Wave Function Ventures, helmed by former SpaceX engineer Jamie Gull, has officially closed a debut fund of about $15 million aimed at backing early-stage deep tech and hardware startups. The fund will focus on sectors like aerospace, robotics, energy, defense, and infrastructure, and already has made nine investments, even participating in pre-incorporation deals. The fund’s backers include founders, engineers, high–net-worth individuals, family offices, and institutional support such as fund-of-funds. Meanwhile, this move comes at a time when hardware and hard tech investing is seeing renewed attention; earlier this year, a new VC called Leitmotif surfaced with $300 million in capital from Volkswagen Group specifically to support hardware and decarbonization technologies.
Sources: PR Newswire, TechCrunch
Key Takeaways
– Wave Function Ventures is betting early and hands-on: it’ll invest in pre-seed and even pre-incorporation stages in deep tech and hardware domains.
– The $15M fund is modest compared to giants but signals renewed appetite in capital-intensive innovation, especially where software-only models struggle to compete.
– The deeper trend: industrial and strategic LPs are jumping into hard tech, exemplified by Volkswagen’s $300M backing of Leitmotif to support decarbonization and hardware ventures.
In-Depth
The launch of Wave Function Ventures’ first fund is a clear statement that the venture landscape is shifting back toward tangible innovation. Jamie Gull isn’t just a financier — he has bona fides as a hardware engineer, having worked on the Falcon 9 reentry system at SpaceX and co-founded the eVTOL company Talyn Air. That pedigree matters in this space, where deep tech founders often need more than money — they need deep technical guidance, supplier relationships, and help navigating regulatory or defense procurement barriers. In that light, Wave Function’s willingness to invest even before formal incorporation gives it an edge in getting seeds started on the right trajectory.
Still, $15 million is small by VC fund standards, especially considering deep tech companies often require tens or hundreds of millions for scale. The strategy, then, is selective: about 25 seed or pre-seed bets (per TechCrunch) across sectors like aerospace, robotics, and energy. The idea isn’t to lead huge growth rounds, but to plant early bets and help founders de-risk core engineering challenges.
This timing dovetails with a renewed interest in hardware and hard tech investing. After several years of software dominance, the capital drought for hardware startups made some investors shy away. But now, strategic players (e.g. corporates, government agencies, industrial LPs) are looking for innovation in supply chains, defense, climate tech, and infrastructure. In fact, earlier this year, the VC firm Leitmotif emerged in stealth mode, later revealed to be backed by Volkswagen Group with $300 million, focused on hardware, decarbonization, and dual-use technologies. That move underscores how industrial capital is stepping in where traditional VCs balk at long timelines and high risk.
Wave Function and Leitmotif, though different in scale and orientation, reflect two sides of the same coin: one is a small, nimble, founder-centric fund, the other a deep-pocket industrial venture aiming to channel large capital into meaningful hardware bets. Together, they illustrate a broader tide: investors are once again willing to shoulder the long journeys of devices, materials, and physical infrastructure. For founders in deep tech, that’s welcome: more capital, more patience, and more partners who understand that building rockets and robotics isn’t just “code with wheels.”