Andrew Chung
How Gordon Moore Helped Shape My View on ...

Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel Corporation, has died at 94. It's hard to express Gordon’s impact in ushering in an era where microchips are in everyday devices everywhere, from laptops to phones to children’s toys. A talk with Gordon years ago helped shape my view on innovation. Read my perspective on how predictable experience curves (like Moore’s Law) united in novel ways can create unpredictable outcomes and wildly successful products.

How Gordon Moore Helped Shape My View on Innovation
Andrew Chung
1955 Reinvests in Nature’s Fynd's $350M Series C

Congrats to 1955 Capital’s portfolio company Nature’s Fynd for raising $350 million. I’m grateful and humbled that Thomas (CEO) and Matt (CFO) chose 1955 as their Series A lead investor back in 2018, and we remain strong supporters, with $50 million invested to date. We are thrilled to partner with Softbank, Blackstone, Hillhouse, Balyasny Asset Management, Hongkou, EDBI, and SK in this round. The founders’ incredible vision is unchanged, and they continue to show tremendous progress toward achieving their goal: to build the next great sustainable food company and impact the lives of millions around the globe.

1955 Reinvests in Nature’s Fynd's $350M Series C
Kathy Chen
Fortune Op-Ed: Andrew Chung on The American ...

From Fortune raceAhead, by Ellen McGirt, March 23, 2021

Today, we turn this space over to Andrew Chung, a first-generation Asian American and founder and managing partner of 1955 Capital. He shares his experience with racism, his anguish over the murders in Atlanta, and issues a very specific call to action.

The American Dream at Risk

…My father dutifully wore a mask in a local pharmacy and was harassed by a patron who yelled, ‘Nobody’s wearing a mask in here, you’re scaring everyone with this whole China Virus!’ Dad was scared for his life and took off his mask, putting his health at risk... I had to call my parents and ask them to give up their cherished freedoms, because our collective voice has been too soft to drive the change that would keep them safe. Asian Americans and other minorities have taken steps backward because of failed leadership, and people need to express their anguish over events like those in Atlanta... Take a stand against bigotry and encourage your organizations to do the same... It’s time to speak up and take collective action.

Posted on Fortune and on Medium

Fortune Op-Ed: Andrew Chung on The American Dream at Risk

500th Use of Noah Medical's Galaxy System Conducted at CHI Memorial

500th Use of Noah Medical's Galaxy System Conducted at CHI Memorial

The 500th use of Noah Medical’s Galaxy System in the United States was conducted at CHI Memorial in Chattanooga by Dr. Krish Bhadra. CHI Memorial is also the first hospital in Tennessee to adopt the Galaxy technology. The procedure marks an important step for Noah in the commercial rollout of its image-integrated robotic assisted bronchoscopy system in the U.S.

Designed in collaboration with physicians, the Galaxy System features a groundbreaking combination of innovative new technologies and features, including proprietary integrated tomosynthesis (TiLT+ Technology™) with augmented fluoroscopy, a disposable single-use bronchoscope with always-on vision, and a small, compact footprint that allows for easy integration into most bronchoscopy suites. Recent results have shown the Galaxy Systems’ ability to achieve 100% successful navigation to lesion, 100% diagnostic yield and 95% tool-in-lesion accuracy in a preclinical trial, and 100% tool-in-lesion accuracy and 90-95% diagnostic yield in a human trial.

World’s First Fungi-Based Yogurt from Nature’s Fynd Launching At Whole Foods Market Stores Nationally

World’s First Fungi-Based Yogurt from Nature’s Fynd Launching At Whole Foods Market Stores Nationally

Nature’s Fynd has launched their new-to-the-world product at Whole Foods Market stores nationwide. Fy Yogurt offers a delicious alternative to traditional and plant-based yogurts by using Fy, a sustainable fungi protein, as the base instead of cow milk, nuts, oats, or soy like other brands. This is the third product line in the brand’s retail portfolio, which also includes Dairy-Free Cream Cheese and Meatless Fy Breakfast Patties. All three lines will be available nationally at the organic and natural foods grocer later this month.

