The next frontier of finding natural resources might be in an unlikely location: the moon.

‍What’s happening:

• Natural resource startup Interlune has raised $18M USD in a seed round
  
• The round was led by Seven Seven Six, the venture capital fund of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian
  

The big idea:‍

• Interlune has developed patent pending technology that uses small machines to excavate lunar soil and extract Helium-3 from the moon
  
• Interlune’s purpose built machines are smaller and lighter than other space resource companies, aiming to make it less expensive to transport their technology into orbit
  

Why it matters:‍

• Interlune is aiming to become the first company in the United States to commercialize extracting resources from the moon, starting with Helium-3
  
• Helium-3 is a critical input for quantum computing, medical imaging, defense technology, fusion energy and more
  

By the numbers:‍

• Interlune machines require 10x less power than other technology built for resource mining and extraction in space
  

Going deeper:‍

• Interlune’s larger vision is to be able to validate their technology and machinery for extracting Helium-3 and then be able to harvest other resources from the moon including rare earths and energy transition metals
  

The intrigue:‍

• The founding team of Interlune includes former talent from Blue Origin and Rocket Lab

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