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Last year, Cody Finke got game-changing news from the Department of Energy (DOE): his climate tech startup was in line for a $189 million grant to help build its first commercial-scale plant. The company, Brimstone, has developed a new way to make cementone of the biggest sources of carbon emissions on the planet. The startup also makes smelter-grade alumina, a critical mineral that the U.S. currently imports. The team spent months going through the DOEs grueling evaluation process, from a 200-page application to a three-hour-long interview in front of a panel of 30 technical experts. After the DOE moved the project forward, months of negotiations followed. The grant was finalized in January, just before the inauguration. Then came the Trump administration. This summer, the DOE announced that it was pulling the funding, along with grants for more than 20 other projects working on industrial decarbonization and carbon capture. Brimstone is appealing the decision, since producing critical minerals in the U.S. is a priority for Trump. But the company is also moving forward with its plans to build its plant regardless of what happens with the government funding. Our belief has been from the beginning that our technology has to work without subsidies, Finke says. And if it doesnt work without subsidies, then it probably isnt going to have the impact we want. [Photo: Brimstone] Tech built for the bottom linenot just carbon cuts Brimstones technology tackles an industry thats notoriously hard to decarbonize. Cement production is responsible for around 8% of global CO2 emissions, or three times as much as the airline industry. Thats not just because of the energy it takes to make cement, but because of chemistry: Typical Portland cement is made by heating up limestone, and that process releases CO2 from the rocks. The startup uses silicate rocks instead, such as basalt, which dont release CO2. If the new process runs on renewable energy, the result is zero-carbon cement. If it uses the mix of energy on the grid, the emissions reduction could still be as much as 75%. If it can be widely scaled up in the industrywhich produces more than 4 billion tons of cement each year for everything from roads and bridges to homesit could make a significant dent in global emissions. From the beginning, when Finke first started developing the idea with his cofounder as a grad student at Caltech in 2019, he calculated what could make it economically viable. The new process had a fundamental advantageinstead of making CO2 as a byproduct, it makes valuable materials that can be sold. [Photo: Brimstone] Valuable byproducts The first plant will mine rocks that are especially high in alumina, which can be used to make aluminum. The process is fairly straightforward. The company crushes the rocks into particles, and then uses chemicals to extract calcium for making cement. (The calcium is heated up, and then milled with gypsum.) Other residue becomes the SCM (supplementary cementitious materials), another product that’s used to make cement. Aluminum compounds are extracted separately. A concept rendering of a future industrial-scale Brimstone Rock Refinery plant. [Image: Brimstone] By making and selling more than one product from the same rock, all of the productsincluding the low-carbon cementcan be cost-competitive when theyre produced at an industrial scale. The process is inherently more efficient. Right now, other companies make cement, alumina, and SCM separately, and start each process by mining and grinding rock. Its three separate instances of mining and grinding, Finke says. We have one instance of mining and grinding, which means that we only have to develop a rock with a single quarry. We only have to have a single piece of equipment, and that piece of equipment can be larger, and then therefore benefit from economies of scale. The company will mine seven times less rock for its products than the standard processes today. [Photo: Brimstone] Strong demand While some other companies are making low-carbon alternatives to cement, Brimstone wanted to make ordinary Portland cementthe standard product already in use in the building industry. Brimstone’s cement meets ASTM International’s standards for Portland cement. It’s exactly as strong and durable and capable of handling extreme temperatures or chemical exposures. The SCM and alumina are also the same as what’s already on the market. “We make the exact same products,” Finke says. “Since these are all structural materials, we think that’s really importantno one wants to take a risk on structural components.” Large customers already want to buy it. Amazon, for example, recently announced plans to reserve volumes of the cement and SCM from the upcoming plant. The tech giant recently went through rounds of third-party tests of the materials, proving that it met requirements for strength and other factors. Amazon has also invested in the startup through its Climate Pledge Fund. Since the first plant will be a demonstration plant, the initial cost of the products will be higher, but companies like Amazon are willing to pay a premium. There’s strong demand, even as some companies are now less vocal about climate goals. “There are certain companies that care deeply about green attributes, and there are certain companies that don’t,” says Finke. “I think that the number of companies have changed somewhat, but the number of meaningful companies has not really changed. We see that steadiness.” [Photo: Brimstone] A careful funding strategy Brimstone has raised more than $80 million to date from investors including Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures. As the team raised money, it never counted on the inevitability of government grants. “These subsidies are sort of at the political whims of any one party, and we don’t want our technology to be [subject to] political whims,” Finke says. “We want to have a solid economic footing. And that means that we need to have a fundraising strategy that doesn’t count subsidies until the dollars are in our bank account.” The DOE money was reimbursement-based, so funds would have been given out when the project hit certain milestones. It was also focused on funding for the final stages of building the plant. Because the company hadn’t counted on that funding, it has money available now to continue working on the project. The company recently announced that it was partnering with a quarry in Oklahoma, Dolese Bros., after evaluating 23,000 different quarries across the country. The location of the new plant, called the Rock Refinery, is being finalized now. It plans to begin operations by the end of the decade. [Photo: Brimstone] Looking ahead The company isn’t disclosing its fundraising strategy, though it says it has investors in place to help it continue building. Of course, the grant could have helped the company move even faster. The company’s policy team continues to work on its appeal for the grant. “Smelter-grade aluminum is a critical material that the United States cannot make,” Finke says. “The Trump administration is very interested in critical materials. And what we like to say is that if the Trump administration put out a grant for critical materials, we would have applied to that grantbasically the exact same project.” But the appeal process isn’t delaying the current work to build the plant and plan for future growth. “Subsidies would help our costs, absolutely,” Finke says. “But if it’s necessary to have those subsidies, it’s not likely to scale globally.”
