Andy Tang

Ayar Labs has successfully secured $500 million 💰 in Series E funding (https://lnkd.in/gg8Z92PY), propelling the company's valuation to an impressive $3.75 billion 📈, with the round led by Neuberger Berman 🌟 and backed by heavyweights NVIDIA ⚡, AMD 🔥, and Intel 🔵. This major capital boost is set to fast-track the mass production and widespread deployment of their groundbreaking co-packaged optics (CPO) technology 🔬✨, which replaces outdated copper connections 🔗 to smash through bandwidth bottlenecks 🛑, slash power consumption ⚡↓, and supercharge large-scale AI infrastructure 🤖. By seamlessly integrating advanced optical engines directly into semiconductor packaging 🧩, Ayar Labs enables thousands of GPUs to operate as one unified, ultra-high-performance system 🖥️💪, marking a pivotal milestone that solidifies optical interconnects 🔗🚀 as the critical backbone for the next generation of cutting-edge data centers 🏗️🌐.

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**Navigating Setbacks: A Lesson from Blue Origin's New Glenn Investigation** The recent mishap with Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket underscores the importance of rigorous testing and transparency in the aerospace sector. At ElevenX Capital, we believe that setbacks can often yield the most valuable lessons for future innovation. As we analyze this situation, it prompts us to consider: How can we better support companies in our portfolio to navigate challenges and learn from failures? Your thoughts? #investing #innovation #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

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"Build the event you wish existed" That's what we at Monadical did last week at #NYTW. We wanted an AI Engineers discussion for Engineers. There's always a lot of events out there for VCs to network, or for startups to learn about G2M, but very little on lessons learned from actual engineers in the field. So that's the event we hosted. Big thank yous to our awesome panel, Roy Pereira, Ben Cohen and Corey J. Gallon. Here's the key takeaways and the AI tools we're using. 🚀 All three panelists independently called AI Agents the most transformative LLM application they’ve used. They specifically called out Claude 3.5 Sonnet for its accuracy and reliability. 🪨 We dug into how LLMs are “jagged”, not general. They can be shockingly good at some tasks and completely fail at others. Everyone agreed: good evaluations are critical (and hard.) 🧪 Corey noted how public benchmarks and reality are two different things. Most public evals are saturated or gamed. ♊ Ben emphasized that AI projects are actually two projects: building the tool and building the evaluation process. 🧱 We explored how falling dev costs may impact startup defensibility and labor demand. Roy shared that founders are already shifting strategies in response. ⚒️ In a world of daily AI launches, the panel discussed how they decide what’s worth attention, and what’s just noise. They called out tools like Goose, Aider, Claude Code, and Monadical’s own Cubbi, which helps run agentic workflows safely in dev environments. (links in the comments). CTA: What would you want to hear in an AI Applied Engineering talk you attended?

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Berkeley has long been a hub where deep physics intersects with real-world ambition, and photonics is exemplifying this in real time. Future Frontier Capital and the Berkeley Gateway Accelerator are co-hosting an evening focused on the future of light-based computing with Opticore. This event will bring together founders who are building the chips and researchers from the labs that trained them, creating a global ecosystem that connects North America to Europe's photonic infrastructure. Panelists include: - Ryan Hamerly, CTO of Opticore (Ph.D., Stanford; photonic chips at 100x GPU efficiency) - Daniel Klawson, CEO of TopoLight (Ph.D., UC Berkeley Integrated Photonics Lab; quantum computing photonics) - Jorn Smeets Managing Director NA of PhotonDelta (scaling the global photonic chip ecosystem) - Moderated by Kai Schuster Schuster of Opticore (materials scientist, photonics founder) The format features a concise panel discussion followed by a Q&A, with ample networking time to explore the topics that matter to you. If you are involved in hardware, tracking deep tech, or looking to understand the implications of photonics for AI infrastructure and quantum systems, this event is worth your evening. Thursday, May 7 | Doors at 5:30 PM | Berkeley Gateway Accelerator Link to register in the comments section.

