It has been a very busy Q3. We had a number of portfolio companies hit key milestones across product, go-to-market, and fundraising. At Ridgeline, we had a portfolio company exceed a billion dollar valuation for the first time and realized our first exit.
Our fundraising efforts for Ridgeline Fund I are progressing ahead of schedule and have been hastened by the addition of two Fortune 500 companies as strategic LPs. We are actively investing out of Fund I alongside the continued fundraising push and have already seen uplift in the Fund I portfolio.
Please reach out if interested in learning more about Fund I or any of the companies in the portfolio.
One Big Thing
Opentrons Labworks, a NYC-based lab platform provider and Ridgeline portfolio company, raised $200m in Series C funding at a $1.8b valuation. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the round with participation by Khosla Ventures. Other investors in Opentrons include Sands Capital, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, SOSV, and Y Combinator.
The company intends to use the funds to further invest in its automated lab platform globally. In particular, the investment will support development of new robotic tools, an expanded biofoundry, new diagnostic tests, and additional diagnostic labs.
Opentrons Labworks also announced that it acquired Zenith AI. Zenith will become BioStudio, the principal applied AI/ML business unit within Opentrons, powering lab automation, diagnostics and synthetic biology initiatives across life sciences.
Led by Jon Brennan-Badal, CEO, Opentrons Labworks develops an integrated lab platform that serves life science and healthcare customers. The platform integrates the development of lab robotics, assays, and operations to provide industry-specific lab solutions.
New Investments
Altana AI. Altana, a NYC-based global supply chain visibility platform, secured $15m in Series A funding. The round was led by GV with participation from Ridgeline Partners, Floating Point, and existing investors Amadeus Capital Partners and Schematic Ventures.
Icon. Icon, an Austin, Texas-based developer of advanced construction technologies including robotics, software and building materials, raised $207m in Series B financing. The round was led by Norwest Venture Partners with participation from 8VC, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, BOND, and Citi.
Follow-On Investments
Neural Magic. Neural Magic, a Somerville, Massachusetts-based AI company building a software platform for deep learning inference, raised $30m in Series A funding. The round was led by existing investor NEA with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Amdocs, Comcast Ventures, Pillar VC, and Ridgeline.
Portfolio Wins
Belfast-based applied AI specialist, Zenith AI, was acquired by Opentrons Labworks. Zenith AI was founded in July 2020 and the business has been in stealth since its founding.
Spell, a New York based MLOps company, has been named a 2021 Gartner Cool Vendor in Enterprise AI Operationalization and Engineering.
Wave power generation company, Panthalassa (fka Wavebase), is building Auxon's Modality into the heart of their next-generation systems to test and monitor the fleet for critical issues.
Icon was featured in the New York Times, showcasing the work the company is performing in Nacajuca, Mexico to build a 3-D constructed community.
Gilmour Space was highlighted for spearheading a $150m space industry bid in Australia that will provide the framework and infrastructure needed to unlock and advance Australian space technologies.
Interesting Stuff
This essay by Benedict Evans on Digital Transformation and the important shifts in enterprise that the marketing terms tries to capture.
Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures, lays out a compelling vision for how VCs play the “long game” and also how the landscape of venture is shifting.
Matt Truck and FirstMark released the 2021 Machine Learning, AI, and Data Landscape, which is a great summary of this incredibly hot market.
Also, the State of AI from Nathan Beniach and Ian Hogarth, which covers the industry side but also research, talent, and politics across this segment.