• EELI Technology

  Participated · Seed · Jul 2026

  EELI Technology develops modular, field-deployable electrochemical systems designed to recover lithium and other critical minerals from low-grade or chemically complex sources. The team, led by founder Mert Akin, Ph.D., has its technology roots in programs such as Activate and Cyclotron Road at Berkeley Lab. EELI recently closed an oversubscribed $2 million pre-seed round to accelerate commercialization and expand operations. Over the next 18 months the company plans to build commercial-scale pilot systems, expand its Hayward, California technology development and manufacturing facility, and prepare for initial U.S. customer-site deployments. EELI has also received support from the California Energy Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy as it moves from research to commercial pilots.

• Aethero

  Participated · Seed · Jun 2025

  Aethero, based in San Francisco, is developing space-grade computers and autonomous satellite platforms for defense and mission-critical customers. Its systems combine custom hardware and AI/ML software to enable on-orbit processing, coordinated swarm maneuvers, missile warning and tracking, and reduced reliance on ground control. The company says its computing can compress and process data in orbit for significantly better AI/ML capabilities than current space computers, gaining advantage for time-sensitive defense and intelligence missions. Aethero serves public and private sector customers and emphasizes enabling US leadership and strategic urgency in space. The company announced $8.4M in seed funding to accelerate development of next-generation hardware and software and to support further demonstration missions. Aethero builds radiation-hardened space computers (first-generation product: the AetherNxN) to enable on-orbit pre-processing, computer vision, and eventual autonomous decision-making. The AetherNxN is based on an Nvidia Orin processor, fits platforms as small as a CubeSat, provides roughly 20x more processing power than existing options, and is designed for 7–10 years in low Earth orbit. The company plans a larger second-generation module for bigger spacecraft and intends to transition to a proprietary, domain-specific space processor with planned manufacturing alongside Intel around 2026. Aethero has a five-person team and plans multiple in-space demonstrations of its MVP this year, including a June launch on SpaceX’s Transporter-11 to show over-the-air updates and in-space model training. The startup says customers and demand themes are emerging from Earth observation, on-orbit servicers, and private space stations, citing high data volumes from assets like the ISS. Aethero was founded by Edward Ge and Amit Pinnamaneni following prior work at Stratodyne and university research; the company was accepted to Y Combinator’s winter 2022 cohort but dropped out due to ITAR-related legal issues.

• Furno

  Participated · Seed · Mar 2024

  Furno is a Mountain View–based startup that develops compact, upright micro-kilns to produce cement onsite with lower emissions. Its vertical kiln design increases heat participation in calcination, which the company says cuts fossil-fuel pollution by at least 70% and can eliminate it when fired with hydrogen. Furno will deploy up to eight micro-kilns at Ozinga’s Chinatown Yard in Chicago under “Project Oz,” sized to match Ozinga’s annual use (Ozinga buys 60,000 tons of cement annually). The facility intends to use recycled material and potentially biogas to further reduce climate impact and eliminate transportation costs. Financially, Furno raised a $6.5M seed in March and will receive a $20M Department of Energy grant to fund a significant portion of the Chicago project; the company plans a Series A in early 2025 to cover remaining costs. The project is expected to create 50 construction jobs and 30 permanent jobs, a point the DOE highlighted given prior coal plant closures. Furno builds smaller, vertical, modular kilns intended to be more efficient and flexible than conventional large rotary kilns. Its design controls the flame front inside a vertical column, feeding ground raw materials and combustive gas (natural gas, biogas or hydrogen) to concentrate heat on calcination and cut fossil-fuel emissions by 70% or more. By producing smaller units that can be mass-manufactured, Furno aims to lower capital expenditures versus bespoke, oversized plants and reduce operating costs through improved energy efficiency. The kiln design also opens a path to using recycled cement from old concrete and to on-site clinker production for construction projects. Furno pairs its hardware with software controls and has drawn interest from ready-mix concrete companies seeking alternatives to vertically integrated cement suppliers. The company has gained external financing, completing a $6.5 million seed round led by Energy Capital Ventures with participation from Cantos, Neotribe and O’Shaughnessy Ventures.

• Wand App

  Led · Seed · Aug 2023

  Wand.app is an AI-powered creative tool designed to give artists manual control over image generation through visual tools and personalization rather than relying solely on text prompts. Its illustration tool converts sketches or edits into fleshed-out suggestions, and users can teach a personal AI to replicate a specific aesthetic. Editing occurs on a freeform art board where individuals or teams iterate, and the product runs on mobile and tablet (with Apple Pencil support) and will soon arrive on desktop. The company is testing with a small group of beta users and plans a public launch in the coming months. Wand plans to build collaborative team features, extend creative tooling to desktop, research foundation model architectures and fine-tuning techniques, and explore marketplaces for artists to share or sell fine-tuned models and potential 3D modeling applications. For now it uses an in-app credit system to cover GPU costs and is considering subscription pricing similar to DALL-E 2, Midjourney and Dream Studio longer term.

• Odin

  Participated · Seed · May 2023

  Odin is an angel investor marketplace that lets angel syndicates, founders and VCs raise money from their own networks by aggregating smaller investors into a single legal entity. The platform handles legal, banking, payments and KYC/AML and charges administrative fees; founders, syndicates and VCs pay a fixed fee plus a percentage of funds raised. Investors can participate with amounts from around $1,000; Odin says 5,000 people have invested via the platform and more than 300 companies have received investment, mainly at pre-seed and seed. Almost 250 angels have backed Odin, including Sarah Drinkwater, Matt Penneycard and June Angelides MBE. After operating invite-only for about 18 months the company is going fully public and plans to launch a marketplace for angels to discover different syndicates and funds and to grow further in continental Europe. The startup is majority UK-focused today and has announced a $3 million seed raise.

No current team members are available.