Autochrome Ventures

Autochrome Ventures is a Los Angeles-based inception and seed stage venture capital fund founded in 2016 by Vaughn Blake, who also leads Autochrome Capital Management. The firm invests in the technology sector with a particular emphasis on applied frontier and emerging technologies — areas where advances in science and engineering are being translated into new markets and business models. Autochrome engages at the earliest stages of company formation, often before conventional product milestones exist. The firm has built a portfolio of 21 companies across AI and deep tech, biotech, software, and clean technology, with checks ranging from $100,000 to $1 million. A notable portfolio investment is Tropic Biosciences, an agricultural biotech company, reflecting the fund's appetite for technically complex, science-driven ventures. Autochrome's last recorded investment was in April 2020, suggesting the fund has been in a harvesting or transitional phase. Autochrome differentiates itself through a willingness to engage before a company has fully taken shape — funding founders at the inception stage when capital is scarce and direction is still being established. Based in the Los Angeles technology ecosystem, the firm provides early-stage founders with capital and strategic guidance during the most formative period of company building. Its focus on frontier technology applications — spanning machine learning, biotech, and clean energy — reflects a thesis that the most significant value creation happens at the earliest intersection of emerging science and entrepreneurial ambition.