Backed by Kevin Ryan of AlleyCorp and Eliot Horowitz of Viam Robotics, Alley Robotics Ventures (ARV) Invests in the Frontier of Technology with Operator-Led Fund
Key Takeaways:
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New Alley Robotics Ventures Fund to invest $30M in early stage robotics and automation innovation
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Fund is led by Abe Murray, whose previous experience includes key roles at Android, Google Research, Verily Life Sciences, and AlleyCorp
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To date, ARV has invested in five robotics and automation startups including aescape, Civ Robotics, Dexai Robotics, Earth Force, and Mapless AI
Alley Robotics Ventures (ARV), a new Boston and NYC-area firm focused on founding, funding, and building transformative companies in the space of robotics and automation, today announced the launch of its first early stage venture fund. The fund will invest in and incubate ventures dedicated to solving the world’s problems through robotics and automation.
Kevin Ryan of AlleyCorp and Eliot Horowitz of Viam, Inc., the modern robotics platform, are ARV’s anchor limited partners. ARV has been founded from AlleyCorp DNA, and is following the AlleyCorp approach when it comes to strategy, operations, investing, and portfolio support. The firm is run by Abe Murray, a former partner at AlleyCorp who will remain an advisor to the company in areas beyond robotics and automation.
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ARV’s first fund will deploy $30M in early stage capital for incubations and investments over the next few years. The firm’s focus is on robotics and automation startups across both hardware and software. Like AlleyCorp, Alley Robotics Ventures is able to flexibly create new companies and support existing companies thanks to its AlleyCorp-inspired operational model, with only two anchor limited partners who are themselves founders and operators.
With robots doing everything from household chores to delivering medicine in hospitals, ARV is excited to play a critical role in backing entrepreneurs in what will be one of the most rapidly growing industries in the coming decade. “When I invest in an innovative idea, it can take years for the company to develop,” said Ryan. “For robotics, we know the sector in 10 years will be five times larger, maybe 10 times larger, than it is now.”
ARV is led by Murray, who led AlleyCorp’s robotics and AI efforts after joining the company earlier this year. Prior to founding ARV, Murray was a product and engineering leader who held various roles at Alphabet. He also worked on Android, built the Verily Life Science product teams, and built the Google Research product management team. Pre-Google, he founded a Web 2.0 startup and worked on unmanned aerial vehicles in the defense industry. ARV builds on AlleyCorp’s strategy of developing expertise around key verticals including ecommerce, media, healthcare, Web3, robotics, and material sciences.
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