First Star Ventures: Funding, Team & Investors

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First Star Ventures: Funding, Team & Investors | Startup Intros

About

First Star Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage frontier computing startups within the U.S. The firm targets companies leveraging artificial intelligence, biotechnology, data science, and machine learning to develop disruptive technologies. It adopts a conviction-based investment strategy, partnering with visionary and technical founders who are building solutions to complex real-world problems.

The firm was co-founded in 2014 by Drew Volpe and Millie Liu, initially operating as Procyon Ventures. Volpe brings a background as an accomplished investor, entrepreneur, and technologist, while Liu has dedicated her career to deep technology ventures. Their combined insight led to establishing a firm dedicated to identifying and supporting founders building companies that promise to deliver global impact through innovative technological advancements.

First Star Ventures works with early-stage companies at the forefront of technological innovation. Its long-term vision is to actively contribute to shaping a better future by investing in and nurturing the development of frontier computing technologies. The firm aims to support its portfolio companies' growth and strategic evolution, fostering impactful advancements across various sectors.

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Nov 10, 2025	Extellis	$6.8M Seed	Justin Wright-Eakes	Blue Lake VC, Duke Angel Network, EGB Capital, Front Porch Ventures, New Industry VC
Oct 1, 2025	CoMind	$60.0M Series A	—	Entrepreneur First, LocalGlobe, No Label Ventures, Singular, Roxanne Varza, Saturnin Pugnet
Oct 1, 2025	iOrganBio	$2.0M Seed	—	Draper Associates, Hustle Fund, Innospark Ventures, Locus Ventures
Sep 1, 2025	Serenis Health	$14.0M Series A	Elia Stupka, Enrico Fili'	Azimut Libera Impresa SGR, Club degli Investitori, Doorway, FG2 Capital, Invictus Capital, Lumen Ventures, XEquity Venture Club
May 1, 2025	Nuevocor	$45.0M Series B	Elia Stupka, Amanda Gett-Chaperot	Seventure Partners, Boehringer Ingelheim, ClavystBio, EDBI, SEEDS Capital
Apr 1, 2025	Sats Terminal	$2.0M Seed	Draper Associates	Alchemy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Goat Capital, Hustle Fund, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Innospark Ventures, Locus Ventures, NFX
Oct 1, 2024	Phaseshift Technologies	$3.0M Seed	Innospark Ventures	Bascom Ventures, Congruent Ventures, Draper Associates, Endeavor8, Hustle Fund, Locus Ventures, Wisdom LLP
May 1, 2024	Zanskar	$30.0M Series B	Obvious Ventures	Define Ventures, Gigascale Capital, Jetstream, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Marc Benioff, William Miller, Clearvision Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Munich Re Ventures, Safar Partners, Union Square Ventures
Mar 1, 2024	Loop AI - Delivery Intelligence Platform	$6.0M Seed	Rexhep Dollaku	Base10 (Base10 Partners), Blackhorn Ventures, BoxGroup, Green Bay Ventures, Mango Capital, Orca Climate Fund, Pace Capital, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Matthew Chagan, Niraj Mehta, Afore Capital
Feb 1, 2024	Northwood Space	$6.0M Seed	—	AME Cloud Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Asymmetric Capital Partners, Caffeinated Capital, Founders Fund, Hardware Club, Haystack, Hoxton Ventures, Humba Ventures, LAUNCHub Ventures
Feb 1, 2024	Fervo Energy	$240.0M Series D	—	Congruent Ventures, Endeavor8
Nov 1, 2023	Koyeb	$7.0M Seed	—	83North, Acequia Capital, Alven, Base10 (Base10 Partners), Blackhorn Ventures, BoxGroup, General Catalyst, Green Bay Ventures, Index Ventures, Kima Ventures, La Famiglia, Mango Capital, Motier Ventures, Orca Climate Fund, Pace Capital, Pentagram Ventures, Seedcamp, Serena Capital, Alexis Le-Quoc, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Amirhossein Malekzadeh, Bastian Nominacher, Didier Valet, Florian Douetteau, Justin Ziegler, Matthew Chagan, Niraj Mehta, Nkechi Iregbulem
Oct 1, 2023	Cedar	$3.0M Seed	Caffeinated Capital	Alumni Ventures, Charge Ventures, Haystack, Humba Ventures, TitletownTech, Vishal Rao, Maria Davidson, Alumni Ventures, David Rubenstein, Tishman Speyer
Aug 1, 2023	ParadeDB	$2.0M Seed	—	Altair Capital Management, Balderton Capital, Benchmark, Cubit Capital, First Round Capital, GIT1K, Gradient Ventures, Magma Partners, Olima Ventures, Preston-Werner Ventures, Tribe Capital, Uncork Capital, Y Combinator, Alexandre Prot, Bradley Horowitz, David J. Phillips, Dharmesh Shah, Didier Valet, Guillaume Princen, Immad Akhund, Jeff Seibert, Michael Stoppelman, Nate Matherson, Nitay Joffe, Paul Graham, Rich Miner, Tom Blomfield, Wayne Chang
Jul 1, 2023	Trebellar	$4.0M Seed	—	2xN, Awesome Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Caffeinated Capital, Cubit Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Everywhere Ventures (The Fund), FirstHand Alliance, Geek Ventures, Haystack, Helium-3 Ventures, Humba Ventures, Immeasurable, Initialized Capital, Jetstream, LombardStreet Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Shield Capital, SNR, Charlie Songhurst, Daniel Kan, Immad Akhund, James Park, Julian Shapiro, Juney Ham, Keith Masback, Matt Bellamy, Nate Cavanaugh, Rayn Ong, Roger Dickey, Alt Capital, K Fund
Jun 27, 2023	Salient	$3.1M Grant / Other Equity	—	Munich Re Ventures, Powerhouse Ventures
Apr 1, 2023	Blumen Systems	$1.0M Seed	—	Bain Capital Ventures, Caffeinated Capital, Cambrian Ventures, CRV, Fin Capital, First Round Capital, Flexcap, Haystack, Humba Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, Nine Four Ventures, Preston-Werner Ventures, PruVen Capital, QED Investors, Transmedia Capital, Twenty Two Ventures
Mar 1, 2023	Genialis	$13.0M Series A	Hamzeh Abdul Hadi	INBlockchain, SOSV, Uncorrelated Ventures, P5 Health Ventures, Pikas, Redalpine
Mar 1, 2023	Piclo	$10.0M Series B	Future Energy Ventures, Clean Growth Fund	Base10 (Base10 Partners), Blackhorn Ventures, BoxGroup, EDP Ventures, Green Bay Ventures, Mango Capital, Orca Climate Fund, Pace Capital, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Matthew Chagan, Niraj Mehta, Nkechi Iregbulem, Green Angel Syndicate, Japan Energy Fund, Sustainable Future Ventures, Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions
Feb 1, 2023	Robigo	$7.0M Seed	Congruent Ventures	Awesome People Ventures, Banana Capital, Ali Tamaseb, Electric Capital, FJ Labs, Gradient Ventures, Infinite Niches, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Paradigm, Precursor Ventures, Social Capital, Adam D'Angelo, Andy Coravos, Anthony Pompliano, Charlie Feng, Dylan Field, Jen Rubio Butterfield, Julia DeWahl, Scott Belsky, Tonio DeSorrento, Good Growth Capital
Dec 1, 2022	CoMind	$27.0M Series A	—	LocalGlobe
Jul 1, 2022	Turso	$7.0M Seed	Dave Zilberman	01 Advisors, Accel, H.I.G. Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, M12, Norwest Venture Partners, Owl Rock Capital Partners, SNR, Armando Mann, Blumberg Capital, Essence VC, Mango Capital, Netlify
Jul 1, 2022	FYTO	$15.0M Series A	GV	Andreessen Horowitz, FirstMark Capital, Merak Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Munich Re / HSB Ventures, Tiger Global Management, Trucks Venture Capital, David Lieb, Dmitry Dakhnovsky, Joi Ito, Marc Benioff, AgFunder, Bolt, Refactor Capital
Jun 3, 2022	Salient	$5.4M Seed	Paul Straub	Blindspot Ventures, Endeavor8, Munich Re Ventures, Powerhouse Ventures
Jun 1, 2022	VistaPath Biosystems	$4.0M Seed	Moxxie Ventures	B Capital Group, Convective Capital, Powerhouse Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at First Star Ventures.

