Eugenio Gonzalez

We are thrilled to celebrate Powerline’s $7M Seed round and our partnership with this exceptional team. Led by Matineh Eybpoosh and Julian Lamy, Powerline is solving the most critical bottleneck of the energy transition: the "Intelligence Gap." As global energy demand surges, the grid requires capacity that is both faster to deploy and hyper-efficient to operate. Powerline is proving that the answer lies in software-driven intelligence. Their AI platform — the Battery Co-Pilot™ — radically improves the unit economics of energy storage, converting batteries from passive backup into high-yield financial assets. They are already delivering measurable results across the energy lifecycle: Existing Installations: Retrofitting "brownfield" battery portfolios with an intelligence layer that captures missed revenue and manages market volatility. New Deployments: Providing the digital testbeds needed to scale global fleets with institutional precision, significantly shortening the path to ROI. Legacy Displacement: Delivering a cost-effective alternative to polluting "peaker-plants," which can cost up to $200/MWh more than an optimized Powerline fleet. While solar-plus-storage is now consistently 20-30% cheaper than new-build gas, the real victory is in how that hardware is managed. At J-Impact Fund, we focus on the massive value creation that occurs when technology turns energy scarcity into abundance. By shifting the grid from a model of expensive, finite fuel to one of persistent, harvested power, we unlock superior financial upside. For us, deep decarbonization is the inevitable byproduct of this superior economic model. Congratulations to Matineh, Julian, and the entire team—we are proud to be on this journey with you. #EnergyStorage #AIOptimization #VentureCapital #AssetManagement #SeriesSeed #FinancialAlpha

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Some very welcome news for VC and PE firms, as well as other entities investing in startup and emerging growth companies. The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has announced the suspension of the implementation and enforcement of the data collection and reporting regime imposed by the Fair Investment Practices by Venture Capital Companies Law (FIPVCC). This decision comes pending the completion of a rule-making process initiated by the DFPI in response to feedback from stakeholders affected by the regime. As a result, the DFPI will not require covered entities to submit further registrations or file reports by the April 1, 2026 deadline. For more information, visit the DFPI website: https://lnkd.in/eqjJbSFz

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When founders think of their next idea, who they call? Their founder friends. They want to hear feedback, bounce off ideas, get their more experienced friends to join them as mentors or angels. This is how companies got started (and funded) in the original S16 Apartment. This is how I joined 20 founders as angel, including Miro and BORZO. Over the last 6 months, together with our friends at ellipsis we have been quietly building a virtual version of our apartment, where we match founders who are just starting out with superstars who have already made the journey multiple times. We call it Founders for Founders Hub. FFF Hub is the new kind of accelerator. There is no cash or equity commitments upfront. Mentors only get sweat equity if their founders raise a round at our demo day. There is progressive elimination that ensures the group can move super quick. We get a front seat to observe founders in action. More details below and at our freshly launched website! https://fff-hub.com

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Today Isembard announced a $50m Series A fundraise led by Union Square Ventures, less than a year after Notion Capital led their Seed round. 💥This is a company right at the intersection of AI & supply chain sovereignty & they’re exceeding even our most optimistic expectations. By the end of the year they will have 25 factories across the UK, US, Germany, France & Ukraine. 💥Isembard is rapidly scaling its network of AI-first factories for precision manufacturing at the same time as market demand is accelerating. Macro forces (reshoring, rising defence spend, concentration risk in Asia, and the growth of neo-primes) are structurally increasing demand for fast, local, flexible manufacturing that the current industry is unable to deliver on. 💥The innovation is in the way the company builds and franchises factories as a product with tightly integrated units of machines, software, robotics, & process intelligence that turn design files into certified components with speed & reliability. 💥Their AI software platform, MasonOS, connects all sites into a single operating system, replacing fragmented shops with standardised, high-performance industrial nodes & enabling real-time quoting, predictable delivery, & low defect rates. By owning the full production stack, Isembard delivers premium manufacturing performance with the scalability & flexibility of a software platform. 💥We are at the top of the AI hype cycle and there are understandable concerns about the ROI on the vast sums of money being invested into this new super-cycle. But, the ROI for Isembard is both clear and compelling. They will deliver components 10x faster and at 50% of the cost of current suppliers. They will also build a de-centralised, global network of factories to meet the growing demand for national or regional sovereignty. 💥This is a company with a clear vision to disrupt a massive, fragmented $1.8tn component manufacturing market. Today marks another huge stride towards that vision. And they are only just getting started. We’re thrilled to be on this journey with Alexander Fitzgerald & the team & we’re also excited to welcome Rebecca Kaden & USV into the investor base. Notion Capital Union Square Ventures Alexander Fitzgerald Rebecca Kaden Maximilian Eichler Stephen Millard Britt Mulder

