Tiny Bits
August ended with assumptions. September begins with a little certainty.
We didn't close every administrative item by our self-imposed August deadline yet. But we said so last week and since then, discussions with Companies House have clarified the position and given us until October to complete the outstanding accounts process, no biggie. Expert review almost done, the immediate pressure is contained, and the additional runway allows us to finish the work properly.
So we're taking the beginning of September to consolidate.
Because elsewhere, things moved considerably.
Structure
We are no longer racing an ambiguous administrative clock while simultaneously moving contracts, transfers and the wider structure underneath it. We have time to reconcile the position properly.
There is still work here.
Equity Tracks
The sequence also moved during the turn into September, although consolidation remains underway. Our objective is now to bring the resulting ownership, equity and financing picture into one understandable representation rather than publishing fragments while the underlying transactions are settling. The cap table will follow that principle.
Complete the movement. Reconcile it. Illustrate it.
August taught us that describing a moving target every Friday isn't particularly useful. September gives us room to stop doing that.
Iterations
The more visible change is already
live. (← Click)
Our product iterations have been updated to better reflect where the technology actually stands and how we intend to develop it from here.
The progression is increasingly straightforward:
Mk-0 → demonstrate the viability
Mk-I → SKIPPED
Mk-X → develop the modular product ← (We are here)
Mk-XL → translate toward large-area deployment
Over the last months, research, manufacturing discussions and application work have made it increasingly obvious that we need to separate the core technology from everything people might eventually build with it.
Synthetic crystal production remains the foundation.
Mk-X stay just the principal commercialisation programme.
Applications remain downstream.
R&D Focus
Recent work around lattice orientation has given us a better direction for how we approach the relationship between crystal structure, mechanical loading and electromechanical response.
This is important because producing the material is only part of the problem. How its internal structure is oriented relative to the applied force affects how we should think about geometry, compression, integration and ultimately repeatability.
We have made enough progress here to call it a breakthrough in our own development process. Still, not enough to publish a heroic performance figure yet. That distinction matters.
The immediate work is therefore to reproduce the behaviour, understand the relevant data more completely and translate what we learn into the next mechanical and material iterations.
Research Systems
Meanwhile, another experiment we started months ago is reaching its natural conclusion.
Our University of Birmingham student projects are wrapping up.
Several have produced working systems rather than only reports, particularly around engineering-document intelligence, evidence handling and internal validation.
Suitable outputs are now being prepared for public testing.
And in selected cases we're discussing something we deliberately did not promise at the beginning of the programme:
What happens after graduation?
Some projects should conclude successfully as academic work.
Others may justify continued development and a road toward commercialisation.
We don't need to decide that because a project is exciting.
We need to decide it because people use it and it proves useful.
Research → System → Public Testing → Validation → Commercialisation
The middle of that chain is about to become much more interesting.
Grant-Tracks
The academic architecture around that work continues beyond the graduating projects; Our Manufacturing Technology Centre relationship and university discussions remain connected to the longer R&D and Knowledge Transfer direction through 2027. On that note, we engaged the MTC as a control instance for our 2027 Pilot projects officially now.
The network itself is broadening, while our recent participation in the NCUB/Konfer feedback cycle gave us another small opportunity to contribute to the infrastructure connecting academia and businesses.
That matters to us for a fairly simple reason: UK, European and US funding routes remain under evaluation, but we are deliberately not turning September into an exercise in collecting programmes.
First consolidate the projects. Then finance the right ones after all dues are addressed.
Ecosystem
September also started with a relevant external discussion.
On September 3, the World Economic Forum's Frontier Technologies series addressed Too Hot to Ignore: The Technologies Cooling a Hotter World, covering energy-efficient cooling, heat-resilient infrastructure, advanced materials and climate-smart urban systems. Useful context for a company working around materials and energy. Not automatically a use case.
The UK National Quantum Technologies Showcase remains ahead, while our wider academic, manufacturing and international relationships continue developing.
There are plenty of rooms KCM can enter now. September is about deciding which ones we actually need to be in.
Operations
This is where the first part of September will be spent.
The website maintenance is substantially behind us. The iterations are updated. Bureaucracy with a defined runway through October. Transfers and historical obligations continue being reconciled. The equity picture is being consolidated and prepared for publication. Student projects are moving through handover. And the next engineering work now has a clear technical direction, with.
We reached a point where several moving pieces can finally be put back on the same table.
Road Ahead
The roadmap therefore changes emphasis. We decided to illustrate it next week as well, pending con
August was dominated by getting the surrounding structure into a state capable of supporting the technology. September starts moving attention back toward the technology itself.
For Mk-X, that means the next gates are increasingly practical:
Repeatable material. ✅
Defined mechanics. ✅
Integrated electronics. 🔃
Reproducible validation. 🔜
Pilot system deployed.🔜
A roadmap that survives engineering completely unchanged probably wasn't exposed to enough engineering.
Outlook
In effect before the next update: Standby.
Summary
Companies House discussions provide a clear route through October for the outstanding accounts process; expert review almost complete
August's administrative flag continues being remedied within the clarified timeframe; Equity position continues through consolidation
Cap-table illustration follows reconciliation of the resulting position
Public product iterations have been updated; Mk-X remains the principal commercialisation programme
University of Birmingham student projects are concluding with working systems and long-term implications for our team
R&D and Knowledge Transfer planning continues through 2027
WEF Frontier Technologies engagement continues providing relevant external context; UK National Quantum Technologies Showcase remains ahead
Early September is deliberately being used to clear the new position
September starts with considerably more road in front of us.
And, after all, a better idea of how the crystal crystalizes.
Energy. Time. The Future.
— The KCM Team 🚀
