Pilgrim founder Jake Adler raises $3.25M to build military biotech — starting with rapid wound healing nanocomposites

because we podcast pretty hard, harder than anyone else we know. We're still going live. So, let's talk to Jake about it. I believe he's here. Welcome. Come on down. the big Celsius. I got the small Celsius mogged. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Jake, how you doing? I'm good. How you guys doing? Doing fantastic.

Uh, can you give us the update? What What did you announce? What are you doing? What are you building? What's behind you? Oh, so behind me is our lab. This is a BSL2, so biosafety level two facility. So, this is a biosafety cabinet.

So, we're handling any like pathogens like any anthrax or botulinam, we're going to be doing it in there just for for protection of the operator.

Um but but yeah so you know we just announced a three and a quarter million dollar round um led by Peter Teal Kantos and Refactor Capital to uh to transform u really the battlefield with with advanced biotechnology and really if we if we considered like the state of affairs today you know military medicine hasn't really changed much since Vietnam um you know we've seen a little bit of improvement in tactical combat casualty care uh but we very much still have war fighters who are going on the front lines and dying in combat So, you know, what we're trying to build here is is really advanced and novel biotechnology that we can really equip war fighters with uh to make them more, you know, more lethal, more resilient, and more ready in combat environments.

So, initially applications of that look like uh, you know, a nano composite for rapid wound healing uh along with something we're exploring uh with more intelligence partners, which is a uh a novel um like biosurveillance um network that would effectively be able to monitor uh for for biological and chemical threats.

I remember reading about quick clot back in the day. Uh can you talk to me about the evolution in just wound healing on the battlefield kind of the different eras and where you see it going with your company? Yeah. So, so Quick is a really really interesting example. It was started by a guy named Frank Hersy.

Um and and they basically uh you know this guy would cut himself when he was shaving and he realized that this mineral called zeelite he would pour it on his skin and it would stop the bleeding. Uh the challenge with quick claw at least its initial formulation was that it used to burn war fighters.

So it actually would cause like second or third degree burns. So it would it would effectively stop the hemorrhage but it would it would also burn them in the process of doing that. um and they've now transitioned the technology.

But but really the the issue with the traditional quick clot idea and the concept is that it's it might have supported uh warfare in in in in a more traditional context where we can medevac that troop.

But military is heading towards like the military doctrine is heading towards this environment where you know troops are going to be deployed in combat for an extended period of time and military medics we won't we won't even be able to retract them for maybe upwards of two weeks.

So you know the the almost in many ways the definition of what a casualty is is changing. It's not somebody who's just been shot and is completely, you know, completely gone. It's now somebody who can't even pull the trigger.

So, what we're trying to explore with King's foil is is moving beyond just that initial hemorrhage control and that heatic agent and building a product that would actually enable the war fighter to heal faster. So, reducing that convolescent period and having them return to duty sooner.

Uh talk uh as much as you can about uh sort of broad uh I would I would call it almost like drug use in the military.

I've heard stories of fighter pilots, you know, that the funny thing is, uh, from what I know, when F-35 pilots are deploying to the Middle East, they just sort of like take off here in the US and they just fly there. And you can imagine it's a pretty long flight.

Anybody that's been on a, you know, 16-hour flight to the Middle East doing a little fundraising, uh, it's, uh, usually want to fall asleep at some point. Um, you know, Aderal and some of these sort of like medafanyl, medafanyl, those types of drugs are obvious. Uh, World War II has some crazy examples.

would love to hear the history of like kind of drug use in the military, super abbreviated, everything from like stimulants to stuff more like um quick clot. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, the the medications you you guys mentioned are typically categorized as no and no go.

So, your your stimulants and then you have like your Z pills or your bzzoazipines to help with drowsiness. And um and look, it's it's really interesting. Um the the military is is relatively constrained for for what they can actually provide to war fighters. I've heard some crazy stories.

