Participated · Equity · Dec 2025

South 8 Technologies develops a proprietary liquefied gas electrolyte called LiGas and manufactures high-performance, resilient lithium-ion battery cells. The company's LiGas platform is positioned to improve safety, enhance extreme-temperature performance, enable faster charging, and extend cycle life compared with traditional electrolytes. South 8 emphasizes a fully domestic supply chain, with gas-based components produced at industrial scale in the United States. Following the grant, the company plans to expand its San Diego operations to reach annual production capacity of 100 MWh for electrolyte and 2 MWh for lithium-ion battery cells. Its customers and target markets include defense, aerospace, mobility, and global automotive manufacturers working on next-generation battery qualification programs. The company highlighted that the expansion supports job creation and local economic benefits aligned with California's zero-emission transportation goals.

Participated · Series B · Feb 2025

EnCharge is a semiconductor startup spun out from Princeton that builds analog memory chips and full‑stack AI accelerators aimed at running existing AI models at the edge (laptops, handsets, wearables). The company says its accelerators use about 20x less energy to run workloads compared with other chips on the market and has developed noise‑resilient analog designs and accompanying software. EnCharge expects to have its first chips on the market later this year and is working closely with TSMC to manufacture those devices. The startup focuses on inference rather than training and continues R&D with algorithms that could expand use cases. EnCharge has received non-dilutive support via grants from DARPA and the Department of Defense and counts strategic backers such as In-Q-Tel among its investors. The company is Santa Clara‑based and emerged from stealth in 2022 after nearly a decade of research at Princeton. EnCharge AI commercializes next-generation in-memory computing chips and full-stack AI accelerators that use switched-capacitor analog techniques to deliver large improvements in compute efficiency and density. The company says its technology targets decentralizing AI inference from data centers to phones, laptops, vehicles, and factories. EnCharge was launched in 2022 and is led by co-founder and CEO Dr. Naveen Verma, with Dr. Kailash Gopalakrishnan as CTO. Headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., the company is building on years of Princeton lab work and prior DoD/DARPA-funded research. Financially, EnCharge has raised $45 million to date and recently announced a $22.6 million funding round to develop next-generation full-stack AI compute solutions. It is also participating with Princeton University in a DARPA OPTIMA-supported multi-year project funded by an $18.6 million grant. EnCharge AI builds custom plug-in hardware on a standard PCIe form factor that uses in-memory computing to accelerate AI workloads for servers and network edge machines. The company’s chips are designed around capacitors rather than transistors to improve robustness against voltage and temperature fluctuations. EnCharge is developing accompanying software to enable customers to adapt different neural networks to the custom hardware and to keep the solution scalable. The firm emerged from research and DARPA- and federally funded R&D that Verma led beginning in 2017 and commercializes those test chips and architectures. EnCharge has roughly 25 employees, is based in Santa Clara, and is pre-revenue. Proceeds from the recent raise will be used for hardware and software development and to support new customer engagements.

Participated · Series E · Sep 2024

6K develops and produces critical engineered materials using its UniMelt microwave plasma technology across battery and additive manufacturing markets. The company operates distinct businesses including 6K Additive, 6K Energy and 6K Next and is industrially operational and producing materials at scale today. 6K’s headquarters and the 6K Energy Battery Center of Excellence are in North Andover, MA; 6K Additive’s production facility is in Burgettstown, PA, and a full‑scale PlusCAM battery material plant is under construction in Jackson, TN. The company plans to scale up production of battery cathode active materials (CAM) and expand production of additive manufacturing metal powders. 6K closed an $82M Series E to support those scale‑up and expansion efforts. Leadership changes accompany the raise: Dr. Aaron Bent transitioned out as CEO and COO Dr. Saurabh Ullal assumes the CEO role, and new board members Beda Bolzenius and Dr. Jeff Chamberlain have been added. 6K produces engineered materials for lithium-ion batteries and additive manufacturing using its UniMelt microwave plasma technology. Its UniMelt system transforms engineered materials across industries including additive manufacturing, renewable energy, aerospace and consumer electronics by replacing a multi-day, high-waste hydro-met chemical co-precipitation process with an ultra-clean, rapid plasma process. The UniMelt process can operate in as little as 2 seconds and is powered by a 6000K microwave plasma. UniMelt systems are already deployed in 24/7 high-volume production at 6K Additive’s ISO9001-certified, 45-acre facility. The company plans to use Series D proceeds to expand production of premium 3D metal powders in its Additive division and to deploy cathode production plants in its Energy division. Led by CEO Aaron Bent, 6K raised $102M as the first tranche of a Series D expected to reach $150M total. 6K develops sustainable advanced materials for energy storage and additive manufacturing, using a proprietary advanced plasma processing system and a continuous UniMelt process. The UniMelt production process allows complete control of materials engineering to produce battery materials, semiconductor materials, 3D printing powders, phosphors, advanced ceramics and electronic materials. Led by CEO Aaron Bent, the company raised $51M in a Series C financing to scale its operations. 6K plans to use the funds to complete a Battery Development Center of Excellence, adding 33,000 sq ft of product development space and doubling its 6K Energy team. The company will also triple production capacity for 3D metal powders at its 6K Additive division, expand its powder product offerings, and grow commercial sales activities globally.

