With Q2 wrapped, we are reflecting on a few good, formative months. Q2 saw growth both in our portfolio and in the depth of our fellowship with friends in the ecosystem. We continue to be encouraged by founders’ creativity in confronting hard, foundational problems as well as by other investors we get to stand alongside to spur on such meaningful creativity.

At Cubit, we believe the entrepreneur is one of the primary catalysts for a flourishing society. Because of this conviction, we’re dedicated to partnering with leaders who feel called to confront these foundational problems and who do so with the difficult balance of humility and confidence.

Throughout Q2, we shared calls, coffees, and meals with some incredibly humble and confident friends - new and old. Read more about what we’ve learned from them and what we’re building together below.

Located midway between Austin and San Antonio in Lockhart, Texas, Proto-Town is a purpose-built industrial campus where advanced hardware companies can move from concept to a fully operational facility in a matter of weeks, not years.

The Problem: The Hardware Innovation Paradox

The United States is on the edge of a massive hardware innovation boom, yet the infrastructure to build, test, and scale physical technology remains fragmented, slow, and hostile to startups.

Installing heavy utilities and building a supply chain from scratch can consume years and millions of dollars before a single prototype is ever tested. Great ideas are being stifled not because the technology is flawed, but because the infrastructure environment is too slow and too expensive to navigate for appropriately capitalized startups.

The Solution: A Purpose-Built Campus with Structural Partnerships

LLaunched by Josh Farahzad, Merle Nye, and former Texas State Representative John Cyrier, Proto-Town provides a 1,400-acre physical space for manufacturing innovation to be done efficiently and effectively.

Through a publicly approved development agreement with the county, Proto-Town has a clear, predictable path for zoning and permitting.

Proto-Town creates a compounding physical network effect by allowing cutting-edge startups to share specialized labor pools, amortize testing infrastructure, and naturally evolve into each other’s R&D partners. While already hosting 15 companies on-site with more in the late-stage pipeline, Proto-Town is solving the hardware bottleneck and fortifying the American supply chain.

Resolute Grid is building an automation facility to overhaul Large Power Transformer (LPT) manufacturing, reducing production wait times from over two years to just six months.

The Problem: The Grid Infrastructure Vulnerability

The U.S. electrical grid faces surging energy demands from new AI data centers, industrial reshoring, and widespread electrification. This demand is straining an aging fleet of Large Power Transformers (LPTs), with 70% of U.S. units now over 25 years old. Because the existing supply chain cannot keep up, replacement wait times have stretched from 54 weeks to over two years, leaving our grid dangerously exposed.  

The Solution: Automated Manufacturing and Hardening

Founders Marcus Owenby and John Erford are replacing bespoke, manual processes with next-generation automated manufacturing. Resolute Grid accelerates production using AI-assisted engineering and advanced robotics, aiming to cut timelines to six months. By reinventing transmission and distribution manufacturing, they are providing rapid, resilient, American-made transformers to ensure national resilience. With the goal of delivering initial prototypes from their Texas facility by the end of 2026, Resolute Grid has the scaling expertise necessary to secure and fortify American energy. 

Stay tuned for an upcoming investment announcement with a breakthrough spatial intelligence company that is translating invisible molecular data into a foundational intelligence layer for global infrastructure.

We are thrilled for our friend Luke Denton and the entire Nurture team on their recent acquisition by Pushpay - a monumental milestone that honors the team's relentless dedication to empowering faith communities. Nurture provides an intelligent pastoral care and engagement platform purpose-built to help ministry leaders better know, engage, and disciple their congregations. By seamlessly aggregating data across a church’s existing tech stack, Nurture surfaces real-time engagement signals that empower pastors to identify at-risk attendees early and take intentional, relational action. Joining forces with Pushpay’s leading suite of solutions will scale Nurture's groundbreaking tools, helping thousands of churches globally close the "shepherding gap" and ensure their members don't slip through the cracks.

Will Edwards is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Firehawk Aerospace, a defense technology company focused on advanced energetics and rocket propulsion. Founded in 2019, Firehawk builds the engines and propellant that power missiles and rockets. The company uses patented 3D-printed propellant and modern manufacturing techniques to enable faster, safer, and more scalable production. Under Edwards’ leadership, the company is expanding U.S. industrial capacity to help rebuild munition inventories being depleted faster than they can be replaced. Firehawk operates an end-to-end rocket production and integration platform, with facilities in Dallas, a 340-acre energetics production site in Lawton, Oklahoma, and a 636-acre DCMA-rated integration facility in Mississippi.