Blood testing startup Vital Biosciences collects $48M

Blood testing startup Vital Biosciences collects $48M

Ontario-based blood testing upstart Vital Biosciences revealed it has $48 million in funding, including a fresh $18.56 million Series A round led by Lachy Groom and Northpond Ventures. Lest readers forget the initial premise of Theranos, the company's initial goal was laudable: Disrupt the $74 billion lab testing industry controlled by behemoths Quest and LabCorp, and put preventive care in patients' hands.

Noah Medical Raises $150M Series B to Scale Endoluminal Robotics Solutions

Noah Medical Raises $150M Series B to Scale Endoluminal Robotics Solutions

Noah Medical has raised $150 million in Series B funding. With participation from a number of well-known institutional and strategic investors, Noah Medical will use the funds to meet rising demand for the Galaxy System, its next-generation, integrated solution for navigated robotic bronchoscopy. The oversubscribed round included investments from Softbank Vision Fund, Prosperity7 Ventures, Tiger Global, Hillhouse, Sequoia China, Shangbay Capital, Uphonest Capital, Sunmed Capital, Lyfe Capital, 1955 Capital, AME cloud ventures, as well as undisclosed strategic investors.

The announcement of this infusion of capital follows a series of recent milestone achievements for the Galaxy System™, which is designed to improve location accuracy and successful diagnosis of lung nodules using its proprietary TiLT+ Technology™. Already having received high marks from interventional pulmonologists who tested the system over the prior year, Noah Medical recently announced the platform received FDA clearance for commercial use in the United States and that it has initiated first-in-human trials at Macquarie University Hospital in Sydney, Australia.

How Gordon Moore Helped Shape My View on Innovation

How Gordon Moore Helped Shape My View on Innovation

Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel Corporation, has died at 94. It's hard to express Gordon’s impact in ushering in an era where microchips are in everyday devices everywhere, from laptops to phones to children’s toys. A talk with Gordon years ago helped shape my view on innovation. Read my perspective on how predictable experience curves (like Moore’s Law) united in novel ways can create unpredictable outcomes and wildly successful products.

Noah Medical's Galaxy System Receives FDA Clearance for Robotic Navigated Bronchoscopy

Noah Medical's Galaxy System Receives FDA Clearance for Robotic Navigated Bronchoscopy

Medical robotics innovator Noah Medical today announced FDA clearance of the Galaxy System. The Galaxy System and its accessories are intended to provide bronchoscopic visualization of and access to patient airways for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Noah’s platform is the only Robotic navigated bronchoscopy system on the market to integrate real-time tomosynthesis and utilize a disposable bronchoscope, ushering in a new era in lung nodule biopsy.

Vogue: Will Space-Age Protein Powder Change the Future of Food?

Vogue: Will Space-Age Protein Powder Change the Future of Food?

On the corner of 51st and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, the aroma of charcoal-​burnished lamb hangs enticingly in the winter air above Midtown’s halal carts. Alas, I can’t stop for a snack. I have a reservation down the block at Le Bernardin, that temple of pristine French seafood helmed by Eric Ripert. Tonight, however, I’m not going for the delicate skate wing or sea trout. Ripert is the first chef in New York City to be cooking with Nature’s Fynd, which is not seafood at all, but a protein fermented from an extremophilic fungal microbe (Fusarium strain flavolapis or “yellow stone,” nicknamed Fy) discovered by NASA-funded scientists in an acidic hot spring in Yellowstone National Park.

Harvard and 1955 Capital Collaborate to Launch Surgical Robotics Startup

Harvard and 1955 Capital Collaborate to Launch Surgical Robotics Startup

When a tiny mechanical insect achieved flight in the summer of 2012, its wafer-thin wings flapping almost invisibly at a rate of 120 times per second, it was the culmination of an ambitious engineering effort.

