Grep Ventures

Grep Ventures (Grep VC) Research

Investment Thesis

Grep VC is a specialized early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2020, headquartered in San Mateo, California. The firm was co-founded by Bruno Bowden and Paul Willard with a singular focus on Robotics as a Service (RaaS). Their thesis is built on the conviction that RaaS will transform enterprise markets the way SaaS did for software—enabling scalable, subscription-based robotic solutions to replace or augment human labor across dozens of verticals.

The firm invests in robots that perform narrow, well-defined skills applied to large markets. Critically, Grep VC focuses on robots built primarily from reliable, inexpensive commodity hardware rather than breakthrough proprietary hardware technology. This distinguishes them from deep-hardware moonshot bets and keeps capital efficiency high for portfolio companies. The firm's tagline is "RaaS is the new SaaS" and their investment mandate reads: "grep invests in early stage Robotics as a Service (RaaS) companies building robots that perform narrow skills applied to giant markets."

Paul Willard now describes himself as a "Physical AI Investor" — an evolution of the RaaS thesis to cover the broader physical AI category including autonomous vehicles, drone delivery, and AI chips built for robotics applications.

Sector Focus

Grep VC's investments span enterprise Robotics as a Service across several broad categories:

• Last-mile delivery and logistics robotics (Zipline drone delivery, Zippedi retail inventory robots)
• Healthcare and accessibility robots (Labrador Systems for mobility-challenged individuals, Glidance for the visually impaired, Queue for autonomous pharmacy fulfillment)
• Commercial facility and outdoor service robots (Electric Sheep for autonomous commercial lawn mowing, Cobalt Robotics for enterprise security, Peanut Robotics)
• Airport and transportation mobility (A&K Robotics autonomous passenger pods)
• Physical AI infrastructure (Rain AI neuromorphic AI chips)
• Autonomous vehicles and driving (Wayve, Zipline)

The common thread is enterprise subscription revenue: robots rented to businesses to perform repeatable, labor-intensive tasks.

Stage Focus

Grep VC is primarily an early-stage investor:

• Pre-Seed: First institutional check for teams with a working prototype or early deployment
• Seed: Primary stage, including both led and co-invested positions
• Series A: Selective follow-on participation in growth rounds for strong performers

The firm has led seed rounds (e.g., Zippedi's $6.9M seed in 2021) and participated in larger later-stage rounds (e.g., Rain AI's later-stage VC round). They consistently show up at the earliest stages, often as one of the first institutional backers.

Check Size

Based on known investments, Grep VC's typical check ranges from approximately $250K to $2M. They led a $6.9M seed at Zippedi — suggesting a significant anchor position of potentially $1–3M in that round. For smaller pre-seed rounds (e.g., Glidance's $1.5M total), their check was likely $250K–$500K. The firm's AUM is not publicly disclosed, but the portfolio size of 10–15 companies and investment pace suggest a fund in the $15–30M range.

Recent Activity

Grep VC has remained actively deploying capital in 2024–2026:

• June 2026: Participated in Queue's $12.6M seed round for the world's first fully autonomous robotic pharmacy (cofounders: Nick Desai and Joshua Liu, formerly of Tesla and Waymo)
• May 2026: Filed GREP VC ZIPLINE SPV I LTD — a dedicated special purpose vehicle for their Zipline drone delivery investment (SEC Form D, filed 2026-05-18)
• April 2026: Participated in A&K Robotics' $8M CAD (~$5.9M USD) Series A to build autonomous mobility infrastructure for airports
• October 2025: Portfolio exit — Electric Sheep acquired by Oso Electric Equipment
• July 2024: Participated in Glidance's $1.5M pre-seed for navigation robots assisting visually impaired people

The filing of a dedicated Zipline SPV in 2026 — more than a decade after Paul Willard joined Zipline as an aerodynamics engineer — signals deep conviction in Zipline's long-term trajectory.

Portfolio Highlights

• Zipline: Drone delivery pioneer performing over 1 million deliveries. Paul Willard has been an Aerodynamics Engineer at Zipline since 2014, making this a uniquely operator-driven position. Grep VC filed a dedicated Zipline SPV in May 2026.
• Electric Sheep: Autonomous commercial lawn mowing robots — acquired by Oso Electric Equipment in October 2025. This is the firm's first confirmed exit.
• Zippedi: Inventory digitization robots for large retailers including America's largest home improvement store; Grep VC led the $6.9M seed round.
• Queue: Autonomous robotic pharmacy that fills verified prescriptions in approximately 30 seconds; backed alongside AlleyCorp, Riot Ventures, House Capital, and Ubiquity Ventures.
• A&K Robotics: "Cruz" autonomous passenger pods deployed at Vancouver, Atlanta, and Madrid airports, providing accessible mobility for people with reduced mobility.
• Rain AI: Neuromorphic AI chips (formerly Rain Neuromorphics); backed by Sam Altman, Y Combinator, Grep VC, and Liquid 2 Ventures. Grep VC acquired Prosperity7 (Saudi Aramco)'s stake following a CFIUS review in 2023.
• Labrador Systems: Home delivery robots for mobility-challenged and elderly individuals; co-investors include Amazon Alexa Fund, iRobot Ventures, and SOSV.
• Glidance: Navigation assistant robots for the visually impaired.
• Cobalt Robotics: Enterprise security robots for commercial buildings.
• Wayve: Autonomous driving company; Bruno Bowden has been an investor from the seed stage.
• Peanut Robotics: Early-stage RaaS company (Seed, May 2022).

Team

• Bruno Bowden, Co-founder & Managing Partner: Seasoned engineer and long-time operator. Led engineering on Google Earth and Enterprise Gmail at Google; led the WHO COVID-19 App. University of Cambridge graduate (Double-First, top 10 of graduating year, 1997–2000). Received Google's EMG Award (2nd highest internal award) for engineering leadership on Google Earth. Based in Portola Valley, CA. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brunobowden

• Paul Willard, Partner: Physical AI investor and engineer. Has been an Aerodynamics Engineer at Zipline since 2014 — an active operator role that runs in parallel with his investing career at Grep VC. Previously a partner at Subtraction Capital (an early-stage fund). Stanford educated. Based in San Mateo, CA. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/paulwillard

The partners describe themselves as "built by operators for operators" and explicitly state that they spend significantly more time in portfolio companies' offices than their own. This hands-on operational approach is a key differentiation.

Investment Approach

Grep VC strongly prefers warm introductions — specifically from people at companies where either Bruno or Paul has worked or invested. They are active on LinkedIn and describe being willing to meet ambitious founders starting RaaS companies and sharing lessons from multiple generations of RaaS evolution.

The decision process is a two-partner partnership. Typical involvement is hands-on at the operational level, consistent with their "operators for operators" positioning.

Geographic Focus

Grep VC is headquartered in San Mateo, California. Their portfolio is primarily US-based with selective international investments: A&K Robotics (Vancouver, Canada), Zippedi (Chile-founded, Bay Area-based), Wayve (UK). They appear geography-agnostic as long as the RaaS or Physical AI thesis applies at enterprise scale.