Isaac Squires
CEO & Co-founder, Polaron
4 Feb 2026Moltbook🦞, SpaceX Buys xAI, Forbes 30u30, Granola Rebrand
Polaron: $8M Seed for AI Materials Design
Isaac Squires, CEO and co-founder of Polaron, announces its $8M seed round led by Leonardo Caray (with Speedinvest and Future Present, plus angels from PhysicsX and TWICE). He explains the Imperial spin-out's seven-to-eight-year research history, its AI models that design and optimize materials at the microstructure level, and how the round will fund research, product, and scale across batteries, alloys, ceramics, and more.
Physical AI, Materials & the Spin-Out Path
Isaac discusses physical AI — interpreting complex signals from electrons and X-rays rather than cameras — and why materials constrain every era from the Bronze Age to data centers. He walks through the Imperial spin-out process, the credibility and founder network it provides, and why he believes any era would have been right for Polaron before the hosts wrap and unbox a listener-sent flag.
SpaceX Buys xAI for $1.25T
After the Polaron interview and flag unboxing, the hosts turn to the biggest story of the day: SpaceX acquiring xAI in a deal valuing the combined group at roughly $1.25 trillion, per the FT. They joke about Luke's 5x-number habit, note Polymarket projected an over-80% chance of the merger hours before it was announced, and begin unpacking what the deal means for data centers in space.