TechSurge: Deep Tech VC Podcast
Exploring topics at the intersection of emerging technology, venture capital, and business trends.
Hosted by Celesta Capital.
The TechSurge: Deep Tech VC Podcast shares the latest insights directly from legendary Silicon Valley leaders, daring new founders, and visionary technologists.
Join us as we examine the factors shaping the next major technology cycle shift of AI, examine emerging global tech hubs, and analyze where investment dollars are flowing next.
Each discussion delves into the intersection of technology advancement, market dynamics, and the founder journey, offering insights into the vast opportunities and complex challenges ahead.
For entrepreneurs, investors, or anyone interested in where we're headed next, this is your guide to understanding the technologies and companies poised to transform the future.
Hype vs. Reality: Why AI Isn't Ready to Make Medicines Yet
Many in venture capital and biopharma are anointing artificial intelligence the savior of drug discovery—but what can AI actually do?
In this eye-opening episode, Michael Marks sits down with Mike Nohaile, CEO of Prellis Biologics, to explore the hype versus reality in AI-enabled drug discovery. Mike details why, despite significant breakthroughs like AlphaFold and recent Nobel Prize win for computational protein design, fully AI-generated medicines still present challenges. He also discusses why we urgently need more effective medicines and details Prellis’ unique system which combines laser printed human organoids and an externalized human immune system with AI, enabling the discovery of fully human antibodies.
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Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra discusses his journey in the semiconductor industry and the growing strategic importance of the memory industry in the age of AI. He highlights innovation in high bandwidth memory (HBM), which enables faster data access and lower power consumption. Sanjay also discusses Micron’s plans to build new U.S. semiconductor factories and the role of the CHIPS Act in bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S. He shares his insights on the resurgence of hardware innovation and what it takes to drive technological leadership in a rapidly evolving industry.

Former CEO of PepsiCo and New York Times bestselling author Indra Nooyi joins host Michael Marks for a wide-ranging conversation to share her insights on the growth of big tech companies, the impact of AI, CEO-board relationships, and much more.
Indra currently serves on the boards of Amazon, Phillips, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the National Gallery of Art, and is a Dean’s Advisory Council Member at MIT School of Engineering. Her New York Times bestselling memoir My Life In Full offers insight and a call-to-action from one of the world’s most-admired business leaders on how our society can blend work and family — and advance women — in the 21st century. She is widely considered to be one of the world’s top CEOs for her leadership at global giant PepsiCo over 12 years.

Driven both by surging demand and rapid technology advancements, an emerging area of health innovation called “bioconvergence” is driving improvements in human health and sustained interest from investors. This episode will explore these new applications merging engineered technologies with scientific disciplines, including in diagnostics, therapeutics, and elsewhere.
Nobel Laureate Dr. Jim Rothman, Dr. Melanie Mathieu of Prellis Biologics, and Daniel Dornbusch of Excision join host Michael Marks for an in-depth discussion covering advancements in CRISPR technology, the role of AI in drug discovery, the future of personalized medicine, and much more.

Legendary technology founder and venture investor Vinod Khosla joins host Michael Marks for a wide-ranging discussion on the future of AI, major tech cycles, the importance of being honest with founders, and much more. Vinod shares his predictions for the next 25 years of technology advancement and how we should be assessing the risks and benefits as the adoption of artificial intelligence continues to accelerate.
Celesta Capital is a global deep tech venture firm enabling visionary founders at the forefront of scientific and engineering breakthroughs.
The pace and scale of technological discovery has never been greater. Celesta investments seek to capitalize on this opportunity, targeting companies that enable mass adoption of emerging tech, radically improve health outcomes, and transform large industries.
Celesta was founded by Silicon Valley veterans with decades of operating experience building and running global technology businesses. We deploy this intellectual capital to help guide and mentor founding teams to navigate complex business challenges, commercialize early-stage technologies, create new markets, and scale companies globally.