Hard Tech Headlines: - @mazamaenergy has secured $135M in new capital to commercialize superhot rock geothermal. Centaurus Capital and Doerr Capital led the Series B. - The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation has approved more than $8B in new investments, including Ukrainian 5G infrastructure, grid-scale battery storage, a seawater desalination project in Jordan, and African subsea cables, fiber networks, and data centers. - The DOE is looking for companies to develop the world’s first fault-tolerant quantum computers, targeting systems with at least 100 logical qubits and offering up to $215M in funding. - @laki_power has secured a €6M Series A. The Icelandic startup develops hardware for grid monitoring, including technology that could enable autonomous drone charging along power corridors. The NATO Innovation Fund led the round, marking its first investment in an Icelandic startup. - General Atomics and Hanwha Aerospace have completed the first simulated battlefield operations with a medium-altitude, long-endurance drone, landing and taking off the Mojave STOL from a rough trail used by tanks and artillery. - EXA Infrastructure is now developing a 4,000+ mile transatlantic subsea cable connecting New Jersey to the United Kingdom. - @watneyrobotics has secured an $80M Series A. The startup develops and deploys autonomous robots for data center construction. - The British Ministry of Defence is investing up to £400M in Tekever’s AR5, alongside £16M for more than 1,000 small drones, including Evolve Dynamics’ FOXE-NATO, @SkydioHQ X10 INTL, and SONORA drones from Brigantes Consulting and Harmattan AI. - @poseidonaero, the autonomous air cargo startup, has opened a new 110,000-square-foot headquarters at the former Alameda Naval Air Station, where it plans to scale aircraft manufacturing.