Participated · Equity · Apr 2026

PrismML has developed and open-sourced the 1-bit Bonsai series of large language models, with the flagship 1-bit Bonsai 8B containing 8.2 billion parameters and occupying 1.15 GB of memory. The 1-bit Bonsai 8B is reported to be about 14 times more compressed than comparable 16-bit models while delivering comparable benchmark performance. PrismML highlights real-world inference speed—approximately 44 tokens per second on an iPhone 17 Pro Max—and says the models reduce energy consumption by 4 to 5 times compared to 16-bit equivalents. The company notes potential for further efficiency gains if future hardware supports 1-bit inference. PrismML was co-founded by Babak Hassibi and disclosed that its work was supported by a $16.25 million funding round led by Khosla Ventures, Cerberus Capital, and Caltech. Vinod Khosla is quoted in the coverage calling the model a major technological breakthrough.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2025

PINC Technologies, a 2023 Caltech spin-out headquartered in Pasadena, CA, is building an integrated nonlinear photonics platform that makes high-performance light-based computing and communications practical at scale. Its chips and circuits target demanding use cases such as quantum information processing, next-generation data networks, biomedical sensing, and other industrial photonics systems. The company leverages research breakthroughs from the Caltech Nonlinear Photonics Laboratory to overcome long-standing scalability limits in nonlinear optics. Management plans to expand the engineering team, accelerate product development, and forge industrial collaborations to move the technology from lab prototypes to commercial deployment. PINC has raised a cumulative $6.8 million to fund these efforts, positioning the company to deliver critical enabling components for the emerging quantum and photonic ecosystems.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2025

Tera AI develops a spatial reasoning AI platform that provides visual navigation for robots using a pure-software, platform-agnostic approach. Its zero-shot navigation system is delivered via over-the-air software updates and works with any robot that has a pre-existing camera and a GPU. The technology targets applications including robotic manipulation, mobile robotics, and automated driving and emphasizes cognition-inspired spatial reasoning that generalizes to novel scenarios. Tera positions its product as a lower-cost alternative to expensive sensor suites (lidar, high-precision GPS, IMUs) by enabling existing cameras to handle positioning and navigation. The company has been testing its solution with key U.S. robotics players and sells primarily to robotic manufacturers seeking to expand autonomy across platforms and environments. Tera plans to deploy its initial solution on embedded devices this year and expand its technical team.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2024

Persperity Health develops a sweat-sensing technology platform aimed at improving continuous health monitoring with a focus on women's health. The platform is designed to deliver real-time, actionable insights into hormonal health, fertility, and menopause. The technology is exclusively licensed from Caltech and was developed by Dr. Wei Gao and Dr. Cui Ye. The company is led by co-founders CEO Shiv Shukla, Dr. Wei Gao, and Dr. Heather Lukas, with clinical collaborator Dr. Pauline Maki. Persperity intends to use the newly raised funds to accelerate development of its sweat-sensing technology. The company is based in Los Angeles, CA.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2024

Biostate AI develops generative AI models that predict the evolution of human disease and drug response using RNA sequencing data. The company combines software models with patented wetlab technologies, including its BIRT platform, to enable affordable, scalable collection of large transcriptomic and genomic datasets. It partners with hospitals, academic researchers, and biotech/pharma companies to source data and apply its models. Biostate AI operates sites in Houston, TX; Palo Alto, CA; Bangalore, India; and Shanghai, China. Founded by David Zhang and Ashwin Gopinath, the company plans to use new funding to expand operations and increase R&D efforts. Biostate AI builds a scalable biodata foundry centered on Total RNA sequencing using patent-pending Barcode-Integrated Reverse Transcription (BIRT) technology to analyze all RNA types, including lncRNAs, miRNAs, circRNAs, and eRNAs. The company also offers OmicsWeb Copilot, a conversational AI that leverages large-language models to help biologists analyze and visualize data, produce custom software and scripts, and access over 1,000 unique RNAseq datasets plus users' uploaded data. Biostate AI collaborates with academic, nonprofit, and industry partners on technology development and multiomic biodata collection. The startup plans to use its new funding to expand operations and accelerate development efforts. Led by CEO David Zhang and founded in 2023, Biostate AI maintains offices and laboratories in Palo Alto, CA and Houston, TX. The company positions itself to lower the costs of biological data collection for academic and industry collaborators.