Participated · Equity · Mar 2026

Pasqal is a French startup focused on quantum computing. The company has attracted significant strategic and institutional backing and was described as a unicorn following the latest financing. In 2023 it completed a €100 million Series B that included investors such as Temasek, the EIC Fund, Saudi Aramco, Daphni and Isai. In the most recent raise it obtained at least €340 million, with a €170 million tranche from industrial and strategic partners including Parkway Venture Capital, Quanta Computer, LG Electronics, and CMA CGM. Pasqal says the new capital will support its development and prepare it for a Nasdaq IPO via a SPAC, with an additional plan to list in Paris the next year. The company’s financial position and investor mix reflect a combination of industrial strategic partners and prior venture/institutional supporters.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2025

RLWRLD is a physical AI company building robotics intelligence that collects and learns from on-site industrial data, enabling robots to understand their environments and make autonomous decisions. After completing initial technology verification, the firm is now running joint proof-of-concept (PoC) and RX (robotic transformation) projects with major Korean companies such as CJ Logistics and Lotte, and is expanding trials in Japan through partner Z Venture. Management states that real-world validation is critical and plans to officially release a robotics foundation model in the first half of 2026. Demand for its technology is rising amid East Asia’s labor shortages, driving interest from strategic partners that control large industrial sites. Financially, RLWRLD secured about US$15 million in a Seed 1 round and has now added roughly US$26 million in Seed 2 financing, bringing cumulative seed funding to approximately US$41 million. The fresh capital supports continued product development and broader global collaborations. Key backers include Headline Asia, CJ Logistics Corporation, Kakao Investment, LOTTE Ventures, Hanwha Asset Management, Mirae Asset·emart and Z Venture.

Led · Series C · Mar 2024

Bear Robotics develops AI-powered autonomous tray towers on wheels (Servi) designed to deliver food and replace waitstaff in restaurants and similar venues. The company was founded in 2017 by John Ha, a former Google engineer turned restaurateur, and has deployments in the U.S., South Korea and Japan. Bear positions its robots as a response to restaurant staffing shortages and has marketed standardized open platforms for the robot market. The startup is SoftBank‑backed and its last fundraise in 2022 valued the company at just over $490 million post‑money, per PitchBook. Recent advances and interest in AI have given robotics players a boost, though the company’s next product steps beyond the trays‑on‑wheels form factor remain unclear. Bear has attracted strategic interest from large electronics players exploring embodied AI and robotic manipulation integrations. Bear Robotics develops autonomous, AI-driven mobile robots—most notably its flagship product Servi—that automate tasks like drink serving, food running, and table bussing in hospitality settings. The company targets restaurants, corporate campuses, hotels, ghost kitchens, senior care facilities, and casinos across North America and Asia. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, Bear Robotics emphasizes elevating front-line work rather than fully replacing it. The firm said it will use new capital to add complementary products, accelerate its product roadmap, expand into new markets worldwide, and hire additional talent. Bear has positioned its solutions as a response to recent labor shortages and to help small and medium-sized businesses. To date the company has raised a total of $117M, including prior financing activity led by major investors. Bear Robotics develops robots designed to serve as waitstaff in restaurants. The article reports the company attracted $32 million in investment led by SoftBank. No revenue, user metrics, valuation, or founding details are provided. The piece does not specify the financing instrument or terms. The coverage includes reader commentary comparing the product to robot bartenders and discussing franchise and deployment ideas. Public reactions in the article were mixed, ranging from enthusiasm to skepticism about practical utility. Bear Robotics is a two-year-old, 25-person startup based in Redwood City, Calif., that builds robots to deliver food to restaurant customers. Its first model, “Penny,” is described as an R2-D2–like robot that glides between the kitchen and dining tables carrying meals. The company plans to sell robots via a monthly subscription that includes the robot, restaurant mapping and setup, and technical support. CEO John Ha is a former Intel research scientist and long-time technical lead at Google who also opened and closed his own restaurant. Bear says it was founded to address wage, labor supply and cost pressures in the food-service industry. Per an SEC filing the company has secured at least $10.2 million from a dozen investors toward a planned $35.8 million round; the startup has not yet revealed its backers. The article situates Bear within broader restaurant automation trends, noting robotic kitchens and examples such as Alibaba’s automated restaurant.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2021

