Cybernetix Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Cybernetix Ventures is a robotics-focused venture capital firm investing in early-stage robotics, automation, and physical AI startups. Founded in 2021 and led by robotics experts Fady Saad (co-founder of MassRobotics) and Mark Martin (former VP at Analog Devices), the firm believes robotics represents a distinct, nuanced investment asset class with unique dynamics requiring specialized operational insight and sector expertise. The firm's thesis centers on the inevitability of intelligent machines becoming commercially viable through physical AI breakthroughs, and the need for investors who understand robotics' unique challenges and market dynamics differently from traditional software venture investing.
Sector and Market Focus
Cybernetix invests exclusively in robotics, automation, and physical AI across carefully selected vertical markets:
Primary Verticals (Fund I focus):
- Advanced Manufacturing - Factories and production automation
- Logistics & Warehousing - Order fulfillment, warehouse automation, inventory management
- Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) - Construction site automation, surveying, safety
- Healthcare & Medical Devices - Clinical automation, bioanalysis, medical robotics
Emerging Verticals (Fund II expansion):
- Agriculture - Precision farming, yield optimization through robotics
- Climate & Sustainability - Carbon reduction through automation and robotics solutions
Enabling Technologies:
- Industrial AI and machine learning applications
- Cloud infrastructure for robotics
- Cybersecurity for robotics and IoT systems
- Autonomy systems (navigation, perception, control)
- Sensors and edge computing for robotics
Stage Focus and Check Size
Cybernetix focuses on early-stage investments:
- Pre-Seed: Founder-led teams with technical proof of concept
- Seed: Teams with working prototypes and initial customer traction
- Series A: Companies with product-market fit and revenue traction
Typical Check Size: $500K-$3M (seed), up to $11M-$18M+ (Series A)
- Fund I check size range: $60K-$500K (from DB records)
- Fund II targeting larger follow-ons and lead Series A rounds
Lead Tendency
Cybernetix demonstrates a balanced lead/co-lead approach:
- Leads pre-seed and seed investments where they have deep conviction
- Co-leads Series A rounds with strategic corporate partners or larger funds
- Recent example: Led Dash Bio Series A ($11M, June 2025) with Drive Capital, Freestyle Capital, LifeX Ventures, Swift Ventures, The Aligned Fund
- Portfolio follows: Maintains significant follow-on reserve (50%+) for successful portfolio companies
Recent Activity and Fund Status
Fund I Activity (2021-2024):
- Closed at $25M
- Made 23+ investments in robotics startups
- Portfolio has seen significant valuation markups as companies progress through rounds
- Notable exits: NeuroLutions (merged with Kandu, April 2025)
Fund II Fundraising (2025-2026):
- Announced June 3, 2025: Raising $100M Fund II
- Status: Actively fundraising (as of latest news, January 2026)
- Will continue focus on robotics and physical AI at accelerated growth phase
- Expanded focus into agriculture and climate verticals
- Expected to deploy into larger Series A and growth rounds
Recent Investments (2025):
- June 26, 2025: Dash Bio, Series A, $11M lead
- March 21, 2025: Corsha, Series A-II, $18M (cybersecurity for robotics)
- March 14, 2025: NeuroLutions, Series C, $26.55M (pre-exit)
- July 2025: Raise Robotics (construction site safety)
- Portfolio includes: Verve Motion (robotic vision), Enigma Aerospace (autonomous drones), Openshelf (inventory management), Chef Robotics, Impulse Labs
Portfolio Companies and Track Record
Current Portfolio (24+ investments):
Cybernetix maintains a deep, curated portfolio across manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and construction verticals.
