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First Spark Ventures

1933 Arroyo Ave, San Carlos, CA, 94070, United States

Overview

First Spark Ventures is a deep tech venture capital firm that invests in scientists globally. They specialize in advanced computing, digital biology and biotech, and cyber-physical systems.

Total investments
20
Lead investments
6
Investments · 12mo
4
Active investors
1

Sector focus

  • Financial Services
  • FinTech
  • Information Technology
  • Venture Capital
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Investment portfolio

  • Radical Numerics

    Participated · Seed · Jun 2026

    Radical Numerics develops large-scale biological AI to read and write whole genomes and to detect AI-generated pathogens. The founding team previously trained Evo and Evo 2, described as 40B-parameter models trained on trillions of DNA tokens and released as fully open source. The company previewed Omnii, which it says surpasses Evo 2 and is being further trained with additional modalities. Radical Numerics positions itself with a dual mandate: advancing biological design for human health and building technologies for biosecurity. It has announced partnerships to apply Omnii for early cancer detection with a diagnostics company and to pilot pathogen detection with a U.S. national lab. The company raised a $50 million Seed round to scale its models, grow the team, and accelerate its mission.

  • Normal Computing

    Participated · Equity · Mar 2026

    Normal Computing develops Normal EDA, an AI platform that applies frontier techniques (including auto-formalization combining LLMs with formal logic) to accelerate semiconductor design and automate DV/RTL workflows. In parallel it advances the Carnot hardware program to produce physics-based ASICs aimed at dramatically improving energy efficiency; the company completed tape-out of CN101 in August 2025. Normal says it partners with more than half of the top ten semiconductor companies by revenue and has earned trust to drive production silicon. The company has raised over $85 million to date, including a $50 million strategic round led by Samsung Catalyst Fund in March 2026. Normal was founded in 2022 and is headquartered in New York, with offices in San Francisco, London, and Copenhagen, and receives programmatic support from ARIA for some of its work.

  • Unnatural Products

    Participated · Series B · Mar 2026

    Unnatural Products has built an integrated discovery platform to engineer synthetic macrocyclic peptides at scale, combining computational design, automated chemistry, and high-throughput biological testing. The company positions macrocyclic peptides as a modality that can marry biologics-level selectivity with small-molecule delivery properties, including potential oral delivery and cell permeability. Its pipeline targets cardiometabolic, inflammatory, and immunological diseases, and the company is advancing lead programs toward clinical development. Unnatural Products has established collaborations with pharma and biotech partners including Novartis, Merck, BridgeBio and argenx; the Novartis deal includes up to $100 million upfront and up to $1.7 billion in milestones. The recent $45 million Series B will fund further platform development and pipeline advancement. The company is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California.

  • Curve Biosciences

    Participated · Series A · Oct 2025

    Curve Biosciences positions itself as the “Whole-Body Intelligence” company focused on lowering the cost and improving the effectiveness of chronic disease management. Its core product suite pairs the Whole-Body Atlas—a manually curated repository said to be the world’s largest collection of tissue samples labeled by organ and disease state—with AI models to create Whole-Body Blood Tests that can anticipate disease onset and guide therapy choices. The resulting platform aims to give actionable insights to patients, insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and physicians. The company’s executive team includes veterans from Genentech, GRAIL, Natera, Counsyl, and Stanford University, bringing deep expertise in precision diagnostics, product development, and AI. Curve intends to use its newly raised capital to complete clinical validation studies and commercialize its tests. Financially, the company has secured $40 million in Series A funding and has not disclosed any revenue or user figures to date. With this capital, Curve Biosciences plans to scale both its data assets and blood-testing operations to support broader market adoption.

  • Oath Surgical

    Participated · Seed · May 2025

    Oath Surgical, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, has developed OathOS, an AI-powered operating-room platform that embeds automation across pre-, intra- and post-operative workflows. The system delivers real-time data and streamlined processes for surgeons, promises faster, same-day recovery for patients, and offers payors a lower-cost, transparent care model. The company is building a unified, national network of surgeon-owned, tech-enabled surgery centers connected by this common software backbone, aligning incentives for all stakeholders. Founded by CEO Oliver Keown, Oath Surgical aims to channel complex procedures into value-based, lower-cost settings while allowing surgeons to retain autonomy. With its latest capital infusion, the company plans to expand into new specialties such as oncology, scale its nationwide network of centers, and further advance the OathOS platform. Although detailed revenue or user metrics were not disclosed, the firm’s recent $24 million Series A financing underscores investor confidence in its model and growth prospects.

Team