Latest news with #Point72Ventures
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Apex Unveils Satellite Bus Comet: Delivering Breakthrough Power and Economic Efficiency for Large-Scale Constellations
Comet, Apex's newest fully productized satellite bus, provides over 5 kilowatts of power to payloads in a unique flat pack configuration, enabling direct-to-device and unique sensing constellations. LOS ANGELES, May 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Apex, the world's first spacecraft manufacturer to offer productized, high-rate configurable satellite bus platforms, announced Comet, the largest satellite bus in its product line. Comet, with a unique flat design, meets the needs of commercial customers launching high-power LEO missions, including Direct-to-Device constellations, as well as government customers requiring large aperture payloads. Comet delivers more than 5 kilowatts of continuous power to payloads while its compact design allows it to stack flat in a launch vehicle's 5-meter fairing. This form factor allows more satellites to fit on a single rocket launch, reducing costs. Engineered specifically to meet rigorous technical requirements at an economically viable price point, Comet optimizes capital expenditure for organizations deploying satellite networks at scale. Comet is specially designed to support advanced antenna systems that enable large networks of satellites, serving both commercial and national security needs. "Apex developed Comet to enable a variety of commercial capabilities and defense missions," said Ian Cinnamon, CEO of Apex. "From cell phone towers in space for consumer technology, unique sensing missions, or as an interceptor platform for Golden Dome, Comet is the clear choice to accelerate the most ambitious space missions." Apex's differentiated approach to satellite bus productization has created a strong underlying foundation for the business. The introduction of Comet bolsters the company's growing product line, including Aries, which celebrated one year on-orbit in March 2025. Apex also announced Nova in 2024, an ESPA-Grande satellite bus platform built to support 300kg of payload for mixed-use constellation customers. As the sole producer of truly productized satellite buses, Apex is committed to helping customers get to space faster and will continue to scale production to achieve that goal. Earlier this year, Apex also announced a $200 million financing round led by Point72 Ventures and 8VC to increase production to meet customer demand. Media Contact: Claude Chafin, Invariant chafin@ About ApexApex is the leading manufacturer of high-rate configurable satellite bus platforms designed to meet the demands of the rapidly expanding space industrial base. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Apex manufactures scalable spacecraft solutions for both commercial and government customers. For more information, visit View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Apex Space Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Cheehoo Raises $10 Million To Build AI Tools For 3D Animation
Los Angeles-based startup Cheehoo has raised $10 million to build what it describes as a "creative engine" for animation and interactive storytelling, putting advanced AI-enhanced workflows into the hands of artists, animators, and IP owners. The company was incubated at production company Rideback ("The LEGO Movie," "Avatar: The Last Airbender"). The round was led by Point72 Ventures with participation by Greycroft, Basis Set, Headline Asia, and others. Cheehoo's founding leadership team blends Hollywood and Silicon Valley experience, including former DreamWorks Animation President Chris deFaria, AI scientists from Apple and Stanford, and Rideback Co-CEOs Michael LoFaso and Jonathan Eirich. Rideback founder Dan Lin is also a co-founder. The company's early focus is on professional studios, IP holders, and select artists participating in a closed pilot program. Cheehoo is building a modular platform designed to reduce the time, friction, and cost associated with animated content production. LoFaso, who remains co-CEO of Rideback while helping lead Cheehoo, described it as a flexible and nimble animation pipeline that maintains compatibility with industry-standard tools like Maya and Unreal Engine, while incorporating AI to accelerate processes that typically bog down production. "Our sole focus is empowering artists," LoFaso told me in an interview. "We're trying to give them better tools — to eliminate the friction points that slow down iteration and prevent them from spending more time on the creative aspects of their work." Rather than scraping the internet for training data — a controversial tactic among some AI firms — Cheehoo generates its own proprietary 3D assets in-house and allows clients to retain ownership of anything they contribute. The system applies metadata to models and animation files, making it easier to search, repurpose, and build upon assets across projects. Over time, as studios and creators produce more with the platform, they generate a growing "data flywheel" that fuels further automation. Cheehoo's system can train mini-models on specific characters or projects using relatively small datasets compared to the massive corpuses typically needed to train pixel-based video generators. By focusing on 3D asset-based workflows, rather than pure video synthesis, the platform offers greater control and fidelity — a critical requirement for professional animation. The company is initially targeting enterprises but has a long-term vision of opening the platform to smaller studios, prosumers, and eventually, user-generated content creators. In LoFaso's view, the biggest immediate opportunity isn't replacing traditional studios but helping creators meet the ever-increasing demand for frequent, serialized content across platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and streaming services. "Studios spend years and tens of millions to produce one major animated feature," LoFaso said. "But building a franchise today increasingly requires consistent, high-quality output — in addition to the big tentpole events." Cheehoo plans to announce its first creative partners and project slate later this year.