Notable Portfolio Companies:
- Raise Robotics - Exoskeleton technology for worker safety in warehouses/grocery
- Cambrian Robotics - AI-driven robotic vision for complex automation (Seed+, $3.5M, March 2024)
- Enigma Aerospace - Long-range autonomous cargo drones for defense and B2B
- Dash Bio - AI and robotics for clinical bioanalysis and drug development
- Openshelf - Robotics and AI for life science inventory management (led by founder of $1.8B Opentrons)
- Corsha - Machine identity platform for robotics and IoT security
- Verve Motion - Robotic vision for complex task automation
- Chef Robotics - Commercial kitchen automation
- Rugged Robotics - Facility automation (warehouses, data centers, construction)
- Airworks - Geospatial surveying for large-scale infrastructure
- Impulse Labs - Industrial robotics innovation
Portfolio Performance:
- 24 total investments
- 2 portfolio exits (recent: NeuroLutions merger with Kandu, April 2025)
- Significant valuation markups in existing portfolio
- Global Robotics AI market valued at $12.77B (2023), projected to reach $124.77B by 2030 (CAGR 38.5%)
Team and Expertise
Core Investment Team:
Fady Saad - Founder and General Partner
- Co-founder of MassRobotics (world's largest robotics and AI startup accelerator)
- Supported and advised multiple startups through robotics ecosystem
- Introduced founders to 150+ VCs in US and globally
- Background: Regional Manager at Nokia Siemens Networks (multimillion-euro acquisitions)
- Education: BS Mechanical Engineering (American University in Cairo), MS Engineering Systems Design and Management (MIT)
Mark Martin - Co-founder and General Partner
- Former VP of Analog Devices Industrial Automation, Sensors, and IoT division ($1B+ business)
- 25+ years executive tech leadership (industrial, healthcare, automotive, consumer)
- Led strategic investments, acquisitions ($100M+), and sold two business units for $450M+
- Education: BS Electrical Engineering (Cornell), MS Engineering Management (Tufts Gordon Institute)
- Board member, advisor, and executive experience
Margaux Sullivan - Marketing Director
- 10+ years brand, communications, and marketing experience
- Former Marketing Director at Link Ventures
- Built firm-wide marketing and brand strategy, drove ecosystem partnerships
- BA from Wheaton College (MA)
Jackson Saunders - Strategy & Operations Lead
- Leads growth strategy and partnerships for Cybernetix
- Former business development at Entrada Therapeutics
- Co-founder and CEO of EcoView (drone-based mapping startup)
- BS Biology, MS Innovation and Management (Tufts)
Benjamin Naovarat - Venture Scout
- MD, venture capital investor background
- Former investor at Texas Medical Center (TMC) Venture Fund (medical devices/therapeutics)
- Physician researcher at McGovern Medical School
- BA Philosophy (Texas A&M), MD (UT McGovern Medical School), MBA (University of Michigan)
Advisory Network:
Cybernetix boasts exceptional robotics industry advisors including:
- Helen Greiner - Co-founder of iRobot, CEO of Tertill (30+ years in robotics)
- Steve Ricci - Former Partner at Flagship Ventures (30+ years early-stage VC)
- Peter Wurman - Co-founder/CTO of Kiva Systems (Amazon Robotics), Sony AI America director, National Inventors Hall of Fame (2020)
- Rick Faulk - CEO of Locus Robotics, 30+ years logistics industry
- Elaine Chen - Director, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, roboticist
- Mark DeSantis - Former CEO of Bloomfield (agriculture AI), Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon
- Amar Sawhney - Serial entrepreneur in medical devices, CEO of Pramand and Instylla
- Miles Arnone - CEO of Re:Build Manufacturing, MIT alum
- Ira Hoffman - CEO of HighRes Biosolutions (lab automation for life sciences)
- Dennis Clarke - CEO of Cummings Properties (commercial real estate, construction)
Decision Process and Founder Engagement
Investment Committee: Partnership model with Fady and Mark as decision-makers, supported by investment team
Founder Profile: Cybernetix backs "passionate, relentless, market-driven founders" who:
- Have deep technical expertise in robotics or relevant hardware domains
- Demonstrate business rigor and unit economics discipline
- Understand their market and competitive dynamics
- Build teams capable of navigating hardware manufacturing complexity
Founder Support: Beyond capital, Cybernetix provides:
- Operational expertise through GP and advisor network
- Connections to corporates, manufacturers, and potential acquirers
- Access to Cybernetix Collective (curated network of startups, executives, corporates, service providers)
