Key Takeaways
- • Ondine Capital announced the first close of Ondine Capital Fund III, its third U.S. dollar-denominated venture capital fund, with commitments from institutional and strategic investors including several leading Taiwanese semiconductor companies.
- • The fund targets AI, semiconductors, AI infrastructure, enterprise software, and physical AI startups, expanding on the firm's prior deep-tech and semiconductor investing.
- • Early Fund III portfolio companies named include Recursive Superintelligence (founded by Richard Socher), Bot Auto (founded by Xiaodi Hou), and Salience Labs, which recently completed a $125 million round led by Bullhound Capital.
- • Ondine Capital appointed Brian Yen, formerly Principal and Head of the Taipei Office at Headline Asia, as Partner to expand international sourcing across Asia.
Summary
Ondine Capital, a venture capital firm focused on frontier technologies, has announced the first close of its third U.S. dollar-denominated venture capital fund. According to the firm's announcement, the fund secured commitments from institutional and strategic investors, including several leading semiconductor companies in Taiwan. Ondine Capital Fund III will invest in emerging businesses across artificial intelligence, semiconductors, AI infrastructure, enterprise software, and physical AI. The strategy spans AI foundation models, next-generation semiconductor architectures, computing infrastructure, AI-native applications, and intelligent systems operating in physical environments. The firm said the participation of strategic semiconductor investors should strengthen its ability to connect portfolio companies with industrial partners and technology expertise.
The firm has already identified several early Fund III investments. Recursive Superintelligence, which develops AI systems focused on recursive self-improvement, was founded by Richard Socher, former Chief Scientist at Salesforce, and includes researchers with experience at OpenAI, Google, and Meta. The startup recently raised $650 million at a $4 billion pre-money valuation in a round led by Google Ventures, with participation from Nvidia and AMD. Bot Auto, founded by former TuSimple co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Xiaodi Hou, is a Houston-based developer of autonomous freight technology applying physical AI to commercial trucking. It recently partnered with Ryan Transportation to launch driverless freight operations along the Houston–Dallas corridor. Salience Labs, founded by Vaysh Kewada and Johannes Feldmann, develops silicon-photonics optical switching technology for AI data centers. It recently completed a $125 million financing led by Bullhound Capital, with strategic participation from AMD Ventures and Intel Capital, and is working with Tower Semiconductor.
Alongside the close, Ondine Capital named Brian Yen as Partner. Yen previously served as Principal and Head of the Taipei Office at Headline Asia, where he built investment relationships across Japan, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. His experience includes consumer technology, agentic services, and physical AI, with investments involving respond.io, forest inc., Braid, and iMotorbike. He will focus on early-stage companies developing intelligent software and physical AI platforms, with the stated aim of expanding the firm's international sourcing and its relationships with entrepreneurs across Asian and global technology markets.
In a statement, Yen said: "The convergence of AI and semiconductors is unleashing unprecedented opportunities across global tech. As these technologies mature, we anticipate monumental value creation throughout the entire stack." The announcement did not disclose the fund's target size or total commitments raised at the first close.
The firm has already identified several early Fund III investments. Recursive Superintelligence, which develops AI systems focused on recursive self-improvement, was founded by Richard Socher, former Chief Scientist at Salesforce, and includes researchers with experience at OpenAI, Google, and Meta. The startup recently raised $650 million at a $4 billion pre-money valuation in a round led by Google Ventures, with participation from Nvidia and AMD. Bot Auto, founded by former TuSimple co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Xiaodi Hou, is a Houston-based developer of autonomous freight technology applying physical AI to commercial trucking. It recently partnered with Ryan Transportation to launch driverless freight operations along the Houston–Dallas corridor. Salience Labs, founded by Vaysh Kewada and Johannes Feldmann, develops silicon-photonics optical switching technology for AI data centers. It recently completed a $125 million financing led by Bullhound Capital, with strategic participation from AMD Ventures and Intel Capital, and is working with Tower Semiconductor.
Alongside the close, Ondine Capital named Brian Yen as Partner. Yen previously served as Principal and Head of the Taipei Office at Headline Asia, where he built investment relationships across Japan, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. His experience includes consumer technology, agentic services, and physical AI, with investments involving respond.io, forest inc., Braid, and iMotorbike. He will focus on early-stage companies developing intelligent software and physical AI platforms, with the stated aim of expanding the firm's international sourcing and its relationships with entrepreneurs across Asian and global technology markets.
In a statement, Yen said: "The convergence of AI and semiconductors is unleashing unprecedented opportunities across global tech. As these technologies mature, we anticipate monumental value creation throughout the entire stack." The announcement did not disclose the fund's target size or total commitments raised at the first close.
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