What Alabaster does

Alabaster is a private venture capital firm founded in 2018 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, with a team of 11-50 people. The firm invests in early-stage founders building companies intended to create "positive, planet-level impact," operating across two stated theses: "Science for tomorrow" (founders creating future industries through differentiated, science-based technology) and "Tech for today" (founders applying technology to current pressing needs). The firm is led by Founder Sonny Vu alongside team members Christy Le, Daisuke Tanaka, and Walter Tran, and per its own Terms of Use is structured as a multi-entity platform in which the parent Alabaster entity "provides administrative and other services to various Alabaster entities," consistent with a typical GP/management-company and fund-entity arrangement.

The firm generates revenue through standard venture capital economics: management fees on committed or invested capital, plus carried interest on successful portfolio exits. Alabaster does not publish fund size, AUM, management fees, or LP composition. Disclosed portfolio activity, based on the company's own website, includes participation in Ayar Labs' $130 million Series C (April 2022) for in-package optical I/O, Arevo's $25 million round (August 2021) tied to a large-scale carbon fiber additive manufacturing facility, and Butlr Technologies' $7.9 million seed round (July 2021) for anonymous people-sensing technology. These three visible deals represent roughly $162.9 million in announced round sizes, though Alabaster's ownership stake in each is not disclosed.

The firm does not offer a technology product, platform, or service of its own; it maintains a corporate website, a LinkedIn presence (alabaster-global), and a Twitter/X account (Alabaster_Inc) as top-of-funnel channels, and publishes portfolio news and portfolio-company job opportunities on its site. No public revenue, AUM, awards, patents, partnerships, M&A activity, regulatory actions, or other corporate events are disclosed in the source data.

Name

Alabaster

Legal name

Alabaster

Website

https://www.alabaster.com/

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Alabaster is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, founded in 2018, that invests in early-stage founders building technology companies intended to deliver "planet-level impact" across deep tech and applied technology themes, and operates through a multi-entity fund structure.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital / Private Equity Investment

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Impact / ESG Venture Capital (FSANAAAG)

Keywords

• Venture capital investing
• Climate tech funding
• Deep tech startups
• Founder growth capital
• Planet-level impact investment

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Alabaster is a venture capital firm that invests capital in founders building breakthrough companies intended to deliver positive, planet-level impact. The firm operates two complementary investment theses — "Science for tomorrow" (companies creating future industries from scientific breakthroughs) and "Tech for today" (companies applying technology to today's pressing needs) — and supplements capital with strategic guidance, operational support, and network access for portfolio companies.

Product overview

Alabaster is an investment firm that invests in founders building breakthrough companies with positive planet-level impact. The company focuses on two categories: Science for tomorrow (companies creating industries of tomorrow using differentiated technology based on scientific breakthroughs) and Tech for today (companies with technology answering today's pressing needs). Alabaster does not appear to offer a distinct product or service offering — it operates as an investment firm rather than a technology product company.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Lux Capital: Deep-tech venture firm backing emerging-technology and scientific-platform companies across photonics, semiconductors, and biotech. Comparable in thesis and check size to Alabaster; also co-invested alongside Alabaster in Ayar Labs.
• Lowercarbon Capital: Climate and deep-tech focused venture fund investing at seed and growth stages in companies tackling carbon and planetary-scale challenges. Direct peer to Alabaster given overlapping "planet-level impact" thesis and stage focus on breakthrough science-driven ventures.
• DCVC (Data Collective): Early-stage venture firm specializing in deep-tech and science-driven companies at the intersection of computing, materials, and life sciences. Highly comparable to Alabaster's "Science for tomorrow" thesis, with similar check sizes and stage focus.
• Congruent Ventures: Early-stage impact VC backing climate-tech, sustainability, and resource-efficiency startups. Closely aligned with Alabaster on impact mandate, stage (seed/Series A), and founder support orientation.
• Prelude Ventures: Long-running early-stage fund focused on hard-tech, clean-tech, and science-based startups with capital-efficient deployment. Comparable in fund size, stage, and deep-tech/clean-tech orientation to Alabaster.
• Clean Energy Ventures: Early-stage venture fund backing climate-tech founders across energy, mobility, and industrial decarbonization. Comparable to Alabaster in stage, check size, and climate/impact mandate.

Emerging players

• SOSV: Multi-stage venture firm operating accelerator programs (HAX, IndieBio, dlab) for deep-tech and climate pioneers. Comparable thesis on science-driven and impact founders, but distinguished by accelerator-driven deal sourcing versus Alabaster's direct investment approach.
• Elemental Impact: Climate-focused impact investor backing early-stage decarbonization and sustainability startups, often via accelerator programs. Adjacent peer sharing impact-thesis and stage focus, but with an accelerator-driven model distinct from Alabaster's direct check-writing.

Broad incumbents

• Khosla Ventures: Large, established venture firm with significant dedicated climate-tech and deep-tech practice areas across multiple vintages. A broader incumbent in the same space — overlapping thesis with Alabaster but with materially larger AUM and stage range.
• Breakthrough Energy Ventures: Bill Gates-backed, multi-stage climate investment vehicle deploying large pools of patient capital across deep-tech decarbonization. A broader incumbent in the impact-VC niche Alabaster targets, with overlapping investment areas including novel materials and energy systems.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/alabaster_glb
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/alabaster-global

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments7 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Alabaster