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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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Rediscovering Innovation: Tulum Energy’s Journey with Hydrogen Tech Tulum Energy's ability to leverage a two-decade-old curiosity into a groundbreaking hydrogen technology demonstrates how revisiting forgotten ideas can yield significant insights and funding—$27M in this case. At ElevenX Capital, we believe this is a testament to the importance of innovation in energy solutions. How do you evaluate the long-term potential of seemingly outdated technologies in your investment strategies? #investing #innovation #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

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Congratulations R3 Robotics! A successful €20 million raise. Ready to preserve Europe's Critical minerals with smart local mining, with an agile and hungry continuous learning team. From waste to value. The EU’s EV‑battery rules are now governed by the new Batteries Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1542), introducing strict, phased‑in recycling, recovery, carbon‑footprint, and producer‑responsibility obligations across the entire battery lifecycle. Key Objectives: ⚡Ensure batteries are sustainable and circular across their entire lifecycle. ⚡Strengthen EU strategic autonomy in critical materials. ⚡Mandate collection, recycling, and recovery of materials, especially lithium, nickel, cobalt. The full regulations become operational through 2025–2031, with major implications for OEMs, recyclers, and second‑life operators. Manual disassembly is simply too slow and costly. From 2025, OEMs and battery manufacturers must: ⚡Take full responsibility for collection, recycling, and proper disposal of EV batteries. ⚡Use certified channels for end‑of‑life management. ⚡Implement digital battery passports for traceability. R3 Robotics solves this with a platform that blends computer vision and AI with Automated dismantling of complete electric vehicle systems, including e-drives, power electronics, and other high-value components at industrial scale. Reducing costs, increasing throughput, and improve operational safety. Offering fully traceable systems support of efficient recycling, reuse, and material recovery at scale. ⚡Pleased to be part of the (ad-)venture as a shareholder. Press release: https://lnkd.in/eT8d3v7v Congratulations to: Antoine Welter Dr. Xavier Kohll Suma Capital HG Ventures Oetker Collection KG BONVENTURE EIT Urban Mobility EIC - European Innovation Council FLOBAS Ventures #BatteryRecycling, #CircularEconomy, #DeepTech Endless Frontier Labs #EVBattery, #BatteryRecycling, #CircularEconomy, #AutomotiveRecycling, #BatteryData, #robotics, #evbattery, #recycling

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🚨NEW EPISODE: Recorded live at FUTURE TITANS 2026 - Jeff Perry of Carta sat down with the iconic Seth Levine, co-founder of Foundry. Seth has been in venture for 25 years, built Foundry from scratch as an emerging manager himself, and has backed about 50 emerging manager funds through his fund of funds. He has genuinely seen every side of this table. They went deep on building Foundry, why VCs are in the influence business, not the decision business, and why the concentration problem in venture is not only bad for LPs, but also for the innovation ecosystem overall. And why Seth's new book, Capital Evolution, is so important for the future of America. 🎧 Links to listen... Apple: https://lnkd.in/ehQUQ2EM Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eU4FExpg

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A great masterclass for entrepreneurs on physical AI from the amazing Igor Marinelli CEO and co-founder of our portfolio company TRACTIAN for this in-person podcast. Interviewed by my colleague Debjit Mukerji who wrote the first institutional check and doubled down in the company. 8 Key Insights and Reflections: ▪️ Winning in Physical AI is all about presence. The presence of your physical product. The presence of your sales and support team with customers. And the presence of your team members, working in-person vs remotely to drive max impact at speed. ▪️ The Physical AI tech advantage lies in difficult-to-access, real-world data. You gain the most where you need to manufacture your own. ▪️ Product follows - and does not lead - sales. Sales is not about having the best product. Rather, it’s about a deep understanding of customer pain. Many deeptech founders miss this. ▪️ Product ideas come from everywhere. Decisions to move forward on them should come from a single place - the CEO. ▪️ Technical founders need to know how to hire the best sales people. Look for: a) ability to hit numbers b) hard work and hustle and - the most under-appreciated factor of all - c) team fit and desire to work together. ▪️ Never get complacent as you start to realize success. Keep investing in your strengths. Compete with yourself, not anyone else. ▪️ In fundraising, optimize for the best individual partner - not firm prestige or AUM. See links to the full episode below in the comments: #Tractian #deeptechunleashed #PhysicalAI #Deeptech #VentureCapital #Manufacturing #founder

