Grit Ventures

Calling all innovators in the labs! Grit is excited to launch a new workshop series, Lab Fuel, targeting Principal Investigators in the nations top labs, with Bee Partners and The Engine Accelerator. We are collaborating with Kira Noodleman and Ian Johnston to create some incredible content for the journey from Labs to Launch. See description and sign up link below! ? Are you a researcher or scientist considering the leap from academia to entrepreneurship? Navigating the transition from lab to startup can be overwhelming, but you don’t have to do it alone. ? Join us for an exclusive?one-day workshop?designed to equip you with the?fundamental knowledge, strategies, and connections?you need to successfully spin out your technology and launch a venture-backed company. ? This interactive session, led by?investors, startup CEOs, and experts in commercialization, will cover key topics including: Spinning Out 101?– How to leverage available resources, avoid common pitfalls, and structure your path forward. Customer Discovery & Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy?– Understanding market fit and how to position your technology. Financial Modeling & Fundraising?– From early-stage funding strategies to crafting a compelling pre-seed pitch deck. CEO Panel: Lessons from the Trenches?– Insights from founders who’ve successfully gone from lab to startup. Carly Anderson from Prelude Ventures moderating! Meet Leading Accelerators?– Learn about programs?that can help fuel the next step of your founder journey. This is a?must-attend event?for deep/tough tech innovators looking to turn their research into a high-impact venture. Connect with peers, investors, and ecosystem leaders who can help you navigate the commercialization journey. ? Spots are limited – sign up now! https://lu.ma/b02k1yor #gritventures #venturecapital

Let's fund America's Future!! America’s future hinges on bold investments in innovation, yet proposed federal funding cuts to universities threaten our nation’s leadership in technology, energy, and healthcare. Slashing NSF funding from $9 billion to $3 billion, along with proposed caps on NIH funding, will cripple AI advancements, medical breakthroughs, and industrial progress. Universities are the backbone of discovery—federally funded R&D contributed nearly $60 billion in 2023 alone, fueling critical research in engineering, medicine, and energy. ? We cannot afford to let short-sighted budget decisions undermine our nation’s economic growth and global competitiveness. University-driven innovation has generated trillions in economic impact, millions of jobs, and thousands of groundbreaking startups. Yet, funding cuts are forcing institutions to freeze research, halt hiring, and even pause and rescind PhD admissions, jeopardizing America’s ability to lead in science and technology.? ? Total academic R&D reached $108.8 billion in FY 2023. While this may seem high, consider the fact that this is one third less than the total venture capital funding in 2024 of $314B. Universities' own funding ($27.7B) accounted for 25% of total R&D in FY2023. We must act now to ensure that the government continues to fund the research which allows America to remain competitive and funds our pressing need for graduate level talent. ? At Grit we are doubling down on funding innovations from the nations top labs! This year we are launching two new programs, Lab Fuel, a new workshop series co-designed with Bee Ventures and The Engine Accelerator, to support academic leaders in commercial focused labs as they go from labs to launch.?This program is free to our nations innovators and we plan to scale it.? ? We are also starting a Lab Investment Program.?Join us! We are looking for co-investors, expert speakers and mentors. Reach out if you are interested.? ?

?? Join Us at the Deep Tech Forum in Silicon Valley! ?? We’re excited to announce the Deep Tech Forum on October 15, 2024, in Santa Clara, CA, co-hosted by Japan Society of Northern California and Monozukuri Ventures. This event will gather leading minds in venture capital (VC) and corporate venture capital (CVC) to explore how collaborative investments are driving the future of deep tech innovation in sectors such as robotics, AI, automation and climate tech. You will see active deep tech CVC such as Applied Ventures and Lockheed Martin Ventures. The event is generously sponsored by Niterra's Venture Lab Niterra Group and Enotech Consulting with support by Grit Ventures. ?? Agenda Highlights: ? 1:30 PM: Keynote by Anand Kamannavar, Global Head, Applied Ventures ? 2:00 PM: Cross-Cultural CVC Panel - Unpacking American and Japanese Approaches to Startup Investment ? 3:00 PM: Networking Break - Engage with key players in a relaxed setting Whether you’re a CVC, VC, corporate innovation leader, or part of an accelerator, this is the event to attend if you’re looking to enhance your cross-border investment strategies and collaborative ventures. ?? Register now: https://lu.ma/y1wvf1q6 #DeepTech #Innovation #VC #CVC #CrossBorderInvestments #Robotics #AI #SiliconValley #JapanSociety #Networking #TechEvent #Climate CC: Sabrina Sasaki Jennifer Gill Roberts Michi Kaifu Miho Greenberg Masayuki Kimura Amandine A.

Grit Ventures is excited to share that we are now accepting applications for our next Startup Showcase in September, which will feature early stage startups building carbon neutrality and circular economy solutions. We are thrilled to share that Honda Innovations is the sponsor of this showcase. See below for event details and how to apply!

