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First Star Ventures

We believe in investing with conviction in visionary, technical founders inventing the future, inventing a better future with frontier computing technology, such as AI/ML, decentralization, edge computing, and techbio.

Cambridge, MA, USA

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Description

First Star Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It focuses on backing breakthrough technologies emerging from leading academic institutions (like MIT and Harvard) and the broader Boston-area deep-tech ecosystem.
  • Pre-Seed & Seed: This is the firm’s core focus. They are often the first institutional check for academic spin-outs.
  • Lab-to-Market: They specialize in the transition of complex intellectual property (IP) and research from university labs into scalable commercial businesses.

First Star operates as a traditional, high-conviction VC fund rather than a public accelerator.
  • Method: Founders typically engage through warm introductions from the Boston deep-tech ecosystem or university tech transfer offices.
  • Focus: They seek "hard tech" opportunities in areas where science and engineering create a significant competitive advantage.


Eligibility

  • Sectors: Deep Tech, AI/ML, Robotics, Synthetic Biology, Digital Health, and Advanced Materials.
  • Geography: Primarily the Boston/Cambridge area and the Northeast US ecosystem.
  • Traction: Investments can be pre-revenue, provided the technical milestones and IP protection are strong.



Process

  1. Academic Sourcing: The team actively monitors research and IP within Boston-area universities.
  2. Technical Vetting: Due diligence includes a rigorous review of the scientific underpinnings and the defensibility of the intellectual property.
  3. Commercialization Path: They work with founders to map the path from a working prototype to a viable commercial product.
  4. Active Partnership: Post-investment, they provide strategic support for regulatory navigation, talent acquisition, and hardware manufacturing challenges.



What an Applicant can Obtain

  1. Specialized Capital: Funding from a firm with expertise in the long development cycles of deep technology.
  2. Ecosystem Access: Direct connections to the Harvard/MIT/Boston academic and research community.
  3. IP Strategy: Guidance on navigating complex patent landscapes and licensing agreements.
  4. Talent Pipeline: Connections to the elite engineering and scientific talent pool in the Boston area.