I I think I heard the story about an Air Force pilot who uh he uh he he basically took a bunch of benzo and he was like unable to fall unable to fall asleep. So he started taking more and ended up like uh trying to like go use the bathroom and started like completely pissing himself.

So So they don't have like a lot of um control over and and they don't really um I would say they don't really advise um how to use them so well. But medafanil is definitely a big one for vigilance and awareness. Um obviously your benzoazipene class is is pretty big as well.

um although the military is trying to move away from those. So so there's quite a broad history here. Um but but really I I think I don't think pharmacological is necessarily the right or immediate approach. Um I I think in many ways we should be targeting the the more of the root causes.

So for example, one of the early technologies we were exploring was a device called New Sleep, which was a closed loop brain computer interface that would effectively shock you to sleep.

And and this has been a really big point of interest for the military is can we build uh neurom modulation or brain stimulation devices that can control sleep architecture and make it so where when war fighters sleep 3 hours, they really feel like they're sleeping 5 hours, right?

So, we're trying to find alternatives that are are not addictive um or habit forming um and don't really carry that those secondary um or next day effects that many benzoazipines would. Um talk about talk about sort of like dual use applications of of sort of stuff on your road map, right?

I imagine uh there there's some things that you're developing that are going to be so powerful that eventually we'll want to get consumers will be like, "Hey, we want some of that too. " Right? And there's a long history of the sort of military you a consumer of this stuff? I see pictures of you testing on yourselves.

So you whenever whenever we're thinking about a new initiative, uh my my brain immediately goes to the dual use implication and that's sort of one of the beautiful things we get to do at this intersection of biotech and defense.

You know, a lot of the companies today that are getting funded are building like cruise missiles and you can't really sell that to to the consumer or civilian population, right? So John wants some big game hunting and I I want to take it to the next level.

We'll move past the sniper rifles and the long guns and go into the kamicazi drones and the cruise missiles. That's my goal for this year. I but but I take your point. Yeah. So continue. Sorry.

Um but but yeah, so you we're consistently thinking about that dual use implication and really in many ways I see the DoD and and our work with with federal partners as a launchpad, right?

we kind of get the offload of all of this initial experimental and financial risk kind of deploy it into this first customer market and be able to eventually you know leverage that market for for really extreme validation in the most austere conditions and then bring it back to the civilian market.

So practically everything we're building has a dual use implication and I think another interesting implication as well is that you know a lot of a lot of technology we're building is potentially maybe too early for the civilian market.

So we kind of get that initial footing with a partner who can actually help us build out the technology um you know provide us with the necessary revenue to grow as a company and really you know grow as an organization and grow out our product portfolio um and eventually bring it back to the market when it's the right time for civilians.

How do you we were just talking to Delian about kind of the continuing resolution and the fact that the DoD isn't adding a lot of new programs. You're obviously still in the early stages here kind of seed round level.

Are you thinking about, hey, let's just go heads down for a couple years, R&D, and then sprint towards program of record, or are you are you seeing there's there's pockets of money that you can be responsive to and little programs that you can build up very quickly? Yeah. So, we're pretty aggressive with our approach.

Um, you know, one of the the last conferences we we went to to present our technology, we we got like removed by armed security, present to to PMs on on garbage bins um outside the conference center. So we're definitely in in the mode of of of trying to get our technology in the war fighters hands.

Sort of the chasm we're trying to cross here is that if you look at the state of things today, you know, academia rules military medicine and they do a horrible like totally shitty job of of taking technology from the benchtop to the battlefield.

So the way we've been approaching things is thinking like how can I build something in four months that we can then present to a federal partner, get it in the hands of the war fighter and deploy this rapidly. So Quickclot, which is an example you brought up, got cleared in nine months with no human trials, right?

So so there's kind of this really interesting opportunity for us to leverage the the DoD and FDA memorandums which enable expedited approval and clearance.