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Hammerhead AI, a San Francisco-based provider of orchestrated RL control agents (ORCA), raised $10M in Seed funding led by Buoyant Ventures, with participation from SE Ventures, Aina Climate AI Ventures, MCJ Collective, WovenEarth Ventures, Bombellii Ventures, Clearvision Ventures, StepChange, Acclimate Ventures, and Jack Cogen. Led by CEO Rahul Kar CTO Rajeev Singh, the company plans to use the funds to accelerate product development, scale global deployments, and strengthen partnerships with infrastructure OEMs and AI factory operators. Hammerhead AI’s ORCA platform helps AI factory operators maximize revenue by using reinforcement learning agents to optimize token processing capacity under power constraints, creating value without waiting for grid expansions. FOUNDER: Rahul Kar INVESTORS: Buoyant Ventures, SE Ventures, AINA Climate AI Ventures, MCJ Collective, WovenEarth Ventures, Bombellii Ventures, Clearvision Ventures, Stepchange, Acclimate Ventures & Jack Cogen ROUND: Seed AMOUNT: $10,000,000 HQ: #SanFrancisco #California #VentureCapital #HammerheadAI #RahulKar #BuoyantVentures #SEVentures #AINAClimateAIVentures #MCJCollective #WovenEarthVentures #BombelliiVentures #ClearvisionVentures #Stepchange #AcclimateVentures #JackCogen #TradedVC

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LambdaVision, Inc. has signed a reservation agreement with Starlab, the commercial space station venture led by Voyager Technologies, extending its microgravity research and advancing toward scalable manufacturing of its protein based artificial retina. Both LambdaVision and Voyager are Seraphim portfolio companies, marking another instance of synergy within our ecosystem. Always special to see. LambdaVision has already validated its layer by layer manufacturing process in orbit. Securing long term access to LEO infrastructure is a critical step as the ISS approaches retirement and commercial stations come online. Congratulations to both teams. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/emGhMKkw #SeraphimSpace #DualUse #SpaceTech #SpaceEconomy #NewSpace #VentureCapital

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When Dr, Harold “Sonny” White came to the Limitless Space Institute with this idea, I had two reactions. First, the science is real. Second, if anyone can engineer it into hardware, it is Sonny. Today, CASIMIR launches with $12 million to bring the world's first quantum vacuum energy chip to market. I am proud to have incubated this work at LSI and to continue as an investor and board member. What Casimir is pursuing is not simply an incremental improvement in power systems. It is a fundamentally new semiconductor approach based on quantum vacuum effects and the Casimir effect, a phenomenon studied experimentally and theoretically for decades. There is still significant engineering and manufacturing work ahead, but the potential implications for persistent ultra-low-power systems are substantial. The same curiosity that drives humanity toward the stars can also lead to technologies that improve life here on Earth. Congratulations to Sonny, the #Casimir team, and to Brad Harrison and Scout Ventures for leading this round.

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Anissa G., Valida Pau (& The Information) get all the scoops! 💥 "The fundraising and the new valuation come after Nvidia agreed to strike a $20 billion non-exclusive technology licensing deal with Cerebras competitor Groq in late December, a sign that demand is strong for specialized chips that run AI applications fast and cheaply."

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We are pleased to announce a new investment in a startup developing quantum computer hardware. The neutral atom approach has rapidly emerged over the past few years as one of the most promising candidates for realizing quantum computing. At the same time, research and development toward building a truly useful quantum machine is still in the midst of global competition—an area where we believe Japan’s science can stand out on the world stage. From before the company was even founded, we have worked closely with the founding team, sharing the goal of “building a quantum industry in Japan that leads the world.” We are truly excited to embark on this great challenge together with a dream team of top domestic leaders now united under one vision. Beyond Next Ventures will spare no effort in supporting the company until the day a truly practical quantum computer is realized and changes the world. https://yaqumo.com/en/

