ability to monitor and
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  secure key infrastructure at sea has attracted interest from both
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  the Pentagon and investors who want dual use applications.
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  The focus positions Adrena M to serve both public and private
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  customers, which broadens its market potential.
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  The company also used part of its funding to purchase a boat,
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  which will allow the team to test and deploy hardware system
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  more efficiently. Adrena M encourages its
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  engineers to take an active role in field work rather than
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  limiting themselves to desk work.
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  This approach ensures that the team stays connected to the
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  challenges of deploying technology in real maritime
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  environments. Now, the motivation to create
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  Adrena M stems in part from the family history of one of the
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  founders. The parents immigrated to the
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  United States from the Czech Republic during communist rule,
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  arriving with very little resources, no money, no food.
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  This experience shaped his desire to contribute to national
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  security and build a company that can make a lasting
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  difference for the United States.
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  They see Adrina M as an opportunity to create a company
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  with long term value that serves the country's defense needs.
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  Now, Adrina M plans to continue refining its hardware and
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  software as it grows. The company will use the seed
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  funding to accelerate its development cycle and prepare
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  for larger deployments and bigger customers.
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  By combining advanced software with custom built hardware,
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  Adrina M aims to change how maritime surveillance is
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  conducted and make underwater sensing more affordable and
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  efficient to the government. Adrina M secured $10 million in
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  36 hours because they presented real world progress toward
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  building an advanced underwater sensing network.
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  Not just an idea, but something that actually works.
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