Telescopic Ventures

Telescopic Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2017 and based in Oakland, California. Its name references finding things usually hard to see with the naked eye and discovering what is currently unseen, reflecting a mission to partner with the most innovative technology companies aiming to make a huge real-world impact. The firm's investment philosophy, branded 'Applied Frontier Technology,' targets companies at the intersection of radical forward innovation and real-world implementation; it is sector-agnostic but focused mainly on B2B and enterprise applications. Four themes drive its thesis: the increasing decentralization of computing and cognitive analysis, growing automation within traditional industries, the need to fast-track sustainability, and security as a must-have for all companies. Investment categories span AI, machine learning, deep learning and reinforcement learning, IoT and hardware, platform infrastructure, cybersecurity, sustainability, digital health and fintech. Telescopic invests at the early stage, pre-seed through Series A and primarily seed rounds in US-based startups, and is open to leading while also happily co-investing alongside other early-stage backers. The team of around four, including two partners among them partner Merlyn Sevy, are former entrepreneurs and operators who actively support portfolio companies on early business development, strategy and product integrations. Its portfolio of roughly nine companies includes data-infrastructure unicorn VAST Data, data-classification and security firm Kriptos, and environmental-services startup Mycocycle, and has produced two acquisitions, including Shrimpy and Onion ID. By backing frontier technology paired with real-world implementation, Telescopic Ventures supports founders applying advanced computing, automation, sustainability and security.