What’s one risk that was worth taking?

Starting a company that many people said shouldn't exist. The bet was on bringing advanced manufacturing and 3D-printed propellant into an industry that traditionally resists change - and proving that resistance wasn't the same as impossibility

What’s a mistake that you learned from over the past six months?

Underestimating the importance of travel management. I now build buffer time into every trip, which has protected important meetings from inevitable delays.

What’s something that meaningfully improved execution with very little cost?

Bringing my wife along on work trips. For the cost of airline miles, I get to have more fun on trips - plus, have a better deal closer by my side.

Finish the sentence: “I didn’t expect ___ to matter this much.”

I didn’t expect airline status to matter this much.

When you fly 150+ times a year, upgrades, priority service, and flexibility stop feeling like perks and start functioning like productivity tools.

• In May, Gov. Greg Abbott announced the launch of the new AI-powered Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office (TREO) website, built entirely by the Vulcan team. Vulcan is an AI-powered legal and regulatory platform that maps American law. The cutting-edge TREO site uses AI to help Texans instantly navigate state rules and regulations. By streamlining how citizens and businesses interact with the state, this initiative is already helping to save Texas taxpayers an estimated $123 million.
• Also in May, workplace management software, Kadence, launched SpaceOps. SpaceOps replaces the consultants, spreadsheets, and outdated planning tools that have defined enterprise space strategy for decades with a single AI-powered platform built on live occupancy data. Ultimately, the platform accelerates decision-making, turning complex people and space-related changes that once took weeks into tasks that take just hours.
• The team at Albedo continues to exemplify exactly why we originally backed their mission: they are building the boundary-pushing space technologies needed to tackle complex global challenges and build a more resilient, secure future. In early April, they announced Vicinity, their second Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) mission launching in 2027, purpose-built to unlock high-power payloads for critical applications like SAR and advanced tactical communications. Through Vicinity, Albedo is leveraging VLEO's unique proximity and resilience to provide the essential infrastructure for the next era of national security and space exploration.
• In April, Primer premiered “The Orator,” a video expression of its vision for American education featuring real Primer students. The video, alongside a thoughtful company brand update, beautifully blends the successes of early American education and their plans for the future of American education. Watch “The Orator” HERE. 
• In March, 3D-printing construction technology company ICON hosted 120+ builders and developers at its first annual Converge conference, where it officially launched Titan and its technology business (“ICON Tech”). Titan boasts lower costs, faster speeds, and the ability to print two-story structures. It’s designed to give small-to-medium sized builders cost savings, time savings, and a higher-performance, differentiated product, enabling them to compete with the largest builders. The team currently has three Titans undergoing final testing and calibration at HQ.
• With well over 100 Founding Members and its formal opening slated for later this year, Arena Hall continues to position itself for growth. The Austin-based, community-driven hospitality and workspace club is currently securing a 90-year lease on the Texas Women’s Federation - a 40,000 SF historic mansion in the heart of Austin. It will serve as Arena’s primary venue for large-scale gatherings, bringing together leaders from UT, the Capitol, and beyond. 
• In late April, Rochefort Asset Management closed a senior secured loan to accelerate Firehawk's production of solid rocket motors, base bleed motors, hybrid rocket engines, and 3D-printed propellant. Around the same time, Firehawk completed a successful flight test of its GMLRS-class rocket system, achieving supersonic speeds. 
• Just days after announcing its Series D round in late April, space defense technology company True Anomaly was selected by the Space Force for space-based interceptors. It also launched a Jackal autonomous orbital vehicle on a SpaceX rideshare mission at the beginning of May.
• Maritime defense company Saronic launched its first Marauder Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel, beginning on-water trials, with the vessel designed, built, and launched in under a year. On the contracts side, the Navy named seven companies, including Saronic, to support the first round of medium unmanned surface vessel prototyping. Most notably, in early June, a Saronic Corsair autonomous surface vessel was used in the first-of-its-kind mission to rescue two crew members from an Apache helicopter downed near the Straight of Hormuz. 

