DTN 120: Silicon Valley’s Arms Dealer

Plus: Cyborg beetles, robotic beehives, tree-planting drones, pulling water from thin air, US Army tests laser weapons, rare earth deal with China, and more.

July 03, 2025

“Our slogan at Boost VC is ‘be the cockroach.’ The idea is that a cockroach is something that will always survive. Like a cockroach, no other startup wants you in their space. And when conditions are right, you can massively expand.”

Meet Silicon Valley’s Arms Dealer Will Somerindyke

“For years, Will Somerindyke sold weapons of war around the world: artillery shells to Ukraine, grenades to U.S.-backed rebels in Syria. With relationships with dozens of top military buyers, he quickly turned his company Regulus Global into one of America’s major international arms dealers.

Now, as Silicon Valley investors swarm to back multi-billion dollar defense startups with increasing fervor, Somerindyke is looking to make the jump from munitions middleman to manufacturer. He’s been quietly working on Union, a new venture-backed startup he claims will modernize ammunition factories with autonomous robotics and precision machining.”

A pilot project in the north of Canada's Quebec province is using drones to plant new black spruces and jack pines and help reforestation efforts in areas devastated by wildfires.

In response to record-breaking wildfires that devastated forests in 2023, Canada is using drones to accelerate reforestation efforts in hard-hit areas like northern Quebec. The company Flash Forest is deploying drones that plant seed capsules containing nutrients and fungi to improve tree growth. Each drone can plant up to 50,000 trees per day, targeting recent burn zones where natural regeneration is unlikely. Indigenous communities, including the Cree Nation, are actively involved in the effort, working directly with Flash Forest to plan the local reforestation. (via Phys.org)

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