Alumni Ventures

Syntiant is moving artificial intelligence and machine learning from the cloud to edge devices. Syntiant’s advanced chip solutions merge deep learning with semiconductor design to produce ultra-low-power, high performance, deep neural network processors for always-on applications in battery-powered devices, such as smartphones, smart speakers, earbuds, hearing aids, and laptops.

Luminous Computing specializes in the development of photonics chips tailored for the artificial intelligence sector. Founded in 2018 and based in Mountain View, California, the company produces an AI training and inference chip that integrates the computing power of supercomputers into a single unit. This innovation helps organizations address significant communication bottlenecks associated with traditional processors, enhancing their ability to manage complex workloads efficiently.

Rigetti Computing is a full-stack quantum computing company that designs and manufactures quantum-integrated circuits, deploying them in low-temperature environments. The company develops proprietary control systems to execute quantum logic operations and has created software to integrate its quantum systems with existing cloud infrastructure. Rigetti's innovations include the industry's first multi-chip quantum processor, which enables scalability in quantum computing systems. The company focuses on practical applications of quantum computing, particularly in computational chemistry and machine learning, and offers the Forest platform, a comprehensive programming and execution environment for quantum and classical computing. Most of its revenue is generated from the United States.

Ockam Inc. is a provider of a serverless platform designed for secure Internet-of-Things (IoT) development. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, the company offers tools that enable the interconnection of hardware with software services, facilitating secure information exchange among connected systems. Ockam's platform manages identities, cryptographic keys, and credentials for devices and services while optimizing connectivity and messaging. It simplifies the development process by eliminating the complexities of system administration, such as managing IP backlogs and setting up public APIs. The platform is open-source, secure-by-design, and built in Rust, allowing for robust end-to-end encryption, key management, and mutual authentication. Ockam connects application developers, system integrators, hardware engineers, and cloud service product managers, providing a cohesive environment for building trustworthy applications across diverse networks.

Sagence AI is a semiconductor company developing products in the neural computing segment. They enable server-class networks to be deployed with extremely low latency in cost-effective edge devices. Its unique technology performs data-center-grade AI workloads at orders of magnitude lower power.

ARRIS specializes in additive molding technology for creating advanced performance composites tailored for mass-market applications such as aerospace, automotive, and consumer products. The company’s innovative manufacturing process focuses on the precise alignment of continuous carbon fibers, allowing for the integration of electronic components and multifunctional materials into a single, topologically optimized part. This technology enables clients to leverage high-performance composites, enhancing the capabilities and efficiency of their products while meeting the demands of modern manufacturing.

Mythic Inc. is a technology company that specializes in designing and developing silicon chips and artificial intelligence (AI) processing units. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, with an office in Austin, Texas, Mythic focuses on creating analog matrix processors that enable AI capabilities across a range of devices, from fitness bands and hearing aids to self-driving cars and robotic drones. The company’s flagship products include the M1076 Analog Matrix Processor and various PCIe and M.2 cards. Mythic's technology integrates hybrid digital and analog computations within flash arrays, providing desktop-grade compute power in a compact form factor while maintaining performance, energy efficiency, and accuracy. The company has assembled a diverse team of experts in neural networks, software design, and processor architecture to advance AI deployment in real-world environments.

NeuReality is a semiconductor start-up focused on creating AI-as-a-service infrastructure to meet the demands of AI deployment across cloud, edge, and fog systems. The company specializes in purpose-built AI-centric architecture, offering a server-on-chip solution that reconfigures inference technologies like computer vision, natural language processing, and recommendation engines. This innovative approach simplifies the implementation of these technologies for companies that may lack extensive technical expertise. By replacing traditional CPU-centric models with its advanced architecture, NeuReality enables clients to reduce both costs and energy consumption, making AI more accessible and efficient for a broader range of users.

Ayar Labs, Inc. specializes in the development of optical interconnect technology, focusing on high-density electronic-photonic chiplets and lasers designed to enhance data transmission capabilities. Its flagship product, TeraPHY, is a monolithic in-package optical I/O solution that enables high bandwidth, low latency, and power-efficient short-reach interconnects, making it suitable for applications in artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, cloud computing, telecommunications, and aerospace. The company's innovative approach leverages industry-standard silicon processing techniques to create optical interconnect chiplets that replace traditional electrical-based I/O, addressing performance and efficiency challenges in the semiconductor and computing industries. By optimizing data movement within AI systems, Ayar Labs aims to alleviate compute and bandwidth bottlenecks associated with complex large language models, thereby maximizing computational efficiency while minimizing costs and power consumption. Established in 2015 and headquartered in Emeryville, California, Ayar Labs also has an office in Santa Clara, California.