• The Cubit Capital website got an upgrade! Check out our refreshed look HERE, updated to better capture our identity and the vision that drives us.
• Philip was featured on VC Sheet’s Fun Raising podcast. The episode was described as, “full of honest, un-hype-y advice that's rare to hear from the investor side of the table.” Check it out HERE.
• In April, we had the pleasure of hosting 15 friends within the venture investing ecosystem at Cook Canyon Ranch in Eastland, Texas, for our first Cubit Ecosystem Retreat. The goal of the three-day retreat was rest and fellowship, and our time together was filled with just that—meaningful conversations over good food, stories around the fire, jokes made while fishing, hiking, skeet shooting, and simply being together. 
• The Cubit team attended the Praxis Summit in Napa Valley, California, in late May, and left feeling inspired and energized by the founders, leaders, and co-investors committed to redemptive outcomes. 
• On June 6, Cubit and Reveille VC co-hosted a group of 12 founders and investors at Dell’anima in New York City. The evening was anchored around good pasta and good conversation, including discussion around the next frontiers and how to get there..
• Cubit was proud to sponsor ReIndustrialize in Detroit on June 16-17. The partnership included a demo by Cubit portfolio company H3X onsite, where they featured a variety of their advanced electric motors. 

After attending Discipulus Fellows in March, Endless Frontiers in April, and IQT Summit in May, the Cubit team is gearing up to head to Denver to co-host a dinner with our friends at Konvoy as well as back to Austin to meet with founders and co-investors in August. We’ll also be reconnecting with friends at Capital Camp in Columbia, Missouri this September.

• Philip is listening to the three-part Acquired Podcast featuring Berkshire Hathaway and is reading Mobilize: How to Reboot the American Industrial Base by Shyam Sankar, an analysis of the modern defense procurement system and a strategic playbook for reforming it.
• Thomas is always working to enjoy life's uncertainties...and getting helped along in that quest by reading Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke. He's also getting in some Harry Potter reading simultaneously with his kids taking the novels on for the first time.
• Gui is reading Man's Search for Meaning, a recount of author Viktor Frankl’s time in Nazi concentration camps along with his insights of the human will to find meaning in spite of the worst adversity.

Questions, themes, and problems that the Cubit team is contemplating.

• Philip is marveling… At the 919.9-pound blue marlin caught on day one of the 68th Big Rock Fishing Tournament (video HERE).
• Philip is asking… “As America approaches her 250th year, what will the next 250 hold?  Will we continue to drift from the convictions that shaped our founding—a reverence for God and the sense that moral order is something received rather than invented? Or will we teach, build, and care for this nation in a way that honors the Imago Dei in every person—so that God’s glory and blessing might rest on those who live and labor in light of it, and so that America might continue to draw the rest of the world toward liberty and freedom?
• Thomas is considering… “Whenever I first realized I would likely be alive and aware for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I'm not sure what I thought this summer would be like—but I'm sure I didn't think it would be like this. I'm not talking about whatever is or isn't being planned. I'm talking about our national mood; I'm talking about how acutely aware we are of the vision of that document not yet realized. And yet… I remain constantly inspired by the dream that is America—and by the people sacrificing so much for that vision.”
• Gui is asking… “Will widespread adoption of AI either accelerate or remedy some of the negative effects of the Industrial Revolution—more specifically, the entanglement of our productivity and our identity? In other words, will AI continue to push us towards optimizing for productivity (like switching to polyphasic sleeping because you can't afford to miss out on 8 hours of work)? Or will it push us towards becoming more human and doing things that don't scale?”

Our portfolio is always looking to add strong talent to their teams. Check out the below for several current openings, and be sure to take a look at our job board to stay up-to-date on all open roles across the portfolio. Reach out to learn more or join our Talent Network HERE.

• Albedo is hiring for a Director of Software and a Director of Hardware.
• Venus Aerospace is hiring for a Senior Propulsion Engineer. 
• Firehawk is hiring for a Program Chief Engineer. 
• The Wonder Project is hiring for a Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs, Television.
• Reframe Systems is hiring for a Head of Operations, Head of Supply Chain, and Director of Factory Engineering.
• Minno is hiring for a Director of Analytics. 
• H3X is hiring for a Senior Manufacturing Engineer in both Assembly and Electronics. 
• Kadence is hiring for a Director of Product Marketing.
• Sprout AI is hiring for a Senior AI Developer & Technical Lead.
• Lucid Bots is hiring a CFO.

We’re ready to see what Q3 has in store. Thanks for being a part of our mission.

Onward,

The Cubit Capital Team