Deep Tech Connections (DTC) August 2025 Newsletter
Sharing updates, highlights, and opportunities from our deep tech community, where entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, corporate innovators, and government professionals come together.
✨ A Community of Innovators!
Every time I step into a Deep Tech Connections event, I’m reminded of the incredible energy that fills the room when passionate individuals come together to push the boundaries of technology. Last Friday’s breakfast was no exception. We had a packed room, meaningful conversations, and the rare opportunity to host 16 incredible teams from the Hacking for Defense program. These teams are building at the very edge of deep tech, tackling real-world national security challenges with innovative solutions that have the potential to scale across both defense and commercial sectors. And for those of us with an eye on the future, these teams represent exciting investment opportunities that could drive transformative change across industries.
But what truly makes these events special is the power of connection. It’s the conversations between entrepreneurs, investors, and government professionals that fuel the community we’re building. These moments of collaboration are where the magic happens, sparking new ideas and partnerships that can propel the next wave of innovation.
If you weren’t able to join us, I hope this newsletter gives you a glimpse into the energy of the event and maybe even inspires some new ideas for how we can continue to support your work in deep tech.
Looking forward to seeing you at the next one!
🎤 Highlights from Our July Breakfast
John Petkosek | Program Manager, Hacking for Defense (BMNT)
John introduced the Hacking for Defense (H4D) program, an initiative that pairs university students with real-world national security problems. What started as a small experiment a decade ago has now expanded to 64 universities, helping the Department of Defense solve complex challenges through rapid, innovative solutions. John’s message was clear: innovation in defense can come from anywhere, and H4D is opening doors for young minds to contribute to some of the most pressing issues of our time.
If you’re working in defense tech and looking for new ways to engage, John’s call for collaboration with academic institutions was a great takeaway. There are plenty of opportunities for deep tech innovators to play a key role.
Stevan Youssef | DISF-C Program Lead (BMNT)
Stevan introduced the Defense Innovation Summer Fellowship - Commercialization Track (DISF-C), a 10-week intensive accelerator for top-performing H4D teams. The program helps founders validate both commercial and defense use cases, preparing them for launch with tailored mentorship, deep market discovery, and exposure to federal innovation leaders.
Shally Shanker | Founder, AiiM Partners
Shally brought a powerful perspective to the morning, diving into impact investing and emphasizing technologies that address environmental sustainability, energy efficiency, and the industrial transition. At AIIM Partners, she and her team work closely with founders from the earliest stages, often taking board seats and assisting with product-market fit, customer development, and team building.
She underscored the value of government-backed contracts in validating technical solutions and attracting follow-on investment. For entrepreneurs navigating early growth, her message was clear: the right capital partners don’t just write checks, they help build companies.
Don’t miss the next event!
Join us on August 29 for our next Deep Tech Connections breakfast in Palo Alto
🚀 🚀 Team Spotlights | DISF-C 2025 Cohort 🚀 🚀
Defense Innovation Summer Fellowship - Commercialization
We hosted all 16 DISF-C teams in-person this month. Each startup is working on a validated national security problem with clear commercial potential.
If you'd like to connect with any of them, please reach out to serdar@deeptechconnections.com
ArgusNet: A unified data aggregation layer that automatically pulls and fuses unclassified satellite imagery, UAV footage, and OSINT into a single, natural-language interface to give analysts and operators instant situational awareness.
Haldune: Haldune is an interactive, natural-language briefing and debriefing tool that captures and delivers critical experiential knowledge, the “how” and “why” behind decisions.
Hoc Net: MeshZone is a flexible, portable solution that boosts bandwidth in remote, harsh environments, reducing dead zones and ensuring seamless connectivity.
HydraStrike: “Spider Egg” is an undersea platform that delivers multiple undersea kinetic effectors and FPV drones inside a compact body that can swim out from submarine launch tubes, as well as other launch platforms.
