Deal Memo: Astroforge

Investor’s Note: If you are an investor with Rolling Fun in the Q4 2024 fund, you are now a proud shareholder of Astroforge, the subject of this post! Congratulations on being pre-rich*!

 
 

Mining precious metals from ASTEROIDS at a lower cost and smaller carbon footprint than the current plain-old-earth mining methods? 

I know, I know… that was my first reaction too. 

Many people assume asteroid mining is still 50 years away – but it will happen within 10 years. maybe less. 

When we think of asteroids, we tend to think of the asteroid belt – somewhere far out in space. Astroforge is focused on near-earth asteroids. (The definition of near-earth asteroids here being a round-trip is possible from Earth in 2 years.)

Sound impossible? In fact, humanity has already landed on asteroids, collected material, and returned home – twice. NASA and JAXA (Japan) have both achieved this previously – it just hasn’t been done by a private company – yet.

Three key things have changed to unlock the possibility of commercial asteroid mining over the past 10-20 years. 

  1. Increased visibility of near-earth asteroids - 20 years ago, we were only aware of a few thousand near-earth asteroids. With improvements in telescopes and satellites, we now track over 2 million and have higher-quality images. (important.) 

  2. 10x decrease cost of space launch - Due to SpaceX and the increasing frequency of launches, and rideshares, the cost of getting crafts into space is much lower. 

  3. Maturing space industry - More suppliers, cheaper and more reliable components, and a deeper pool of talent and experience. 


Previous companies have pursued space mining (Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources), but both struggled due to the massive costs of 1) getting to space 2) building spacecraft. The costs of both of these have decreased by two orders of magnitude over the past 40 years, as is shown (along with some very optimistic projections about the future) here:

 
 

We now have the foundational technologies and economies that building a space-mining company requires. It is just now becoming possible, though most people still think it is insane.

Now, what are we mining? Great question. Platinum-group metals. These are critical inputs for many commercial uses (Catalytic converters, electronics, aerospace, and more). And they are expensive – current market values of PGMs range from $4k to $150k per pound. These metals are expensive because they are useful and difficult to get. They are difficult to get because PGM deposits are usually found in low concentration, deep underground, and often in politically challenged geographies.

So, finding a source of cheap, abundant PGMs would be great for humanity. And it turns out, some near-earth asteroids are very rich in PGMs. So let’s go get them.

 
 

Co-Founder and CEO Matt Gialich has assembled a remarkable team of space veterans to accomplish this mission. Most recently, Robyn Ringuette joined as COO. Previously, he was at SpaceX early in 2004, working directly with Tom Mueller and Elon Musk. During his eight-year tenure, he was directly responsible for the fabrication, assembly, and delivery of every rocket engine and propulsion component on Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Dragon.

Matt and his small team (~30) have been executing like maniacs. They send my favorite kind of investor updates: monthly like clockwork, full of clear milestones from the past month and next month.

There is a lot to find inspiring here. The scale of the vision, the fact that this company could be unlocking new natural resources for humanity, and the potential to massively improve the conditions of humans on earth.

Mining – especially mining for PGMs – is dirty and dangerous. The terrestrial mining industry causes 2-7% of global CO2 emissions. One particularly inspiring piece of the long-term vision for Astroforge: Mining on earth will be made illegal. If we can cheaply and safely obtain material from space – why would we allow the pollution, death, and environmental damage done by today’s mining practices?

Once again, technology shows the path to stewarding Earth as a quiet, green, safe utopian garden paradise. We’re proud investors in Astroforge and thrilled to support their work.

Get Updated on Astroforge

It’s an exciting time for Astroforge right now. If you want to keep updated on what’s happening, feel free to follow Matt Gialich and Astroforge on X.

Here are some recent tweets from Astroforge:

If you are an investor with Rolling Fun in the Q4 2024 fund, you are now a proud shareholder of Astroforge! You also have an inside scoop at what’s happening to Astroforge. To support the company, please share their website with investors you know or help fill some of the open positions.

Want to invest your money into early-stage utopian startups like Astroforge?

When new technologies meet the market, the world changes for the better. That's why we invest our money into obsessive geniuses building utopian technologies.

We write small checks to 15-20 very different startups each year. Previous investments include​ ​Aalo Atomics​​,​ ​Atom Limbs​​,​ ​Ouros Energy​​,​ ​Stell Engineering​​,​ ​Airship​​,​ ​Terraform Industries​​,​ ​Longshot​​,​ ​Dirac​​, Occam,​ ​Atomic Industries​​ and more.

Our​ ​Website​​ has background on the fund, our past deals, and more.

*Pre-rich is cheeky fun and not a guarantee of being future rich. Startup investing is risky, illiquid, and not for the faint-of-heart. Be warned.

Accredited Investors: reply to this email, I'll send you our deck, and we'll get you into our deals starting this quarter.

Startups, TechEric JorgensonTech, StartupsComment