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E-Commerce
Samsung promises that its new, massive 115-inch Micro RGB TV delivers hyper-realistic color and brilliant brightness, but it comes with an eye-watering price tag. The TV can be yours for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $30,000. The TV uses proprietary Samsung technology the company says sets industry standards for color accuracy for a viewing experience that’s vivid and immersive. It’s available now in South Korea, and Samsung says it will be available later in the U.S. as well as globally. The company did not give a specific global release date. “With this launch, were setting the standard in the large-sized, ultra-premium TV market and reinforcing our commitment to next-generation display innovation,” Samsung Electronics head of R&D for its visual display business Taeyong Son said in a statement. Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A pricey tv in a category that costs less and less While persistent inflation since the pandemic has added to the cost of everyday items, the television set has actually gotten less expensive. The price of a 40-inch TV set has fallen by 99% in 25 years, according to the Progressive Policy Institute. Factors like cheaper production and increased competition have driven down prices for big-screen TVs, and what was once a luxury is now a commodity. With its new $30,000 TV, though, Samsung is finding new ways to make the television set a luxury item again. Samsung’s new TV uses micro-scale RGB LED backlight, a red-green-and-blue LED lighting system that reduces bleeding between colors, resulting in a crisper, brighter image. Samsung says its new TV is the first set of its size to use the company’s proprietary Micro RBG Technology, and the TV was designed to reduce glare and reflections. It uses AI processing to finely control the backlight, and also is compatible with Samsung Vision AI for smart viewing, so viewers can access content like actor bios while watching a show or ask questions about what they’re watching. At 112 inches, it also requires a pretty big wall. [Photo: Samsung] Design that follows the money With a price point that rivals some cars, the South Korean technology company’s $30,000 TV comes as the U.S. economy bifurcates. The rich now hold up consumer spending, and an August Bank of America Institute report found the gap between wages and spending for lower-income households has widened. Lower-income households saw their after-tax wage growth reach 1.3% year-over-year in July, while higher-income households saw 3.2% growth, according to the report. For TV manufactures, that could mean fewer cheap sets are being sold while the market for high-end sets is growing. It’s clear Samsung has been set on capturing the high-end market since releasing a 98-inch, $100,000 TV in 2019. Its Frame tv, released in 2017, is far more affordable at starting as low as $800, but as it’s designed to look like framed artwork, it rejects the idea that TV has to be a utilitarian black box on the wall. Today, the company offers more than half a dozen TVs that cost more than $10,000, including its 114-inch Class Micro LED for $150,000. The number of higher-income consumers who are willing to spend five figures or more on a TV set might be small, but at such high price points, Samsung doesn’t need to sell many. The sale price of just one Micro RGB TV is as much as that of more than 100 of some of Samsung’s cheaper models available at Best Buy.
