Investor Profile: First Star Ventures — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

First Star Ventures is a Cambridge, Massachusetts, venture firm that backs visionary technical founders at the earliest stages. Its thesis, stated on its own site, is that as computing evolves it keeps eating more of the world: robots gain spatial intelligence, genomics and CRISPR merge software with biology, and AI brings creative reasoning as well as automation. First Star says it backs the engineers and researchers surfing those new computing waves as they transform massive industries from the ground up.

Investment thesis

The firm looks for strong, defensible technology in hard data and computing, and for founders solving real-world problems with deep technology. Its stated hunting grounds include artificial intelligence, computational biotech, connected sensors, augmented and virtual reality, blockchain and decentralisation. The test, as described by its team in third-party profiles, is defensibility: if a small team could recreate the product quickly, it is unlikely to clear First Star's bar.

Sectors, stages and fund size

First Star invests at pre-seed and seed, and into early-stage rounds, across the United States, with a focus on energy, biotechnology, cybersecurity, robotics and frontier computing. TechCrunch reported in 2022 that its debut fund, launched in 2014 under the name Procyon Ventures, was $10 million, its second fund in 2019 was $25 million, and a third fund was then targeting up to $40 million. No confirmed final close for that third fund was found in the sources read, so the firm's current closed fund size is not publicly disclosed beyond those historic figures. Third-party profiles list cheques of $100,000 to $1 million.

Notable portfolio

First Star's own site highlights PlusOne Robotics, Oort, the identity-threat detection platform, and Swiftly, the transit-technology company, with founders praising fast decisions, fundraising help and hiring support. Other reported investments include Zanskar, which uses AI to find geothermal resources and closed a $12 million Series A, Bedrock Energy, which is working on geothermal heating and cooling for buildings, PhaseShift Technologies, which uses AI to design advanced alloys, and Fyto, which grows sustainable animal feed with robots.

Partners and team

Millie Liu and Drew Volpe are the firm's founding partners, both with MIT research ties and MassChallenge mentoring experience, according to TechCrunch. Teddy Blank is also named on the firm's site in connection with Swiftly.

Programs run, credits and perks

First Star does not publish a standalone accelerator, cohort programme or startup credits scheme in the sources read for this profile. Its platform, as described by portfolio founders, is hands-on help with fundraising processes, introductions that can complete a round, key hires such as a chief financial officer, and counsel when a company hits a rough patch. Founders should value that operating help over any published perks list.

How to apply for funding

Founders can approach First Star through its website, firststar.vc, and a contact email listed in directories as [email protected]. A warm introduction from a technical peer, a MassChallenge contact or a co-investor is likely to carry more weight than a cold note. Lead with the technical insight, why it cannot easily be copied, and the first real-world proof point, whether that is a pilot, a dataset or a working prototype.