While most of Silicon Valley continues to chase the next AI breakthrough, a new venture firm is taking a different route—one grounded in the physical world. CIV has quietly emerged with a $200 million fund aimed at revitalizing essential sectors like manufacturing, energy, and infrastructure.
Led by industry veterans Abhijoy Mitra, Jeff Rosenthal, and Patrick Maloney, CIV is positioning itself as a bold new player in the hard tech movement. The firm’s launch marks a growing investor shift away from software saturation and toward startups solving tangible, real-world challenges.
CIV’s debut fund, announced on April 23, targets early-stage companies working on high-impact technologies—think modular nuclear reactors, next-gen batteries, industrial automation, and advanced manufacturing. Their thesis is clear: the biggest opportunities of the next decade won’t come from another mobile app, but from the infrastructure that powers daily life.
Behind the firm is a team with deep experience across energy and tech. Mitra previously served as a general partner at Coatue Management. Rosenthal co-founded the Summit Series, a platform uniting influential creators and entrepreneurs. Maloney, now CIV’s CEO, built and sold Inspire Energy Capital to Shell, adding hands-on energy experience to the mix.
And they’re not going it alone. The fund’s backers include high-profile names like SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell and Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson—proof that heavyweight investors are betting big on physical infrastructure.
“Our goal isn’t to fund the next viral app,” said Maloney. “We’re focused on companies rebuilding the systems that make society function.”
The timing couldn’t be more strategic. With global energy pressures mounting and the U.S. pushing for industrial self-reliance, investment in hard tech is gaining momentum. Clean energy in particular is booming—nuclear startups like TerraPower and NuScale are redefining the sector, while federal incentives such as the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act are reigniting interest in domestic manufacturing.
In 2024 alone, clean energy startups in the U.S. raised $15.6 billion. CIV wants to carve out a slice of that pie with investment checks expected to range between $5 million and $15 million per startup.
But hard tech isn’t for short-term thinkers. Building infrastructure—especially in sectors like energy and manufacturing—takes time, capital, and resilience. From regulatory hurdles to long development cycles, the road to market is rarely fast or cheap. Yet the upside, if successful, is transformative.
CIV aims to invest in 15 to 20 companies through this fund. The focus spans emerging areas like carbon capture, industrial automation, and sustainable energy systems—sectors often overlooked by traditional VC firms obsessed with rapid software scale.
Fred Wilson summed up CIV’s edge, noting that the team’s depth in energy and industrial tech gives them a rare ability to vet complex, long-term bets.
In an era when many venture dollars are still chasing digital trends, CIV is taking a contrarian but timely path. With national infrastructure under strain and energy systems in flux, the firm is betting the next wave of breakthrough startups will be built in factories—not in app stores.
