Participated · Seed · Oct 2025

Vertical Semiconductor is an MIT spin-out designing power-management chips made from gallium nitride (GaN) to cut energy losses in AI data centers. Unlike most GaN devices that lay transistors horizontally, the company stacks transistor components vertically, enabling smaller, cooler, and potentially cheaper chips. The technology originated in Professor Tomas Palacios’s research and was advanced by co-founder Joshua Perozek’s doctoral work. Led by CEO Cynthia Liao, the firm plans to ship prototypes later this year and launch commercial products in the following year. By improving the conversion of high-voltage grid power to the low voltages required by Nvidia’s AI accelerators, Vertical aims to slash both wasted heat and operating costs for data-center operators. The startup contends its approach offers step-change efficiency gains rather than incremental improvements. To finance commercialization, the company has secured $11 million in new capital, its first disclosed outside funding.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2022

Elephantech has developed SustainaCircuits, an additive PCB manufacturing technology that uses nanomaterials, high-precision inkjet printing, and optimized processes to form circuits directly on substrates. The company targets the large general multilayer PCB segment within a roughly ¥10 trillion PCB market and in 2024 developed inkjet printing equipment and advanced materials (copper nanoink and primers) for that segment. Elephantech says SustainaCircuits can reduce CO2 emissions by about 75%, water use by about 95%, and copper usage by about 70% versus conventional subtractive methods. The company has been progressing evaluations and verification toward introducing the technology into PCB manufacturers' mass-production lines. Following the Series F participation and partnership with Mitsubishi Electric, Elephantech plans to strengthen manufacturing and sales capacity for its printing equipment and accelerate global deployment and industry standardization of its technology. The company is headquartered in Chuo-ku, Tokyo.