FF Science, a unit inside Peter Thiel's Founders Fund that's focused on moonshot-type technology bets, has disclosed backing three startups so far. Two of them are far from Silicon Valley—both of them MIT-connected startups based in Cambridge.
The latest is Accion Systems, which is developing next-gen propulsion systems for satellites—with an approach that aims to "break from [the] slow, expensive aerospace tradition," the company said in its announcement.
Accion has raised a $2 million seed round led by FF Science; other investors included RRE Ventures, SDF Ventures, Founder Collective, Galvanize Ventures, Slow Ventures and Rene Reinsberg (founder of Locu).
Accion was one of the 15 startups out of MIT's Global Founders' Skills Accelerator this year (Lauren Landry covered its Demo Day in the fall). From the Accion news release:
Accion develops advanced electric propulsion systems that provide critical capabilities for small satellites. Over the past year, they’ve started taking pre-orders for their first product that is in development and will launch later in 2015. Accion CEO and founder Natalya Brikner says “our unique propellants and novel manufacturing techniques let us break from slow, expensive aerospace tradition and leverage advances in areas like 3D printing and nanofabrication”.
The funding will go toward R&D, product development and sales; the company is looking to hire engineers, materials scientists and a sales/biz dev employee.
In August, FF Science backed Transatomic Power, a Cambridge startup working to develop a new type of nuclear power reactor that was launched out of MIT. The only other investment disclosed by FF Science so far is biotech startup Immusoft.
FF Science—whose parent firm Founders Fund has the motto "We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters”—was formed "to take more gambles on early-stage startups tackling difficult technical problems," Re/code reported at the unit's formation last summer.
Thiel—the tech entrepreneur and investor who who helped give us PayPal and Facebook—spoke about why entrepreneurs should avoid the big trends at Boston University in December.
