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- 🐺 Three SD companies at the frontier: biotech, aerospace, medical device.
🐺 Three SD companies at the frontier: biotech, aerospace, medical device.
Plus a needle-free glucose sensor built in a UCSD lab, and a blended-wing-body freighter with a $24B order book.
A biosensor first designed to identify battlefield injuries became a consumer athletic wearable, then became Biolinq, the first FDA-cleared needle-free glucose monitor.
Plus Natilus, a San Diego blended wing aerospace startup with $24B in aircraft orders, and Neomorph, a biotech attacking undruggable proteins with molecular glue degraders.
Howl yeah, let's dive in.
Neomorph — 6 Open SD Roles
San Diego biotech pioneering molecular glue degraders. Their bet: engineer "neomorphic" protein surfaces to target and destroy disease-causing proteins that have historically been considered undruggable.
Why they matter:
Humans have roughly 20,000 proteins. Only a small fraction have been successfully targeted with therapeutics. The rest are considered "undruggable."
Neomorph is one of the leading companies working on molecular glue degraders, small-molecule medicines that trap and eliminate disease-causing proteins by hijacking the cell's own degradation machinery.
In February, Neomorph dosed the first patient in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial targeting kidney cancer.
In April, the company closed a $100M Series B financing led by Deerfield Management.
In May, Robert J. Hugin, former Chairman and CEO of Celgene, joined as Chairman of Neomorph's Board.
Founded 2020 in San Diego. Co-founded by CEO Philip Chamberlain, alongside scientific co-founders Eric Fischer, Benjamin Ebert, and Scott Armstrong.
Open roles across:
Medicinal Chemistry
Cell-based Biology and High-Throughput Screening
Translational Research
Immunology
Lab Operations
Natilus — 6 Open SD Roles
San Diego aerospace startup building blended-wing-body aircraft. Order book of 570+ aircraft, valued at $24B.
Why they matter:
Natilus is designing and building blended-wing-body (BWB) aircraft, a fundamentally different airframe than the tube-and-wing standard. Their first product is KONA, a regional cargo freighter with a 3.8-metric-ton payload and over 1000 mile range.
Their second is HORIZON EVO, a passenger BWB targeting the narrowbody segment.
The company has 570+ aircraft on order, valued at $24 billion.
SpiceJet placed a 100-jet tentative order in December. Nolinor Aviation, Flexport, and Ameriflight are also customers.
In February they closed a $28M Series A led by Draper Associates, with Flexport, Type One Ventures, and The Veterans Fund participating.
KONA's full-scale first flight is targeted for 2027 or early 2028.
Founded 2016 in San Diego by Aleksey Matyushev (CEO) and Anatoly Starikov.
Open roles across:
Aircraft and Systems Engineering (Aerodynamics, Aircraft Subsystems, Avionics, Aircraft Mechanisms)
Business Development
Operations
Biolinq — 10 Open SD Roles
San Diego biosensor company. Their needle-free glucose sensor, Biolinq Shine, is the first fully autonomous CGM cleared by the FDA.
Why they matter:
Biolinq builds wearable biosensors for metabolic health. Their flagship product, Biolinq Shine, is a needle-free continuous glucose monitor for people with type 2 diabetes.
Instead of subcutaneous needles, Shine uses a microsensor array that sits in the skin, displaying glucose ranges through a color-coded LED patch, no phone required.
The company traces its origins to Professor Joseph Wang's NanoBio-Electronics Lab at UCSD, where cofounders Joshua Windmiller and Jared Tangney did their PhD work.
Their first biosensor was aimed at battlefield injuries. That platform later became Electrozyme, a consumer athletic wearable that won CONNECT's Most Innovative New Product Award in 2014. Biolinq is the diabetes-focused evolution of the same core technology.
In September the FDA granted Biolinq Shine de novo classification, making it the first fully autonomous, needle-free glucose sensor to enter the US market.
In April they closed a $100M Series C led by Alpha Wave Ventures.
In June, Dr. Timothy Bailey of UCSD presented Biolinq's pivotal Shine data at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions 2026 in New Orleans.
Biolinq was founded in 2012.
Open roles across:
Advanced Sensor Technology R&D
MEMS and Microsystems Engineering
iOS Software Engineering
Manufacturing and Process Engineering
Product Management
Still on the Radar
Three companies from last week still hiring and worth your time:
Firestorm - 38 open SD roles. SD defense-tech company building 3D-printed drone microfactories in shipping containers. $30M APFIT contract for Indo-Pacific delivery.
Clinically AI - 9 open roles. Behavioral health AI platform expanding across three product lines: Notes, Compliance, and SDK integration.
Seasats - 18 open SD roles. Autonomous surface vessel maker with an $89M Navy IDIQ contract for Marine Corps deliveries.
Let's help good people find great San Diego teams.
Jonah 🐺
