Participated · Series A · Feb 2026

Founded in 2022 by former In-Q-Tel CTO Ravi Pappu, Apeiron Labs develops three-foot-long, 20-pound autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) capable of cycling 400 m up and down the water column once or twice per day to sample temperature, salinity and acoustics. Each AUV links to a cloud-based operating system that predicts resurfacing points, uploads sensor readings and refines ocean models on every dive. The cylinders can be launched from boats, airplanes and existing U.S. Navy launchers, allowing rapid, low-cost deployment in lines or arrays spaced 10–20 km apart for high-resolution coverage. Apeiron sells the data and hardware to both civilian markets such as fisheries, offshore wind developers and meteorologists, and to defense customers interested in persistent maritime monitoring. Pappu says the system already reduces the cost of ocean data collection by 100-fold and aims to achieve a 1,000-fold reduction next year. The company positions itself as a “CubeSat for the ocean,” envisioning fleets of dozens or hundreds of units providing continuous sensing. To date, Apeiron Labs has secured $29 million in venture financing, most recently closing a $9.5 million Series A round to scale manufacturing and sales of its AUVs.

Participated · Series A · Nov 2025

Exowatt’s core product is the P3 unit, a shipping-container-sized metal box topped with lenses that concentrate sunlight onto heat-retaining bricks. A fan carries the heat to a Stirling engine and generator, enabling each thermal battery to store energy for up to five days and deliver round-the-clock electricity. The system’s efficiency rivals photovoltaic solar plus lithium-ion storage, while its compact, modular design is intended to unlock mass manufacturing learning curves. Exowatt is targeting production of one million units per year, a scale that management says will let it hit its one-cent-per-kilowatt-hour cost goal. Demand appears strong: the company reports a backlog of roughly 10 million P3 units, equivalent to 90 GWh of capacity. Longer term, Exowatt intends to deploy millions—and eventually billions—of units to power the rapidly expanding fleet of AI data centers in sun-rich regions. The approach repurposes decades-old concentrated solar technology but packages it for low-cost, large-scale manufacturing.