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We invest in hard tech and hard sectors.
☢️ Nuclear reactors
🫀 Organoids and improved IVF
🪚 Next gen sawmills
✈️ Drone swarms
🦾 Surgical robots
🔋 Industrial scale batteries
We’ve backed all of these, and plenty more companies that don’t fit into neat categories.
We’re hyper curious; drawn to difficult, underexplored areas; and always up for a deep dive.
Unlocking society’s potential depends on founders willing to build what others won’t.
If you’re building something that others can’t, we want to work with you.
While you build, we back you with:
- More capital for this round. For every $1 we invest, we help bring in $2-$3 more on average from other great investors.
- More firepower for the next round. 60% seed-to-Series-A graduation rate vs. 15% industry average.
- Strategic and tactical playbooks. Lessons from 150+ companies and 10+ unicorns over 12+ years.
- Storytelling, customer intros, expert intros, and startup-friendly perks and discounts that move the needle.
TEAM
Leo (
blog)
- Numerous Top 100 finishes in national math, programming, and science competitions in high school and college.
- 10 years of software eng experience: 2nd engineering hire at LinkedIn, 3 years at Google working on payment fraud detection, 4 years at Factual working on data cleaning and deduping software.
- Co-founded Susa Ventures ($750m+ AUM, seed investor in companies like Robinhood, Flexport, Mux, Expanse, Mashgin, and Andela)
Anna-Sofia ( blog)
- Author behind Foundations & Frontiers at Contrary Capital and Humba’s new How It’s Built series.
- Previously at 8VC, Founders Fund and Bridgewater
- Executive Editor of the Stanford Daily
Pratyush (part-time blog)
- Won US Spelling Bee.
- Professional poker player for 6 years, reaching #2 in the world for tournament play.
- Early employee at a crypto gaming company and Chief of Staff at Volley (YC-backed voice gaming startup)
Team’s previous fund and angel investments: CloudTrucks ($850m), Dusty Robotics (🤫), Hightouch ($1.2b), Mashgin ($1.5b), Placer ($1.5b), Scalyr (acquired), Veho ($1.5b), Vetcove (🤫).
PORTFOLIO
Most of the companies below are in stealth mode, unless their homepage links are included. Companies are listed in each theme that they fall into.
Automation, robotics, and manufacturing
🚁 Autonomous drone swarms for military applications.
🖨 3D printer that can produce production-grade carbon fiber parts quickly and affordably.
📦 Adaptable ASRS (automated storage and retrieval system) for warehouses. (Mytra)
🦱 Automated wig manufacturing.
🐟 Automation solutions for fish processing. (Shinkei)
📐 Automation of design for manufacturing.
🌦 Distributed network of balloon-based weather sensors. (Windborne)
👓 Fast, automated eye exam platform. (Eyebot)
🌲 Forest monitoring and inventory management using drones and robots. (Treeswift)
🍏 Hardware-based precision crop load management. (Orchard Robotics)
☕ Intelligent beverage dispenser for coffee shops and restaurants. (Sidework)
🔩 Marketplace for industrial components. (Volition)
💉 MRI-guided high precision brain surgery.
🏭 Modern OS for manufacturing companies. (Heliux)
🪚 Next gen sawmills. (The Lumber Manufactory)
🦾 Software infrastructure for robot arms. (Jacobi Robotics)
Bio and food
🐟 Automation solutions for fish processing. (Shinkei)
🖥️ Data warehouse for genomic data.
🍏 Hardware-based precision crop load management. (Orchard Robotics)
⚕️ Hardware device for continuous biomarker monitoring.
💉 MRI-guided high precision brain surgery.
🧪 mRNA sequence optimization that enables more mRNA therapeutics. (Kerna Labs)
👶 Oogenesis and in vitro maturation platform.
🫁 Organoids for drug testing and drug development. (Parallel Bio)
📡 Platform for activating desirable cytokine signals in specific cell types.
🦠 Platform for designing and testing oncolytic viral therapies. (Humane Genomics)
🧬 Protein design using generative AI. (Diffuse Bio)
🧠 Restoration of neural circuits and reversal of neurodegeneration.
Climate and energy
🏭 Affordable, dispatchable baseload geothermal power.
🌦 Distributed network of balloon-based weather sensors. (Windborne)
🌲 Forest monitoring and inventory management using drones and robots. (Treeswift)
⚛️ Isotope enrichment for fission and fusion reactor fuels. (Hexium)
🏭 Nuclear microreactors for defense and space applications. (Antares)
♻️ Pre-treatment process for extracting and refining critical battery elements.
📝 Site selection and permitting software for large cleantech projects. (Blumen Systems)
🔋 Solid state commercial-scale hydrogen batteries.
Defense (including govtech and cybersecurity) and Aerospace
📑 AI-enabled finance, compliance, and workforce solutions for defense companies.
🚁 Autonomous drone swarms for military applications.
📝 Compliance and collaboration software for government primes and subcontractors. (GovPort)
🛡 Cybersecurity risk assessment and insurance platform.
🛰 Modern ground station network for satellites. (Northwood Space)
🏭 Nuclear microreactors for defense and space applications. (Antares)
🧑🤝🧑 Paperwork automation and easier compliance for defense and government applications. (Conductor AI)
🌎 Search engine for geospatial data that targets defense & government use cases. (Danti)
🔒 Security middleware platform that gives users control and visibility over their security posture. (LimaCharlie)
Other deep tech/American Dynamism areas
💱 Highly efficient decentralized exchange. (Ambient Finance)
🏫 K-12 math practice software. (Edia)
Supportive checks
(These were checks written very early on, between Humba’s creation and the establishment of its focus on deep tech and American Dynamism.)
📱 AI Agents for workflow automation (Glade)
🏢 Next gen property management platform.
🧑💼️ System of record for account managers. (Callypso)
🥗 Telehealth dietician platform. (Nourish)