Participated · Seed · Sep 2024

Involve Space is a deep-tech startup focused on building integrated stratospheric Earth-observation systems that combine reusable high-altitude balloons, onboard artificial intelligence and real-time data analytics. Its flagship initiative, AIM – Autonomous Intelligent Monitoring for Real-Time Stratospheric Earth Observation – is designed to deliver a persistent, high-resolution monitoring layer for applications ranging from critical infrastructure inspection to disaster response, security and defense. The company claims its technology will create a new European infrastructure for continuous territorial monitoring. Involve Space was one of only 61 European startups and SMEs selected for funding by the European Commission’s highly competitive EIC Accelerator program, underscoring its technological maturity and growth potential. The startup is also a member of ESA BIC Lazio, an incubation network backed by the European Space Agency, the Italian Space Agency and the Lazio regional government that supports space-economy ventures. The recent €12.5 million award materially strengthens the firm’s balance sheet and accelerates product development. No additional operating metrics or prior revenue figures were disclosed in the article.

Participated · Equity · May 2024

Revolv Space builds mechanisms and power systems for small-satellite platforms below 500 kg, offering products such as solar array drive assemblies, solar arrays, hinges, and deployment systems. Its product portfolio spans power ranges between 100 W and 3 kW and includes items at different stages of development. The company says it will use the new funding to accelerate development and production of these mechanisms and power systems. Revolv Space follows a test-oriented, agile, and customer-centric approach aimed at small satellite manufacturers and constellation operators. Leadership includes CEO Marco Sala, CTO Michał Grendysz, COO Aleksander Fiuk, and CCO Filippo Oggionni, and the team currently counts 15 people of 10 nationalities. The company is based in Torino, Italy, and Noordwijk, Netherlands.

Participated · Seed · Jan 2023

Skillit builds a data-driven recruiting platform purpose-built for construction that taxonomizes and assesses skills, experience, goals and preferences to generate data-rich worker profiles. The platform is used by top ENR contractors pursuing self-perform strategies to better control project lifecycle and profitability. Skillit reports materially higher interview requests, offer acceptance rates that are 1.7x the industry average and retention rates that are nearly double. The company is expanding its Trade-Region Pairs (TRPs) and has doubled the number of roles available to customers, covering trades from carpenters and electricians to heavy equipment operators and welders. Skillit is positioning to serve growth in demand driven by legislation and major infrastructure and green jobs, and is building product, engineering, customer success and sales teams to scale. The company is based in New York City and has raised a total of $13.6M to date. Skillit provides an end-to-end recruiting platform purpose-built for construction, offering sourcing, trade-specific skills assessments, hiring, training, evaluation and win-back workflows. The platform collects hundreds of data points to create a rich, taxonomized view of skilled construction labor across the employee lifecycle. It is already in use by select ENR contractors, including Messer Construction, and delivers improved hiring outcomes such as higher percent of offers accepted and reduced time to hire. The company says its product smooths and accelerates the hiring experience for both contractors and workers and produces data-driven compensation and labor-market insights. Skillit plans to open new regional markets, refine the product with real customer usage and feedback, and expand its team across product, engineering, customer success and sales. The company raised a $5.1M seed round to fund these efforts and pursue broader adoption, including potential application in the unionized sector.