And notably like big companies right now, big startups like Neurolink and Synchron like these big brain computer interface companies, you know, which have breakthrough designation which was, you know, prized as like the the fastest most expedited pathway in the FDA. If you work with the DoD, you can move faster, right?

So there's there's this really interesting opportunity for us to build technology and actually get it in the hands of the war fighter and and make sure that the troops we're putting in the most austere conditions aren't just surviving, but they're thriving. Right.

It's really hard to to ask a 20-year-old to go into combat without the tools that they need to survive. Um I'm curious how much of what you're developing is based on a you know sort of studies that have existed for a long time that just nobody cared about, right?

Like I imagine uh I imagine that you can there's just this treasure trove of like information and research that people just never acted on and now that you're you sort of this high agency you you you have this like kind of core thesis for the company.

Uh I imagine there's a lot of basically like offbalance sheet R&D work that you can just kind of absorb and and sort of uh run with. Yeah.

So um the the first thing I'll mention I you know I think I think Palmer actually said this which is that you know he he does he hasn't really invented anything new because a lot of these concepts are already in sci-fi and you know growing up being a big sci-fi reader um you know a lot of the ideas I have are coming directly out of science fiction um so you know rapid wound healing um you know artificial and synthetic blood um bios surveillance and bio defense so yeah a lot of these are are deeply um tied to to to fiction uh because of the the limited constraint on the reality.

But in terms of existing literature, you know, we really do stand on this on the shoulders of giants. Uh I think my primary skill set has been how do I take really compelling literature from this one field that has no real practical application and combine it with something else, right?

And kind of find these really interesting points of convergence between different ideas and turn that into a practical product, right? So in many ways, we do a really good job at taking, you know, this cutting edge research and perfecting it.

Um and I owe a lot to academia for that and that's really in my view the role academia should be serving right academia should be that that foundational doing that that breakthrough science without very much thinking about the translational ability but then you do need that partner to cross that bridge and actually build technology that can translate and get in the hands of the war fighter and that's what we're trying to do at Pilgrim.

That makes sense. Uh the biological weapons convention in 1972 uh said the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling, and use of biological and toxins are effectively prohibited. Uh so bioweapons are are illegal, but that doesn't mean they're not going to be used, right?

Do you think the DoD t like if I'm a if I'm a soldier being deployed to some, you know, far off land to fight some enemy that I don't know what their sort of ethics are? I don't know if they're going to follow the sort of like laws right against these things. Maybe they get super desperate.

Uh do you think that the DoD generally takes these sort of threats seriously enough? And I imagine, you know, a lot of the stuff you're thinking about is reactionary to, you know, a certain situation on the battlefield.

How do you make sure that you're keeping our war fighters safe in a sort of unpredictable environment? Totally. So, first off, you know, the the DoD has a a very kinetic frame of reference. So what when they're thinking about things and threats, they're thinking about big shiny explos explosions.

You I always joke with our team that I wish there was more explosions in bio, but there there just really isn't. I can't just do like an on drill demo of an altus or or fur just like crashing into something. It just doesn't really work that way. Um so so to your point, the DoD's response has been largely reactive.

You know, you look at CO 19 uh spread across the globe in nine months, killed like 1. 2 million Americans, and wiped out 16 trillion in our GDP. It also took took off like uh for 10 weeks we had an operational gap in the Pacific due to the USS Theodore Roosevelt. So it's very reactionary.

Um so so you know in terms of the the biological weapons convention we we should not be at the mercy and trust of other states. Um the US has a somewhat of a grandstanding policy around this which is that we will not build boweapons and the best offense is really stronger defense.

The problem is that we have no defense you know. So, so we're kind of in this in this really precarious position right now where we are very vulnerable uh to to a biological weapon attack. Um and and we've seen that we've seen that um with COVID.

