Led · Equity · Jul 2025

MP Materials operates as the only fully integrated rare earth mining company in the United States. The company will develop neodymium magnet manufacturing lines at its flagship facility in Fort Worth, Texas. It also operates processing capacity at Mountain Pass, California, where it will establish a recycling line for recovered rare earth feedstock. MP Materials' core products include mined rare earth elements and manufactured neodymium magnets, with new lines tailored for Apple devices. Future plans with Apple include magnet manufacturing, a domestic recycling pipeline for used electronics and post-industrial scrap, and co-development of novel magnet materials and processing technologies. Apple’s $500 million commitment to buy American-made magnets represents a material commercial partnership supporting MP Materials’ domestic manufacturing and recycling expansion.

Led · Series B · Mar 2021

UnitedMasters is a distribution platform and toolset launched in 2017 by Steve Stoute that lets artists publish to major streaming services while retaining control of their masters. The product emphasizes a direct pipeline to audience and engagement data so artists can sell tickets, merchandise and secure brand deals. The company also offers integrations and partnerships with brands and platforms such as the NBA, ESPN, TikTok and Twitch. UnitedMasters reports serving about 1 million current artists and provides at-a-glance stream, fan and earnings data through its app. The business model centers on empowering independent artists with technical and commercial capabilities typically held by labels and managers. As part of its growth plan, the company intends to hire mission-oriented local technical and artist talent to expand the platform globally. UnitedMasters is a platform and record-label alternative that helps artists retain rights to their master recordings while earning royalties and distributing music to major DSPs. The company provides artist profiles, distribution, analytics, and an opt-in system for brand and league placements. It operates a creative agency called Translation to help market artists, merchandise and ticket sales directly. UnitedMasters emerged from stealth about a year prior and is led by founder and CEO Steve Stoute, the former president of Interscope Records. The firm has secured strategic backing to pursue partnerships that expand artist reach and provide data-driven insights into audience performance. A flagship partnership with the NBA will make UnitedMasters artists eligible to have music played across NBA digital and social properties and will be used to measure the impact of placement on artist metrics.

Led · Equity · May 2020

COPAN Diagnostics manufactures sample collection kits for clinical testing and invented flocked swabs in 2003. The company offers the world’s leading transport medium for virus-containing clinical specimens. Apple awarded COPAN $10 million from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund to help rapidly scale production of COVID-19 sample collection kits for U.S. hospitals. Apple is also employing its sourcing resources to find equipment and materials for COPAN, including advanced equipment it is helping design. The funds will be used to expand to a larger production facility in Southern California and to grow COPAN’s run rate from several thousand kits to over one million kits weekly by July. The award is expected to support the creation of around 50 new U.S. jobs.

Led · Equity · May 2018

Elysis is developing an aluminum smelting process that eliminates direct greenhouse gas emissions by swapping carbon for oxygen as the smelting byproduct. The technology is expected to reduce production costs by roughly 15%. Alcoa and Rio Tinto created the Montreal‑based joint venture to mainstream the process and plan to make it commercially available by 2024. Apple invested C$13 million (US$10 million) in the venture, and the companies together with the governments of Canada and Quebec have committed C$188 million to the effort. Alcoa has operated the process at smaller scale since 2009 at a plant outside Pittsburgh, and U.S. manufacturing will also receive capacity as the technology scales. The JV is focused on commercialization and supplying low‑carbon aluminum to manufacturers.

Led · Equity · Dec 2017

Finisar designs and manufactures vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and other optical communications components used in consumer products such as iPhone TrueDepth cameras and proximity sensors. The company is expanding into both research & development and high-volume production to meet surging demand. Apple is investing $390 million to fund a new 700,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Sherman, Texas, and Finisar plans to hire 500 people for the facility. The new site will produce the VCSELs used in the iPhone X for Face ID, Animoji, Portrait mode and other face-mapping technologies, and also supports proximity sensors like those in AirPods. The facility is expected to be operational in the second half of 2018. The investment comes as Apple says it will purchase substantially more VCSEL wafers (10× the entire world production in Q4 2016) during Q4 2017, underscoring the need to scale production.