Led · Series B · Jul 2025

GigaIO is a Carlsbad, Calif.–based provider of scalable infrastructure designed for AI inferencing, with flagship products SuperNODE and Gryf. Its platform is built on the company's patented FabreX AI memory fabric, which enables scale-up and dynamic composition of compute, GPU, storage, and networking resources for ultra-low latency, memory-to-memory communication between GPUs. SuperNODE is positioned as a cost-effective, energy-efficient scale-up AI computing platform, while Gryf is described as a suitcase-sized AI inferencing supercomputer for edge deployment. GigaIO plans to ramp production of SuperNODE, accelerate deployment of Gryf, invest in new product development, and expand sales and marketing to meet surging demand. The company emphasizes a vendor-agnostic architecture that supports GPUs from NVIDIA and AMD as well as emerging AI chips, aiming to free customers from single-source vendor lock-in. Management says these capabilities unlock performance and cost efficiencies as AI models grow larger and more complex and enable scaling at the rack level and beyond. GigaIO develops an enterprise-class universal composable fabric, FabreX, that configures and orchestrates networking, storage, memory, and specialized accelerators into a single-system cluster fabric for AI and HPC workloads. Its rack-scale architecture lets workloads run as if using components inside one server while harnessing many nodes, improving utilization and reducing server, cooling, power, and footprint costs. The company positions FabreX as an open-standards PCIe-based solution and plans to extend to PCIe Gen5 and CXL to enable pooled memory and shared accelerators. GigaIO intends to use the new funding to aggressively expand market and channel development, recruit more partners, and devote resources to customer and partner development programs to accelerate sales and marketing. Financially, GigaIO completed an oversubscribed Series B raising $14.7 million led by Impact Venture Capital, with participation from Mark IV Capital, Lagomaj Capital, SK Hynix, and Four Palms Ventures. Founded in 2012, the company launched its first product line in 2019 and has been commercializing its fabric under CEO Alan Benjamin, who joined in 2017. GigaIO offers the GigaIO Fabrex™ platform, a patented interconnect network that delivers low latency and high bandwidth for data center connectivity. Its technology enables bare-metal disaggregation of hardware into dynamically reconfigurable resource pools, improving flexibility, utilization and cost reduction. That architecture allows data centers to scale up or out performance while preserving existing investments and adding new capabilities. The company is led by CEO and president Alan Benjamin and is based in Carlsbad, CA. GigaIO closed a $4.5M Series A to accelerate product development and expand sales and marketing. Management planned availability of the platform in Q4 2018.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2025

Xaba develops AI 'synthetic brains' that give industrial robots and cobots cognition and awareness without coding. Its core product, xCognition, enables robots to autonomously generate programs and execute complex tasks such as welding, drilling, assembling, and additive manufacturing. Xaba also offers xTrude, which optimizes large-scale FDM 3D printing to prevent delamination, collapse, and distortion and to fine-tune print parameters in real time. The company says its AI has improved aerospace, automotive, and manufacturing workflows by eliminating costly rework and manual adjustments, with use cases in aluminum casting/forging optimization, large-scale robotic drilling, and robotic welding. Xaba plans to use the newly raised funds to accelerate deployment of AI-powered robotics and cognitive industrial control systems. The company is led by CEO Massimiliano Moruzzi. Xaba builds AI-driven cognitive software platforms (xCognition and xTrude) that model the elasto-mechanical-dynamic behavior of robotics and workpiece variances to automate robot programming and deployment. Its xCognition solution uses proprietary machine learning and rules-based language models to eliminate manual coding, increase accuracy and throughput, and reduce deployment time and costs. The company says its platforms enable tasks such as drilling, welding, assembling, riveting, and related high-precision manufacturing operations with reduced human supervision. Xaba is Toronto-based and describes its intellectual property as empowering robots with synthetic cognition to enable new processes and materials. It has demonstrated performance improvements in partnership with Lockheed Martin and Rolleri Robotic. With the new funding, Xaba plans to establish and staff a robotics lab and accelerate delivery of its two manufacturing platforms. Xaba builds two proprietary industrial AI platforms — xCognition for robotic CNC tasks and xTrude for large-format FDM additive manufacturing — to enable autonomous, high-accuracy fabrication. Its software models the physics of robotics and FDM processes to reduce programming, supervision, failures, and waste while improving repeatability and execution quality. The company says its platforms remove the need for constant human supervision and can automatically optimize process parameters across entire toolpaths. Xaba has validated its technology with partners in aerospace and automotive projects across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including producing the world’s first 3D-printed chassis for Project Arrow and work on a flying car. The company plans to use new funding to accelerate development of xCognition and xTrude, launch pilot programs, and expand sales, deployment, and customer support teams. Xaba is Toronto-based and led by CEO Massimiliano Moruzzi.

