More $$$ for robots: Matter Venture Partners closes $450M Fund II to back robotics startups
Matter Venture Partners has closed its second fund at $450 million to back early-stage hard tech startups in areas like robotics, physical AI, semiconductors and AI infrastructure.
Matter Venture Partners, an early-stage VC firm based in Los Altos, California, has closed its second fund at $450 million. The fund will back early-stage "HardTech" startups in semiconductors, robotics and physical AI, AI infrastructure, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, energy, and AI for science.
Most of the limited partners are strategic industrial companies: ASML, TSMC, Quanta Computer, Nitto Denko, Resonac, and Sojitz, plus Development Bank of Japan and Kleiner Perkins. Matter says these LPs work directly with its portfolio companies as technology collaborators, early customers, co-investors, manufacturing partners, and suppliers.
Three people founded Matter in 2023. Wen Hsieh spent 17 years at Kleiner Perkins, where he led the HardTech practice as a managing partner. Haomiao Huang is a repeat founder who invested alongside Hsieh at Kleiner. Mel Tang was previously CFO of Ring, SpinLaunch, and Demand Media.
Robotics is already a big part of the portfolio.
Matter backed Rhoda AI, which raised a $450 million Series A in March 2026 to build robotic intelligence that can be deployed quickly in real-world environments. It also backed Path Robotics, which makes robotic welding systems and recently signed agreements with Huntington Ingalls Industries to speed up and scale U.S. shipbuilding. Other portfolio companies include Q.ai, which Apple acquired in January 2026; Ambiq, which went public in July 2025; and AI infrastructure companies Eridu, Volta, and ChipAgents.
"If AI is going to eat the world, hardware will be its teeth," Huang said in the announcement.
Hsieh focused on the firm's global reach.
"HardTech is global from day one," he said, adding that scaling these startups requires "navigating complex supply chains, manufacturing scaleup, technology partnerships, talent management and customer relationships around the world."
Matter has operating partners, advisors, and LPs in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Mexico, the Middle East, and Europe.
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I tell stories with data and build startups. I've raised angel and VC funds, led software companies and startups, and chronicled the rise of the mobile economy. Currently I write for Forbes, host several podcasts, and am starting up HumanoidMegaHub. I was TUNE's mobile economist and Singular's VP of Insights, built the research team at VentureBeat, and managed teams creating software for partners like Intel and Disney. In past lives I built websites, e-learning platforms, and mobile apps, and, a long time ago, was named to Folio's top 100 of the media industry's "most innovative entrepreneurs and market shaker-uppers.”