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𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝟭𝟬𝟭 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁 #𝟯: 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 Continuation fund transactions are not one-size-fits-all—and choosing the right structure is as much about governance, liquidity, and investor dynamics as it is about asset profile. We outline here four commonly used structures, each with distinct trade-offs: 🔹 Single-Asset Continuation Funds Ideal for breakout companies requiring more time or capital. These deals offer targeted upside but come with concentrated exposure and often require robust pricing validation and LP election mechanics. 🔹 Strip Sales A partial sale of asset interests designed to lock in gains—without triggering a full LP election. These can be executed more quickly, but sponsors typically retain a meaningful residual position, which may reduce investor governance rights in the continuation vehicle. 🔹 Multi-Asset Vehicles Provide diversification across multiple portfolio companies. These require alignment of valuation, co-investor participation, and carry mechanics across a broader pool—adding administrative and disclosure complexity. 🔹 Full-Fund Rollovers Used near the end of a fund’s life when assets are illiquid or not ready for exit. These often include “status quo” reinvestment options and require careful LPA amendment to support continuation terms. At Ventura Fund Services, we translate these structural decisions into clear, auditable outcomes—tracking capital accounts, applying revised waterfall logic, and aligning rollover mechanics across legacy and new vehicles. 📩 Message our Fund Admin team to explore how we bring precision and reliability to continuation fund execution. #ContinuationFunds #PrivateEquityFunds #FundAdmin #ContinuationVehicles

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Post 6/7: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱𝘀: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 One finding surprised me the most in the Bay Area: a fourth role type emerging in the ecosystem - the investor–enablers. People who simultaneously deploy capital and teach the most talented students in the world. Others manage investment theses and coach founders directly. Some bridge public-private partnerships or sit across academia, venture, and programs. They want autonomy through leadership and initiative – not autonomy to optimise for themselves, but autonomy to shape the whole ecosystem. One hybrid told me: "I want to build platforms that serve multiple founders across multiple stages. Single deals feel limiting." They develop competence in both capital allocation and founder support. They're learning dual expertise. Another said: "I realised my superpower wasn't just picking winners. It was designing the communities for them to feel accepted." And relatedness isn't just peer networks – it's community orchestration. Bringing investors, founders, policy people, and enablers into alignment. In other words, they break down limiting role definitions, and in this way integrate across all three psychological needs. Here's the insight that might reshape how you think about your role: Are you slowly morphing into a hybrid? Maybe you started as an investor, but you keep coaching founders beyond the typical check-in. Or you led an accelerator, and now you're allocating capital. Or you're running a program and managing a fund. Or you're in academia and investing in startups. That's not a confusion of roles. That might be you discovering that your actual superpower sits at the intersection. The ecosystem is creating space for this because single roles sometimes aren't enough to serve the mission. For me personally, this resonates a lot. At better ventures, I'm working with founders while also serving into the community of angel investors, for example by leading the Deep Tech Academy, equipping angels with the knowledge to back teams in the space. Meanwhile, through the Impact Investing course at Manage and More by UnternehmerTUM, I'm also designing learning environments and helping people find their own path into this space. That blend isn't dilution – it's actually where I feel most effective. The question for you: 👉 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴? Founder–policymaker? Researcher–investor? Technical founder–accelerator lead? Corporate–startup bridge? Academic–operator? And do you think you might be one yourself - or could integrating multiple roles actually enhance your impact rather than dilute it? 𝘕𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘶𝘱: 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘺 𝘈𝘳𝘦𝘢'𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 – 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.

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🔊 Excited to announce DraperU Ventures's recent investment in Seagate Space. Welcome to the Draper Ecosystem ! Met Sean Fortener & Michael Anderson through our friends at Capital Factory during #FirstLook, #Fedsupernova & conviction was instant 🙌 Seagate Space is pioneering launch at sea for the space industry & solving for the critical regulatory & spatial bottlenecks that threaten to stall the progress of the space economy at a time when momentum is critical. With the U.S. launch infrastructure being insufficient for the aims of the modern space economy. Existing launch sites now seem to be built for the Apollo era, and an aging network of coastal facilities is now facing significant limitations. These fixed locations are increasingly congested, constrained by surrounding communities and environmental regulations, + vulnerable to weather disruptions and security risks. Seagate Space is resolving the limitations of land-based launch sites in a time of increasing demand, making the promise of sea-based launch a reality with offshore launch infrastructure: a purpose-built, semi-submersible platform: Gateway-S is the next generation of drone ship—designed for launch and recovery, cost-effective, rapidly deployable, and more stable than retrofitted barges. 🔥Initial focus: rockets in the 40–80 ft class, cutting capital costs by ~50% while improving performance. 🔥Long-term vision: a network of offshore staging, launch, and recovery platforms supporting multiple rocket sizes and mission types. Just as SpaceX revolutionized rockets, Seagate Space is reimagining spaceports, building the next generation of launch infrastructure to unlock the full potential of space exploration and defense. Offshore launch isn’t just complementary—it’s critical to unlocking capacity, flexibility, and resilience in the space economy & we're absolutely excited to be backing this team to do it 🦏 DraperU Ventures Seagate Space Sean Fortener Michael Anderson Andy Tang Suffiyan Malik Draper University Capital Factory Bryan Chambers Joshua Baer Morgan Odell Drew YasharWynn Lemmons Luis Martinez

