Hemi Ventures is a $50m early stage deeptech fund based in the SF and Palo Alto.
Started by Amy Gu, the fund invests in deeptech, biotech and enterprise AI.
After joining in mid 2017 as Principal, I covered all non-biotech deals with specific emphasis on autonomous vehicles, robotics, AI, AR, IIOT, etc.
| Name | Description | Investors | Total Funding | Most Recent Raise | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apprentice |
2.5M Seed | Enterprise AR Software for Intelligent Manufacturing in Life Sciences | Silverton Partners, Insight Partners, Pritzker Group VC, GFR Fund, VR Fund, | 207M | 65M Series D | ~50x | | Scotty Labs
6M Seed | Safety Critical Teleoperation for Autonomous Vehicles | Gradient Ventures, Horizon Ventures | 6M | Acquired by Door Dash | 2-5x (exit within 18 months) | | Tanvas
1.5M Series A Ext | Electrostatic Haptics for Touchscreens | In-Q-Tel, Kairos, R7 Partners, Peak6, | 9M | Unannounced Round | | | Ample
31M Series A | Electric Vehicle Battery Swapping | Shell Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Repsol Energy Ventures, Eneos, PTT | 230M | 160M Series C | ~20x |
Hemi was a relatively new fund. Thus, we had growing pains related to operationally closing deals
| Name | Description | Round | Reason Deal Didn’t Close | Current Investors | Most Recent Raise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IAM Robotics | Mobile Picking Robot for Ecommerce Fulfillment | Seed | Decided that existing CEO/Cofounder was only CTO, passed. Company found new CEO 12 months later | Fusion Fund, KCK | 20M Series A |
| Loft Orbital | Uber Pool for Satellite Sensors on Common Satellite Bus | Seed | GP had conflict with CEO, pulled out day of closing | Foundation Capital, Uncork Capital, Ubiquity Ventures, Kima Ventures, | 140M Series B |
| (~25x) | |||||
| Arbe Robotics | Next Generation 4D Imaging Radar for Autonomous Vehicles (Israel) | Series A-1 | GP could not execute legal documents for Israeli investment in time of close | Canaan Partners, OurCrowd, Maniv Mobility, 360 Capital Partners, BAIC Capital | 722M SPAC |
| (~12x) | |||||
| Teraki | Quantum Inspired Data Compression for Edge AI (Germany) | Seed | GP reversed decision regarding investing in Germany entity | Horizon Ventures, Paladin VC, GPS Ventures, | 11M Series A |