Tacos and Tech Podcast
Neal Bloom
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This Week in San Diego Tech News - May 2026
Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube. Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News! I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners. This week, I’m flying solo on the mic to unpack a busy week in San Diego tech. Before we dive in, we wanted to thank you and ask our listeners to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community! Topics Covered Suja IPO & San Diego’s Consumer Brand Pipeline * Suja Life IPO * Coca-Cola’s early investment thesis * San Diego as a premium wellness and consumer products launchpad * Comparison to other recent San Diego consumer brand IPOs * Why San Diego may be one of America’s best “test markets” for health & lifestyle brands Stone Brewing, Sapporo & Maria Stipp’s Exit Track Record * Stone Brewing acquisition news * The evolution of San Diego’s craft brewing ecosystem * Maria Stipp’s leadership journey across: * EcoATM * Lagunitas * Stone Brewing * Suja * Siete Foods board involvement * The importance of experienced operators recycling through ecosystems Firestorm Labs Is on an Absolute Heater * Firestorm Labs raises $82M Series B * New $30M defense contract * Distributed manufacturing and edge logistics * “Factories in shipping containers” * Why modern defense tech is increasingly about adaptability and rapid production * Firestorm hosting the first annual Hardtech 50 Release Party Hardtech 50 + Next Wave 30 * Why it became impossible to stop at just 50 companies * San Diego’s growing density across: * aerospace * robotics * autonomy * semiconductors * energy * ocean tech * manufacturing * - The rise of interdisciplinary founders and “things that move atoms” UCSD’s Deep Tech Infrastructure Push * University of California San Diego and advanced engineering initiatives * Supercomputing, fusion, AI infrastructure, and scientific tooling * The importance of compute, cooling, energy, and simulation infrastructure * The long-term impact of institutions like: * Qualcomm * General Atomics * San Diego Supercomputer Center * Navy-affiliated research Referenced article: UCSD Guardian coverage Scripps + San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance * Scripps Institution of Oceanography * San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance * Conservation, climate science, oceanography, and AI converging * Why proximity between institutions creates innovation density Referenced article: Scripps announcement This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit risingtidepartners.substack.com/subscribe
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