- Robotics industry playbook and best practices
Ecosystem and Platform Activities
Cybernetix has built significant platform activities in the robotics ecosystem:
Robotics Invest Conference (Annual):
- 4th annual event in May 2026 (May 26-27)
- Exclusive, capped at 300 attendees (founders, C-suite, investors, corporates)
- High-caliber programming: speakers from Boston Dynamics, JP Morgan, Evercore, Rockwell Automation, Wall Street Journal
- Track record: Founders have secured lead investors, closed partnerships, saved months of work
- Attending its 4th year validates industry leadership
Robotics Tech Week (Annual):
- 2nd annual in May 2026 (May 26-29)
- Anchored by Robotics Invest
- Activates full ecosystem: students, operators, companies, policymakers, researchers
- Focuses on building "connective tissue" across investors, corporates, universities, clusters
The Cybernetix Collective:
- Private, preferred network of best robotics startups, team, advisors, strategic corporates, and service providers
- Community-driven knowledge sharing and partnerships
Robotics Startup Playbook (Launched November 2024):
- "The Robotics Startup Playbook" showing founders and investors how to successfully navigate robotics investment
- Addresses unique challenges of hardware-intensive companies versus software
- Publicly available resource demonstrating thought leadership
Geographic Focus
Primary Investment Regions:
- North America (US and Canada)
- Europe (selective)
Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts (growing robotics innovation hub)
- Leverages Boston's historical robotics expertise (iRobot, Kiva/Amazon, MIT, Tufts)
- Active participant in growing Boston robotics ecosystem
- Recently partnered with Pittsburgh Robotics Network (April 2024) to expand reach
Unique Investment Approach
"Robotics is Different from SaaS": Cybernetix explicitly positions robotics investing as requiring different mindsets, expertise, and risk management than traditional software venture capital:
- Hardware Integration Complexity - Manufacturing, supply chain, capital requirements
- Unit Economics Discipline - Robotics companies must prove business model rigor
- Corporate Partnership Dynamics - Many customers are large enterprises with long sales cycles
- Ecosystem Knowledge - Understanding suppliers, manufacturers, acquirers requires domain expertise
- Capital Intensity - Robotics requires different reserve strategies and follow-on investment patterns
Conviction in Physical AI: Cybernetix sees physical AI as inflection point where:
- Hardware costs are plummeting (making robotics viable)
- Automation demand surging (post-pandemic efficiency focus)
- Trillion-dollar markets emerging (logistics, manufacturing, healthcare)
- Traditional software VC ecosystems inadequate for supporting hardware founders
Recent Press and Visibility
January 30, 2026: Announced 4th annual Robotics Invest and 2nd annual Robotics Tech Week (May 2026)
September 12, 2025: Forbes and TechCrunch coverage - "We are entering a golden age of robotics startups — and not just because of AI"
June 3, 2025: Major announcement of Fund II $100M fundraising
November 14, 2024: Robotics Startup Playbook launch
July 31, 2025: Corsha Series A-II investment ($18M) publicized
Consistent Media Presence: Regular features in TechCrunch, Forbes, The Robot Report, PR Newswire
Investment Velocity and Capacity
- Receives approximately 1,200 deal flow opportunities per year
- Fund I made 23+ investments over ~3 years (7-8 per year)
- Fund II ($100M) positioning for increased deployment rate
- Highly selective: <1% conversion from inbound deal flow
- Demonstrates both conviction in robotics thesis and disciplined capital allocation
Competitive Positioning
Cybernetix differentiates as:
- Sole Focus: Only investing in robotics (vs. broader hardware or deeptech)
- Domain Expertise: 50 years combined experience between founders
- Ecosystem Building: Robotics Invest, Tech Week, Playbook, Collective
- Operational Support: Not just capital; hands-on expertise and network
- Market Timing: Well-positioned for physical AI inflection
- Track Record: Early successes with significant valuation markups in portfolio
Fund Status and Outlook
Fund I: Deployed, mature, seeing successful exits and follow-ons
Fund II: Actively fundraising ($100M target), expected to be deployed through 2025-2027
Firm Trajectory: Clear scaling from $25M (Fund I) to $100M (Fund II) signals strong LP confidence and portfolio performance
Market Tailwinds: Robotics market growing 38.5% CAGR through 2030, creating favorable deployment environment