Participated · Equity · Feb 2025

Cellid develops AR glass display modules and spatial recognition engines, leveraging optical simulation and proprietary production technologies. The company focuses on waveguides and spatial recognition technologies for new devices and has produced display modules as thin and lightweight as standard eyeglass lenses. It also offers spatial recognition solutions such as Cellid SLAM. Cellid raised over $7.5M in a Series C extension; with the latest investment it has raised over $15M to date. The company plans to use the funds to hire talent in Japan and internationally to improve development of key AR glass components, including micro projectors and waveguides. Cellid is led by CEO Satoshi Shiraga. Cellid Inc. develops displays for AR glasses and spatial recognition engines for next‑generation devices. The company says it has industry‑leading waveguide technology—claiming the world’s largest field of view, lightest weight waveguides—and the first full‑color projection technology using plastic materials. In November it released a Reference Design eyeglass‑type AR verification model that uses an optical see‑through waveguide, measures approximately 58g, and aims to reduce eye fatigue versus head‑mounted displays. Cellid also develops key components such as micro projectors and offers spatial recognition solutions including Cellid SLAM. The company plans to strengthen its product and reference‑design lineup, expand mass‑production capabilities, accelerate market launches, and hire top talent. Financially, the latest financing brings Cellid’s total funding to approximately USD 33 million (JPY 5.2 billion). Cellid designs and produces AR glass display modules—primarily waveguides—and spatial recognition engines for next-generation AR glasses. Its proprietary optical simulation and production technologies enable modules as thin and light as ordinary eyeglass lenses, with clear images and one of the world's largest fields of view for waveguides. The company also offers spatial recognition software such as Cellid SLAM and industry-specific solutions, combining hardware and real-world spatial recognition to blend physical and digital worlds. Cellid recently secured funding via a third-party allotment of new shares from General Interface Solution (GIS) and signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with GIS. Through the capital alliance and collaboration, Cellid aims to expand mass production, improve quality-control systems, and accelerate distribution of AR glasses. The partnership is intended to establish a stronger market position and drive cooperative growth.

Participated · Series H · Sep 2024

24M delivers battery innovations by reinventing battery technologies and manufacturing methods through its SemiSolid™ and Unit Cell manufacturing platform. Its chemistry-agnostic design, process, and platform aim to reduce manufacturing costs while improving safety, range, performance, and recyclability. The company says its technology set addresses long-standing industry challenges in preferred energy storage products. 24M plans to accelerate commercialization and mass production of its offerings, including acquiring and opening a new R&D and pilot manufacturing plant in Rayong, Thailand. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. The recent financing brings total funding to over $500 million, supporting its push toward scaled production and market rollout. 24M develops a chemistry-agnostic SemiSolid™ manufacturing platform intended to lower the cost and improve performance of energy storage. The company has commercially demonstrated its ultra-thick SemiSolid electrode architecture with high energy density using lithium‑ion chemistry. 24M plans to adapt that platform to sodium metal batteries aimed at low‑cost, fast‑charging and wide‑temperature EV applications. It will partner with MIT and Carnegie Mellon University to apply a cell design that includes an ultra‑thick cobalt‑ and nickel‑free sodium cathode, an advanced wide‑temperature fast‑charging electrolyte developed with machine learning and high‑throughput screening, and a sodium super ionic conductor. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. Company leadership includes president and CEO Naoki Ota and Dr. JunZheng Chen, director of advanced R&D. 24M Technologies builds SemiSolid lithium‑ion cells and a redesigned manufacturing approach intended to reduce battery cost while improving performance. The company is advancing next‑generation high energy density lithium metal anode cells using its SemiSolid platform. 24M plans to combine a lithium metal anode with a SemiSolid cathode to deliver lower cost, superior power and improved energy density for electric aviation applications. The team is developing and scaling a commercial, modular pilot line for customer validation with a clear path to gigascale production capacity. A recent $9 million ARPA‑E award is intended to accelerate commercialization and rapid market entry. 24M is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., and is founded and led by industry inventors and scientists including co‑founder Dr. Yet‑Ming Chiang and President & CEO Naoki Ota. 24M commercializes its SemiSolid™ lithium‑ion manufacturing platform that mixes electrolyte with active materials to form a binder‑free, clay‑like slurry. The process eliminates significant inactive materials and capital‑intensive steps such as drying and electrolyte filling, aiming to dramatically reduce manufacturing cost. 24M says the platform delivers market‑leading price‑performance and that it has improved cell performance and safety. The company is working with licensee partners, including Kyocera and GPSC, which have expanded commercial operations. Proceeds from the financing will be used to commercialize the SemiSolid manufacturing process and expand technology development programs for grid storage and electric vehicle applications. 24M is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., and is led by industry inventors, scientists and entrepreneurs. 24M commercializes a SemiSolid lithium-ion battery design and a novel, capital-efficient manufacturing process that uses electrolyte as the processing solvent. The process eliminates steps such as drying, solvent recovery, calendaring and electrolyte filling, and reduces the need for inactive materials like copper, aluminum and separator. 24M says this approach yields a structural bill-of-materials advantage and lower manufacturing cost while enabling high energy density cell designs not previously possible. The company has used a semi-automated pilot facility to advance cell design and production readiness. 24M is targeting both the low-cost grid market and the high energy density requirements of the EV market and says it is ready to scale globally. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2024

