Transition Ventures closed a $150m second fund, bringing assets under management to over $300m. Fund II continues a thesis that the most consequential companies of the coming decade will combine AI with the physical world, spanning power, robotics, materials, refining, and the hardware-software boundary. The firm argues that software-only incremental improvements have reached the end of their commercial road. Transition’s team is built to evaluate both deep-tech hardware and AI software. The portfolio includes Olix, a photonics computing company developing Optical Tensor Processing Units, which has raised about $220m at a $1bn valuation. Transition also invested early in Applied Atomics, founded by former SpaceX engineers.
"Fund II will continue Transition's thesis that the most consequential companies of the coming decade will sit at the intersection of AI and the physical world: power, robotics, materials, refining, and the hardware-software boundary in general."
"Helgason's pitch, which he has been refining since launching Transition in 2021 after stepping back as Unity's chief executive in 2014, is that the classic venture playbook of backing software-only incremental improvements has reached the end of its commercial road."
"Transition's small team is built around that thesis: alongside Helgason are his brother Ari (formerly of Index Ventures), Kristian Branaes (ex-Atomico), Clara Ricard (ex-Balderton) and David Pacák (ex-Earlybird and Picus Capital)."
"Olix, the Bristol-headquartered photonics computing company developing Optical Tensor Processing Units, is the most visible name. Originally founded as Flux Computing and rebranded in January, Olix has now raised roughly $220m at a $1bn valuation in a round led by Hummingbird Ventures, with Plural and LocalGlobe also on the cap table."
#ai-and-physical-world #deep-tech-hardware #venture-capital #photonics-computing #robotics-and-materials
Read at TNW | Investors-Funding
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]