Early-stage · Pre-seed to Series A

Backing founderstransforming legacyindustries.

We invest our capital, time, and network into highly defensible, fast-growing companies with the potential to solve the world's biggest problems.

OrbemUnnatural ProductsWonderbellyGraviticscoding.bioLiferaftPhasic EnergyTerrionAxiom SpaceFluidstackLife BiosciencesUniversal QuantumX-EnergyFlyteHealthMimikaiMachCocoon CarbonCaravel BioNovaWurksEntocycleRebellyousEpoch BiodesignRuby BioNodaFork & GoodOrbillionConcert BioBettaF!shDIG LabsYuriRadian AerospaceBIOS HealthWizardVioletHelixNanoApothékaryElysium HealthEvernaSimpliFedPragma BiosciencesBrave HealthPangea BotanicamDisruptSummer HealthSPARK NeuroAroggaInGelLaguna BiosciencesLyricRed Queen BioEterna RegenerativesSpeak_LopayQlooSNAFUEllevest
01 — Who we are

We fund what the world can't do without.

A conviction-led, early-stage venture firm backed by world-class entrepreneurs and business leaders. We back the hard, physical shifts the legacy economy needs, long before they're mainstream.

Reindustrialization
Nearly $2T in announced US manufacturing investment is rebuilding the factory base, and the supplier ecosystem underneath it has to be rebuilt to match.
Healthcare under pressure
Healthcare can no longer run on more people and more patents. $200-300B in drug revenue expires by 2030, and the country will be short 187,000 physicians to replace it.
Capital gap
87.5% of the $412.7B deployed in H1 2026 went to checks of $100M or more — late and crowded. Fewer investors want to write the first check, especially into the hard stuff.
Sources
IndustrialSage Manufacturing Investment Tracker, Aug 2026 · PharmaVoice/Evaluate patent cliff analysis, 2026 · HRSA physician shortage projections, 2026 · PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, Q2 2026.
02 — Market

The market is moving our way.

Liquidity has returned in exactly the categories we concentrate in — and the bulk of the opportunity is still ahead of us.

$47.4B
Poured into physical AI and deeptech in H1 2026, up 80% year-over-year
$9.1B
Raised by biotech venture rounds in H1 2026, the strongest half since 2022
$40.9B
In biopharma M&A in Q1 2026 alone, including seven $1B+ deals in 12 days
5
Deep tech and energy companies raised $1B+ in 2026 listings, including Cerebras Systems, Quantinuum, Fervo Energy and TVC portfolio company X-Energy
Sources
Crunchbase News, H1 2026 · BioPharma Dive venture tracker, H1 2026 · J.P. Morgan/DealForma via BioPharma Dive, Q1 2026 · Company IPO pricing announcements, 2026.
03 — Where we invest

Four legacy industries, rebuilt.

Four legacy industries being rebuilt — each measured in trillions, each reshaped by AI moving into the physical world, each with demand that survives a downturn.

Industrial & Advanced Manufacturing

AI-powered machines are stepping in to fill a 2.1 million worker shortage, helping bring manufacturing home.

Portfolio snapshot
OrbemMachCocoon Carbon

Energy & AI Infrastructure

AI racks now pull over 100kW each. Air cooling maxes out at 40. The grid can't build power fast enough to make up the difference.

Portfolio snapshot
X-EnergyFluidstackUniversal QuantumPhasic Energy

Healthcare & Applied Bio

Every part of the system is short-staffed at once — physicians, nurses, and the pipelines meant to replace expiring drugs. Software and AI are the only lever that scales faster than hiring ever could.

Portfolio snapshot
Unnatural ProductsRed Queen BioLife Biosciencescoding.bioHelixNano

Aerospace, Defense & Critical Materials

Re-establishing the materials, supply chains, and launch capacity lost to decades of outsourcing will be the defining industrial project of the next ten years.

Portfolio snapshot
Axiom SpaceTerrionGravitics
03 — Where we invest

Four legacy industries, rebuilt.

Four legacy industries being rebuilt — each measured in trillions, each reshaped by AI moving into the physical world, each with demand that survives a downturn.

AI-powered machines are stepping in to fill a 2.1 million worker shortage, helping bring manufacturing home.

Portfolio snapshot
OrbemMachCocoon Carbon

AI racks now pull over 100kW each. Air cooling maxes out at 40. The grid can't build power fast enough to make up the difference.

Portfolio snapshot
X-EnergyFluidstackUniversal QuantumPhasic Energy

Every part of the system is short-staffed at once — physicians, nurses, and the pipelines meant to replace expiring drugs. Software and AI are the only lever that scales faster than hiring ever could.

Portfolio snapshot
Unnatural ProductsRed Queen BioLife Biosciencescoding.bioHelixNano

Re-establishing the materials, supply chains, and launch capacity lost to decades of outsourcing will be the defining industrial project of the next ten years.

Portfolio snapshot
Axiom SpaceTerrionGravitics
04 — Approach

Four commitments that decide how we work.

Four core principles drive what we fund, what we pay, and how we support founders post-investment.

Read the full approach ↗
01
We invest before it becomes consensus.

By the time a category is obvious, the price already reflects it. We write the first or second institutional check into markets that are old, regulated, and physical.

02
We diagnose before we prescribe.

Platform programs solve for the average company, and no company is average. We work out the two or three things that decide your next eighteen months, and deploy a dedicated deal team against it.

03
We double down on milestones, not time.

Follow-on capital is reserved against evidence, not the calendar and not the momentum of someone else's round.

04
We stay selective on purpose.

Fewer than two new investments per investor a year is the point — it buys the attention to know your business at the level of detail where help is actually useful.

06 — Team

Our Team.

Nick Shekerdemian
Nick Shekerdemian
Founding Partner
Founder, Headstart (exit) — Y Combinator S17
Thiel Fellow
60+ Angel Investments
LinkedIn ↗
Gina Shekerdemian
Gina Shekerdemian
Founding Partner
Director, BlackRock
Forbes 30 Under 30
Yale University Advisory Board
LinkedIn ↗
Cat Middleton
Cat Middleton
General Partner
Partner, Primary Venture Partners
Early Stage Software Operator
Member, All Raise
LinkedIn ↗
Nicole Seligman
Nicole Seligman
Executive in Residence
Board Member, OpenAI and Intuitive Machines
Former Board Member, WPP and Paramount
President, Sony Corporation of America
Wikipedia ↗
Stephanie Sarelakos
Stephanie Sarelakos
Partner
Founding Member, Walmart eCommerce Incubator
Senior Manager, Jet.com
Financial Markets Advisory, BlackRock
LinkedIn ↗
Chris Ghadban
Chris Ghadban
Principal
Principal, Alix Ventures
Strategy & Innovation, AstraZeneca
MS, Bioengineering, Tufts University
LinkedIn ↗
Pete Ondishin
Pete Ondishin
Chief Financial Officer
CFO, Kingstown Capital
Assistant Controller, Atlantic Investment Management
Assurance Senior Associate, PwC
LinkedIn ↗
Luke Lloyd-Davies
Luke Lloyd-Davies
Chairman
Chief Growth Officer, Sela
Managing Director, Sir Elton John and David Furnish's Global Private Office
COO, Rocket Entertainment Group
LinkedIn ↗
Elliot Richmond
Elliot Richmond
Senior Advisor
Partner, Moelis & Co
Director, Investment Banking, Merrill Lynch
70+ Angel Investments
LinkedIn ↗