Uh we saw that very briefly with H5N1, but that didn't really have a much spillover risk. Um so even if it if it's man-made or or or natural, it's it's still a threat. Um so you the reality is that you know most of our foreign adversaries are are building out these laboratories, they're building out these weapons.

Um you know, in many ways these systems are tend to be referred to as like poor man nukes. um because they're a lot cheaper and also don't really respect borders. So, they can proliferate a lot faster and don't really require that direct confrontation.

So, it it really underscores a frightening reality where where these these weapons can be used in in really novel ways uh to really uh really take down and break down the resilience of our military and also the critical infrastructure around the US.

So, even with the even with the biological weapons convention, there still is um an outlasting and and really uh real threat that's impeding uh with uh with these systems. How do you think about the the legacy of Theronos?

I'm sure if you're successful, people are going to be like, "Oh, this this dropout, you know, raising all this money, building this stuff. " It's it's tough in bio because obviously there's so many real drugs that make it to market and quietly make billions or trillions of dollars.

Novo Nordisk is bigger than the entire GDP of Denmark. But at the same time, it's harder for someone just to like download the app and verify that it's a real thing like they can with a cursor, for example. Uh what's your take on the legacy of Theronos?

So, Seros is obviously a very um concerning or was a very concerning situation. You know, Elizabeth Holmes had had basically this this ability to to keep the FDA out um and and and prevent them, you know, proper inspectors from from coming in and checking out their work.

Um and this is actually something I'm seeing again with non-invasive neurom modulation today. A lot of the companies in the space are building brain computer interfaces and trying to circumvent the Food and Drug Administration by trying to fall into this general wellness category.

I've seen like dozens of companies do this and and right now like they're going to be fine, right? Like they'll they'll get away with it for the time being, but if they hit a billion dollar vow, you know, they're going to get a horrible enforcement action like you know at that point it's it's it's fraud, right?

So you can even be seeing jail time and you can be seeing massive fines. So it isn't like this the cycle has gone away since their very prominent. Um one thing that we do at Pilgrim, which is something I've been very adamant about since day one is that we do that preliminary validation.

So if we don't see the results on our benchtop, we don't even bring it to the US government. And and the belief there is that we're trying to not only save taxpayer dollars, but also save our time. Like I don't have any interest in working on tech that doesn't work. Um so I want to see it work for myself.

And clearly I you know if it wasn't clear with the demo I did on myself, I have a pretty high conviction to get to results, right? So on limited time I had to cut holes in my legs on camera to demonstrate the the rapid healing um abilities of of one of our composites.

So you know that that's sort of the approach we've taken. But but in terms of Theronos's legacy, it obviously has scarred the biotech industry. I'm pretty bearish on biotech as a whole, which is a pretty hard thing to say being in the industry itself.

But I don't think many companies here are actually thinking about the practical um and commercial implications of their work.

Many people come in, they'll raise a couple million and buy like hundreds of thousand dollars worth of equipment and and you know, run with that idea, but not actually think about how they're going to make it to the market. And I think that's a really concerning reality when we're thinking about startups.

Um even on that that 10 to 15 year timeline. Uh, have you had any luck finding uh the you have a roll up here called Pathfinder. It says, "As a Pathfinder, you're the Stormtrooper who stares down critical near impossible challenges you'll take on missions that break lesser souls. Problems with no playbook.

Trekking into combat zones to deliver our tech. Restoring a '90s scanning electron microscope without a manual. Crashing a DARPA event with a fake badge to snag intel from top brass. Task so wild they'll call you insane. Has it been challenging to find the right person for that? Uh transparently, no.

Uh we've gotten a lot of really compelling submissions for that. Uh one thing one thing I was I was very uh smart smart to do ahead of the uh the announcement of the company was put like the the question as part of the job post. So we've gotten some really interesting information out of people.

So when people are instead of just like submitting a [ __ ] application, they actually have to spend the time and write something compelling. But um we we found some really cool people. Like I said, our our approach is is very much based in in guerrilla warfare, right?