Participated · Seed · Sep 2024

CytoTronics develops semiconductor-to-live-cell interfaces called Pixel that provide multi-modal, single-cell resolution monitoring of viability, morphology, electrophysiology and more. The company launched early access programs for Pixel Primo and Pixel Octo, with Pixel Octo aimed at improving scalability for high-throughput discovery applications. Pixel has received a 2024 SLA New Product Award and an R&D 100 award. CytoTronics plans to expand commercial and field teams, scale manufacturing and production, and is preparing for first product shipments in 2025. The company was founded as a Harvard spinout in 2021 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. CytoTronics is commercializing a CMOS-powered drug discovery platform that provides optics-free, single-cell resolution electrical and electrochemical assays. The platform is an integrated single-cell resolution electrochemical-imaging array that produces electrical and image-like readouts from live cells without optics. Its suite of patented technologies was developed over a decade of research at Harvard and licensed exclusively to CytoTronics via Harvard Office of Technology Development. The company aims to target the roughly $20 billion low-throughput cell-based assay market and quickly progress to higher-throughput workflows to make drug-discovery research more precise, automatic, repeatable, and scalable. Seed funding of $9.25M will be used to commercialize research-demonstrated devices and advance platform development. CytoTronics has opened wet-biology and electronics labs at Agility Labs in Boston to continue R&D and further develop its platform.

Participated · Series A · Jun 2024

e-Zinc builds zinc-based, long-duration energy storage (zinc-air) technology designed to store energy for multiple days with lower cost and increased safety compared with conventional batteries. The company is based in Toronto and is developing products intended for both off- and on-grid applications. e-Zinc plans to use new funding to accelerate product development and to complete a 42,000 sq. ft pilot manufacturing facility in Mississauga, Ontario. It is partnering with Toyota Tsusho Canada Inc. and the California Energy Commission to carry out field demonstrations that will validate its systems can store 24 hours of energy (about 10x traditional batteries). The company recently expanded its executive team with new CFO, CTO, COO, and CCO hires to support the transition from product development to commercialization. e-Zinc develops a zinc-air battery energy storage system designed for long-duration applications. The company's system can be up to 80 percent more cost effective than comparable lithium-ion systems, operates in cold and hot climates, and is made of abundant, recyclable materials. e-Zinc aims to displace diesel generators as a low-emission alternative and to enable a 100 percent renewable energy future by pairing its batteries with renewable sources. Financially, the company recently completed a Series A and has secured a USD $7 million venture debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank to support commercialization. Funds will be used to expand manufacturing operations at a new facility in Mississauga, Ontario, accelerate production of commercial energy storage systems, and execute high-value commercial pilot projects. Planned pilots include a Toyota Tsusho Canada Inc. project and work with the California Energy Commission, with testing and validation expected within roughly 18 months. e-Zinc develops a zinc-air battery energy storage system designed for multi-day discharge at rated power to support high renewable penetrency. The system is made of abundant, recyclable materials, operates in cold and hot climates, and the company says it can be up to 80% less expensive than comparable lithium‑ion systems for long-duration applications. e-Zinc aims to displace diesel generators for half-day to five-day backup power and to pair with renewable generation for remote or off-grid use cases. The company is partnering with the California Energy Commission to demonstrate powering businesses through multi-day outages caused by natural disasters. e-Zinc will use recent financing to commence pilot production of its first commercial energy storage systems for field deployment. Financially, the company has advanced from a 2020 seed round to a $25 million Series A to fund commercialization and pilot projects. e-Zn develops grid-scale energy storage systems that leverage low-cost zinc metal to deliver multiple days of storage and to scale energy capacity at roughly one-tenth the capital cost of lithium-ion batteries. The Toronto-based company is led by CEO James Larsen. Its systems operate in temperatures from -30°C to 60°C, are made of abundant and recyclable materials, and are described as completely safe. e-Zn targets remote and resiliency markets including remote communities, mining operations, telecommunications, military bases, data centres, island nations, EV charging stations and non-wire alternatives. The company intends to use the funds to commercialize its technology and begin deploying systems in-field with commercial customers. The article does not disclose operating metrics such as revenue or user counts.