Leadership Team

Key people at First Star Ventures.

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

First Star Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on empowering visionary technical founders working on frontier computing technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), decentralization, computational biotech, connected sensors, AR/VR, and blockchain. Their investment philosophy centers on backing entrepreneurs solving real-world problems with deep technology, providing strategic support and leveraging a strong network to accelerate startup growth and market navigation. The firm primarily invests in early-stage companies with transformative ideas that have the potential to disrupt industries and shape the future of technology[1][2][4].

Origin Story

Founded in 2014 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, First Star Ventures was established by Drew Volpe and Millie Liu, both of whom bring deep technical and entrepreneurial experience. Drew Volpe has a background in search, machine learning, sensors, mobile, computational bio, and blockchain technologies, while Millie Liu has a strong track record in data analytics startups and AI healthcare platforms, including co-founding an MIT startup and advising MIT CSAIL. Their combined expertise and vision have shaped the firm’s focus on frontier technologies and deep tech startups. Over time, First Star Ventures has evolved to emphasize early-stage investments in sectors like biotech, clean tech, and business services, maintaining a data-driven and operator-first approach to venture investing[1][4][6].

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Focus on frontier computing technologies with a conviction to back visionary technical founders at the earliest stages.
Network Strength: Access to strategic partners across industries and regions, enabling portfolio companies to scale rapidly.
Track Record: Participation in over 50 deals with notable exits, leveraging a data-driven and operator-first investment style.
Operating Support: Hands-on assistance in product development, market strategy, and fundraising, drawing on partners’ deep technical and entrepreneurial backgrounds[1][4][5].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

First Star Ventures rides the wave of accelerating innovation in frontier technologies such as AI, ML, decentralization, and computational biotech. The timing is critical as these sectors are experiencing rapid technological breakthroughs and growing market demand. By focusing on deep tech startups, the firm helps bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and commercial application, influencing the broader ecosystem by nurturing companies that could redefine industries like healthcare, data analytics, and decentralized systems. Their emphasis on early-stage investments in these emerging fields positions them as key enablers of the next generation of technological innovation[1][2][4].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, First Star Ventures is likely to deepen its focus on frontier computing and biotech, leveraging its strong technical expertise and network to identify and support breakthrough startups. Trends such as AI democratization, decentralized finance, and computational biology will shape their investment journey. As these technologies mature, First Star Ventures’ influence may grow, helping to define new market standards and fostering innovation ecosystems globally. Their commitment to visionary founders and deep technology positions them well to remain a pivotal player in the venture capital landscape focused on transformative tech[1][4][6].

Sources

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Focus on frontier computing technologies with a conviction to back visionary technical founders at the earliest stages.
Network Strength: Access to strategic partners across industries and regions, enabling portfolio companies to scale rapidly.
Track Record: Participation in over 50 deals with notable exits, leveraging a data-driven and operator-first investment style.
Operating Support: Hands-on assistance in product development, market strategy, and fundraising, drawing on partners’ deep technical and entrepreneurial backgrounds[1][4][5].