VC Eclipse has new $1.3B fund to back – and build – ‘physical AI’ startups

It only takes a glance at Eclipse’s recent investment to see where the company’s interests lie – and where it’s headed.

The Palo Alto-based VC, which has seen moderate growth over the past few years, has poured a lot of money into the “physical world.” Its products include an electric boat manufacturer Arcbuzzy battery recycling is a solid economy Redwood Toolsself-driving car startup Bedrock Robotics, autonomous vehicle company Wayve, and industrial robotics lab Mind Robotics.

I am $1.3 billion in new capital — which is split between a $591 million seed fund and another focused on early-stage growth — Eclipse is targeting what partner Jiten Behl describes as technology’s next big moment.

“Over the past two decades, we’ve seen a lot of innovation,” Behl said, writing about the Internet, the mobile cloud, and the television era. “This is the first time things have moved from our screens to the real world; we’ll see advanced intelligence, and real action, in solving problems in the real, physical world.”

AI and the physical world have collided; the familiarity of the term “physical AI” is only one sign. Behl said this era is driven by a combination of talent, technological advancements, demand, and policy. And, of course, capital.

“We have a good war chest to go to create a large market and support companies in the right way throughout the life cycle,” he said.

Eclipse isn’t just getting started by investing in physical AI. It is, after all, the next shiny thing to put in. How Eclipse selects the defaults is important to know. VC seeks to invest in all physical sectors, including transportation, energy, infrastructure, computing, and defense. The fun part, as Behl explained, is the process of creating a network, or ecosystem starting in areas that can become partners as they grow.

“Scale is very important, and if you can put it together in a way that the companies will first build the scale, build evidence, then it will help them to follow the other requirements,” said Behl, explaining that the companies will cooperate with each other directly, but hopefully, and work with partners with each other.

In some cases, the defaults are fixed within Eclipse. Behl said Eclipse plans to build companies from the new fund. And while he wouldn’t give too many ideas, he confirmed that the work has already begun.

“We’re working on a number of really cool projects,” he said, noting that Eclipse is particularly popular with startups working in all industries.

“The next clue is, how do you connect these parts? How do you build all the teams? And how do you use the data from all the parts to create a moat?” he wrote, adding that the data will be used to train intelligent AI for the benefit of the wider community. “That’s kind of the general thesis that we’ve been dealing with.”