Participated · Series A · Aug 2024

ArborXR offers a cloud-based platform that lets companies remotely manage AR and VR devices, install apps and content, control user access, and monitor device health in real time. The platform includes a web app for device setup and management, a directory of over 600 app developers, and support for unlimited devices across enterprise and education offerings. ArborXR's education product is used by over 420 educational institutions, and its enterprise service is used by more than 3,000 major companies; the company says its customer base tripled in the last year. The startup supports a wide range of headsets and AR glasses, including Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest, HTC Vive, Pico, Magic Leap 2, Vuzix, RealWear and others. ArborXR sells subscription tiers (Starter $7/device/month, Essential $10/device/month, Enterprise $13/device/month) and offers a 30-day free trial. The company intends to use new funding to develop and scale the platform to meet growing demand and advance its long-term vision of XR transforming learning and work.

Led · Seed · Aug 2023

GroGuru supplies precision soil and irrigation monitoring and management systems to the commercial agriculture industry. Its solutions enable farmers to increase crop yields while using water, energy, fertilizer and labor more efficiently and sustainably. The product combines a patented wireless underground system (WUGS) for soil monitoring, an AI-based recommendation engine in the cloud, and an intuitive farmer-friendly interface accessible on tablet, computer or mobile device. The company is led by president and CEO Patrick Henry and has participated in accelerator programs including OCTANE LaunchPad, EvoNexus, AgLaunch, the Yield Lab, SVG-Thrive and Plug & Play AgTech. GroGuru closed a $2.3M Seed A financing to support expansion and commercialization. The company intends to use the funds to expand sales, continue development and commercialization of its AI-enabled continuous farm monitoring and management solutions, and grow strategic partnerships. GroGuru develops a patented wireless underground system (WUGS) that enables permanent installation of soil sensors in annual field crops, removing the need for annual installation and removal. The sensors feed data to the cloud, where GroGuru uses machine learning and other data to deliver recommendations on when and how much to irrigate. Its technology targets crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and sorghum. The company says it will use the new capital to grow its team, scale operations and deploy critical sensor technologies connected to the cloud. Leadership includes president and CEO Patrick Henry and co‑founders CTO/VP engineering Farooq Anjum, PhD, and Chief Scientific Officer Jeff Campbell, PhD. GroGuru is a portfolio company at the EvoNexus technology incubator in Southern California. GroGuru develops irrigation automation technology and a precision soil and irrigation monitoring system for the agriculture industry. The company aims to improve on-farm efficiencies amid a severe labor shortage. It plans to advance its automation technology using proceeds from new funding. GroGuru secured $250,000 in seed funding from Western Growers and Radicle Growth. The financing was awarded as part of the Radicle Automation Challenge. GroGuru is part of the EvoNexus startup incubator, which operates locations in San Diego and Irvine, and is led by CEO Patrick Henry.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2023

Healium, based in Columbia, MO, develops patented virtual and augmented reality biofeedback technology that connects biometric data from hardware-agnostic consumer wearables to modify and recommend 3D objects in the metaverse. Led by CEO Sarah Hill, who developed the technology with Dr. Jeff Tarrant in 2016, the company offers products including Sleepium that let users see and interact with real-time EEG patterns, heart rate, skin conductance, blood pressure and other biomarkers. Their iOS and Android apps currently work with Apple Watch and consumer EEG headbands, with more fitness tracker compatibility planned. Healium's products are used worldwide in schools, with frontline healthcare workers, elite athletes, and the U.S. military to self-manage anxiety, burnout, and prepare for sleep or stressful events. The company has a know-how agreement with Mayo Clinic to provide subject matter experts for developing immersive mental health and fitness capabilities. Healium closed a $3.6M seed round and is using the funds to expand operations and accelerate development. Healium combines virtual reality, augmented reality and wearable biometric sensors (including Apple Watch and brain‑sensing headbands) to deliver immersive, biometrically driven stories and neuromeditation designed to calm users. Peer‑reviewed studies cited by the company found Healium can reduce moderate anxiety by about one‑third and increase feelings of positivity in as little as four minutes. The app feeds heart‑rate and brain‑pattern data (e.g., gamma asymmetry) into interactive AR/VR scenes so users can see immediate environmental responses to lowered heart rate or calmer brain activity. Healium began at StoryUp Studios under CEO Sarah Hill and launched as a startup in 2015; the company is based in Columbia, Missouri. The product lineup includes Healium AR ($5/month) and Healium VR ($29/month); the company reports more than $800,000 in revenue to date and has had organizational customers such as the U.S. Navy. Healium also holds issued and pending patents and positions itself as a drugless, self‑management tool for anxiety.