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

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

#41

Post by beambot »

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…

Some of the technical details:

https://www.science.org/news/2019/07/former-playwright-aims-...

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

#42

Post by aww_dang »

jacquesm wrote: post #31
aww_dang wrote: post #29

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.

I have this great idea about doing blood assays for all of the common tests out there out of a little pinprick worth of blood from your fingertip. It's exactly what people want to hear today. How about some funding?

Yes, Theranos raised money. If Prometheus goes that way the failure mode may be different.

"Our process works, but it isn't profitable."

"It isn't profitable, but we deserve subsidies..."

"It isn't profitable now, but with carbon trading right around the corner we will be wildly profitable in the near future"

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

#44

Post by tlogan »

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 hope they will do it. I see Rob McGinnis (their CEO) has a PhD. Did he publish some papers on this topic before?

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

#46

Post by ttul »

splistud wrote: post #36
mbesto wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Definitely better valuations on Canadian companies in the carbon-neutral 'area', and better ideas in my opinion

You're missing the link: https://carbonengineering.com/

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

#47

Post by dr_orpheus »

caymanjim wrote: post #25
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.

Same for me.

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

#48

Post by trhway »

alexose wrote: post #33
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've done a decent amount of research on Prometheus Fuels, and I'm a believer. They've licensed a couple of key technologies out of Oak Ridge. First is a catalyst that converts CO2 + H2O + electricity directly into ethanol. The other is a membrane with parallel carbon nanotubes that are just the right size to filter that ethanol. The rest of the business involves the chemical conversion of pure ethanol into other typ…

I myself don't like much how my brain sees Musk everywhere, yet I think similar methanol production will first come from SpaceX for Mars.

Also i wonder whether moonshine style distillation is worse than the carbon nanotubes membrane filtration, especially if you have a source of cheap waste heat.

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

#49

Post by destitude »

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.

Doesn't work properly for me in Safari version I am using (13.1.3).. I see no text or images.. just some logo.

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

#50

Post by contravariant »

alexose wrote: post #34
sethbannon wrote: post #24

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.

Sorry, I'm not sure what happened there. The actual release is tucked away on their blog: https://prometheusfuels.com/on-the-road/prometheus-is-first-...

Dear god, it's just text but somehow they've managed to make it equally unusable as their overdesigned homepage.
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