Participated · Seed · Jun 2026

Askari develops hand‑launched, fully autonomous hit‑to‑kill interceptors designed for dismounted operators; its two main systems are Rift Alpha and Rift Bravo. Rift Alpha targets Group 1 and 2 UAS, can be launched from the hand, a tube, or a box, has a range of about 2 km and top speed around 60 m/s, and is already in customer use. Rift Bravo is a smaller, foldable Group 1 interceptor with roughly 1 km range, speeds above 100 mph, and a form factor that allows a dozen to fit in a rucksack; Bravo remains in development supported by non‑dilutive R&D contracts. Askari says it has over $2M in real procurement contracts and an order book exceeding $2M, with customers predominantly in the special operations community and reported intercept rates near 90% during testing with a Tier One customer. The company emerged from stealth in April, was founded by Georgia Tech alumni Robbie Van Zyl and Ben Airdo (both 25) alongside Marc Van Zyl, and plans to use new funding to scale production and expand engineering and operations headcount. Future product ambitions include adapting interceptors for ground‑vehicle threats and developing tooling to automate rapid interceptor design and delivery.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2026

RyboDyn’s core products are RyboCypher™, a proprietary discovery engine combining deep sequencing of non-canonical RNAs with proteomic detection, and CypherAtlas™, a searchable atlas that integrates those data and powers foundational AI models. The company has expanded CypherAtlas™ to include data from roughly 1,000 patient tumor samples across 10 oncology indications, discovering more than 3 million conserved novel dark RNAs and empirically identifying over 80,000 cryptic peptides, including about 15,000 cancer-specific peptides. Many discovered cryptic proteins appear to contain functional domains and are localized to the cell surface or secreted, positioning them as candidate targets for targeted immunotherapies. RyboDyn is translating these discoveries into first-in-class antibody therapeutics internally and through partnerships, and plans to advance early-stage programs into IND-enabling studies. The company has licensed IP from OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute, disclosed a strategic collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center, and operates from Lilly Gateway Labs in San Diego.

Participated · Series A · Nov 2020

Northstar has developed personal financial management tools and pairs employees with full-time, one-on-one financial advisors employed by the company, delivered as an employer-paid subscription priced monthly by headcount. Employees pay nothing for the service and advisors are non-commissioned; Northstar assigns the same advisor to each employee to build continuity and trust. Its client base spans private and public companies across industries and includes Zoom, Snap, 23andMe, Virgin Orbit and NerdWallet. The company reports revenue growth of over 5x year-over-year, expects 3x growth next year, and says its customer base has grown more than 600% since December 2020. Northstar is Los Angeles-based, was founded in 2016, has about 50 employees and uses contractors to serve employees in 18 countries. With the new financing it plans to double or triple headcount and expand to 30 countries by the end of 2023. Northstar offers an employer-provided financial wellness platform that pairs employees with dedicated Northstar CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) advisors, automates actions on advice, and centralizes recommendations on compensation and benefits. The product includes 1-on-1 CFP planning, automated savings/debt/investment actions, and tools for open enrollment, total rewards statements, and visual offer letters. The company reports strong adoption at customers such as Zoom, ServiceTitan, and Thumbtack, with more than 50% of eligible employees engaging with a Northstar CFP and messages between employees and CFPs doubling every month since March. Northstar positions itself to expand employer partnerships and embed financial guidance into the employee experience to address widespread financial stress among workers. The company was founded in 2016 by Will Peng and Matt Matteson and is based in Los Angeles. Financially, Northstar announced $10.7 million in financing, reflecting recent growth and investor interest.

Participated · Series A · Nov 2019

Loft Orbital provides mission-as-a-service, buying standard satellites from vendors like Airbus and LeoStella and configuring them with customer payloads rather than designing bespoke spacecraft. The company offers “virtual missions” that let customers deploy software apps onto Loft satellites to leverage on-board sensors and compute, and it has launched YAM-6 dedicated to running AI in space. Loft says it has sold over 30 satellites and deployed over 25 customer missions across five satellites launched to date; customers include NASA, Microsoft, Anduril and BAE Systems. The company declined to disclose hard revenue figures but reported 100% revenue growth for two consecutive years and has logged over $500 million of bookings on only $160 million of capital raised prior to this Series C. Loft has raised a total of $330 million in its lifetime after the new round. It plans to use the new capital to scale from a handful of launches per year to 10+ annually, expand its virtual missions and AI business, and grow an ecosystem of AI application partners. Loft Orbital provides space‑infrastructure‑as‑a‑service, building and operating spacecraft that host customer payloads so customers do not need to design or operate their own satellites. The company has launched two spacecraft (YAMs) that currently carry multiple customer payloads and has more than 20 customers including NASA, DARPA, the U.S. Space Force and Honeywell. Loft says it speeds customers’ time to orbit by keeping satellites in inventory and integrating payloads rapidly, shortening deployment from years to months. The company currently has about 70 employees and plans to grow to roughly 160 by the end of 2022 as it scales operations. Loft operates from San Francisco and also has manufacturing and facilities in Denver, Colorado and Toulouse, France. As part of its scaling plans it intends to use the new capital to expand the team and business operations. Loft Orbital develops a constellation of small satellites purpose-built to carry a mix of customer payloads on shared satellite buses. Its model is to buy satellite buses from vendors, integrate customer payloads in-house, and sell space on Loft-owned-and-operated satellites for a fee. The company is integrating YAM-2 on a Blue Canyon Technologies bus and expects YAM-2 to launch mid-2020, with YAM-3 and YAM-4 slated for 2020 and 2021. YAM-2 will carry five payloads, including an IoT telecom for Eutelsat, a methane sensor for Orbital Sidekick, a positioning payload for Fugro, an imager for the UAE government, and a blockchain payload for SpaceChain. Loft Orbital plans to place a batch order of 10–20 satellite platforms by April and has an established partner network that includes LeoStella, Maxar, OHB/LuxSpace, Satrec Initiative and Blue Canyon. The 30-person San Francisco startup raised $13M in this Series A, bringing total funding to $20M in equity and non-dilutive capital. YAM-3 is reported as 85% booked, and YAM-4 is reserved by a Fortune 100 company on behalf of a national space agency. Loft Orbital leases space on satellites and provides access for commercial, academic, and government organizations to collect Earth data. Its services support applications including environmental monitoring, water resources management, disaster assessment, and global security. The company is co-founded by Antoine de Chassy (CEO), Pierre-Damien Vaujour and Alex Greenberg. Loft Orbital is based in San Francisco, CA. The firm intends to use new funding to expand its global presence and to further build out its software products. The company secured $3.2M in seed funding to support these plans.