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🚀Initiation of Coverage Agility Robotics 🚀 We’ve initiated coverage on Agility Robotics for IPO CLUB’s flagship fund, America2030, within the robotics sector covered by me, with the help of Helen Zhou. Headquartered in Corvallis, Oregon, the company builds bipedal humanoid robots designed to operate in human-centric environments. Its mission is to solve labor shortages and automate dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks across logistics and manufacturing. 🔍Why we like Agility Robotics Commercial first-mover advantage: Achieved the industry’s first revenue-generating humanoid deployment with GXO Logistics, Inc., proving real-world value while competitors remain in pilot mode. Differentiated biomimetic technology: The Digit platform uses dynamic bipedal locomotion, passive dynamics, and a unique backward-leg design for efficient, human-like mobility across stairs, cables, and uneven terrain. Manufacturing scale readiness: The RoboFab facility in Salem— the world’s first dedicated humanoid robot factory—gives Agility a production runway toward 10,000 units/year, a 12–18 month lead over peers. 💡Notable Investors DCVC, Playground Global, WP Global Partners, Amazon, Schaeffler,Sony, SoftBank Investment Advisers, MFV Partners, TDK Ventures ⚔️ Competitive Landscape Primary competitors include Figure, Tesla, Apptronik, Boston Boston Dynamics, and Sanctuary AI. Agility differentiates through logistics-first commercialization, proven deployments, and factory-scale readiness, while others emphasize demos, internal R&D, or general-purpose manipulation capabilities. 🌍 With hundreds of robots planned for production in 2025 and RoboFab scaling toward 10,000 units annually, Agility is emerging as one of the most commercially advanced humanoid companies globally. By focusing on brownfield automation and real-world logistics workflows, it is building the backbone of next-generation warehouse automation and mobile manipulation. #Robotics #Automation #Humanoids #LogisticsTech #DeepTech #VentureCapital #America2030

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I’ve known David Meister for years and backed him at Sydecar, so I’ve seen his ability to build through complexity. Axiom Trust is taking on one of the most outdated parts of wealth infrastructure, trust administration, by pairing a regulated trust company with AI-native workflows. We're proud to invest again and congrats to the team on the launch!

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Engine Capital Issues Presentation Highlighting the Case for Boardroom Change at Lyft and Opportunities for Meaningful Value Creation "Engine’s multiple attempts to work constructively with Lyft to strengthen the Board were met by entrenched directors who rejected Engine’s highly qualified candidates without even meeting with them. "The current Board lacks public company experience and financial sophistication. Seven of the Company’s 10 directors have never served on another public company board besides Lyft. "Lead Independent Director and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Chair Sean Aggarwal and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee member Betsey Stevenson have overseen negative total returns during their tenures, lack financial sophistication based on their track records at Lyft, and support the dual-class share structure. "Engine’s nominees – who have cumulatively served on 16 public company boards and who have exemplary track records of significant value creation – would advocate for eliminating the Company’s dual-class share structure, de-staggering the Board, optimizing the balance sheet, reassessing equity compensation practices to reduce dilution, and exploring all strategic alternatives." #corporategovernance #boardsofdirectors #governance #shareholdervalue #activistinvesting #shareholderactivism #institutionalinvestors https://lnkd.in/gf47jVQq

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Honored and excited to partner with Drew Baglino and the incredible team at Heron Power as they re-imagine the electric grid for the modern world. Power in America is not zero sum. We deserve access to cheap and abundant electricity and we should win the AI race. And we must build the capacity to manufacture critical technology here at home. When faced with existential challenges, we deploy technology against them. And we win.

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Happy that DCVC-backed Fervo Energy has closed on almost half a billion USD of project financing for its up to 1 GW total capacity initial geothermal station in Utah.

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