The first controlled flight of the RoboBee in the Harvard Microrobotics Lab of Prof. Robert Wood, relied on hard-won breakthroughs in design, materials, and manufacturing.

DDM Systems Partnering with GE on $4.2M ARPA-E Award for Decarbonization Tech

DDM Systems Partnering with GE on $4.2M ARPA-E Award for Decarbonization Tech

This project collaboration between DDM Systems and GE Gas Power will develop and combine key elements of casting technology including an innovative furnace development, as well as 3D printed additive ceramic mold technologies that will fundamentally change the production of high-value metal components for gas turbines. The new system could produce cast parts using up to 90% less energy than traditional methods, as well as provide improved quality, consistency, and yield, all at lower cost.

Ampaire Flies Longest Ever Nonstop Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Mission

Ampaire Flies Longest Ever Nonstop Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Mission

Ampaire's hybrid-electric EEL demonstrator aircraft completed a 1,880 statute mile (3,025 km) trip from Los Angeles to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Ampaire says the trip "included the single longest nonstop flight ever made by a hybrid-electric aircraft - 1,135 miles." The trip started from California's Camarillo Airport with a short 85-mile repositioning flight, before resuming on Thursday with the 1,135-mile sector to Hays Airport in Kansas. Ampaire says the EEL demonstrated fuel savings of up to 40% versus a standard Cessna Skymaster, the aircraft on which it is based.

Ampaire Nets Order for Up to 250 Electric Aircraft Conversions

Ampaire Nets Order for Up to 250 Electric Aircraft Conversions

Electric propulsion start-up Ampaire has secured a launch order from air mobility firm WingTips for an initial 25 nine-seat Eco Caravans – a hybrid conversion of Cessna’s popular turboprop – in a deal that anticipates a huge follow-on deal for up to 225 aircraft.

Michelin 3‑Star Chef Eric Ripert joins Nature’s Fynd team as Culinary Advisor

Michelin 3‑Star Chef Eric Ripert joins Nature’s Fynd team as Culinary Advisor

Eric Ripert, chef and co-owner of globally acclaimed Le Bernardin in New York City, will join as Nature’s Fynd as Culinary Advisor. In a first-of-its-kind partnership, Chef Eric Ripert will influence innovation and future product development in collaboration with the Nature’s Fynd team. Born out of NASA-backed research on microbes with ori­gins in Yel­low­stone Nation­al Park, Nature’s Fynd’s break­through fer­men­ta­tion tech­nol­o­gy grows Fy™—a new-to-the-world nutri­tion­al fun­gi pro­tein using a frac­tion of the resources required by tra­di­tion­al agriculture. 

Acuamark Diagnostics Secures $11.3M Series A Funding for Early-Cancer Detection

Acuamark Diagnostics Secures $11.3M Series A Funding for Early-Cancer Detection

Acuamark Diagnostics, an early cancer detection company, today announced the closing of an $11.3 million Series A round. The round was led by the office of Claudio Del Vecchio and the Del Vecchio Family Foundation, and it was joined by Bruker Corporation as a new investor in AcuamarkDx. Claudio Del Vecchio has joined AcuamarkDx’s Board of Directors. AcuamarkDx is a molecular diagnostics company that develops ultra-sensitive, automatable technology, designed for both more reliable and more cost-effective early-cancer detection, ultimately to save lives on a vast scale and reduce health-inequities in cancer care globally.

World Economic Forum: How mushrooms are capping the alternative proteins market

World Economic Forum: How mushrooms are capping the alternative proteins market

Startup Nature’s Fynd of Chicago, has discovered a low-carbon method of producing mycoprotein using a fungi strain sourced from Yellowstone National Park. The “Fy” fungi protein is grown in heated chambers fitted with shallow trays, instead of large bioreactors used by many competitors; a process suited to urban factory production. This unique way of producing products like meat-free breakfast patties and dairy-free cream cheese has attracted investor interest.