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Working with NRF to pursue our patent strategy is an important step in recognizing that proprietary AI systems and workflows are becoming a new form of intellectual property for modern firms. Great to partner with George, John McBride, and the team at Norton Rose Fulbright as we work at the frontier of how AI can transform investment decision-making in venture capital. At Decasonic, we believe the next generation of companies will reinvent with AI workflows and systems how organizations operate, how leaders make decisions, and how teams collaborate with intelligent systems. In going through this streamlined process, it's clear to me that many more startups should clarify their IP strategy. Our internally developed AI platform, RLEN, reflects that philosophy. We are building AI not to automate tasks and flourish outcomes, in collaborative ways for human and AI teammates. This enables our investors to test ideas, explore alternative perspectives, and reach deeper insights faster when navigating uncertainty. More broadly, we are seeing trailblazing work across industries and cities as leaders experiment with how AI can reshape communities, companies, and countries. Leadership with AI forever transforms. We are still in the early innings. Appreciate the partnership and collaboration from the Norton Rose Fulbright team as we continue inventing and innovating. Special shoutout to my colleague Abdul Al Ali who's listed as a co-inventor.

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Seligman Ventures Leads Cognichip’s $60M Series A to Back Physics-Informed AI for Chip Design, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Seligman Ventures’ Umesh Padval Join the Board https://lnkd.in/ggv3FbP6

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Hexcel Adds Independent Director in Deal With Activist Investor "Hexcel added a new independent director to its board in a move that avoids a potential proxy fight for the aerospace materials company with activist investor Vision One Fund. "As part of an agreement between the two sides, Vision One will withdraw their nominees to the board that were to be voted on at the company's annual shareholder meeting. Vision One will also support Hexcel's board nominees, and agree to certain standstill restrictions and mutual non-disparagement provisions, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. "The new director, former Kaman Chief Executive Officer Neal Keating, was appointed effective Tuesday." Keating's experience in aerospace may make him an ideal director choice. Yet from a bigger picture perspective, I wonder if this settlement is the right move for investors. More and more activist campaigns are settling rather than running the full process of a proxy fight with typically a greater number of directors nominated by the activist. Hopefully, activists are becoming like the public company boards they battle, i.e. more focused on reaching consensus than big results. #governancearbitrage #proxyfights #corporategovernance #activistinvesting #valuecreation https://lnkd.in/gazBUGFp

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My investment framework centers on 7 layers. CASIMIR fits into the first layer which is the Observation Layer. Out of 22 billion IoT devices on earth and ~10k satellites in space in 2026 we may have a 6 billion (and growing) ultra low power devices on earth and space that can one day run on MicroSparc 👍🏼 -> Eternal power chip Harold “Sonny” White + Capital Factory #HardThings #deeptech

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More great news for #patent holders: Sauvegarder Investment Management (SIM IP) and Garden Intel have announced a $150 million merger designed to establish a premier global platform for intellectual property monetization. This transaction addresses a significant inefficiency in the current patent market where the vast majority of issued patents fail to generate a financial return due to the high costs and slow pace of traditional legal analysis. For the IP community, this represents a shift toward the financialization of innovation. The platform utilizes real-world commercial signals and proprietary pricing data to identify infringement and value portfolios at scale. This systematic approach reduces the reliance on traditional litigation models and provides patent owners with the tools necessary to unlock latent value within their intellectual property more rapidly and with greater analytical precision. The combined entity will operate under the SIM IP brand, utilizing Garden Intel’s AI infrastructure to scale its portfolio and revenue non-linearly. This merger establishes a new standard for how intellectual property is valued and monetized in the modern institutional investment landscape. https://lnkd.in/evkYmQKX #IntellectualProperty #IPMonetization #PatentStrategy #SIMIP #GardenIntel #LegalTech #AssetManagement #InnovationEconomy #PatentData #InstitutionalInvesting

