Civilization Technology: The Next Startup Gold Rush
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The last record-breaking IPO, SpaceX, was no fluke, and the next big IPO won’t be a SaaS company or a consumer app either. It will be in the growing civilization technology industry, ie the companies that maintain the structures and systems necessary for civilization to survive in a turbulent and changing landscape. Given the growing size of the human population, the rapid pace of change in the technological landscape, and the increasing uncertainty of environmental trajectories, civilization-level technologies will continue to capture large investments and then, ultimately, market share.
What is Civilization Technology?
Civilization technology includes businesses that support the capacity to maintain today’s level of civilization globally and to adapt to the growing size of the population and their demands in the future. This includes businesses across the energy and nuclear sectors (fission SMRs, fusion, grid), AI infrastructure and computing (data centers, chips, power for AI), advanced manufacturing and renewables, national defense and security, space and aerospace, robotics and industrial automation, supply chain resilience, biosecurity and water synthesis. At the highest level, they focus on protecting either the built environment or the physical environment that allows our built environment to survive. As such, they protect the basic basics that people need to survive.
Companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Tesla are the obvious choices, but the field includes a wide range of businesses ranging in size from small startups to giant businesses.
Who Should Be Watching?
Protection and autonomy. The obvious choice is On the sensor. Revenues are expected to double to approximately $2.2 billion in 2025 and are widely considered to be the sector’s most significant potential IPO. The dark horse is Saronic, the autonomous offshore shipbuilder that raised $1.75 billion this spring at a $9.25 billion valuation, more than doubling its value in about a year.
Fusion and energy. The obvious choice is the fusion field, where the public markets have already arrived, is TAE, which is going public through a $6 billion merger with Trump Media. Other players include General Fusion via SPAC and privately held Helion, which is fresh off a $465 million raise at a $15.5 billion valuation to build the Microsoft powerhouse.
Biotechnology and biosafety. The obvious choice is Colossal bioscienceThe Texas-based first decacorn is valued at $10.3 billion after its $400 million Series C. The business is a major innovator with its eradication business, but its underlying technology platforms, which include genetic engineering, artificial wombs and its cloning acquisition ViaGen, allow for applications from conservation to human health. The dark horse is the broader biosecurity layer—companies building pathogen surveillance, rapid vaccine platforms, and synthetic biology infrastructure.
AI infrastructure and computing. The obvious choices are Anthropic, which filed on June 1, and Databricks, which is expected to file on this year’s IPO calendar. But the dark horse thesis is companies that are data center builders, network construction firms and power distribution companies, all of which get paid regardless of which lab wins.
Space. SpaceXThe record-breaking list reset the ceiling of the sector, so the question now is who runs his clothes. The obvious choice is Firefly Aerospace, now public after an $868 million IPO and expanding from launch to Elytra, its on-orbit service retreat. The dark horse is Stoke Space, which raised Series D to $860 million trying to solve the full and rapid reuse of both rocket stages. Behind them, satellite service startups like Starfish Space and Orbit Fab are turning orbit itself into useful infrastructure.
now what?
Over the past two decades, technologists optimized how people used systems. But as technology has become more capable of tackling harder problems, the money and the opportunities are now in the hard stuff: power plants, rockets, autonomous ships, reactors, genomes. The companies that solve the problems of the burden of civilization will be the companies that will end up becoming the carriers of the economy.
The last record-breaking IPO, SpaceX, was no fluke, and the next big IPO won’t be a SaaS company or a consumer app either. It will be in the growing civilization technology industry, ie the companies that maintain the structures and systems necessary for civilization to survive in a turbulent and changing landscape. Given the growing size of the human population, the rapid pace of change in the technological landscape, and the increasing uncertainty of environmental trajectories, civilization-level technologies will continue to capture large investments and then, ultimately, market share.
What is Civilization Technology?
Civilization technology includes businesses that support the capacity to maintain today’s level of civilization globally and to adapt to the growing size of the population and their demands in the future. This includes businesses across the energy and nuclear sectors (fission SMRs, fusion, grid), AI infrastructure and computing (data centers, chips, power for AI), advanced manufacturing and renewables, national defense and security, space and aerospace, robotics and industrial automation, supply chain resilience, biosecurity and water synthesis. At the highest level, they focus on protecting either the built environment or the physical environment that allows our built environment to survive. As such, they protect the basic basics that people need to survive.
Companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Tesla are the obvious choices, but the field includes a wide range of businesses ranging in size from small startups to giant businesses.
