What Foothill Ventures does

Foothill Ventures is a technology-focused early-stage venture capital fund headquartered at 280 2nd Street Suite 218, Los Altos, California. The firm concentrates on Seed, Seed-extension, and Pre-A investments in frontier technology companies, with thematic coverage across Deep Tech, Software Infrastructure, AI Applications, and Life Science. Over its history the firm has backed more than 350 portfolio companies, including D-Matrix, Hyperlight, Quintessent, Supio, Metalenz, Stellar Cyber, South 8 Technologies, and Anyware Robotics. The fund explicitly favors strong technical founders, including immigrant, female, and PhD founders, and emphasizes cross-disciplinary opportunities where two domains collide.

The firm operates as a single fund vehicle (previously operating as Tsingyuan Ventures) and does not develop proprietary technology itself; instead, it deploys capital into startups building AI inference chips, thin-film lithium niobate optical modulators, quantum dot DWDM laser sources, sustainable aviation fuel, solid-state transformers for AI data center power, peripheral nerve stimulation medical devices, and legal AI. Investment activity is sourced through direct founder outreach and a 350-company portfolio referral network, with stated decision-making timelines of days for rejects and weeks for investments. The investment team comprises approximately 16 professionals — 8 main team members plus 8 venture partners — drawing on operator backgrounds from Yahoo, Google, Alibaba Cloud, Microsoft, ThermoFisher, and serial semiconductor/life science founders.

Revenue is generated through standard venture fund mechanics: management fees on assets under management across multiple fund vintages plus carried interest from successful exits. Portfolio exits already realized include Metalenz (metasurface lens) and Stellar Cyber (Open XDR cybersecurity), among others. The fund does not publicly disclose AUM, fund size, management fee rates, or carry terms, which materially constrains direct financial visibility. Notable 2025-2026 co-investment activity includes Nervonik's $52.5M Series B (April 2026), Amperesand's $80M Series A (November 2025, co-led by Walden Catalyst and Temasek), Aether Fuels' $15M convertible note (January 2026), and Anyware Robotics' $12M seed (March 2025).

Name

Foothill Ventures

Legal name

Foothill Ventures

Website

https://foothill.ventures

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Foothill Ventures is a Los Altos-based technology-focused venture fund that makes early-stage Seed, Seed-extension, and Pre-A investments in frontier tech startups across AI infrastructure, semiconductors, photonics, life sciences, and deep tech, with a 350+ company portfolio.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Altos

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, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Investment Returns (Carried Interest): As a venture capital fund, Foothill Ventures generates returns primarily through capital gains and carried interest from successful exits and IPOs across its portfolio of 350+ investments. The firm's portfolio includes exits such as Metalenz (metasurface lens leader) and other companies marked as exits on the portfolio page.
2. Fund Management Fees: Standard venture fund management fees charged on assets under management across multiple fund vintages. The firm's 'latest fund focuses on frontier tech' as referenced on the homepage, implying a series of fund vintages.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Foothill Ventures is a technology-focused early-stage venture capital fund that invests Seed, Seed-extension, and Pre-A equity rounds — frequently as first check — in technical founders building frontier tech companies. The firm invests across Deep Tech, Software Infrastructure, AI Applications, and Life Science categories, backing more than 350 portfolio companies to date, and provides post-investment support including strategy, financing, hiring, and community access. Revenue is generated via standard venture fund management fees and carried interest from successful exits.

Product overview

Foothill Ventures operates as a single unified venture fund offering (previously known as Tsingyuan Ventures). Its core product is the venture capital fund itself, which makes early-stage, first-check investments in technical founders pursuing breakthrough technologies. The fund is organized around three thematic pillars — Deep Tech, Software Infrastructure, and AI Applications — and applies these themes when evaluating the broad portfolio of more than 350 companies it has backed across domains such as AI, semiconductors, photonics, life sciences, materials science, robotics, software, and sustainable energy. There are no separate branded sub-funds or modules; all investment activity is delivered through the single Foothill Ventures fund entity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Foothill Ventures Fund

Quantifiable outcome

• 350+ portfolio companies invested in over firm history
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Xora InnovationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 April 2026Xora Innovation is an early-stage AI and deep tech venture firm backed by Temasek. Foothill Ventures has a strategic relationship through Eric Rosenblum, who built Foothill as a leading early-stage deep tech investor before joining Xora as General Partner to expand its U.S. presence and AI investments in April 2026.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Innovation Endeavors: Innovation Endeavors is a Palo Alto-based early-stage venture firm investing in deep tech, AI, and technical founders — comparable to Foothill's community-led, founder-friendly approach with emphasis on cross-disciplinary and technical-founder deal flow.
• Bloomberg Beta: Bloomberg Beta is a San Francisco-based early-stage venture firm investing in enterprise and frontier tech with a thesis around technical founders — comparable seed/Series A focus and similar Silicon Valley-based, community-driven deal sourcing.
• Lux Capital: Lux Capital is a New York-based venture firm investing in frontier tech, deep tech, and science-driven startups at seed and Series A — directly comparable to Foothill's frontier-tech, technical-founder thesis. Both funds concentrate on technically differentiated companies rather than software-only plays.
• Wing VC: Wing VC is a Palo Alto-based early-stage venture firm investing in technical founders building AI, infrastructure, and enterprise startups — comparable stage and technical-founder focus, with similar Silicon Valley community-led deal sourcing.
• DCVC (Data Collective): DCVC is a San Francisco-based venture firm backing deep-tech companies at seed through Series B, with a heavy emphasis on AI, computational biology, materials science, and semiconductors — directly overlapping with Foothill's frontier-tech categories and stage focus.
• 1517 Fund: 1517 Fund is a San Francisco-based early-stage venture firm focused on technical founders, including those without traditional backgrounds — comparable to Foothill's bet on PhD, immigrant, and otherwise non-traditional technical founders at pre-seed and seed stages.
• Ulu Ventures: Ulu Ventures is a Palo Alto-based seed-stage venture firm investing in enterprise software, AI, and deep-tech startups led by technical and diverse founders — closely comparable to Foothill's seed-stage, frontier-tech, technical-founder emphasis.
• Playground Global: Playground Global is a Palo Alto-based deep-tech venture firm investing in frontier technologies including AI infrastructure, robotics, semiconductors, and space — a near-identical stage and sector fit to Foothill's Deep Tech and AI Infrastructure categories.

Emerging players

• Xora Innovation: Xora Innovation is a Temasek-backed early-stage AI and deep-tech venture firm that recently recruited Foothill's Eric Rosenblum to expand its US presence — a direct emerging competitor in frontier-tech seed/Series A investing.

Broad incumbents

• Khosla Ventures: Khosla Ventures is a Menlo Park-based venture firm making riskier, technology-focused investments from seed to growth — overlapping with Foothill's frontier-tech thesis but at vastly larger fund scale and broader stage range, making it a broad incumbent rather than a direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/teecangel
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/foothillventures
• Facebookfacebook.com/teecangelfund

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments160 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Foothill Ventures