SOSV And HAX Top Global Hardware VCs
Our friends at Bolt have published their annual State of Hardware Funding post. They diligently logged all deals above $1M and researched the portfolio of VCs for their hardware startups.
According to the count and our own data of seed deals (post-accelerator), SOSV / HAX is the world’s most active investor in hardware, by a fairly long shot. Here is the top 10:
- SOSV (93)
- HAX (76)
- Bolt (44)
- Intel Capital (38)
- Lemnos Labs (34)
- Khosla Ventures (33)
- Felicis Ventures (26)
- Eclipse / A16Z / First Round Capital / Qualcomm Ventures (25)
- Kima Ventures / True Ventures (22)
- Root Ventures (21)
Due to our successes with Kickstarter, HAX often has an image of investing mostly in consumer hardware. While this was true 4 years ago, it is not accurate today. Below is the detailed list of SOSV and HAX deals by category.
Note that this is a list of post-accelerator deals — if we include accelerator ones, SOSV has over 600 companies in portfolio (it is one of the “Big Four” early stage investors, investing in over 150 startups per year). HAX alone invested in over 200 companies.
- Health Tech (27) — From Consumer Health to Medical Devices and Smart Implants.
Babybe, BBB, Bitome, Clarity, Criam, Darma, Feel, Feetme, Flow Neuroscience, Focure, FoodMarble, GetO2, HabitAware, Intelligent Implants, Japet, Kindara, Knox Medical Diagnostics, Kokoon, Kolibree, Lief Therapeutics, Melon, Mindset, Qidni, Quitbit, Sana, Vibease, V-Sense Medical Devices.
- Robotics (14) — From STEM to Service and Industry Robots
Avidbots, Beetl, Carbon Robotics, Elephant Robotics, Flash Robotics, MakeBlock, Opentrons, Plecobot, Rational Robotics, Robo Wunderkind, Rovenso, Simbe Robotics, Sprite Robotics, Trainerbot.
- Industry (15) — From Digital Manufacturing To Factory Sensors
Amper Technologies, Amino Labs, Astrona, Formlabs, Industrial/Organic, Kast, Kilobaser, Kniterate, Koniku, Next Thing Co., Particle, Pinpress, Shaper Tools, Voltera, Wazer.
- Smart home (10) — From Kitchen Tech to Security
Bartesian, Lightup, Minut, Mistbox, Nomiku, Orenda, Petcube, Standard Euler, Teamosa, Yeelight.
- AR/VR (6) — From 3D Cameras to Volumetric Displays
Giroptic, Leap Motion, Looking Glass Factory, Notch, Prynt, Sonicam.
- Other Consumer (14) — Audio, Sports, Family Tech & More
Everpurse, Harmonix, Helios Biking, Incident Technologies, Joy, Motion Metrics, Motiv, Nura, Palette Gear, Preemadonna, Revols, Shot stats, Syrmo, Vue Smart Glasses.
- AgTech (5) — From Home Growing Systems to Crop Sensors
Amber Agriculture, Grobo, Livin Farms, Niwa, Pycno.
- Energy (1): Voltstorage. A rather new category for us, but a promising one!
- Other (1): Hoard. It just didn’t fit anywhere ^^;
That’s a grand total of 93 for SOSV including 76 from HAX.
Categories are debatable — we did our best to place the companies. For instance:
- Is “sleep tech” health or consumer? We decided to place them in health.
- Are STEM robots in robotics or consumer? We placed them in robotics.
- Is a hydroponic system AgTech or consumer? We picked AgTech.
We look forward to exploring the new frontiers — including Urban Air Mobility!
