On The Horizon

In this episode of On The Horizon podcast, Nadab Akhtar, President and CEO of Project LightShift, the quantum antenna technology partner of Quantum Cyber N.V. (Nasdaq: QUCY), joins WTR Analyst James Kisner and host Tim Gerdeman, Vice Chair, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Water Tower Research. Quantum Cyber is developing an autonomous defense platform for battlefields where GPS and communications are jammed or denied.

Nadab Akhtar explains why a drone is most exposed when it signals home, then covers how the quantum photomagnetic antenna is designed to use quantum-scale photonics to read the Earth’s magnetic field as a navigation reference. The antenna was invented by Project LightShift co-founder and Chief Scientist Dr. Wolf Kohn and is exclusively licensed to Quantum Cyber for drone and defense applications.

Nadab Akhtar also walks through MAHCA (Multiple Agent Hybrid Control Architecture), a rules-based AI framework intended to let drone swarms make decisions on board rather than calling home, and describes the search for a fabrication partner to take the pre-commercial antenna from simulation to a first prototype. The conversation closes with the milestones he expects over the next 12 to 18 months, led by a defined prototype program and a demonstration of MAHCA for swarming.

For additional content, visit www.watertowerresearch.com.

In this episode of On The Horizon, Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, Chief Executive Officer of LanzaTech Global, Inc. (Nasdaq: LNZA), joins WTR's Peter Gastreich (Managing Director, Energy Transition and Sustainable Investing) and Tim Gerdeman (Vice Chair, Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer).

Jennifer discusses how LanzaTech's continuous fermentation technology converts industrial carbon emissions into ethanol, the mandate-driven demand for sustainable aviation fuel and marine fuel, and the company's shift from licensing toward developing its own projects with Brookfield funding. She also covers the expected ISCC EU certification for LanzaTech's China plant, LNZA's embedded value in LanzaJet and the Shougang LanzaTech joint venture, and key milestones expected over the next 18 months.

For additional content, visit www.watertowerresearch.com.

In this episode, Ambiq Founder and CTO Scott Hanson joins WTR's James Kisner and Tim Gerdeman to discuss how the company's ultra-low-power semiconductors are enabling on-device AI across personal, medical, industrial, and smart-home markets. Hanson traces the origins of Ambiq's proprietary Subthreshold Power Optimized Technology (SPOT), spun out of the University of Michigan in 2010, and explains how it delivers a two- to fivefold reduction in power consumption versus conventional designs, unlocking edge AI use cases where latency, privacy, cost, energy, and availability all matter. The conversation covers the product roadmap, including the Apollo340 mass-market processor and the in-development Atomiq family, Ambiq's first system-on-chip built from the ground up for AI with an integrated NPU, plus the HELIA software stack that helps customers deploy AI faster. Hanson also outlines the longer-term opportunity to license SPOT into automotive, data center, and robotics, and building on five consecutive quarters of growth with a sixth guided, highlights near-term milestones including first customer samples, a production ramp targeted for late 2027, and more meaningful revenue in 2028.

For additional content, visit www.watertowerresearch.com. 

In this episode of the WTR Small Cap Spotlight, Joseph Lucosky, Managing Partner of Lucosky Brookman LLP, joins WTR's Tim Gerdeman to discuss his new seat on the SEC's Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee, NASDAQ's stayed $5 million continued listing rule, and Q2 2026 microcap IPO data showing the first signs of a thaw. Lucosky also covers the rise of direct listings and reverse mergers over the traditional IPO, and what foreign private issuers need to get approved on NASDAQ. For additional content, visit www.watertowerresearch.com.

