Nautilus Venture Partners

What Nautilus Venture Partners does

Nautilus Venture Partners is a privately-held venture capital firm founded in 2015 and headquartered at 575 High Street Suite 330 in Palo Alto, California. The firm invests in early-stage companies with proprietary technology, strong founding teams, and large market potential, with an explicit focus on artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and mobile sectors. It was founded by corporate venture capital veterans Connie Sheng (formerly Managing Director of Global Investment at Foxconn) and Brian Kang (formerly Managing Director at Samsung Ventures), and operates with a small team of five professionals that includes a Principal with investment banking experience at Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and RBC Capital Markets, a Korea-based venture specialist (NVP Korea) with prior experience at Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, and an Associate with private equity background. Nautilus reports deploying over $400 million across more than 50 startups since inception.

The firm's business model follows standard venture capital economics: annual management fees (typically 2% of assets under management) charged to limited partners, supplemented by carried interest (typically 20% of fund profits) realized at successful exits. Portfolio investments are made directly into companies through priced equity rounds, with Nautilus participating as a minority investor alongside other venture firms and strategic corporates; the firm also provides ongoing board involvement and strategic guidance, particularly leveraging team connections at Foxconn and Samsung to facilitate corporate partnerships. Notable portfolio outcomes include WeRide (autonomous driving, valued at $3.3B), d-Matrix (AI inference semiconductors, $2B Series C valuation in 2025), DigiLens (AR/VR, above $500M), Ayar Labs (optical I/O, $130M+ raised), Exo (medical imaging/ultrasound, $220M Series C), Volta Charging (NYSE: VLTA), and FiscalNote (NYSE: NOTE). Realized exits include Maluuba (acquired by Microsoft), DriveScale (acquired by Twitter), Edison (acquired by Yipit), Nod.ai (acquired by AMD in 2023), and Voke (acquired by Intel).

Go-to-market is relationship-driven rather than product-led: Nautilus sources deals through founder referrals and the professional networks of its partners, which span Silicon Valley and Asia, with dedicated coverage of Korean startups via Sungwon Lim. The firm positions itself as a corporate-venture-style investor that helps startups partner with large technology corporations, offering strategic value beyond capital. Nautilus does not develop proprietary technology, does not offer productized services to non-portfolio companies, and does not publicly disclose fund size, AUM, revenue, or LP composition.

Name

Nautilus Venture Partners

Legal name

Nautilus Venture Partners

Website

https://nautilusvp.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Nautilus Venture Partners is a Palo Alto-based early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2015 that invests in AI, IoT, and mobile startups, deploying over $400M across 50+ companies and generating returns through management fees and carried interest from exits.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital / Early-Stage Investing

NAICS

All Other Financial Investment Activities (52399), Miscellaneous Financial Investment Activities (523999), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investors, Nec (6799), Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists) (FSANAAAD)

Keywords

• Early stage venture capital
• Technology startup investing
• AI and IoT investments
• Seed and Series A funding
• Corporate venture capital

Headquarters

HQ city

Palo Alto

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, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Carried Interest: VC firms typically earn 20% of profits from successful portfolio company exits (acquisitions or IPOs). This is the primary revenue driver for venture capital funds.
2. Management Fees: VC firms charge annual management fees (typically 2% of assets under management) to cover operational expenses.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Nautilus Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that invests equity capital in early-stage technology companies with unique technology, strong teams, and market potential. The firm's primary focus sectors are artificial intelligence, IoT, and mobile, and it provides portfolio companies with strategic guidance and access to corporate partnership opportunities in Silicon Valley and Asia. Across the founding team's collective track record, over $400 million has been invested in more than 50 startups.

Product overview

Nautilus Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that provides investment services to early-stage startups. Rather than a product-platform architecture, the firm offers venture investment across its focus areas of artificial intelligence, IoT, and mobile. The firm has invested in over 50 startups with a combined investment of over $400 million.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Venture Investment Services Equity capital investment services provided to early-stage technology startups with unique technology, strong teams, and market potential in AI, IoT, and mobile sectors, accompanied by strategic guidance and corporate partnership facilitation with large tech corporations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over $400M invested in more than 50 startups
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Lux Capital: Early-stage venture firm focused on AI, deep tech, and sci-tech startups at seed and Series A. Comparable stage, sector focus (AI/semis/autonomy), and founder-friendly posture to Nautilus.
• DCVC (Data Collective): Early-stage deep tech venture firm investing in AI, compute, and data infrastructure. Highly comparable stage, sector focus, and check-size profile to Nautilus.
• Eclipse Ventures: Early-stage venture firm investing in deep tech, AI, and enterprise infrastructure. Eclipse co-invested alongside Nautilus in DataPelago's $47M round, indicating closely aligned thesis, stage, and check size.
• Mantis Ventures: Early-stage venture firm with a thesis in deep tech, AI, and frontier technology. Similar fund size, stage focus, and limited partners make Mantis a close operational comparable.
• Scrum Ventures: Early-stage venture firm with US-Japan cross-border deal sourcing and a focus on enterprise, AI, and IoT. The cross-border model and sector focus closely mirror Nautilus's US-Asia positioning.
• Race Capital: Early-stage venture firm investing in data infrastructure, AI, and developer tools. Race Capital focuses on similar seed/Series A rounds and shares Nautilus's enterprise infrastructure and AI compute thesis.
• Foothill Ventures: Early-stage venture firm investing in deep tech and enterprise infrastructure, primarily at seed and Series A. Similar Silicon Valley base, fund size, and portfolio-stage profile.

Regional players

• Korea Investment Partners: Korea-focused venture and growth investor active in AI, mobile, and semiconductors. Comparable to the Korea-side of Nautilus's deal flow given the firm's SVIC/Samsung alumni on the Korea team.

Broad incumbents

• Samsung Ventures: Global corporate venture arm of Samsung with deep focus on mobile, semiconductors, and consumer IT - the same focus areas Nautilus's co-founder Brian Kang led during his tenure there. A natural incumbent peer and prior employer.
• Qualcomm Ventures: Strategic corporate venture arm of Qualcomm investing across AI, IoT, mobile, and semiconductors. Qualcomm Ventures co-invested with Nautilus in DataPelago and shares substantial thematic overlap.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nautilusvp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments27 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Nautilus Venture Partners