MetaVC Partners Raises $62 Million Fund to Invest in Hard-Tech Metamaterials Startups

SAN FRANCISCO, April 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- MetaVC Partners today announced the close of MetaVC Partners, LLC., a $62 million fund that will invest in early-stage, hard-tech metamaterials startup companies. Investors in the fund include Corning Inc., Gates Frontier, JSR Corporation along with other family wealth offices and institutional pension funds.

"We're delighted to help support innovation advancements in the exciting new area of metamaterials through our recent venture capital investment," said Marty Curran, executive vice president and chief innovation officer at Corning Incorporated. "Corning's capabilities and optimized precision glass products complement MetaVC's investment opportunities related to breakthrough products in consumer electronics, 5G communications, automotive, and clean energy."

Metamaterials refer to a broad class of manufactured materials engineered to control and manipulate energy (e.g., radio waves, light, and sound). Composed of arrays of structures whose size and spacing can be finer than the wavelength of visible light, metamaterials are designed to exhibit properties not found in naturally occurring materials. Metamaterials are being deployed commercially to produce high-performance and energy-efficient products in computing, imaging, wireless communications, and sensors.

Among MetaVC Partners' current investments:

• Lumotive uses the physics of metamaterials to produce tiny semiconductor scanning sensors for anti-collision systems and consumer electronics applications.
• Mangata Networks is building a proprietary network of satellites and terrestrial systems to bring low-cost, ubiquitous connectivity to networks, data, and devices.
• Imagia uses metamaterials to produce flat-optical lens technologies used in AR/VR headsets and other consumer electronics products.
• Neurophos is building high-performance optical AI processors that will be over one hundred times faster and more energy-efficient than today's state-of-the-art AI computer processors.

"We are excited to continue to partner with founders building highly disruptive hard-tech product startups that are changing the pace of computing power, how we embed smart sensors in anti-collision systems, and how we communicate using satellites," said co-founders and managing partners, Chris Alliegro and Conrad Burke. "We continue to be on the lookout to recruit the brightest founders to help form the next great companies and products," they added.

About MetaVC Partners

MetaVC Partners is an early-stage venture fund investing in new startup companies using metamaterials for applications in renewable energy, high-performance computing, imaging, and next generation wireless communications and sensors. More information can be found on MetaVC Partners website.

SOURCE MetaVC Partners