Rigetti Computing is a full-stack quantum computing company that designs and manufactures quantum-integrated circuits, deploying them in low-temperature environments. The company develops proprietary control systems to execute quantum logic operations and has created software to integrate its quantum systems with existing cloud infrastructure. Rigetti's innovations include the industry's first multi-chip quantum processor, which enables scalability in quantum computing systems. The company focuses on practical applications of quantum computing, particularly in computational chemistry and machine learning, and offers the Forest platform, a comprehensive programming and execution environment for quantum and classical computing. Most of its revenue is generated from the United States.

ARRIS specializes in additive molding technology for creating advanced performance composites tailored for mass-market applications such as aerospace, automotive, and consumer products. The company’s innovative manufacturing process focuses on the precise alignment of continuous carbon fibers, allowing for the integration of electronic components and multifunctional materials into a single, topologically optimized part. This technology enables clients to leverage high-performance composites, enhancing the capabilities and efficiency of their products while meeting the demands of modern manufacturing.

ARRIS specializes in additive molding technology for creating advanced performance composites tailored for mass-market applications such as aerospace, automotive, and consumer products. The company’s innovative manufacturing process focuses on the precise alignment of continuous carbon fibers, allowing for the integration of electronic components and multifunctional materials into a single, topologically optimized part. This technology enables clients to leverage high-performance composites, enhancing the capabilities and efficiency of their products while meeting the demands of modern manufacturing.

Inchfab develops a set of proprietary custom microchip manufacturing tools. The size and cost-effectiveness allow Inchfab to service markets such as the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) market that require low production volumes of highly customized microchips.

Astra is an automation platform for the movement of money. Through powerful financial APIs, Astra enables consumers to move funds between depository accounts based on rules or build out virtual accounts on their existing financial accounts.

Akorda Corporation, founded in 2017 and based in San Francisco, California, specializes in developing an AI-powered platform aimed at enhancing the contracting process for enterprises. The company offers a legal platform that simplifies contract lifecycle management by assembling contracts from scratch and utilizing artificial intelligence to expedite review times. Its technology efficiently identifies and extracts essential information while also analyzing trends and deviations, enabling businesses to finalize agreements more swiftly and with reduced risk. Akorda's focus is on helping organizations accelerate their commercial cycle time, thereby improving overall operational efficiency.

Akorda Corporation, founded in 2017 and based in San Francisco, California, specializes in developing an AI-powered platform aimed at enhancing the contracting process for enterprises. The company offers a legal platform that simplifies contract lifecycle management by assembling contracts from scratch and utilizing artificial intelligence to expedite review times. Its technology efficiently identifies and extracts essential information while also analyzing trends and deviations, enabling businesses to finalize agreements more swiftly and with reduced risk. Akorda's focus is on helping organizations accelerate their commercial cycle time, thereby improving overall operational efficiency.

Alpaca is a developer-focused financial technology platform that provides an embedded brokerage infrastructure for accessing financial markets through modern application programming interfaces (APIs). The platform enables users to trade stocks and cryptocurrencies, offering real-time market data and tools for algorithmic trading. With its developer-friendly approach, Alpaca supports a wide range of applications and businesses worldwide, attracting tens of thousands of developers who utilize its services to create and enhance investing applications. The company has raised over $100 million in funding from prominent investors, reflecting its strong position in the financial technology landscape.

Arcus Financial Intelligence, Inc. is a New York-based company that develops and operates an application program interface (API) platform designed for banks and financial institutions. The platform focuses on managing consumer bills and financial data, offering real-time bill management and payment services. Users can gain insights into their family finances, including details about outstanding bills, amounts owed, and due dates. Additionally, Arcus provides a multi-rail payment platform that facilitates various payment methods, making payments more accessible for consumers. Founded in 2012 and originally known as Regalii Inc., the company rebranded to Arcus Financial Intelligence, Inc. in June 2018.

SimpleMachines (SMI) has created a Software-Defined Compute platform that is future-proofed against the growing needs of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, machine learning, robotics, and big data. Traditional computer systems (CPUs) were designed to be easily programmable, which allowed technology to permeate every facet of daily life. But the software those systems ran only got faster as a result of the doubling of performance every 2 years (Moore’s Law), which has recently come to an end. Software has gotten more complex and data sets are growing exponentially, creating the need for a new chip platform. Recently, the industry has resorted to building single purpose systems (ASICs) that are impossible to reprogram. These hardware-only (chip) solutions are incredibly expensive, take years to develop and deploy (3+ years), and run the risk of being obsolete by the time they are ready, making them poor investments for the rapidly changing software and environments they are meant to enable. SimpleMachines’s solution is a radically new software-centric approach to the problem that deploys a programmable platform with a breakthrough software stack that enables the programmer to easily optimize the hardware on the fly and get the performance of custom silicon with a platform that supports hundreds of different use cases.

