Archive for the ‘Portfolio’ Category

How Soon Will Tourists Be Traveling to Space?

Posted on: March 22nd, 2021 by Kirenaga Partners

How about a post-COVID adventure into the cosmos?

With no concrete end in sight to this pandemic (thanks anti-maskers), we’re forced to think about what the future of travel may hold. And by the time we’re actually able to leave the country and explore our beautiful world, there may be an even wilder option for the adventure seekers out there—space travel.

That’s right, in the next few years, multiple companies are gearing up to take you to space. You’ll be able to float in zero gravity, marvel at our beautiful blue ball from afar (flat earthers be damned), and see more stars than you could ever imagine. This isn’t a giant hoax (like the idea that masks don’t work), this is a real thing that you’ll really be able to do—that is, if you have the money.

So, here’s to hoping that locking ourselves in our homes for a year or two will be rewarded with the ultimate travel adventure of leaving Earth behind.

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Space Perspective

Teaming up with Exclusive Resorts (a members-only vacation club), Space Perspective is planning to send travel explorers up to the edge of space via a balloon dubbed Spaceship Neptune. Exclusive Resorts members will get priority flights as eight people will soar to over 100,000 feet on a six-hour journey to see the curvature of the earth up close and personal. Flights are planned for 2024 and probably won’t be cheap. Memberships to Exclusive Resorts has initiation fees in the six figures and per-day vacation costs over $1,000. Still, you’re almost in space!

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Amid pandemic, robotic food companies have fresh selling point

Posted on: June 15th, 2020 by Kirenaga Partners

Vertical agriculture company Plenty Inc. has an unusual selling point: Its crops of arugula, kale and microgreens are grown in an indoor farm run by robots. That hasn’t always been a winning proposition. Two years ago, the company had to scale back an ambitious international expansion plan, realizing it wasn’t ready to bear the cost of pricey new markets despite having taken more than $200 million in funding.

But now, with coronavirus heightening food safety concerns, Plenty has a fresh angle. From planting through harvest, its vegetables don’t encounter human hands, meaning fewer chances for virus contamination. “What people seem to be wanting is they want to know their food is safe,” said Chief Executive Officer Matt Barnard. Plenty, which is backed by SoftBank Group Corp, sells packaged greens indoors and on automated vertical planters. “Our goal is for the person eating the food to be the first one who has touched it,” he said.

Before the pandemic, robot-prepared food companies were a hit with investors, but ambitious sales goals didn’t materialize. Last year, robot coffee maker Cafe X shuttered locations, and pseudo-robot café Eatsa and robotic pizza-chef Zume pivoted to different businesses. Zume, formerly Zume Pizza Inc., raised $375 million from SoftBank in 2018 for its vision of having machines assemble pizzas in the back of moving vehicles. By this year, the company had cut 360 employees, put its double-decker pizza making party bus named “Martha” up for sale at a discount, and refocused on sustainable packaging.

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Device Uses UV light to fight off germs and viruses such as Covid-19

Posted on: March 19th, 2020 by Kirenaga Partners

ORLANDO, Fla. – CEO of Violet Defense, Terrance Berland, said on Wednesday that his company’s product could cut down on the spread of the coronavirus. 

Their machine uses ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) light to kill bacteria, germs, and viruses like the coronavirus.

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