I will be collaborating with two venture funds as a venture partner.

The two funds are Collaborative Fund and Climate Capital Bio. With both, I will be sourcing deals and doing non-technical diligence, mostly on materials startups.

Six weeks ago, I would not have expected to be doing this. However, it makes a lot of sense to connect with startups working on the frontier of performance materials as I continue to explore startup ideas myself. Some of the startups may even become my suppliers.

Firstly Collaborative Fund. I had great conversations with managing partner Craig Shapiro and partner Sophie Bakalar in the last few weeks. Collab Fund’s recent $200M SOS Fund invests in Series A and B startups and has a strong materials thesis. They’ve already made investments in Bolt Threads (mycelium and spider silk protein), Brimstone (cement), Span (smart electrical panel), and Dandelion Energy (geothermal) amongst others.

I also enjoyed talking to both Michael Luciani and Jenny Kan from Climate Capital Bio. Their investments so far include Modern Synthesis (microbial material weaving), Unicorn Biotechnologies (modular biomanufacturing platform), Compound Foods (sustainable lab grown coffee) and Spira (ingredients from engineered spirulina). Michael and Jenny are raising a fund focused on pre-seed and seed investments in biomanufacturing and biotech x climate.

If you know of startups seeking to raise and building in new materials as well as energy tech or supply chains, DM or email me.