Hyperwatch: An attritable, high-altitude balloon system capable of tracking hypersonic threats, operating autonomously with station-keeping accuracy using wind vectoring and buoyancy control.
Invigilare: Marine Domain Awareness System (MDAS): an array of open-ocean radar data powered by a fleet of self-sustained radar transmitters, developed to combat drug smuggling in maritime environments. MDAs use wind power to charge their internal batteries.
Team Tank: Friend or Foe integrates Blue Force Tracking (BFT) data into the Commander’s Independent Thermal Viewer (CITV) of the M1A2 Abrams so the system overlays a symbol directly on the display for visual confirmation of the target’s status.
Neolens: A voice-to-text LLM platform specifically trained on hundreds of thousands of technical manuals that provides step-by-step instructions and explanations for anyone who needs to repair or maintain vehicles and equipment in highly contested, resource-constrained environments.
HopLynk: A ruggedized, handheld portable bonding router designed to aggregate multiple communication paths, including SATCOM, 5G, LTE, wired connections, radio over IP, and other available networks.
Omnyra: AI-powered screening tool designed to flag synthetic biological threats that escape traditional sequence-based detection systems, leveraging protein language models (PLMs), structural simulation tools, and multi-tier classification to detect engineered sequences that behave like pathogens, even if they are novel or AI-generated.
OrcaLink: AI-powered software to enhance tactical communications and improve military mission readiness. Our proposed solution is a real-time monitoring platform that centralizes and visualizes tactical radio traffic, geolocation data, and communication timelines.
Phantom Guard: The system utilizes passive RF sensing to detect unauthorized activity in areas lacking traditional radar coverage, providing actionable aircraft detection without the high cost of a radar system.
SkyNavigator: “AWACS-like” unmanned long-duration, high altitude platform for persistent ISR.
SpecTrack: SpecTrack unites the Army’s spectrum management software into a Common Operating Picture (COP). SpecTrack unites seven systems into one easy-to-use app. This enables the use of modeling on spectrum data to predict not only the optimal frequencies for any given area, but also the most suitable devices.
SpoofNet: An integrated hardware/software solution that simulates realistic communication between decoy nodes.
SupplyShield: A graph‑based digital‑twin platform that ingests contracts, ERP exports, shipping logs, and customs data and renders an interactive tier‑N supply‑chain model providing each supplier with a 0‑100 Risk Score and the ability to test events.
ZuLeris: ZuLeris Interactive uses game engine technology to create digital twins of real-world locations and complex systems into immersive, interactive virtual environments. With this, ZuLeris can provide realistic simulations and visualizations of complex, "invisible" systems, such as electromagnetic warfare, to be used for enhanced awareness, tactical training, and operational planning.
🗓️ Join Us for Our August Networking Breakfast
Deep Tech Connections’ Networking Breakfast
Date: Friday, August 29th
Time: 8:30 - 10:30 AM PST
Make sure to register here! Come start your morning with coffee, conversation, and some of the brightest minds in deep tech. Whether you're a founder, investor, researcher, or just curious about what's next, this is a chance to connect in a relaxed setting and explore new ideas together.
We’d love to see you there!
🤝 Our Distinguished Partners
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Pillsbury is one of the world’s foremost law firms, advising Technology companies and their investors, as well as clients in the Energy & Infrastructure, Financial, Life Sciences & Digital Health, Real Estate & Construction, and other dynamic industries.
Petrinovich Pugh & Co., LLP (PP&Co)
PP&Co is a California-based full-service certified public accounting and consulting firm. Founded in 1951, the firm provides specialized services in tax planning and compliance, assurance, business consulting, technology strategy, wealth management, and international tax.
Five Star Bank - California
Five Star Bank is a reputable community bank that has helped businesses start up, grow, and succeed through relationship-based banking and best-in-class treasury solutions.
💫 For partnership questions, please email info@deeptechconnections.com.
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