Top 8 Hardware & Robotics Venture Capital Firms [2023]

Whether you are raising seed, Series A or higher, in this article we have listed our top picks of the best venture capital firms for Hardware & Robotics startups in the US.

So, if you haven’t yet started to reach out, here is a good place to start learning about them.

Note: this article is part of a series where we present you the top Venture Capital firms across the world. Have a look at the complete list here.

Top Venture Capital Firms For Hardware & Robotics Startups

Here’s a summary of our top 8 picks for the best venture capital firms for Hardware & Robotics startups in the US (in alphabetical order):

Name	Location	Investment stage	Investment range	Investments
ABB Technology Ventures	Washington DC	Seed to Series A+	Undisclosed	37
Anzu Partners	Boston, San Diego, Washington D.C.	Seed, Series A	Undisclosed	33
Cottonwood Technology Fund	New Mexico	Seed, Series A	$1M – $3M	20
ff Venture Capital	New York City, Warsaw	Seed, Series A	$300k-$700k	140+
First Round	Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York	Seed, Series A	$750k to $4M	300+
RRE Ventures	NYC	Seed, Series A	$250k to $3-8M	120+
Shasta	Menlo Park (San Francisco Bay Area)	Seed, Series A	Undisclosed	145
Spark Capital	San Francisco, Boston	Seed, Series A	Undisclosed	153

1. Cottonwood Technology Fund

Location: New Mexico

New Mexico’s one of the most prominent venture capital firms, Cottonwood Technology Fund invests in startups working in the technology sector.

The venture fund offers Seed and Series A funding to companies involved in hard-tech, nanotechnology, nanoelectronics, advanced materials, cleantech, medtech, advanced manufacturing, and robotics.

This venture capital firm writes a check of anywhere between $1M and $3M to the selected companies. So far, Cottonwood Technology Fund has invested in 20 companies in the USA and Europe. Some of them are Circular Genomics, Sarcos, Exagen, Trilumina, Fiberio, and Armonica Technologies.

It is interesting to note that the companies that Cottonwood Technology Fund invests in are all IP-driven companies.

2. ff Venture Capital

Location: New York City, Warsaw

Another prominent venture capital firm with over 140 investments so far is ff Venture Capital. With a physical presence in NYC and Warsaw, this venture capital firm invests in companies that operate in the Fintech, AI, and Robotics sectors.

ff Venture Capital offers Seed and Series A investments to the selected companies, and it usually writes a check of $300k to $700k. Some of the many companies that this venture capital firm has invested in include 500px, Deem, Jazz, Livefyre, Omek, Pear, Plated, Quigo, and Ionic, among others.

3. Anzu Partners

Locations: Boston, San Diego, Washington D.C.

One of Boston’s famed VCs, Anzu Partners offers Seed and Series A funding to companies working in Life Sciences, Software, Manufacturing, and Hardware industries.

Apart from Boston, Anzu Partners also operates in San Diego and Washington D.C.

In addition to funds, the firm also offers deep expertise in market positioning, business development, operations, and global connectivity. So far, Anzu Partners has invested in 33 companies, some of which have been acquired by other brands, some had successful exits, and a few of them launched IPOs.

4. ABB Technology Ventures

Location: Washington D.C.

ABB Technology Ventures is a famous venture capital firm in Washington D.C. As the name suggests, the firm invests in startups in the technology sector with core focus areas being electric mobility, robotics, distributed energy, industrial IoT, cybersecurity, machine learning & AI, and smart building.

This venture capital firm invests in Seed to Series A+ rounds, however, they do not disclose the investment amount on their website. It is interesting to note that ABB Technology Ventures is the venture capital unit operated by ABB Group.

This venture capital unit of ABB Group has so far invested in 37 companies with FreeWire, Element Analytics, Hailo, Automata Technologies, etc., are some of the many active portfolio companies that the firm is currently working with.

5. First Round Capital

Location: Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York

First Round Capital is one of the most prominent VC firms in Philadelphia, however, they also have offices in San Francisco and New York. This VC firm invests anywhere between $750k and $4M and helps the companies to grow.

However, they typically invest around $2M, but that doesn’t mean they won’t make small investments or larger investments. What is interesting is that they also make follow-on investments in their portfolio companies. They usually look for 15% ownership after the seed round.

They typically perform pre-seed, seed, and Series A funding in companies operating in Hardware, Healthcare, Fintech, Consumer, and Enterprise categories.

6. Shasta

Location: Menlo Park (San Francisco Bay Area)

Shasta is a well-known venture capital firm located in Menlo Park in San Francisco Bay Area. This venture capital firm has over a billion dollars of assets under management, and it provides Seed and Series A funding to companies operating in the SaaS, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, Data Intelligence, and Consumer Subscription sectors.

Unfortunately, the venture capital firm does not disclose the exact investment amount anywhere on its website. However, Shasta has invested in 145 companies. Some of them are Canva, Outpost, Dollar Shave Club, Lucidworks, Deep Sentinel, SendBird, Starship Technology, and Poppin.

7. Spark Capital

Location: San Francisco, Boston

One of the most prominent venture capital firms in San Francisco, Spark Capital offers funding to startups working in various sectors including Consumer, Marketplaces, Frontier Tech, Fintech, Enterprise, Hardware, and Crypto.

What is interesting about Spark Capital is that they are stage agnostic, which means, they are open to funding irrespective of the stage of the company provided they like the idea or the product.

They not only provide funding but also offer mentorship and access to industry experts who can help the companies scale into sustainable businesses.

So far, Spark Capital has made 153 investments with some of the most notable names being Twitter, Rover.com, Coinbase, Oculus, Slack, Wayfair, Tumblr, Snap, eToro, and Grammarly, etc.

8. RRE Ventures

Location: New York City

A prominent venture capital firm operating in NYC is RRE Ventures. So far, RRE Ventures has invested in more than 120 companies. This venture firm offers Seed and Series A funding to selected companies operating in the Enterprise Software, Consumer, Fintech, Media, Real Estate Tech, Robotics, Healthcare, Space, and various other sectors.

As for the check size, RRE Ventures usually writes a check of $250k to $3-8M. The exact amount invested in a company depends on the stage and requirements of the company.

Some of the many companies that RRE Ventures has invested in include Bark, Avant, Basno, Bowery, Branch, BioLite, Gem, Kik, Lucy, and Noom, among others.