Sonatus develops the Sonatus Vehicle Platform, a suite of software products that serve as building blocks for OEMs and their ecosystems to enable continuous vehicle improvements. The platform includes Sonatus Collector, which is in production and gathers precise vehicle data across fleets, and the newly launched Sonatus Automator, which uses automation recipes to trigger in-vehicle functions and external actions. Sonatus’ software is already in mass production with Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis and the company says the platform will grow to millions of cars by 2024. Sonatus has expanded into Japan and exhibited at Automotive World 2023 to showcase its SDV solutions and host a seminar on its data center approach. Financially, Sonatus has raised more than $110 million from automotive, technology, and venture investors. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and maintains offices in Dublin, Paris, Shanghai, Seoul, Taiwan, and Tokyo. Sonatus develops automotive software platforms that enable vehicle manufacturers and their ecosystems to deliver continuous improvements in cost, capability, reliability, and user experience over a vehicle's lifespan. Its core products power software-defined vehicle capabilities and are in production in Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis vehicles, including multiple Genesis car and SUV models and the Hyundai Ioniq 6. The company says its software will be in millions of cars by 2023. Sonatus plans to use the new funding to accelerate growth, expand operations and broaden its business reach. Led by CEO Jeffrey Chou, the company has grown with backing from venture capital, strategic partners and customers. Sonatus is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, with offices in Paris and Seoul; combined with its earlier Series A it has now raised over $110M. Sonatus offers an in-vehicle software component and a cloud platform that together enable OEMs to collect, store, analyze and expose vehicle data in real time. Its architecture is drivetrain-agnostic and designed to let automakers add features, manage usage data and perform targeted, real-time data collection without full OTA updates. The company says its first-generation product is already in mass production with a top global automaker and will be announced soon. Sonatus grew from a small team to beyond 50 employees and initially built the company without outside investment. The startup intends to use the new funds for branding, marketing, new OEM partnerships and expanding local teams. Leadership has said the platform could later be used to analyze driver behavior and support autonomous technology development, though it is not pursuing that yet.

Led · Equity · Jan 2021

Alphonso provides TV data and measurement services, offering the Alphonso TV Data Cloud and a SaaS product, Alphonso Insights, that delivers real-time TV ad measurement and closed-loop attribution. Its Video AI is embedded in tens of millions of smart TVs, TV chipsets, set-top boxes and other connected devices, enabling the company to understand what programming and advertising people watch. Alphonso’s services are used by hundreds of Fortune 500 brands and agencies in the U.S. The company plans to have its software and services—data analytics, media planning and activation, and Video AI—integrated across LG’s home entertainment products to enable more customized services and content recommendations. Alphonso and LG aim to create an owned-and-operated first-screen, cross-device advertising platform with integrated analytics for LG TVs and the broader smart TV marketplace. Alphonso will continue to operate as an independent business under its current brand and leadership based in Silicon Valley. Alphonso provides TV-to-digital retargeting and real-time TV ad analytics via its Alphonso TV Data Cloud. Its core offerings are a TV-to-digital retargeting service that delivers TV ads to targeted audiences across mobile devices and Alphonso Insights, a self-serve SaaS for granular campaign metrics and offline attribution. The TV Data Cloud uses proprietary machine-learning, automated content recognition (ACR) and an always-on index of programming and advertising across over 200 linear cable and broadcast networks and major OTT services. Alphonso has ACR and other technologies embedded in over 40 million smart TVs, set-top boxes and smartphones and serves hundreds of top U.S. brands and agencies, including many Fortune 500 clients. The company was customer-funded and profitable since 2014 and has raised $5.6 million in equity financing to scale cloud services, analytics and offline attribution. It plans to expand distribution domestically and internationally, increase hiring across Silicon Valley, New York and Bangalore, and support a rollout of services in Europe.