Seed capital for software beyond the screen

Modern software is leaving the screen behind, entering the real world, and bringing along its incredible agility. Ubiquity invests in the following areas of opportunity:

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Smart Hardware

When software leaps off of the screen and into the real world, it lands on smart hardware. The world around us becomes software-like; physical things improve constantly via automatic updates to unlock more flexibility and possibility. Smart hardware not only senses what is happening, it changes it. Ubiquity funds low-cost smart hardware in the realm of enterprise solutions and actuation.

Machine Learning

Machine learning enables software to understand and navigate the complexities of the real world. ML-powered software can identify subtle but valuable patterns, devise new solutions, and communicate with us more naturally. Ubiquity funds ML applications for industries historically less penetrated by software.

Platforms

Real world software needs a robust foundation of supporting technologies to thrive outside its traditional ecosystems. Ubiquity funds developer tools, security, and perception technologies that support platforms beyond computers and smartphones.

Founding Partner

Sunil Nagaraj is the Founder and Managing Partner of Ubiquity Ventures, a seed-stage institutional venture capital firm that invests in “software beyond the screen” startups, primarily around smart hardware and machine intelligence applications.

He currently serves on the boards of Halter, Levl, Parallel Domain, Shoonya, and other undisclosed investments.

Prior to founding Ubiquity Ventures, Sunil spent six years as an investor with Bessemer Venture Partners where his work included investments in Auth0, Defense.Net (acquired by F5 Networks), Rocket Lab, Spire, Tile, Twitch (acquired by Amazon), and Zapier. Before being an investor, Sunil was founder/CEO of Triangulate, a VC-backed online dating startup using machine learning and behavioral data to improve accuracy. He has also worked at Bain & Company, Cisco, and Microsoft.

Sunil holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves on several non-profit boards: NextGen Partners (a Bay Area VC networking organization), Computer History Museum NextGen Board, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and the Harvard Business School California Research Center. He is also an Alumni Advisor to the Harvard MS/MBA program. In his free time, he enjoys coding, piano, sailing, stargazing, and family time with his wife and 2-year old daughter.

Ubiquity Extended Team

The Ubiquity Extended Team is a group of experts on standby to help Ubiquity portfolio companies in areas ranging from technical architecture to marketing and sales. Members of the UXT have worked at the following companies:

Portfolio

Ubiquity backs seed-stage startups that are moving software into the real world, across a variety of industries and approaches.

Eclypsium

Protects systems from firmware attacks on enterprise computers and other devices.

Elementary Robotics

Affordable intelligent robots that leverage machine learning and computer vision.

Halter

Physically control your cows from your iPhone. Smart hardware/AI for dairy cow management.

Levl

Prevent the impersonation of wireless transmitters to secure a variety of wireless communications.

Parallel Domain

Photorealistic digital environments to train self-driving cars and accelerate AV safety.

Shoonya

Secure purpose-built devices so enterprises can deploy apps into the field.

Stealth

Making the invisible visible with human-safe millimeter waves.

Stealth

Rethink 3D printing for a 20x speed-up.

Stealth

Software-defined LIDAR for more flexible perception.

Why Ubiquity

I've lived the founder life.

I've been a founder and navigated the ups and downs of startup life. I know how deeply terrifying it can be to have everything on the line and how rewarding it is. I connect with founders because I've been one and, in starting my own fund, continue to be.

I love engineering.

I've been coding since I was a kid and am still in love with engineering. I like to dive into a specific technology and learn things from the code level up. By combining this with my tight sector focus, I'm usually well-versed in your sector before our first meeting. If I'm not, I aim to be by the time I invest. If I don't or can't understand how something works at a technical level, I probably won't invest.

I bring years of venture know-how and connections.

In my years at an institutional VC firm and as a VC-backed founder/CEO, I was part of startup failures and billion-dollar exits. I've learned first-hand how institutional investors think and how to work best with them. I've also built connections across sectors and stages that we can tap into to grow your company.

I move at founder speed.

With no additional partners to meet nor extra hoops to jump through, I typically move from first meeting to offer within a few days, setting these companies on an accelerated track from the outset. You don't have to be in my network for us to talk about your idea or startup. and I will answer. Once you join the Ubiquity portfolio, your company is a top priority. I am always available to the founders I back as we constantly iterate and workshop in real-time. Beyond that, the Ubiquity Extended Team of over 30 experts helps with strategy, product, marketing, sales, and finance.

Contact

Ubiquity works with entrepreneurs and nerds from pre-idea to early revenue -- reach out based on where you are.

Pre-Idea

You are a technical expert at something related to software beyond the screen or in the real world.
Let's have coffee and talk about the latest in your technical field.
Email coffee@ubiquity.vc. Please include your LinkedIn URL and links to your work.

Idea

You have uncovered a technical innovation or a pocket of unmet demand (hopefully both).
Let's discuss your idea and what to prioritize in those first weeks/months (whether or not venture capital eventually plays a role).
Email ideas@ubiquity.vc. Please explain your idea in 1-2 sentences with very specific terms, ideally avoiding high-level business words. For example, "ML model to detect X" or "$30 BOM device for X customers to accomplish Y".

Product

You have built an alpha product and may have shown it to prospective customers.
Let's meet to talk through a potential investment. No pitch deck required.
Email pitches@ubiquity.vc. Please describe your target customer and then describe your product to me as if I were them. Share your early product's features and describe any customer development or validation from prospective customers. Shorter is better (1-2 paragraphs), a screenshot or beta link is helpful, and attachments aren't required (and at most one).