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E-Commerce
For 75 years, David’s Bridal has been the go-to dressmaker for America’s brides, selling a third of all wedding dresses in the country. But in a strange twist, the company wants to reinvent itself as something else entirely. Next week, the retailer unveils its new identity as a technology platform for the $70 billion wedding industry. It begins with the rollout of Pearl Planner, an AI agent for couples planning their wedding. It provides checklists for each step of the process and connects users with vendors who pay David’s Bridal a commission for each sale. If this tool is successful, not only will it provide a compelling model to companies looking to monetize generative AI, but it would also be one of the biggest brand transformations in recent history. Kelly Cook, who was promoted to David’s Bridal CEO in April 2025, describes this as an evolution from “aisle to algorithm. For years, the company’s business was designing and manufacturing wedding dresses across a complex supply chain. Like other apparel businesses, it’s a model that involves risk, since the company needs to acquire inventory that may not sell. But Cook says the fundamental premise of the business is changing. “One of the core tenets that underpins our strategy is that we’re asset light,” she says. “We’re focused on AI first. This is how we’re making every single decision going forward.” From Bankruptcy to Rebirth This radical change comes after a turbulent period. David’s Bridal has filed for bankruptcy twice over the past seven years, first in 2018 and again in 2023, citing persistent operational and financial challenges. Cook, who joined David’s Bridal in 2019 as CMO, identifies several reasons for the company’s struggles. It had failed to modernize its stores, which are crucial to selling dresses. And just as it was beginning to update its retail fleet, the pandemic hit. As people canceled weddings, the bridal market ground to a halt, and there were massive shipping delays that paralyzed the supply chain. Then, when the stimulus checks stopped coming, people continued to postpone their weddings,” Cook says. “We had one thing after another, and so in 2023 we had to go back to bankruptcy court.” Help arrived in July of that year, when Cion Investment Corp. bought David’s Bridal, reaching a deal to keep 195 stores open and enabling 7,000 of the company’s 10,000 employees to keep their jobs. It also injected $20 million of new funding. David’s Bridal’s executive team saw the acquisition as an opportunity to try something totally different. The board empowered Cooka seasoned retail veteranto bring the company into the 21st century. Cook hired Elina Vilk, a Silicon Valley veteran who had worked at eBay, PayPal, and Facebook, to be the company’s chief business officer. And Vilk’s approach is to integrate technologists across every aspect of the business, including retail stores and highly specific departments, like alternations. “The secret is not to create a separate tech team that is a silo,” Vilk says. “To change the culture of the organization, you want to put people in different parts of the organization.” An AI Wedding Planner While David’s Bridal sells dresses, the company also has access to vast amounts of data. Cook says that 90% of all brides in America interact with David’s Bridal in some way, from visiting a retail store to browsing the company’s website. In the end, only a fraction of them end up purchasing a dress. “We serve the middle of the market, rather than couture or budget brides,” Cook says. “But the fact that nearly all brides were coming to us at some point was an extraordinary opportunity.” Company executives determined that they could provide a useful service to the entire population of newly engaged couples by providing a free wedding planning tool thats highly tailored to their needs. “When a woman gets engaged, she’s thrilled,” Cook says. “But then she spends the next 18 months in a perpetual state of anxiety. We can help her solve some of these problems.” [Screenshot: David’s Bridal] AI agents like ChatGPT or Claude can help with some aspects of the process. For instance, you might ask: “I just got engaged. What should I do next?” But these platforms are not well-versed in the details of wedding planning, nor will they connect customers with vendors they can use. David’s Bridal trained Pearl Planner, in part, on its own data about the specific steps that couples go through during the wedding planning process. The final product is a guided conversation with the AI agent that walks the user through each stage. “To use ChatGPT, you need to know what questions to ask,” Vilk says. “The blank screen can be very anxiety-inducing. The difference with Pearl Planner is that it guides you through the process step-by-step.” [Screenshot: David’s Bridal] When you open the app, you answer questions about your wedding, including the date, size, aesthetic, and color palette. The app then creates a vision board, which you can tweak. Then you receive a checklist, personalized to your budget, style, and venue. It also explains when you need to accomplish each task. For instance, you’ll get notifications when you should send your save-the-date notices, or when you should begin researching florists. [Screenshot: David’s Bridal] Also, as anyone who has planned a wedding knows, there are many things that can go wrong. The app tries to help with these problems. For instance, if you suddenly discover you need to add five more guests to the event, the Planner will automatically update your seating and catering checklists. David’s Bridal gives the app to customers for free and offers a loyalty program that allows them to earn rewards for every dollar they spend through the app. (The highest award is a two-night, three-day honeymoon.) Th app generates revenue in several ways. First, it directs users to its own product lines, which now include engagement party dresses, bridesmaid’s dresses, and resort wear for the honeymoon. It also introduces couples to vendors in their area and generates commission from each sale. [Screenshot: Davids Bridal] Pearl Planner essentially serves as a marketplace and advertising network for wedding vendors. “Since we capture a lot of first-party data about each user on Pearl Planner, it is so much more productive to advertise to our users,” Cook says. “Their ad spend is so much more productive, because they can target users based on very specific characteristics and introduce themselves to the couple the minute they need their service.” Cook points out that the Pearl Planner completely transforms the companys business model. Now other wedding dress brands are no longer competitors: They can advertise on the Pearl Planner app, and David’s Bridal will receive a commission if they book through the app. In fact, there might come a day when David’s Bridal lets other bridal shops white-label the technology. “They could rename it for all we care,” Cook says. “When the brides go through the funnel, whether they buy the dress from us or not, all the monetization still stands. We benefit by serving the vendors that serve these brides.” Davids Bridal’s effort to reinvent itself is a bold move, particularly for a 75-year-old company. There are other legacy retailersincluding Walmart and Amazonwho are incorporating AI into their core business with agents that help merchants decide what products to bring into the assortment or help them manage store inventory. David’s Bridal stands out because it is using AI to evolve into an entirely different kind of company, with new revenue streams. It’s unclear yet exactly how well this transformation will work. But Cook models the kind of ambition required to revive a struggling business and make it relevant in the AI age. “At some point, we might not even just be a bridal company,” she says. “You can use this same technology to plan any of life’s events, from quinceaeras to bat mitzvahs to baby showers.”
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E-Commerce
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