Future Ventures

Future Ventures Research Investment Thesis Future Ventures is a mission-driven, early-stage venture capital fund founded by Steve Jurvetson and Maryanna Saenko. For the past 25 years, they have backed visionary founders pushing the boundaries of possibility and exploring the frontier of the unknown. The fund explicitly focuses on 'seed and early-stage investments in trailblazing, purpose-driven entrepreneurs with unique ideas that have the potential to reinvent entire industries.' The firm's philosophy centers on frontier technologies that make the world better and don't prey on human frailty. They seek entrepreneurs who are not just building businesses, but forge better futures through transformative innovation. The fund demonstrates long-term mentorship and patient capital philosophy, with partners joining boards and providing operational guidance beyond just capital. Sector Focus Future Ventures maintains a diversified but strategic sector focus across multiple transformative technology areas: Hard Tech & Deep Tech: Robotics and automation (Robust.ai, Verdant Robotics) Energy technologies (Commonwealth Fusion, Molten Salt Solutions, Hephaestus) Aerospace and space (Planet Labs, SpaceX legacy) Manufacturing and hardware Life Sciences & Biotech: Gene editing and epigenetic therapy (Moonwalk Therapeutics, Deep Genomics) Sustainable agriculture and food (Upside Foods, Better Meat, Beeflow) Women's reproductive longevity (Gametogen, Your Choice) Immunotherapy and therapeutic biology (Sensei Biotherapeutics, Cambrian Bio, ATAI) Bee immunology (Beeflow) Enterprise Software & AI: AI for construction and industrial applications AI for medical therapeutics AI application platforms (MosaicML, Zyphra) Enterprise automation and robotics Climate & Sustainability: Clean energy transition (Commonwealth Fusion, Earthshot) Sustainable land management (Enriched AG) Climate technology (recognized portfolio companies in TIME Magazine's top greentech 2024) Data & Infrastructure: Data infrastructure (Latent AI) Communications infrastructure (Ockam) Digital security and privacy (MobileCoin) Stage Focus Future Ventures is an explicitly seed and early-stage focused fund: Primary: Seed and pre-seed round investments Secondary: Series A participation for promising portfolio companies Follow-on: Reserves allocated for continuation investments to support portfolio company growth The fund leads founding investments in many cases, with partners typically joining boards and providing substantive operational guidance throughout the company's early growth phase. Check Size Based on portfolio company research and Fund III closing announcement ($200M): Target range: $500,000 - $10,000,000 Typical seed: $2M - $5M Occasional larger rounds: Up to $10M for exceptional companies The fund maintains significant reserves for follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies. Lead Tendency Future Ventures explicitly leads founding investments in many portfolio companies, with co-founders and partners joining boards. Historical success (SpaceX, Tesla, Planet) demonstrates comfort with board seats and deep involvement. Recent news coverage highlights their leadership in seed rounds across robotics, biotech, and climate companies. Recent Activity Fund III Status Closed: 2023 at $200M (same size as prior two funds) Focus: Help the next generation of hard-tech companies forge a better future for the benefit of humanity Deployment: Actively deploying Recent Notable Investments (2023-2025) Robust.ai - Robot delivery company ($20M Series A, 2023) Amplifier Therapeutics - Gene therapy ($57M Series B with funding from Future Ventures and RA Capital, 2024) Moonwalk Therapeutics - Epigenetic editing startup founded by CRISPR innovator Feng Zhang ($57M Series A, 2024) Portfolio companies in TIME's Top Green Tech 2024: Beeflow, Better Meat, Commonwealth Fusion, Verdant Robotics Multiple emerging investments across robotics, biotech, climate, and AI infrastructure sectors Fund History Fund II: $200M (closed ~2020) Fund I: $200M (flagship fund) Aggregate exits: $1.7 trillion of value creation across all investments Portfolio Highlights Successful Exits & Acquisitions Boring Company (Elon Musk venture) Commonwealth Fusion (Advanced nuclear fusion) D-Wave (Quantum computing) Planet Labs (Earth observation satellites) Skype (Acquired by Microsoft) SpaceX (Reusable rockets, unicorn status) Tesla (Electric vehicles market leader) Upside Foods (Cultivated meat) Active Portfolio (50+ companies across multiple sectors) Biotech & Life Sciences: ATAI, Cambrian Bio, Deep Genomics, Faethom Therapeutics, Gametogen, Glass Imaging, Greenlight Biosciences, Sensei Biotherapeutics, Shennen Bio, Your Choice TX Robotics & Hardware: Neurobionics, Opentrons, Robust.ai, Verdant Robotics, Zyphra Climate & Sustainability: Beeflow, Better Meat, Earthshot, Enriched AG, Upside Foods AI & Software: Latent AI, MosaicML, X.ai (xAI) Infrastructure & Other: Ockam, MobileCoin Team Steve Jurvetson - Co-Founder Early-stage venture capitalist focusing on founder-led, mission-driven companies. Led founding investments in Planet Labs, SpaceX, and Tesla. Former R&D Engineer at HP where seven chip designs were fabricated. Previous: Product Marketing at Apple/NeXT, Management Consulting at Bain. BS Electrical Engineering Stanford (#1 in class, 2.5 years), MSEE Stanford, MBA Stanford. Honors include Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship (Obama appointment), Forbes "Tech's Best Venture Investors", and Deloitte "Venture Capitalist of the Year". Maryanna Saenko - Co-Founder Early-stage venture capitalist and co-founder of Future Ventures. Invests in frontier technologies that make the world better. Recent investments across nuclear fusion, sustainable agriculture, women's reproductive longevity, and AI applications in construction and medical therapeutics. Previous roles: Khosla Ventures, DFJ, Airbus Ventures, Lux Research, Cabot Corporation. Experience with lunar rovers, Martian landers, driverless cars, and communication systems. BS BioMedical Engineering Carnegie Mellon, BS & MS Materials Science Carnegie Mellon. Lives in Pacifica, CA. Nico Enriquez - Principal Early-stage venture capitalist with deep interest in energy, robotics, and biotech. Forbes 30Under30 for entrepreneurship. Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Fellow. Published peer articles with Nobel Prize winner. B.Sc Cognitive Neuroscience with Honors Brown University, MBA Stanford, Sustainability Finance certification Columbia University. Geographic Focus Primary: United States (especially innovation hubs) Secondary: Selective international investments in Europe for exceptional opportunities Decision Process Partnership model with long-term mentorship over governance philosophy. Partners join boards and provide operational guidance for portfolio companies. Founder Preferences Visionary founders with unique, transformative ideas Mission-driven entrepreneurs focused on solving real problems Technical depth and expertise Diverse thinking and team composition Founder-led companies with authentic entrepreneurial vision Current Market Position (2026) One of the most respected seed-stage venture firms with legendary track record, deep hard tech/biotech/climate expertise, patient capital philosophy, and active deployment from oversubscribed Fund III.