Inside the Infrastructure Fueling AI’s Next Leap
March at Ridgeline: A spotlight on Cornelis CEO Lisa Spelman, BlueShift’s exit from stealth, and space launches—advancing our mission to modernize foundational industries.
Scaling AI Starts at the Network Layer
Executive Spotlight: Lisa Spelman of Cornelis Networks
Behind every breakthrough in AI—from drug discovery to climate modeling—is a complex web of computing infrastructure. But much of that compute power sits idle, bottlenecked by networks not built to handle AI’s growing scale. That’s the problem Cornelis Networks is aiming to solve—and under the leadership of CEO Lisa Spelman, the company is pushing toward a smarter, faster future.
After more than 20 years at Intel, where she led the Xeon product line and helped define enterprise-grade AI infrastructure, Lisa brings deep operational expertise to Cornelis. Her focus is on tackling inefficiencies in the data movement layer that are limiting AI’s real potential. With the launch of Cornelis’ CN5000 product line and a growing ecosystem of OEM partners, the company will expand its position as a key enabler of next-generation AI and HPC workloads.
Read the full interview with Lisa Spelman to learn how her experience at Intel shapes her vision—and how Cornelis is unlocking AI’s next performance frontier.
New Investment
BlueShift, a new critical minerals company backed by Ridgeline, ConocoPhillips, and MassCEC, has raised $2.1M in pre-seed funding to launch its first pilot facility in Boston Harbor. The company’s electrochemical technology extracts critical minerals like nickel and rare earth elements from industrial waste and seawater—while also removing carbon dioxide and helping to address ocean acidification. BlueShift’s modular, energy-efficient system aims to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign supply chains while enabling scalable, low-cost carbon removal from oceans.
More in Axios [behind paywall]: Exclusive: BlueShift launches mineral extraction tech with backing from ConocoPhillips
Company press release: BlueShift Exits Stealth with $2.1M in Pre-Seed Funding to Enable U.S. Self-Reliance Amid Changing Energy Landscape
Portfolio News
Loft Orbital’s YAM-8 mission successfully launched on March 14 aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-13, expanding the company’s on-orbit capabilities. As the first deployment of Loft’s Longbow platform, YAM-8 supports larger payloads and enables advanced functions like on-orbit compute—all while maintaining Loft’s plug-and-play model for rapid, reliable access to space. The mission reinforces Loft’s ability to scale flexible space infrastructure without the need for custom satellite development.
Wallaroo.AI’s platform is now compatible with IBM Power®, enabling enterprises to run AI workloads—such as image analysis and large language models—directly within their existing IBM infrastructure. This integration streamlines deployment by removing complexity while maintaining full data control, making it easier for organizations to operationalize AI at scale.
Harbinger has introduced its IRA Risk-Free Guarantee, committing to cover any changes in federal EV tax incentives so that customers pay the same price for their medium-duty electric vehicles as they would for their internal combustion engine (ICE) alternative. As highlighted in Fast Company, Harbinger continues to remove barriers to electrification with a focus on quality, performance, and affordability.
📅 Ridgeline Travel & Events
The Ridgeline team has been active across industry events, connecting with key players and driving impactful conversations. Recently, we spent time connecting with our networks in Cincinnati, DC, SF, and LA.
We look forward to connecting at these upcoming events! If you’ll be attending or are nearby, don’t hesitate to reach out to schedule a meeting.
Key Upcoming Events
April 10 | Nashville | Vanderbilt Summit on Modern Conflict & Emerging Threats
April 27 | SF | RSA Conference
May 12 | Detroit | Automate
May 22 | NYC | Dirty Jobs Summit
City Visits
SF: April 1 - 2, April 22 - 24, April 28 - May 1, May 30
Nashville: April 9 - 11
LA: April 22 - 24, May 22
Palm Springs: May 6 - 8
NYC: May 6 -7, 14 - 15, 21 - 22
Sacramento: May 12 - 13
Detroit: May 12 - 14
Austin: May 27 - 30
Boston: May 28 - 30
If you’re in any of these cities, let us know—we’d love to connect!
Keep In Touch
Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest updates and insights from Ridgeline.