M1C (Mission One Capital) Research
Investment Thesis
Mission One Capital (M1C) is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2021 by Kiel "Atlas" Berry, headquartered in Miami Beach, Florida. The firm's core thesis is fueling the next industrial revolution by backing founders who are "rebuilding how the world is powered and built." M1C targets three existential threats: climate change, resource depletion, and the inequality gap. They invest at the intersection of frontier technologies — including AI/ML, robotics, IoT, satellites, and advanced automation — with industries undergoing structural transformation.
M1C organizes its portfolio around three investment themes:
- Energy Independence: Companies advancing clean energy generation, EV charging, distributed energy resources, and decarbonization.
- Industrial Resilience: Startups modernizing logistics, manufacturing, supply chain, and industrial operations through automation, AI, and sustainable practices.
- Frontier Industries: Deep tech plays in space, aerospace, advanced materials, and other emerging sectors reshaping what is physically possible.
The firm positions itself as an "action-driven SWAT team" rather than passive capital — they aim to be deeply involved in portfolio operations, providing high-velocity support to founders tackling large systemic problems.
Stage Focus
M1C invests at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages, often as one of the first institutional investors in a round. They do not lead rounds but participate as a value-add co-investor in syndicated rounds alongside other climate, deeptech, and frontier technology funds.
Check Size
Typical check sizes range from $100,000 to $500,000. M1C writes smaller checks relative to lead investors but adds operational and network value through Kiel Berry's background in both Wall Street and entertainment.
Lead Tendency
M1C is a co-investor, not a lead. VCSheet confirms they do not lead rounds. They are best positioned as a value-add participant in rounds where a stronger lead (e.g., Earthshot Ventures, Space Capital, Outlander VC) is anchoring.
Geographic Focus
Primarily the United States and Europe. Their portfolio includes US companies as well as companies based in France (Solarock), Finland/Europe (Twice Commerce, Cloverly), and the UK. Kiel Berry spent time in New York, Johannesburg, and London during his JPMorgan career, giving him a global orientation.
Recent Activity
M1C deployed into several notable rounds in 2025–2026:
- June 2025: Participated in Lux Aeterna's $4M pre-seed, led by Space Capital. Lux Aeterna is building the first fully reusable satellite platform with a deployable heat shield for atmospheric reentry.
- July 2025: Participated in Glīd Technologies' oversubscribed $3.1M pre-seed, led by Outlander VC. Glīd is building autonomous road-to-rail freight infrastructure.
- October 2025: Glīd (portfolio company) was selected for TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 Startup Battlefield 200, a strong signal of early traction.
- February 2026: Participated in Derapi's $7M seed round led by Earthshot Ventures. Derapi builds software infrastructure for distributed energy ecosystems (DER APIs).
In 2023, M1C evaluated 815 deals, wired 10 new investments, and deployed into 6 climatetech sectors across the US, UK, and France.
Portfolio Highlights
M1C has built a portfolio of approximately 29–30+ companies across their three thesis areas:
Energy Independence:
- Chargerhelp! — EV charging station repair and workforce platform (chargerhelp.com)
- Derapi — distributed energy resource API platform (derapi.com)
- Curo — EV charging solutions (curocharging.com)
- Elective — home electrification platform (electivepower.com)
- MinersAI — energy optimization AI (minersai.com)
- Solarock — solar energy (solarock.fr)
- Third Polaris — clean energy (thirdpolaris.com)
- Helio Home — whole-home electrification (acquired, heliohome.io)
- Zevvy — affordable EV leases for gig/essential workers
Industrial Resilience:
- Glīd Technologies — autonomous road-to-rail freight (glidtech.us)
- Maive AI — industrial AI solutions (maive.ai)
- Shovels — construction intelligence platform (shovels.ai)
- ThreeV — industrial tech (threev.ai)
- BetterSea — marine industrial (bettersea.tech)
- Deep Meta — industrial AI (deepmeta.io)
- Dorothy — industrial operations (hidorothy.com)
- Formulate Robotics — robotics for manufacturing
- Twice Commerce — circular commerce / rental SaaS (twicecommerce.com)
- Upfront — industrial data (knowupfront.com)
- MapMortar — construction/mapping (mapmortar.io)
- Victus — autonomous systems (getvictus.ai)
- reverse.supply — circular fashion (acquired, reverse.supply)
Frontier Industries:
- Lux Aeterna — reusable satellite platform (luxaeterna.com)
- Kodama Systems — forestry robotics (kodama.ai)
- LGND — frontier tech (lgnd.io)
- Chicory AI — AI-driven platform (chicory.ai)
- Lumindt — energy/deep tech (lumindt.com)
- Digiteyez — healthcare vision AI (cleareyetest.com)
- Offstream — frontier media/tech (useoffstream.com)
- Cloverly — carbon credit marketplace (cloverly.com)
Notable Exits:
- Helio Home — acquired (whole-home electrification)
- reverse.supply — acquired (circular fashion platform)
Team
The firm is led by a single GP:
Kiel "Atlas" Berry — Founder & Managing Partner Kiel Berry started his career at JPMorgan in mergers & acquisitions, working across offices in New York, Johannesburg, and London. He then built the venture investing arm for Grammy Award-winning rock band Linkin Park, where he identified and led early-stage investments in companies including Lyft, Robinhood, and Impossible Foods. He founded Mission One Capital in 2021 to focus full-time on frontier technology and climate investing. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and has studied at Harvard Business School and University College London. He is a 2x TEDx keynote speaker, a Techstars and MIT Startup Accelerator mentor, and has served on the Technology Advisory Board for both New York City and Delta Airlines.
Decision Process
As a solo GP fund, Kiel Berry makes investment decisions independently. Given their smaller check sizes and co-investor role, decisions tend to move relatively quickly once a founder has been introduced to the firm.
Founder Preferences
M1C backs mission-driven founders solving hard systemic problems at the intersection of sustainability and technology. Warm introductions are preferred. They use a scorecard approach covering traditional due diligence (team quality, market size, business model, defensibility) plus sustainability factors specific to each sector. They value founders who can show tight alignment between impact metrics and business performance.
Anti-Thesis
M1C avoids companies where impact and business model are not tightly coupled, pure consumer-facing businesses without a frontier-tech underpinning, or ventures that do not address at least one of their three core themes (climate, resource depletion, inequality).