Julian Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Julian Capital is a deeptech seed fund investing across all deeptech sectors worldwide including chips, chemicals, energy, robotics, sensors, and medtech. The fund was founded by Julian Shapiro, former VP of Marketing at Webflow, along with co-investors Jacob Jackson and John Forbes. The fund's philosophy is to be "the first check for deeptech founders" and provide genuine operational value beyond capital.
The firm explicitly states: "We become your growth team. We design your website. We write 750K-1M checks. We invest in deeptech. We decide in 14 days." This positioning reflects Julian Shapiro's deep background in growth marketing, product design, and startup operations, combined with domain expertise from Jacob Jackson in healthcare technology and manufacturing, and John Forbes' experience with early-stage venture investing at Dorm Room Fund.
Core Investment Strategy
Julian Capital operates with a unique dual-value proposition:
Full-Stack Operational Support:
- The fund literally builds and maintains portfolio company websites from scratch, using in-house design capabilities
- Provides hands-on growth strategy and market acquisition support
- Offers sales and marketing expertise backed by Julian Shapiro's track record at Webflow and Heap Analytics
- Available for daily Slack-based business incubation and GTM research
Network Advantage Through DeepChecks.vc:
- Founded and operates DeepChecks.vc, which is described as "the largest source of deeptech deal flow in the world"
- Maintains a specialized founder CRM spanning all deeptech niches from mining robotics to photonic chip interconnects
- Can introduce portfolio companies to thousands of scientific founders, early customers, partners, suppliers, and advisors
- Provides deal flow and investor introduction capabilities for future fundraising rounds
Stage Focus & Check Size
Investment Stages:
- Primary focus: Pre-Seed and Seed stage
- Willing to participate in later-stage rounds for existing portfolio companies
- Typical investment: $750,000 (average check)
- Range: $750K-$1M based on company stage and capital needs
Based on PitchBook data, Julian Capital has made 30 investments with 3 exits, demonstrating active deployment.
Recent Investment Activity
Recent Investments (2024-2025):
- September 2025: Atlas Technology Solutions (BPO/Outsource Services)
- June 2025: Reflex Robotics (robotics/hardware)
- March 2025: Volition (vertical market software)
- January 2025: Occam (devices and supplies, stealth mode)
- July 2024: Astro Mechanica (aerospace and defense)
- July 2024: Hexium (energy/laser isotope enrichment)
- July 2024: Eeva (household appliances/climate tech)
- June 2024: DealCart (internet retail)
- February 2024: Torch (logistics)
Notable Portfolio Companies:
- Aalo (nuclear energy production)
- Extropic (thermodynamic computing and power generation)
- Astro Mechanica (aerospace/hypersonic flight)
- Parallel Bio (organoid and biotech)
- Occam (neurotechnology/brain monitoring)
- Reflex Robotics (industrial robotics for dangerous work)
- Atomic (AI-powered manufacturing)
- Hexium (laser technology for isotope enrichment)
Fund Status: Actively deploying from first fund, evidenced by steady investment pace through 2025.
Decision Process & Timeline
Decision Structure: Partnership model with three active investors (Julian Shapiro, Jacob Jackson, John Forbes) collaborating on investment decisions
Speed: The fund explicitly commits to "decide in 14 days" for qualified submissions, making it one of the fastest decision-making seed funds in the market
Founder Interaction: Direct engagement with founders through daily interactions, website/product feedback, and GTM strategy collaboration
Geographic Focus
Primary: United States (San Francisco-based) Secondary: Global deeptech founders welcomed, with focus on founders with strong technical fundamentals regardless of location Investment Geography: Worldwide deeptech opportunities
Sector & Technology Focus
Primary Deeptech Sectors:
- Chips and semiconductors
- Energy (nuclear, thermal, efficiency)
- Robotics and automation
- Materials science and chemistry
- Medtech and life sciences
- Aerospace and defense
- Advanced manufacturing
- Environmental/climate tech
Technology Preferences:
- Hardware and physical products (exclusive focus)
- Deep science and hard tech
- AI/ML for optimization and manufacturing
- Materials and chemistry innovation
- Biotech and biologics
Explicit Non-Interest: Pure software without hardware/deep tech components (fund states "no software or AI investments" - meaning AI as the core product, not as enabling technology)
Team Background & Expertise
Julian Shapiro (Managing Partner & Founder):
- Background: Engineer, open-source creator (Velocity.js, used by WhatsApp, Samsung, Uber)
- Career: VP of Marketing at Webflow (4B+ valuation, first 8 employees), growth lead at Heap Analytics (960M+ valuation)
- Founder of Demand Curve (YC S19), largest educator of growth marketing for startups
- Operates Bell Curve (growth agency) and Julian.com (founder education platform)
- Industry recognition: Stripe Open Source grant recipient, Forbes profile, TechCrunch columnist
Jacob Jackson (Investor & Partner):
- Founder experience: Founded medical device company
- Revenue leadership: CRO at MedStack (healthcare DevOps platform), Head of Growth at Mammoth (enterprise decarbonization)
- Brings: Extensive sales, ops, and hardware/climate company scaling experience
John Forbes (Investor & Partner):
- 4-year Partner at Dorm Room Fund leading competitive early-stage investments
- Portfolio companies: Ash, Endex (multiple successful early investments)
- Operator: Co-led sales and product scaling at disaster coordination platform
- Expertise: Sales, product development, PMF achievement
Founder Preferences
Julian Capital targets technical founders building deeptech solutions:
- Scientists and researchers transitioning to entrepreneurship (ideal profile)
- Engineers with deep domain expertise in physics, chemistry, materials science, robotics
- First-time entrepreneurs from academic or research backgrounds
- Founders willing to learn commercialization and GTM
- International founders welcome if technology merit is exceptional
The fund is explicitly founder-friendly and non-dilutive in governance approach (based on Dorm Room Fund heritage and partnership model).