Congratulations The University of Texas at Austin!! Today, the University and Texas Institute for Electronics (TIE) announced an?extraordinary investment from DARPA totaling $840 million?in federal funding to engineer the next generation of semiconductor chip microsystems at UT Austin. ? This investment is among the largest federal awards that a UT System institution has ever received.?It will make UT the undisputed leader in semiconductor technology, specifically for 3D heterogeneously integrated microsystems (3DHI), which are touted as the?future of advanced chip production.? ? Under the agreement, TIE will establish a national, open-access R&D and prototyping fabrication facility for the defense industry, academia, and government at our J. J. Pickle Research Campus and at UT’s Montopolis location (southeast Austin). These facilities will help create higher-performance, lower-power, lightweight and compact microelectronic systems for a variety of applications, including AI computing, robotics, healthcare, radar, satellite imaging, and unmanned aerial vehicles. ? This substantial investment underscores the U.S. government’s confidence in the faculty, staff and students at the Cockrell School of Engineering and their ability to deliver groundbreaking results. Representing a total investment of $1.4 billion, the $840 million award from DARPA adds to the Texas Legislature’s $552 million investment in May 2024 to build a semiconductor ecosystem at UT. ? Today’s news?enhances the Cockrell School’s reputation as a premier engineering institution?and reaffirms that?Texas Engineers?drive global innovation.

Grit Labs is excited to introduce you to 10 of our Office Hours Startups! Let Xiaoming Yin, Ph.D Yin, Erin Keller or I know if you'd like intros to any of our Office Hours founders! Stealth at UT Austin: launching from the?Human Centered Robotics Lab?at The University of Texas at Austin Founders: Dr. Luis Sentis, Dr. Junfeng Jiao Raising a pre-seed round now Staxel: platform to automate intralogistics using mobile robots and AI Founder/CEO: Dima Dobrynin Raising a pre-seed round soon Visionary.energy: novel energy storage plus cloud service solution to over 2000 distribution system operators in the US Co-founder/CEO: Constantine Fedoseev Raising a seed round now Appetronix: fully autonomous robotic kitchen that cooks made-to-order meals with zero onsite employees CEO: Nipun Sharma Just raised a seed round Phoenix Semiconductor Corporation: delivering a secure, reliable and cost-effective source of replacements for critical microelectronics Founder/CEO: Ryan Hatcher Just raised a seed round Altect, Inc.: battery fire protection systems for electric mobility and infrastructure. Spun out of the labs at UT Austin Co-founder/CEO: Kevin Marr Raising a seed round now Pike Robotics: inspection robots that can go into hazardous locations to collect necessary data, vital to repair and maintenance work. Spun out of the labs at UT Austin Co-founder/CEO: Connor Crawford Raising a pre-seed round now SkyMul: construction robots, focused on rebar tying as first market, spun out of the labs at Georgia Tech Co-founder/CEO: Eohan George Raising a pre-seed round now Elysium Robotics: muscle-like actuators that enable capable, agile, and inexpensive robots to leverage AI and extend the limits of automation Founder/CEO: Rodrigo Alvarez Raising a pre-seed round soon Wave Motion Launch Corporation: new acceleration system for projectile launch Co-founder/COO: James Penna Raising a seed round soon Xiaoming Yin, Ph.D Erin Keller Luis Sentis Junfeng Jiao Dima Dobrynin Constantine Fedoseev Nipun Sharma Ryan Hatcher Kevin Marr Connor Crawford Eohan G. Rodrigo Alvarez-Icaza James Penna

Grit Ventures is thrilled to participate in a seed round investment in Trustwise alongside an amazing syndicate including Hitachi Ventures, and Firestreak Ventures!?Enterprise leaders today, particularly in regulated industries need to manage the cost, safety and environmental impact of AI and the Trustwise team?has already demonstrated huge value in early customer deployments. Congratulations Trustwise team! https://lnkd.in/g3S-32J3 https://lnkd.in/gmDadiZZ #GenAI?#generativeAI?#TrustworthyAI?#AI?#LLM?#AISafety?#sustainableAI?#sustainability?#AIefficiency

I had the pleasure of moderating a Prototype to Production Panel at our UT Austin Texas Robotics Industry Day Conference last week. Featuring 5 startups that spun out of the labs at UT Austin: Andrea L. Thomaz ?from Diligent Robotics, Connor Crawford from Pike Robotics, Jeffrey Cardenas from Apptronik, Will Wilder from Wilder Systems Robots, and Youngmok Yun from Contoro Robotics. We talked about importance of commercializing research from the labs and the challenges that come with it. Thank you panelists for your insights on Labs to Launch, the value of partnering with industry, business models in robotics, and what is going to drive scale in industrial automation! ? We have big problems to solve from climate change to labor shortages to the need for updated infrastructure. AI is at an inflection point and it’s going to enable new levels of human to machine and machine to machine interaction. I can’t wait to watch it all happen! Thanks everyone who participated in the conversation at UT Austin last week!