Turing develops fully autonomous driving technology originating in Japan. The company is scaling its computing infrastructure and commercial operations as it moves toward real-world deployment. In its Series A and extension rounds the company has raised a cumulative ¥27.89 billion (about $174 million), including ¥12.62 billion (about $79 million) in the recent extension. Turing plans to use the new funding to expand compute capacity, strengthen its business organization for deployment, and hire additional staff. The company’s stated goal is to accelerate realization of Japan-developed fully autonomous driving systems.

Participated · Series C · May 2021

Axelspace Holdings offers a one-stop service for microsatellites via its AxelLiner service and operates the AxelGlobe Earth-observation platform. The company handles satellite design, manufacturing, launch arrangement, and post-launch operation support for microsatellites and related components. Axelspace emphasizes proprietary microsatellite technology and end-to-end in-orbit operations expertise. The firm aims to advance its vision, “Space within Your Reach,” by expanding commercial and co-created offerings in aerospace and aviation. Recent strategic share acquisitions by corporate venture funds are intended to accelerate business expansion and new business co-creation with industry partners. Axelspace is headquartered in Tokyo and was established in March 2020. Axelspace develops, builds, launches and operates microsatellites and provides Earth-observation services such as AxelGlobe. The company currently operates a proprietary microsatellite constellation of five satellites and has developed and operated nine microsatellites in total, including a JAXA technology demonstration satellite. Axelspace offers full-scale microsatellite services to public and private sector customers and is developing an integrated one-stop service called AxelLiner, whose demonstration satellite is expected to launch in early 2024. The company is also working on constructing optical data-relay satellite constellations to expand its service capabilities. Axelspace says it will use the new funds to meet more diverse customer demands and accelerate societal applications of microsatellites. Headquartered in Tokyo, the company positions itself to expand both AxelGlobe and AxelLiner offerings. Axelspace builds and operates GRUS small satellites that collect panchromatic imagery at 2.5-meter resolution and multispectral bands (red, blue, green, near-infrared and red-edge) at 5-meter resolution. It sells 2.5-meter pan-sharpened images through AxelGlobe, a web-based platform. The company launched its first 100-kilogram satellite in 2018 and sent four more satellites into sun-synchronous orbit in March. With the planned five additional satellites funded by the Series C round, Axelspace aims to field a ten-satellite constellation in 2023 to obtain daily imagery of mid-latitude regions including Japan. Axelspace emphasizes capturing large areas in a single image—about 57 kilometers across and up to 1,000 kilometers vertically—to simplify client analysis compared with mosaicked data. The firm has about 80 employees, more than 50 of whom are engineers from around the world.

Participated · Series B · Oct 2020

Adasky develops and manufactures high-resolution long-wave infrared (LWIR) thermal imaging systems designed for vehicle safety (ADAS/AV) and smart-city V2I applications. The company designs and manufactures its thermal cameras end-to-end in-house. Its product lineup includes Viper (a small, solid-state, cost-effective LWIR camera for vehicle perception), Sharp Vision (a high-resolution thermal camera and software for stationary V2I and roadway applications), and Viper-R (adapted for elevated body temperature screening). Adasky intends to use the new funding to establish a manufacturing footprint to meet market demand and to advance its shift toward mass production. The article does not disclose revenue or user metrics. AdaSky develops FIR sensing solutions for the automotive market, offering Viper — an all-in-one product that combines a high-resolution thermal camera with fusion-ready, deep-learning computer vision algorithms. The company positions its technology as a redundant, 24/7 perception layer to improve night vision and safety for autonomous vehicles. AdaSky’s founding team comprises veterans from semiconductor, thermal sensor, image-processing, and computer vision fields who have worked on FIR sensing for the last decade. The company says the funding will enable rapid global expansion and scaling to meet market demand. AdaSky plans to continue R&D and trials with OEMs and to expand its product feature roadmap, with new features and integrations slated for CES 2019. The announcement was issued from Yokneam, Israel.