SPACE

Quantum Meets the Final Frontier

Loft Orbital is like Uber for satellites. Yesterday, the tech startup said Honeywell and the Canadian Space Agency have booked a ride for the Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat). 

Wait, what? 

Let’s rewind. Earlier this summer, Honeywell came out of nowhere to announce it’s built the world’s most powerful commercial quantum computer. 

Evidently, Honeywell and the Canadian Space Agency have been in chats about launching one into space. The satellite will perform quantum key distribution, which is traditionally done over fiber networks (thus limited to a transmission range of ~125 miles). 

• Here’s how it will work: An optical ground station sends a quantum key into space, QEYSSat receives and verifies it, then transmits the key to another ground station. 

The launch, while 18–24 months away, will be North America’s proof of concept for space-based quantum communication. China launched the first quantum satellite, Micius, in 2016. 

Back to Uber for satellites 

Loft buys washing machine-sized minisatellites from different vendors, then fits them with an adapter that lets customers attach specific instruments. Loft’s clients span commercial (Honeywell), civil (UAE Space Agency), and military (Pentagon tech lab DARPA) organizations. 

• Loft typically puts multiple customers’ payloads on a satellite, like an Uber Pool. But QEYSSat, Loft’s biggest contract to date, is getting its own personal Uber. 

Loft’s launch vehicles include Russia’s Soyuz, India’s PSLV, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9. “We tend to like SpaceX a lot because they are way cheaper,” co-CEO Pierre-Damien Vaujour told me.

A new SaaS?

Loft likes to say it operates microsatellites as a service. It’s not building space applications, Vaujour said, just providing the infrastructure. “We abstract away all the complexity of a space mission” by handling regulatory compliance, launchers, satellite integration, ground stations, and data transmission. 

Loft gets recurring subscription revenue from customers, and the pricing scales with space and resource power consumption. “We want to be AWS for space,” Vaujour said, referring to Amazon’s cloud computing arm. I need to get my analogies straight.

Big picture: Right now, space has few highly developed applications, but new ones are coming online. “To me, it’s very akin to the start of the internet,” Vaujour said.  

+ While we’re here: If you’re mixing up qubits and Quibis, check out the Brew’s quantum computing primer.

MOBILITY

Ford Is Brimming With Jims

"We know our competition today. It's Amazon, Baidu, Tesla, Apple, and others.”—Ford COO Jim Farley, who will take the top job this fall.

Yesterday, Ford said current CEO Jim Hackett will retire on Oct. 1. The 117-year-old auto company’s stock is down nearly 40% since Hackett took over, while Tesla’s is up ~640%.

Jim #1: Hackett previously headed Ford’s AV unit. As CEO, he killed off sedans, focused on larger vehicles, and led the (gradual) pivot to electrification.

• The Mach-E will start rolling off production lines this year, with the e-F150 slated for 2022. 
• Under Hackett’s watch, Ford invested $500 million in EV startup Rivian. Ford will build EVs on Rivian's skateboard platform in the U.S. and Volkswagen's MEB platform in Europe. 

Jim #2: Ford was grooming Farley, who’s worked on EV strategy, mobility partnerships, and AVs. As Ford expands into a full-stack mobility, autonomy, and software company, I’d expect its Palo Alto outpost to grow under Farley.

+ While we’re here: Ford notched a surprise profit last quarter thanks to its stake in Argo AI. Volkswagen finalized a $3.5 billion investment in the self-driving company.

SPONSORED BY TERRANOVA SECURITY

Something Smells Phishy

Even though it’s our job to send e-newsletters, we (embarrassingly) have been duped by a phishing email or two, which is why we’re signing up for the 2020 Gone Phishing Tournament—and so should you.

The big fish of phishing awareness at Terranova Security are hosting their second annual tournament, co-sponsored by Microsoft. This tournament provides cyber security and risk management leaders with data-driven insights that show how their phishing risk level stacks up against their peers.

You’ll be riding a wave of cyber security knowledge surrounded by a sea of data experts. You won’t have to worry about sharks, just cyber threats and clickbait. 

Join us on the anti-phishing trip that will provide your organization with the data-backed insights needed to grow your security awareness programs.

You’ll even leave with a personalized edition of the Gone Phishing Tournament annual report. 

Register for free here.

CRYPTO

Dominating Digital Payments

China’s digital currency is often seen as a foil to Facebook’s Libra, but the real competition may be closer to home. 

The People’s Bank of China hopes “its new digital currency will reduce the dominance of Alibaba and Tencent in digital payments,” sources told the FT. The dominance of Ant, Alibaba’s fintech arm, and WeChat Pay has reportedly chafed central bankers. 

• Ant is eyeing a $200 billion IPO. Its Alipay app controlled 55% of China’s mobile payment market in Q1, per iResearch. 

The PBOC is piloting the currency, known for now as “digital currency/electronic payment,” with state-run banks and telecoms in four Chinese cities. DC/EP is backed 1:1 by deposit reserves and doesn’t generate interest. It could eventually expedite digital payments and interbank/cross-border settlements. 

As always, there’s a U.S.-China angle. Some geopolitical pundits say DC/EP is designed to dethrone the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. “If America is smart, it will wake up and start competing for dominance in digital payments,” historian Niall Ferguson has written.

BITS & BYTES

Stat: The Google Pixel 4A costs $349 and starts shipping this month. The phone has earned great reviews for its camera and battery life. It also has a headphone jack!

Quote: “It's one of the fundamental assumptions of the Arm business model that it can sell to everybody....The one saving grace about SoftBank was that it wasn't a chip company, and retained Arm's neutrality.”—Arm cofounder Hermann Hauser told the BBC that the chip designer selling to Nvidia would be a disaster. 

See: Ford is using Fluffy, a modified Boston Dynamics Spot robot, to laser-scan facilities.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• TikTok stuff: The U.S. government wants a finder’s fee for the Microsoft deal.  ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming told employees that Washington “lash[es] out at us with harsh criticism.” He’s faced criticism from Chinese netizens for considering a U.S. TikTok acquisition; some have called him a “traitor.”  
• Reels, Instagram’s TikTok clone, launched today.
• The European Commission is launching an “in-depth investigation” into Google’s proposed takeover of Fitbit. 
• Goldman Sachs is building an app for M&A. 
• Twitter says the FTC may soon fine the company $250 million for using phone numbers and email addresses for ad targeting. 
• Microsoft’s xCloud game-streaming service will launch on September 15.
• Up in Maine: Portland’s city council unanimously voted to ban government usage of facial recognition.

TRIVIA

Between a historic antitrust hearing and blowout earnings, Big Tech wasn’t twiddling its thumbs last week. Let’s test your retention of the top developments. 

Take the quiz here.

TECH THINGAMABOBS

For following the day traders: Robintrack shows how many Robinhood traders hold a stock over a given period of time. Yesterday, the site launched a barometer tool, which shows the aggregate level of retail trading activity across the entire market. 

For the Intel lowdown: This LinkedIn post explains how the chipmaker lost its way and ceded “dominance in the computer industry.”  

ICYMI

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions: 

• U.S. census data shows low AI adoption rates among U.S. businesses
• Udacity and Coursera see strong growth
• Tech trivia, bitcoin edition