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🚀 Big congratulations to BQP on raising USD 5mn to scale their quantum-powered simulation engine for aerospace, automotive and other mission-critical sectors. The round saw participation from many renowned global investors, reinforcing confidence in their breakthrough approach. As an o2 Angels Network portfolio company, BQP exemplifies the kind of #deeptech we back — building foundational IP, solving non-trivial computational problems, and developing defensible technology moats. Their quantum simulation platform delivers capabilities classical systems can’t; enabling faster design cycles, higher accuracy, and safer, more efficient outcomes in complex engineering environments. This is not just innovation — it’s infrastructure for the future of aerospace, defense, and energy. 💡 At o2 Angels Network, we back founders solving high-impact, high-risk industrial challenges with technology that protects lives and transforms operations. Our portfolio includes Fabheads Automation, Green Tiger Mobility Pvt. Ltd., Eeki, CultYvate, Skye Air Mobility, NAVARS EDUTECH, Janitri, Velectron Labs Private Limited, Abhiyantrik Solutions, Nexstem, REGRIP "RE-ENGINEERED TYRES", SpaceFields, Unibose Technology Private Limited, BQP, Vgenomics, and many others pushing the boundaries of innovation. Onward and upward! 🌍🔬 #QuantumComputing #DeepTech #Simulation #Aerospace #IndustrialInnovation #IPDriven #TechnicalMoat #VentureCapital #O2Angels #NextGenTech

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San Diego-based Manifold (AI Detection and Response platform) has raised $8 million in seed funding; lead backer Costanoa Ventures, along with several institutional investors including Cherry Ventures, Rain Capital, Modern Technical Fund, and angel investors.

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This week in venture deals that matter for America (#AmTech): C-Infinity raised $16 million in funding led by Canaan Partners, with participation from Inventus Capital Partners, Bee Partners, and Radius Capital Ventures. C-Infinity builds AutoAssembler, an AI platform that translates mechanical designs into step-by-step factory assembly instructions by analyzing geometry, movement, and physical manufacturing requirements. Turning a CAD file into an efficient assembly plan is still a slow, manual process at most factories. AutoAssembler does it automatically, helping American manufacturers produce faster and more efficiently at a time when speed and cost competitiveness against global rivals matter more than ever. Founders: Sai Nelaturi, Johan de Kleer, Mats Bergstrom. Blue Energy raised $380 million in funding led by VXI Capital, with participation from Engine Ventures, At One Ventures, Tamarack Global, and others. Blue builds prefabricated nuclear power plants using proven reactor technology, but with a construction model designed around shipyard manufacturing to cut costs and timelines. The company plans to break ground on its first project later this year, a 1.5 gigawatt plant in Texas built to power AI data centers. If it works, they could help solve two American problems at once: getting new nuclear built on time and keeping up with AI's enormous appetite for clean, reliable power. Founders: Jake Jurewicz and Matthew Slotkin. Reliable Robotics Corporation raised $160 million in new funding led by Nimble Partners, LLC, with participation from Eclipse, Lightspeed, Coatue Management, Pathbreaker Ventures, AE Ventures, RTX Ventures, Presidio Ventures, UP.Partners, KAS Venture Partners, What If Ventures, Calm Ventures, Gaingels, and Mana Ventures. Reliable develops FAA-certifiable systems that enable commercial and defense aircraft to fly without a pilot on board. Both founders came from SpaceX, where they built core flight software and avionics for Falcon 9 and Dragon. Founders: Robert Rose, Juerg Frefel. #VC #Startups #VentureCapital #Manufacturing #Nuclear #Energy #Aviation #Defense #Autonomy #AI

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Substack has raised $100 million in a funding round led by venture capital firms BOND and TCG (The Chernin Group) at a valuation of $1.1 billion, the newsletter platform said on Thursday. The series C funding round also saw participation from existing investor Andreessen Horowitz, as well as Rich Paul, CEO and founder of Klutch Sports Group and Jens Grede, CEO and co-founder of SKIMS. Users are increasingly turning to newsletter platforms such as Substack and Ghost amid growing digitization, as they offer creators greater control by delivering content directly to subscribers. Substack, which has raised $200 million in total since its founding in 2017, is a leading platform for writers, journalists and creators to publish and monetize newsletters, podcasts and other digital content directly to subscribers. #Newsletters #Substack #Fundraise https://lnkd.in/gmeyD9Yb

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