Lead Tendency
Yes, the fund leads rounds. Based on website positioning ("first check for deeptech founders") and recent investment activity, Julian Capital appears to lead Seed rounds and participate in follow-on investments for existing portfolio companies. The firm can and does lead when technology merit is strong.
Competitive Positioning
Julian Capital differentiates itself within the deeptech VC landscape through:
- Founder-first operations: Literally builds websites and manages GTM, not just capital allocation
- Speed: 14-day decision timeline vs. industry standard 4-8 weeks
- Specialized deal flow: DeepChecks.vc gives unparalleled access to deeptech founders and ecosystems
- Solo GP structure: Streamlined decision-making without committee delays
- Relevant founder experience: Julian Shapiro has built and scaled SaaS companies (Demand Curve, Webflow experience)
- Hardware-focused: Explicit focus on physical deeptech, not AI-only or software plays
Fund Performance & Exits
Based on PitchBook data:
- Total investments: 30
- Active portfolio: 27
- Exits: 3 (Tazah Technologies out of business October 2025, Kita Commerce June 2023, Noya Environmental)
- Co-investors: 174+ (including Alumni Ventures, Mana Ventures, Fifty Years, Lowercarbon Capital, Pioneer Fund)
The fund maintains strong co-investor relationships with other deeptech specialists, indicating high market respect.
Investment Decision Framework
The fund makes investments based on:
- Technical merit - Deep tech validation through founder expertise
- GTM potential - Can we help build customer acquisition?
- Market timing - Is there policy/customer readiness?
- Founder execution capability - Can they scale to Series A?
The firm's commitment to GTM support reflects belief that deeptech founders often lack commercialization experience, creating an opportunity for value-add venture capital.
Notable Company Builder Examples
Julian Capital highlights three portfolio company partnerships showing their operational model:
Extropic.ai (Thermodynamic Computing):
- Julian Capital built every version of their website
- Built entire sales acquisition funnel
- Embedded operationally since day one
- Founder feedback: "Julian Capital is the best deal in silicon valley for founders"
Aalo (Nuclear Energy):
- Built website and maintain ongoing
- Advise on social content strategy
- Bring investors to every new fundraise
- Deep involvement in Series funding
Stealth Company (Unicorn Founder's Second Venture):
- First check into unicorn founder's second company
- Deep Checks CRM enabled 100s of GTM research calls
- Daily Slack-based business incubation
- Helped identify and validate core thesis through research
How They Help After Investment
Beyond capital, Julian Capital provides:
- Website design and build (using in-house design team)
- Go-to-market strategy and execution
- Customer acquisition strategy
- Investor introductions for future rounds
- Operational mentoring and daily availability
- Access to Deep Checks founder and investor network
- Sales and marketing expertise
Summary Assessment
Julian Capital represents a specialized seed fund combining deep technical domain knowledge (deeptech across chips, energy, robotics, medtech) with genuine operational expertise in growth marketing and GTM execution. Founded by Julian Shapiro, a product and growth expert from Webflow and growth agencies, the fund explicitly positions itself as "the first check for deeptech founders" and backs this positioning with hands-on operational support.
The firm's unique value proposition—building websites, designing GTM, and providing 14-day decision timelines—combined with the DeepChecks.vc platform, makes it particularly attractive to technical founders from research or engineering backgrounds lacking commercialization experience. Recent investment activity (30 total investments, 27 active) demonstrates active deployment and strong market respect from co-investors.
Key differentiator: Unlike most VCs who provide capital and introductions, Julian Capital literally becomes the GTM team for portfolio companies, particularly appealing to scientists and engineers transitioning to entrepreneurship.