At Spaceship we’re long-term investors. And while we keep an eye on what’s happening day to day, our sights are firmly set on Where the World is Going.
These are some Spaceship Voyager portfolio companies that are building the future we’re investing in.
Electric - and automatic - road trips
More people than ever are adopting electric vehicles – and automatic driving is ramping up.
And Tesla, which is in the Spaceship Universe portfolio, Spaceship Earth portfolio, and Spaceship Origin portfolio, has been setting new monthly delivery records in China and Australia for its electric cars.
Tesla recently extended a self-driving beta program to 160,000 US and Canada drivers.
TechCrunch reports that the program includes access to “assisted steering on highways and city streets, smart vehicle summoning, automatic parking and recognising and reacting to traffic lights and stop signs.”
Elon Musk has said that the company’s close to ‘solving’ full-self driving tech by the end of the year.
Closer to home, a new report predicts that electric utes are about to boom in popularity in Australia, and will account for more than half of light commercial vehicle sales by 2030.
Near-holographic video chats
Alphabet, which is the parent company of Google, is in the Spaceship Universe portfolio, Spaceship Earth portfolio, and Spaceship Origin portfolio.
Last year, Google debuted Project Starline, which is a 3D video chat booth.
“We asked ourselves: could we use technology to create the feeling of being together with someone, just like they're actually there?” said Google.
“Imagine looking through a sort of magic window, and through that window, you see another person, life-size and in three dimensions. You can talk naturally, gesture and make eye contact.”
The technology lets you and a partner slide into individual booths that could be countries apart – and then have conversations as though you were in the same room.
The video tells the story.
Google says offices are where they believe ‘person-to-person communication technology can and should go.‘
And it’s announced that the technology will be rolled out to select enterprise partners, such as Salesforce and WeWork, for further testing.
But do we get to keep pizza?
There’s no doubting that self-driving cars and 3D meeting booths are cool – but we don’t just invest in technology because it’s cool.
The tech stocks that feature in our Spaceship Voyager portfolio companies have competitive advantages. Our Spaceship Voyager investment team tells us more and gives us a surprising example.
“We don’t just invest in technology companies but companies that use technology to build a competitive advantage.
Another example is Domino’s Pizza, they may not seem to have ground breaking technology but their app and delivery technology is well ahead of other chains.
Most competitors cannot afford their own integrated app delivery service.
The US listed Domino’s IPO’d in 2004 the same year as Google. It’s a surprise to most people that until 2020, Domino’s shareholder returns had been more than Google’s since IPO.
The key is technology advantage relative to competition, not just technology itself.”
The Spaceship Universe , Spaceship Earth , and Spaceship Origin portfolios each invest in Tesla and Alphabet at the time of writing.
Important! We’re sharing with you our thoughts on the companies in which Spaceship Voyager invests for your informational purposes only. We think it’s important (and interesting!) to let you know what’s happening with Spaceship Voyager’s investments. However, we are not making recommendations to buy or sell holdings in a specific company. Past performance isn’t a reliable indicator or guarantee of future performance.
