The Venture Codex

Participated · Equity · Mar 2026

Founded in 2019 as Monalee and now based in Houston, Artemis has evolved from a vertically integrated installer into a pure-play software platform for the distributed-energy market. Its cloud-based OS unifies AI-driven system design, embedded financing, and compliance automation, reducing project cycle times from days to seconds and lowering software costs for customers by as much as 72%. More than 100 installers are already using the tool, reporting up to 5× higher conversion rates and 98% faster turnaround compared with legacy workflows. Key customers include GoodLeap, Empower Home Services, and Dynamic SLR, with GoodLeap cutting design-to-sale time from seven days to one minute. The company claims 27× revenue growth over the past nine months and targets a $200 billion global market opportunity. Recent hiring of former Shell Ventures investor Alexander Urban as CFO underscores its focus on disciplined growth. Fresh capital will fund engineering, customer support, and international expansion, including pilots with Copec in Chile and Colombia.

Participated · Equity · Dec 2025

Aether Biomachines combines purpose-built artificial intelligence with high-throughput robotics to create proteins that function as molecular assemblers for manufacturing and environmental applications. The company’s proprietary Protein Function Model, trained on in-house experimental data, has already generated seven new protein classes capable of extracting rare earth metals, recycling plastics, capturing CO₂, degrading PFAS, and enabling complex pharmaceutical synthesis. Its first commercial materials, RapidPrint and Ultra, are polymer additives that allow 3D-printed parts to be produced up to 10× faster and with 2× the strength of current industry benchmarks, a key advantage for defense and aerospace customers. Aether plans to scale these materials products while expanding its protein-design platform to address additional industrial challenges. The firm positions itself as a catalyst for a new industrial revolution by replacing large, costly chemical plants with nanoscale protein machinery that works more efficiently and sustainably. Total capital raised now stands at $64 million, providing resources to accelerate product commercialization and deepen partnerships across manufacturing, sustainability, and national security sectors.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2025

EnduroSat is a Sofia-based aerospace company focused on streamlining access to space by offering end-to-end design, build, and operation of small satellites and satellite modules. Its newly opened 188,340-square-foot Space Center features advanced RF, hardware, and mechanical laboratories, ISO-classified clean rooms, and full space-qualification facilities. The site enables production of up to two 200-500 kg ESPA-class satellites per day, dramatically shortening time-to-orbit for constellation customers. EnduroSat’s core product suite targets organizations that need reliable, cost-efficient small- to mid-sized satellite constellations. With fresh capital in hand, the company aims to scale manufacturing capacity and deliver highly capable, cost-effective satellite constellations at unprecedented volume. The recent $104 million raise underscores growing market traction as EnduroSat pursues a future where space data is universally accessible.

Participated · Seed · Aug 2025

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Led · Series C · Jul 2025

Varda Space builds orbital manufacturing systems to produce biologics and other pharmaceutical components that benefit from microgravity-driven crystallization. The company is establishing a 10,000-square-foot laboratory in El Segundo, California to perform process engineering and identify which proteins and antibodies are best suited for space-based production. That lab is intended to generate intellectual property—Varda expects a higher volume of patent filings as it refines crystallization conditions and protocols. Varda has launched and returned three successful missions since 2023 and anticipates completing four missions this year. It has transitioned spacecraft manufacturing in-house after initially housing its manufacturing module inside Rocket Lab vehicles. The company also generates revenue by using its spacecraft as a hypersonic flight testbed for the U.S. Department of Defense, proposing a faster launch-and-return testing cadence and recoverable tested material. Varda operates orbital drug-manufacturing capsules that use microgravity to crystallize pharmaceutical compounds and returned its first capsule after a 10-month mission that successfully reformulated the HIV medicine ritonavir. The company has developed complementary terrestrial methods—including a hyper-gravity crystallization screening platform—and has begun publishing R&D results. Varda plans to scale from a single demonstration mission to a regular cadence of customer payload missions, with the next three already manifested with Rocket Lab and the next launch slated to land in Australia later this year. Leadership says the near-term focus is increasing flight cadence before prioritizing reusability, with capsule refurbishment and larger reactors targeted around 2027. Varda projects per-mission costs to fall from about $12 million for the initial flight to $5–6 million by mission four and roughly $2.5 million or less by mission ten. The company has a handful of signed contracts with publicly traded biotech customers and plans to focus solely on pharmaceuticals for the next decade or more. Varda Space is a startup focused on manufacturing in orbit, aiming to create a factory in space. The core offering is space-based manufacturing infrastructure and processes to produce goods in microgravity. According to the article, the company raised $42 million to support creation of its in-space production facility. The funding is described as enabling the development and construction of that factory. The article does not provide revenue, user metrics, investors, or additional financial details. Varda is building unmanned space-based manufacturing facilities to produce high-dollar-per-unit-mass products that can be brought back to Earth. The company focuses on manufacturing in space for terrestrial applications rather than 3D printing. Early target products mentioned include carbon nanotubes, fiber optic cables, organs and novel materials that could justify high launch costs. Varda was incubated at Founders Fund and is led by CEO and co-founder Will Bruey, a former SpaceX engineer. The firm envisions ramping its platform into broader space-manufacturing infrastructure and ultimately harvesting source materials in space via asteroid mining. Financially, Varda emerged with $9 million in outside funding to support its initial development and operations.