Earth Foundry Research
Investment Thesis
Earth Foundry is a Chicago-based early-stage venture firm, founded in 2012, that backs technology for what it calls critical industries: energy, water, waste, mobility, agriculture and infrastructure. Its pitch is that roughly $106 trillion is being deployed this decade to rebuild how the world powers, moves and feeds itself, and that supply chain security, resilience and sustainability are reshaping those markets. The firm says it has seen more than 14,000 early-stage innovations, and it describes its edge as an AI backbone, a data moat, deep sector expertise, capital-efficient playbooks and a corporate partner network.
Investment Criteria
The firm's stated criteria are novel and differentiated technology that disrupts the status quo, a clear customer value proposition grounded in sound unit economics, the ability to lead a large or fast-growing market, and a results-driven team looking for a long-term partnership. It invests across hardware, software, services and materials science.
Stage Focus
The approach page says it is calibrated to invest at the earliest stages: pre-seed or seed companies building energy, mobility, water, waste or agriculture innovations. In practice it also participates in Series A rounds led by others (NxLite), and follows on in portfolio companies.
Check Size
The website does not state a check size. Third-party profiles give inconsistent fund figures (a Form D-style offering of $100M for Earth Foundry II, and smaller reported raises), so no check size or AUM is recorded here. The firm says its portfolio companies have raised over $1 billion in follow-on capital, with more than 4x of that non-dilutive.
Lead Tendency
Mixed or unclear. Public announcements show Earth Foundry participating alongside leads (Oxylus Energy seed co-led by Toyota Ventures and Azolla Ventures; NxLite Series A led by Crabtree Lane Alt; Atlas Data Storage seed with ARCH Venture Partners and others). Lead tendency is recorded as unknown.
Recent Activity
- July 2026: participated in NxLite's Series A and debt facility, led by Crabtree Lane Alt.
- October 2025: participated in NxLite's $9.2M Series A announcement.
- May 2025: participated in Atlas Data Storage's seed financing (DNA data storage).
- September 2024: participated in Oxylus Energy's $4.5M seed round.
Third-party trackers describe the firm as active, with about one new investment in the last twelve months.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio page lists 23 companies. Exits are Advanced Diamond Technologies, Digital H2O, Glidepath, Root3 and Tank Utility. Active names include Dragos (operational technology cybersecurity), Span (smart electrical panel), Recurve (grid flexibility markets), Nanograf (energy-dense lithium-ion batteries), E-zinc (long-duration storage), Omnidian (solar performance), Atlas Data Storage, Oxylus Energy, UpSolv, Volexion, Azumo, Earthshot Labs, Ecotone Renewables, Harvest Thermal, Intellihot, Invektek, Network Perception and NxLite. The firm claims an 80%+ portfolio success rate after more than ten years, and a projected 2.6 gigatons of CO2 impact annually by 2030.
Team
- Jason Blumberg: Co-founder and Managing Director. Former Energy Results CEO, McKinsey energy practice, Carlyle's GVW Holdings and Interpublic. Adjunct professor at Chicago Booth.
- Sara Chamberlain: Co-founder and Managing Partner. Built the clean-tech government advisory practice at Wilson Sonsini; earlier GE Energy and GaiaTech. Named to Fortune's list of top climate VCs.
- Piers Wells: Advises on industrial and clean-tech software diligence. Former Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer at Honeywell Connected Enterprise; founded Digital H2O.
- Henry Heitzer: Leads market intelligence and the fund's thesis. Former BCG strategy consultant, PhD in Chemistry from Northwestern.
- Bijoy Shah: Sourcing, early diligence and portfolio support. Previously at Fulcrum, an agtech fund.
- Venture Partners: Frank Egan, Nick Henry-Stolz, Bill Lese, Heidi Lubin, Adam Wallen.
Decision Process
Not disclosed. The firm has two co-founding managing partners who lead investment activity, with a market intelligence function setting thesis and venture partners supporting.
Founder Preferences
Results-driven teams seeking long-term partnership. The firm reports that 78% of its portfolio has diverse or under-represented leadership, and it leans on corporate and catalyst partners, non-dilutive funding expertise and its Chicago and Argonne-area ecosystem ties.
Geographic Focus
Third-party profiles say North America, with Chicago and the Midwest as home base. The website does not state a geographic limit.