Wired Magazine: Watch Out, Beyond Burgers—the Fungi Renaissance Is Here

Wired Magazine: Watch Out, Beyond Burgers—the Fungi Renaissance Is Here

Chicago-based Nature’s Fynd is using a strain of fungi that its chief science officer discovered in an acidic hot spring in Yellowstone National Park in the United States. While other mycoprotein companies use large bioreactors, Nature’s Fynd grows its fungi in heated chambers stacked with shallow trays—a low-footprint way of growing mycoprotein that the company says makes it well-suited to urban factories.

1955 Reinvests in Nature’s Fynd's $350M Series C

1955 Reinvests in Nature’s Fynd's $350M Series C

Congrats to 1955 Capital’s portfolio company Nature’s Fynd for raising $350 million. I’m grateful and humbled that Thomas (CEO) and Matt (CFO) chose 1955 as their Series A lead investor back in 2018, and we remain strong supporters, with $50 million invested to date. We are thrilled to partner with Softbank, Blackstone, Hillhouse, Balyasny Asset Management, Hongkou, EDBI, and SK in this round. The founders’ incredible vision is unchanged, and they continue to show tremendous progress toward achieving their goal: to build the next great sustainable food company and impact the lives of millions around the globe.

Gridtential Partners with Taiwan Battery Maker Pilot Battery Co. to Energize Taiwanese Manufacturing Sector

"Pilot wants to revolutionize the performance and reach of AGM battery technology, and we share that goal," said Gridtential CEO John Barton. "This is a great opportunity to bring the best engineering minds and materials in the industry to that common mission: to make the best performing and most recyclable battery in the world for energy storage systems."

Gridtential Closes $12M Funding, Electrifies Market With Advanced AGM Battery Breakthrough

Gridtential Closes $12M Funding, Electrifies Market With Advanced AGM Battery Breakthrough

"Gridtential is addressing key challenges in the future of transportation and energy storage systems. High-performance, long-lasting batteries will power tomorrow's mobility in dense urban areas, especially in developing economies," said Andrew Chung, founder and managing partner at 1955 Capital. "We're eager to introduce Silicon Joule to suppliers and other partners who can help Gridtential bring this vitally important technology to markets around the world."

AgDaily: Bio and conventional pesticides — room for both in the mainstream?

AgDaily: Bio and conventional pesticides — room for both in the mainstream?

Crop Enhancement is one company working to help fill in some of those gaps that could make biopesticides more accessible to more farmers. Their latest product, CropCoat, is applied via spray which coats the leaves and binds to the plant’s surface. This creates a hard layer of film making it uninhabitable to insects that doesn’t leave behind a chalky appearance some other products might — and the film is entirely biodegradable.

Fortune Op-Ed: Andrew Chung on The American Dream at Risk

Fortune Op-Ed: Andrew Chung on The American Dream at Risk

From Fortune raceAhead, by Ellen McGirt, March 23, 2021

Today, we turn this space over to Andrew Chung, a first-generation Asian American and founder and managing partner of 1955 Capital. He shares his experience with racism, his anguish over the murders in Atlanta, and issues a very specific call to action.

The American Dream at Risk

…My father dutifully wore a mask in a local pharmacy and was harassed by a patron who yelled, ‘Nobody’s wearing a mask in here, you’re scaring everyone with this whole China Virus!’ Dad was scared for his life and took off his mask, putting his health at risk... I had to call my parents and ask them to give up their cherished freedoms, because our collective voice has been too soft to drive the change that would keep them safe. Asian Americans and other minorities have taken steps backward because of failed leadership, and people need to express their anguish over events like those in Atlanta... Take a stand against bigotry and encourage your organizations to do the same... It’s time to speak up and take collective action.

Posted on Fortune and on Medium