AVA is a developer of a lightweight health device that monitors and filters pollutants. Its health device uses air quality sensors to filter small particles, which can be charged using a USB port and regulated through an application with the increasing levels of air impurities that enable users to protect themselves from specific pollutant details that can negatively affect their health.

Algorand, Inc. is a company that operates a decentralized digital currency and transactions platform, established in 2017 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The platform addresses blockchain scaling challenges by providing rapid and efficient user consensus, allowing for seamless transactions regardless of volume or user count. Algorand offers features such as Algorand Standard Assets and Atomic Transfers, along with smart contracts, all functioning at Layer-1. This structure enables the platform to facilitate even the smallest transactions efficiently.

New Aera

AVA is a developer of a lightweight health device that monitors and filters pollutants. Its health device uses air quality sensors to filter small particles, which can be charged using a USB port and regulated through an application with the increasing levels of air impurities that enable users to protect themselves from specific pollutant details that can negatively affect their health.

Archblock is a financial technology company that focuses on bridging institutional capital to decentralized finance (DeFi) by enhancing modern financial infrastructure. As a key contributor to TrueFi, Archblock facilitates the involvement of institutional lenders and fund managers in blockchain-based lending, promoting transparency and accessibility in global lending markets. The company develops web3-enabled products that improve trading volume and liquidity for trusted stablecoins. Its platform ensures that fiduciaries adhere to smart contract instructions, backed by civil and criminal law, while providing legal recognition of ownership through financial institutions. This modular suite of products allows institutions and asset managers to create and manage stablecoins, tokenize real-world assets, and oversee portfolios, thereby enabling clients to generate asset-backed tokens and process digital payments in real-time. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, Archblock aims to redefine financial infrastructure for a more efficient and accessible global economy.

ActiveProtective is a consumer device company that produces smart garments to reduce traumatic injury using wearable airbag technology. The company's proprietary technology uses 3D motion sensors to determine the stereotypical motions and accelerations that govern the body’s normal, daily activities, in order to determine ’departures’ from what is allowable. This technique called "fall disambiguation", allows users to determine falls prior to impact, intercept hip fractures, and protect themselves from risks during sports and military sessions by deploying micro-airbag protection. ActiveProtective was founded in 2006 and is based in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Archblock is a financial technology company that focuses on bridging institutional capital to decentralized finance (DeFi) by enhancing modern financial infrastructure. As a key contributor to TrueFi, Archblock facilitates the involvement of institutional lenders and fund managers in blockchain-based lending, promoting transparency and accessibility in global lending markets. The company develops web3-enabled products that improve trading volume and liquidity for trusted stablecoins. Its platform ensures that fiduciaries adhere to smart contract instructions, backed by civil and criminal law, while providing legal recognition of ownership through financial institutions. This modular suite of products allows institutions and asset managers to create and manage stablecoins, tokenize real-world assets, and oversee portfolios, thereby enabling clients to generate asset-backed tokens and process digital payments in real-time. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, Archblock aims to redefine financial infrastructure for a more efficient and accessible global economy.

Rigetti Computing is a full-stack quantum computing company that designs and manufactures quantum-integrated circuits, deploying them in low-temperature environments. The company develops proprietary control systems to execute quantum logic operations and has created software to integrate its quantum systems with existing cloud infrastructure. Rigetti's innovations include the industry's first multi-chip quantum processor, which enables scalability in quantum computing systems. The company focuses on practical applications of quantum computing, particularly in computational chemistry and machine learning, and offers the Forest platform, a comprehensive programming and execution environment for quantum and classical computing. Most of its revenue is generated from the United States.

Blade Data Limited operates a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) payments platform that facilitates digital currency spending through debit cards on existing global payment networks. Founded in 2014 and based in Dublin, Ireland, Blade provides a comprehensive solution for digital currency companies, enabling cross-currency payments both online and offline. The platform assists wallet and exchange customers in spending cryptocurrencies by managing essential functions such as onboarding, risk management, authorization, settlement, and exception processing. By integrating legacy payment systems with blockchain technology, Blade enhances consumer engagement and the utility of digital currencies, allowing users to make purchases with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin at various merchant locations.