So So we do what it really takes to to get the meetings that we need to get. Um and and thus far, you know, it's it's worked very well in our favor. Um I think in many ways we're kind of battling a lot of entrenched interests.

Um I I somewhat compare, you know, with with limited limited perspective on on precisely what it would have looked like, but I somewhat compare um our experience to 05 pounder, you know, going up against government, going up against these primes um and and really trying to to make a name positioning oursel in our company.

So, the Pathfinder role is is one that I was really excited by. It really even like fired me up writing it. Um, and I we really wanted a um a Stormtrooper uh who could go on the front lines that could put them into combat environments and they would just kill it.

You know, if we need to get a meeting with SEC, if we need them to break into a DARPA conference, if they need to go, you know, beyond enemy lines, whatever it may be, we just needed somebody who who would basically take the task um you know, and sign off and and get it done. Needed an absolute dog.

Uh well, I I have one more question. One more question, then I'll I'll c it off. Okay, cool. Uh you talked about uh brain computer interfaces. We've talked about this in the past. You know the industry very well.

Uh I don't know if you saw this, but a couple weeks ago someone burned something close to like a couple million dollars of Ethereum to encode a message in the blockchain that alleged that China had developed brain computer interface technology that was being used to control workers like ants.

And it was very scary sounding sci-fi. If it's happening, it's terrifying. Why would someone spend so much money? Is this a some sort of false flag? Just try and freak out the Americans by spending this money. Is it even possible? Do what's your timeline for that type of thing?

The the Enders game of BCI, you know, controlling all the all the soldiers on the battlefield. Give us the most sci-fi take you have. So, notably, first I'll address the China thing. Um, China is is beating out the US in patents around neural interfaces. They've been doing that, I think, for a few years now.

Uh, so they've really taken the lead. Uh, China also thrives on this belief of military civil fusion. So, basically any any civilian corporation has basically as a direct inline to the government for military applications. So, you know, it's it's realistic in many ways that that China is is going to get there.

Um, and also like I mentioned before, the US maintains a somewhat of a grandstanding approach to bio. Um, so you know, we we've been pretty anti-modification or genetic enhancement of our war fighters, uh, for for for for good reasons.

Um, but but notably that's going to inhibit our timeline to get to potentially the same outcomes that China might eventually move towards. Um, so in terms of neural interfaces that can control war fighters, um, it's something I I've looked into and it's something that that I've explored.

Um, and and there's an interest a couple interesting modalities that are are still semi or non-invasive. Uh, the biggest challenge with neural interfaces is spatial and temporal resolution. So most of the the solutions today that rely on like EEG, you you have really um high temporal resolution.

So you see the signal really really quickly, but you're basically looking at like a a bowl of soup. You know, it could be with millions of different things mixed in. Uh you don't know precisely where that signal is coming from.

Um and we've been leveraging AI like there's been researchers who've been using AI to like isolate it a little bit more, but um non-invasive modalities are still pretty unclear.

But in terms of a timeline um or or really approach to build technology that would you know be able to um control the war fighter um it's it's a lot sooner than than you would imagine. Terrifying. Terrifying. Amazing. I'm glad you're doing what you're doing. Uh last thing I just want to leave you with.

If you're working on anything that would help us do this show 24 hours a day for for weeks in a row. You just eliminate sleep entirely. That'd be great. Just get it over here. We have Celsius, but we're looking for something stronger. Make it happen, Jake. We appreciate it. We're here.

We appreciate you dog fooding your product. We'll step up. We're confident. You can test the craziest stuff prefa. We we we'll get ITAR compliant. We'll get regulated as a DoD effort if we if you need uh to test stuff on to test stuff on us. Thank you for doing what you do. It's great having you on. Thank you, Jake.

Thanks for stopping by. We'll talk to you soon. What an absolute dog. Wild. Uh should we