Prometheus Fuels (YC W19) Closes Series B with $1.5B Valuation • Hacker News Board

Re: Prometheus Fuels (YC W19) Closes Series B with $1.5B Valuation

#21

Post by cfgghsj » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 4:49 PM UTC

ttobbaybbob wrote: post #13

They seem to be heavy on vision, marketing and zero-net-carbon partnerships with huge brands, light on technical detail (i wouldn't hate some links to papers or a PoC of their reactor or something), all of which feels a little Nikola-y. Thin articles touching on the technology: https://prometheusfuels.com/on-the-road/meet-our-v3-faraday-... https://prometheusfuels.com/on-the-road/worlds-1st-machine-t... Hopefully som…

I found this article written by the CEO in a journal outlining some technical details. https://www.cell.com/joule/pdf/S2542-4351(20)30002-7.pdf

His breakthrough technology is supposed to be the carbon nanotube membrane as explained here. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19842240

But, the two papers he cited in the Joule article don't go as far as actually separating water and ethanol. It's questionable whether this is possible or has been done successfully yet. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1674-0068/25/04/4... https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1700938

Re: Prometheus Fuels (YC W19) Closes Series B with $1.5B Valuation

#22

Post by kwonkicker » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 4:55 PM UTC

bpodgursky wrote: post #12

donsupreme wrote: post #7

1.5B valuation and yet their UX is total shit and basically unusable.

Sounds like they have their priorities right, focusing on a hard-tech product and not a consumer web portal.

What product?

Re: Prometheus Fuels (YC W19) Closes Series B with $1.5B Valuation

#23

Post by sayonaraman » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 5:01 PM UTC

mbesto wrote: post #16

ttobbaybbob wrote: post #13

They seem to be heavy on vision, marketing and zero-net-carbon partnerships with huge brands, light on technical detail (i wouldn't hate some links to papers or a PoC of their reactor or something), all of which feels a little Nikola-y. Thin articles touching on the technology: https://prometheusfuels.com/on-the-road/meet-our-v3-faraday-... https://prometheusfuels.com/on-the-road/worlds-1st-machine-t... Hopefully som…

And how a physical good/energy company that is worth $1.5B only has 20 employees...

most of that funding must have paid for the animations

Re: Prometheus Fuels (YC W19) Closes Series B with $1.5B Valuation

#24

Post by sethbannon » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

I'm confused about how this is on the front page. The title says they've raised a Series B at a big valuation but the link is just their marketing page, with no mention whatsoever of a raise.

Re: Prometheus Fuels (YC W19) Closes Series B with $1.5B Valuation

#25

Post by caymanjim » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

setgree wrote: post #4

Trying to click this on my phone in a low-service area (I waited 10 seconds and got nowhere besides a loading screen) is a great reminder of why companies should strive to have at least some of their materials — anything related to fundraising is a good candidate — in plaintext.

I'm on high speed Internet and the loading animation was slowly spinning long enough for me to close the tab without seeing anything else.

Re: Prometheus Fuels (YC W19) Closes Series B with $1.5B Valuation

#26

Post by jpm_sd » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

Didn't Google X try out something similar, and then decided it was uneconomical?

https://x.company/projects/foghorn/

Re: Prometheus Fuels (YC W19) Closes Series B with $1.5B Valuation

#27

Post by sschueller » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 5:10 PM UTC

ttobbaybbob wrote: post #13

They seem to be heavy on vision, marketing and zero-net-carbon partnerships with huge brands, light on technical detail (i wouldn't hate some links to papers or a PoC of their reactor or something), all of which feels a little Nikola-y. Thin articles touching on the technology: https://prometheusfuels.com/on-the-road/meet-our-v3-faraday-... https://prometheusfuels.com/on-the-road/worlds-1st-machine-t... Hopefully som…

Another Elizabeth Holmes?

Re: Prometheus Fuels (YC W19) Closes Series B with $1.5B Valuation

#28

Post by femiagbabiaka » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 5:11 PM UTC

kolbe wrote: post #19

mbesto wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how a physical good/energy company that is worth $1.5B only has 20 employees...

Welcome to 2021. In a few years, Chase Coleman will pick up large stake in this company, take it public and financially engineer it enough to stuff it into the S&P at a $500bn valuation.

Oh yeah. Added to $ARKK and the whole nine yards.

Re: Prometheus Fuels (YC W19) Closes Series B with $1.5B Valuation

#29

Post by aww_dang » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 5:14 PM UTC

Feasibility aside, this is exactly what people want to hear today. Eliminate CO2 from the atmosphere and sell gasoline. You have to give them credit for the pitch, regardless of what is or isn't delivered.

Re: Prometheus Fuels (YC W19) Closes Series B with $1.5B Valuation

#30

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 5:17 PM UTC

endisneigh wrote: post #10

I admire the attempt to make your site really cool, but jeez it's so unusable. Perhaps the most "form over function" site I've used in years. Please use a million or so and just make the website a static site.

But if they had had a static website they wouldn't have had funding.