The Saturday Morning Newsletter #34

Paradox, Quotes, Life, Females, Patents, and More

Drew Jackson

April 19, 2025

đź‘‹ Hello friends,

Thank you for joining this week's edition of The Saturday Morning Newsletter. I'm Drew Jackson, and today we're exploring 15 articles, essays, companies, ideas, podcasts, videos, or thoughts that caught my attention this week for their potential to significantly impact our future.

Before we begin: The Saturday Morning Newsletter by Brainwaves arrives in your inbox every Saturday, a concise and casual digest of current events, optimistic news stories, and other interesting tidbits about venture capital, economics, space, energy, intellectual property, philosophy, and beyond. I write as a curious explorer rather than an expert, and I value your insights and perspectives on each subject.

Time to Read: 5 minutes.

Let’s dive in!

#1: Solve Intelligence

Description: Solve Intelligence is an AI-powered assistant for patent attorneys.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Solve Intelligence recently raised $12M in venture capital funding. Their technology helps patent attorneys draft, prosecute, and harvest inventions (prior art) in their patent filings. Many of you will have seen lawyers getting in trouble for using AI in court, but it does seem to be the way of the future, with Solve Intelligence helping to lead the way.

#2: Parallel Systems

Description: Parallel Systems is a developer of autonomous electric railway vehicles.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Parallel Systems recently raised $38M in venture capital funding. Railroads were once the largest freight transport method in the world, but now they are becoming more obsolete. Rail is a safer and more efficient way to move freight than other methods out there. Parallel’s modular vehicle system moves shipping containers throughout the system in a much more efficient, automated manner.

#3: Inventex

Description: Inventex is another patent application automation startup.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Inventex recently raised $2.4M in venture capital funding. Traditional patent drafting services are slow, unpredictable, and potentially limited. In contrast, Inventex’s platform provides transparent pricing combined with simple, down-to-earth explanations of how everything is happening so everyone can follow along, no law background necessary.

#4: General Matter

Description: General Matter is a startup enriching uranium.

Why Is This Company Interesting? General Matter recently raised $50M in venture capital funding. Their mission is to boost the U.S. domestic uranium enrichment supply chain. Currently, the U.S. performs <1% of uranium enrichment, relying on foreign suppliers for almost all of our nuclear fuel. As nearshoring of this industry increases, companies like General Matter continue to capitalize on these trends.

#5: Catchfree

Description: Catchfree is a producer of plant-based seafood.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Catchfree recently raised $1.3M in venture capital funding. Their goal is to create tasty plant-based seafood that helps reduce the environmental impact of fishing and overfishing on the world. This continues the trend of plant-based alternatives for every meat product on the market, slowly taking market share from existing options.

Department of Energy: Advantages and Challenges of Using Nuclear for Data Centers

In this article, the DoE has broken down what it believes are the advantages and challenges of using nuclear energy to power new tech data centers. The advantages are ones you would imagine (24/7 energy, stability, compactness, etc.), but I think the disadvantages are interesting to highlight, listed below:

Reuters: Wind Energy Outlook

A prominent energy research firm, Wood Mackenzie, dramatically reduced its five-year outlook for new U.S. wind energy projects by 40%. They cited Trump administration policies and concerns about macroeconomic issues. Originally, the projections were for 75.8 GW over the period, however, the new estimate is only 45.1 GW.

New York Times: US Relies on China for Critical Minerals

After the pandemic supply chain woes, the U.S. government designated 50 minerals as “critical” to the success of our country. However, the U.S. still obtains more than half of them from China. As export and import restrictions continue to tighten, this dependence can pose a risk for industries that are extremely reliant on these minerals.

New York Times: All-Female Blue Origin Flight

This week, Jeff Bezos’s company Blue Origin launched a space tourism flight with a crew completely comprised of women. There have been mixed reviews on this stunt, with some discussing how this helps shine a light on the lack of women in aerospace, and others saying that since their flight was so short (a couple of minutes is all), it was mostly a publicity stunt and wasn’t actually a “real” mission.

New York Times: The Possibility of Life

A team of researchers may have found life on a distant planet, dubbed K2-18b. This planet orbits a star 120 light-years from Earth. The analysis of the planet’s atmosphere suggests the abundance of a molecule that only has one known source: living organisms (such as marine algae). This is the first time humanity has seen potential biosignatures on a habitable planet.

Pitchbook: Q1 VC Investment Overview

In Q1 of 2025, around 58% of all venture capital investment dollars went into AI/ML companies, signalling that many investors continue to feel FOMO, trying to get their hands on a piece of the pie. In North America, this effect was even more exacerbated, as AI/ML startups claimed 70% of all VC dollars.

Pitchbook: Prioritizing Domestic Investments

Many startups were once celebrated for their “global-first” strategies. However, in the wake of increased global trade protections (US tariffs, quotas, etc.), these startups are beginning to fare poorly. Investors are wondering how quickly they can localize their operations, discussing market and supply chain disruptions, and more. Cross-border deal flow has decreased as a result, with more dollars being refocused on domestic investments.

New York Times: More Tariff Discussions

This article brings the perspective of 4 economists on the U.S. tariff policy—some in favor and others who feel this is a broad overstep. This is the first article I’ve seen from economists who think there might be some good coming out of this policy—an interesting perspective (albeit if you don’t agree).

Big Think: Misunderstood Philosophy Quotes

This article explains the 5 biggest philosophy quotes they believe are misunderstood. If you’re interested in the explanations, the article explains it way better than I could. Here are the 5 quotes:

This week, I read about Jevons Paradox, the thought that instead of letting us work less, AI actually incentivizes working more.

Given the amount and quality of work you can now produce, the opportunity cost of not working has never been higher. Here are a couple of mechanisms of this shift:

I can’t say that I’m an expert on this fact, but I think it’s an interesting thought that we should each dwell on more. The importance of taking a break has never been more extreme.

Take some time to dwell on it.


See you Wednesday for Brainwaves,

Drew Jackson

Twitter: @brainwavesdotme

Email: brainwaves.me@gmail.com

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this content are my own and do not represent the views of any of the companies I currently work for or have previously worked for. This content does not contain financial advice - it is for informational and educational purposes only. Investing contains risks and readers should conduct their own due diligence and/or consult a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Any sponsorship or endorsements are noted and do not affect any editorial content produced.