What Calibrate Ventures does

Calibrate Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Pasadena, California, co-founded in 2017 by Jason Schoettler and Kevin Dunlap, both formerly Managing Directors at Shea Ventures. The firm invests in early-stage deep-tech startups across six primary verticals: transportation and logistics, food and agriculture, health and life sciences, manufacturing, and enterprise and services, with a focused thesis on AI, computer vision, autonomy, automation, and robotics. Calibrate partners with technical founders at the earliest stages, providing hands-on go-to-market, technical, and operational guidance alongside capital. The team of approximately 10 includes two Managing Partners, a CFO with 30+ years of VC finance experience (Tony Di Bona), a VP of Capital Formation (Nick Nolan, formerly BTIG/Lehman Brothers/Credit Suisse), a VP of Portfolio Finance (Carrie Zawistowski, formerly Sphero and KPMG), an Investor (Katie Vasquez, 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30), two Venture Partners (Daniel Murray, President of CreatorIQ; Paolo Pirjanian, former CTO of iRobot), and Senior Advisors including Dr. Henrik Christensen (UC San Diego) and Don Barnett (former Sun Basket CEO).

Calibrate's business model is traditional venture fund management: revenue derives from management fees on funds under management and carried interest on investment profits. The firm closed Fund I in 2018 and Fund II at $97 million in December 2021. As of late 2021, the portfolio comprised 17+ companies, which collectively raised over $425 million in follow-on financing since 2018 and created more than 530 jobs across the U.S., with over $200 million raised in 2022 alone. Notable portfolio companies include Built Robotics (autonomous heavy machinery), FarmWise (AI-powered weeding), Collaborative Robotics/Cobot (collaborative robots), Regard (clinical AI co-pilot), Howso (explainable AI), GrayMatter Robotics (AI-powered industrial sanders), Trellis (legal AI), aiXplain (no-code AI platform), Parallel Domain (synthetic data), and Manifold (life sciences AI). A confirmed exit is TruckLabs, acquired by ConMet in November 2023.

The firm markets itself through its proprietary EON (Edge of Now) annual invite-only applied AI conference, a blog featuring deep-tech investing perspectives, and a LinkedIn/Twitter presence, with deal flow sourced primarily through direct outreach, founder referrals, and the team's operator network. Calibrate is privately held, owned and operated by its co-founders, and serves limited partners and portfolio founders rather than end customers.

Name

Calibrate Ventures

Legal name

Calibrate Ventures

Website

https://calibratevc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Calibrate Ventures is a Pasadena-based seed-stage venture capital firm co-founded in 2017 that invests in early-stage deep-tech startups across AI, computer vision, autonomy, automation, and robotics, partnering with technical founders to scale transformative companies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

Keywords

• Seed stage venture capital
• Deep tech investing
• Early stage funding
• Ai startup investment
• Robotics venture capital

Headquarters

HQ city

Pasadena

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Management Fees and Carried Interest: As a venture capital firm, Calibrate generates returns through management fees on funds under management and carried interest (performance fees) on investment profits. They have raised at least two funds (Fund I and Fund II), with Fund II closing at $97M per TechCrunch.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Calibrate Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups applying AI, computer vision, autonomy, and robotics to large industries such as transportation and logistics, food and agriculture, health and life sciences, manufacturing, and enterprise services. The firm deploys capital from its venture funds into technical founders and supplements that capital with hands-on operational support covering go-to-market, technical, and tactical strategies. Calibrate also organizes the EON (Edge of Now) annual invite-only applied AI event to convene founders, corporate leaders, academics, and investors.

Product overview

Calibrate Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm that does not offer commercial products or services. The firm provides investment capital and strategic support to early-stage deep-tech, AI, and automation startups. The firm focuses its investments across six primary sectors: Transportation & Logistics, Food & Agriculture, Health & Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Enterprise & Services, and Engineering. Calibrate's portfolio companies offer diverse AI and automation products including engineering intelligence platforms (Flux), autonomous aircraft (Grid Aero), AI-powered clinical research platforms (Manifold), AI incident management solutions (Vibranium Labs), AI-powered personalized learning (SigIQ), medical diagnosis co-pilots (Regard), legal analytics platforms (Trellis), agricultural robotics (FarmWise), construction automation (Built Robotics), and robotics platforms (Collaborative Robotics, GrayMatter Robotics).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• EON (Edge of Now): An intimate, invite-only annual event organized by Calibrate that brings together visionaries to explore how AI and robotics are reshaping global businesses and economies. The event focuses on practical applications of applied AI.

Quantifiable outcome

• Portfolio companies collectively raised over $425M in financing since 2018
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Dr. Henrik ChristensencoreOthersDr. Henrik Christensen is a Senior Advisor to Calibrate Ventures. He is a distinguished professor of Computer Science at UC San Diego, Qualcomm Chancellor's Chair in Robot Systems, and directs the Contextual Robotics Institute. He has co-founded multiple companies including Robust.AI and brings deep AI and robotics expertise to support Calibrate's investment team and portfolio founders.
• Don BarnettcoreOthersDon Barnett is a Senior Advisor to Calibrate Ventures. He is a serial entrepreneur with deep operational expertise in food and beverage, ag-tech, CPG, and health and wellness sectors. Most recently CEO of Sun Basket, he brings company-building expertise and deep industry insights to support Calibrate's portfolio companies.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Lux Capital: Lux Capital is an early-stage venture firm investing in deep tech across AI, robotics, aerospace, and frontier science, making it the most directly comparable peer to Calibrate in thesis, stage, and founder support model.
• Khosla Ventures: Khosla Ventures is a long-standing seed and early-stage investor in frontier and deep tech, including AI, robotics, and healthcare, with a founder-first operating model similar to Calibrate's hands-on approach.
• Playground Global: Playground Global is an early-stage deep tech venture firm investing in AI, autonomy, advanced manufacturing, and computational biology, directly overlapping with Calibrate's thesis across multiple verticals.
• DCVC: DCVC (Data Collective) invests early-stage in deep tech and computational companies applying AI, ML, and advanced engineering to large industries, with a seed-to-Series A focus closely matching Calibrate's.
• Root Ventures: Root Ventures is a seed-stage fund investing in founders building hard tech, robotics, and technical infrastructure, sharing Calibrate's bias toward technically exceptional founders at the earliest stages.
• Glasswing Ventures: Glasswing Ventures is an early-stage AI-focused venture firm; Calibrate has co-invested with Glasswing in Flux, confirming direct overlap in AI startup deal sourcing at seed stage.
• JAZZ Venture Partners: JAZZ Venture Partners is an early-stage venture firm investing in frontier tech including AI, robotics, and computational biology, with a stage and thesis profile closely aligned to Calibrate's.
• Bloomberg Beta: Bloomberg Beta is an early-stage venture fund focused on the future of work and data/AI infrastructure, sharing Calibrate's seed-stage posture and emphasis on technically driven founders.

Broad incumbents

• Founders Fund: Founders Fund is an established venture firm with a long-standing thesis around frontier technology and deep tech (space, AI, biotech), competing with Calibrate for technical founders though at typically larger check sizes and later stages.
• Andreessen Horowitz: Andreessen Horowitz operates a broad venture platform with dedicated AI and deep tech investment teams, overlapping with Calibrate's thesis but at much larger fund sizes and a multi-stage model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CalibrateVC
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/calibrate-ventures

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments48 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Calibrate Ventures