In this episode of the WTR Small Cap Spotlight, Drone Volt Chairman Stefano Valentini joins WTR's Senior Equity Research Analyst Dr. John Roy and Tim Gerdeman to discuss the company's solid first half 2026 results and its strategic evolution toward higher-value Drone-as-a-Service operations. The conversation covers Drone Volt's position as an aeronautical manufacturer specializing in professional civilian drones and artificial intelligence, its global footprint spanning France, Benelux, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United States, and Switzerland, and how its turnkey business solutions and drone pilot training offerings are driving the shift to a more recurring, service-oriented revenue model. For additional content visit, www.watertowerresearch.com

In this episode of On the Horizon, Natural MedTech CEO and Co-Founder Luke McFarlane joins WTR healthcare analyst Robert Sassoon and Shawn Severson to discuss the company's biosynthetic psilocybin manufacturing platform and its position within Australia's evolving psychedelic medicine landscape. The conversation covers the authorized prescriber pathway, including adoption trends, treatment costs, regulatory developments, and early insurer engagement. McFarlane walks through NMT's proprietary biosynthesis platform, its competitive advantages in cost and purity, the ongoing Series A raise, and the case for local manufacturing. The episode also explores AI's role in drug development, the importance of wet-lab data, NMT's views on drugs-for-data models, and the company's long-term ambitions within the pharmaceutical 

In this episode of On the Horizon, Wrap Technologies Founder, Chairman, and CEO Scot Cohen joins host Tim Gerdeman and analyst Eric Goldstein to discuss a month of significant news flow for the company. Cohen walks through a favorable ATF ruling classifying BolaWrap as a rescue and restraint device rather than a firearm, a strategic investment and exclusive four-year U.S./NATO license with Israeli sensing company Frenel Imaging, and the launch of the WrapShield counter-drone platform alongside the new multi-shot Raptor MX system. The conversation covers the legal and insurance-market implications of the ATF ruling, the underappreciated security-guard market opportunity, and how training-as-a-service and recurring cartridge and recertification revenue are building out the company's business model. Cohen closes with the company's target of roughly 100% revenue growth for 2026. 

In this episode of the WTR Small Cap Spotlight, Cannara Biotech COO and Interim CFO Nick Sosiak joins WTR's Linda Bolton Weiser and Tim Gerdeman to discuss the company's expansion following the announcement of a long-term international supply agreement with Curaleaf carrying a potential aggregate value of up to C$21 million. The conversation covers Cannara's differentiated approach within the cannabis industry, the market positioning of its three brands, the scale advantages of its two Quebec mega-facilities, growing room economics, the current state of the Canadian cannabis market, the role of innovation in driving share gains, and the path to reaching maximum annual production capacity of 100,000 kg. 

In this episode of the WTR Small Cap Spotlight podcast, Brian Allen, Chief Revenue Officer of Nauticus Robotics, Inc. (Nasdaq: KITT), joins WTR's Tim Gerdeman (Vice Chair, Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer) and Peter Gastreich (Managing Director - Energy Transition and Sustainable Investing). 

Brian shared his nearly two decades in underwater robotics and what drew him to Nauticus, the company's commercially ready Nauticus ToolKITT autonomy system and licensing potential, its industry-leading autonomous manipulator technology enabling millimeter-precision subsea tasks, the Forum Energy Technologies partnership validating commercial demand, upcoming Aquanaut sales and European expansion, and a growing defense and wide-area ocean sensing opportunity.

In this episode, Ardes Johnson, CEO of NeoVolta, joins host Tim Gerdeman, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, and analyst Eric Goldstein. NeoVolta is a Southern California-founded energy storage company scaling into a FEOC-compliant U.S. battery manufacturer, targeting 2 GWh of initial annual production capacity, scalable to 8 GWh, across residential, commercial and industrial, and utility-scale markets. Johnson explains the company's strategic transformation from a residential battery pioneer into an integrated, multi-vertical energy storage platform, anchored by the NeoVolta Power joint venture with Bloomberg Tier 1 integrator PotisEdge and global solar leader LONGi. The conversation walks through the path from construction to production at NeoVolta's Pendergrass, Georgia facility and what the utility and C&I-scale manufacturing buildout means for the company's growth trajectory. The episode closes with a look at how NeoVolta's manufacturing scale-up positions it within the broader U.S. battery supply chain.