NewBuild Venture Capital Research
Investment Thesis
NewBuild Venture Capital is a thematic early-stage firm that backs founders "transforming the physical enterprise." The core belief is that enterprise supply chains, from procurement of materials through manufacturing, warehousing, supplier management and the logistics of delivering goods, are under pressure from market disruption, sustainability needs, security risk and geopolitics, while cloud, data, AI and robotics have reached a historic level of technology readiness. NewBuild looks for founder-market fit and a core technical insight that unlocks a category, in spaces where the partners have depth. The firm says Physical AI infrastructure is a key focus for 2026, and its most recent investments have also leaned into AI datacenter supply chain: planning, portability and energy efficiency.
Sector Focus
Investments cluster around supply-chain-related deeptech, infrastructure software and applications:
- Agentic workflows for procurement, inventory, logistics and spend audit (Freehand, Pull Logic, Drumkit)
- Decision intelligence and supply planning (Lyric)
- AI for manufacturing and semiconductors (Cognichip)
- Datacenter buildout and energy supply chain (Elyrian)
- Freight tech, payments and risk (Manifold Freight, OnRamp, Pillar)
- Horizontal AI, data and agent infrastructure (Canyon Code, Dodge AI, Precursory, Rockfish Data, Weav.AI)
Stage Focus
Pre-seed and seed. The firm wants a minimum viable product and some proof of customer interest, such as a pilot or early revenue, and helps founders move from "proof of value" to "proof of market." Series A and B founders are welcome to talk, but the firm says it is usually too late for an investment from NewBuild.
Check Size and Ownership
Initial checks range from $500K to $2M, with occasional smaller participating checks at the edge of the thematic focus. Target ownership is about 10%, with flexibility for later-stage category leaders or network investments.
Lead Tendency
Prefers to lead or co-lead. It will usually lead a pre-seed round and can lead or co-lead seed rounds.
Recent Activity
The portfolio page lists 2026 investments in Elyrian, Dodge AI, Canyon Code and Precursory, 2025 investments in Freehand and Pull Logic, and 2024 investments in Cognichip, Manifold Freight and Rockfish Data. Freehand's page blurb notes a $75M Series B. A directory listing from How Women Lead reported 80%+ of Fund I closed with 9 investments; that listing is undated, so current fund status is treated as actively deploying based on 2026 deal activity. Managing Partner Rohini Chakravarthy was featured in Snowflake's Startup 2026 report (Feb 2026) and appeared on the Sure Ventures podcast (Sep 2026).
Portfolio Highlights
Current investments include Freehand, Cognichip, Lyric, Drumkit, Pull Logic, Pillar, Manifold Freight, OnRamp, Weav.AI, MachineFi, Rockfish Data, Elyrian, Dodge AI, Canyon Code and Precursory. The partners' prior investments, personally or at earlier firms, include Lime, Zum, Superhuman, Goldcast, Platform9, Shadowfax, SVT Robotics, SpaceFill, Cacheflow, Luxtera, Valtix, Immuta, Springpath, Helium, Innovium, Fusion-IO, Aquantia and Aerospike.
Team
- Rohini Chakravarthy, Managing Partner. Over 20 years of investing at NGP Capital, NEA and Intel Capital, with 15+ boards. Leads most of the agentic, datacenter and semiconductor deals.
- Chad Bailey, Partner. Focus on logistics, freight and mobility; early investor in Lime and Zum.
- Madhav Durbha, Venture Partner.
- Advisors: Prith Banerjee (Synopsys, former Ansys CTO), RD Deshmukh (ID Logistics), Scott Rosenberg (257.co), Aparna Chennapragada (eBay board, former Microsoft CPO), Pankaj Dugar (AI21 Labs), Partha Ramachandran (project44 CTO).
Decision Process
Small partnership. The whole team engages with each company, and founders also meet advisors and network contacts during a timely diligence process. Rohini and Chad have worked together since 2018.
Founder Preferences
Founders with deep founder-market fit in supply chain, a core technical insight (often university IP, such as UT Austin or Georgia Tech spinouts), a working MVP and early customer pilots, targeting US enterprises as the initial market. Location is flexible, including headquarter-less teams and Delaware companies with development teams abroad.
Working Style
Takes board seats or observer roles, helps with product-market fit, pricing and channel strategy, and brokers customer introductions and follow-on capital. Hosts events such as the Supply & Demand Innovation Summit at Snowflake's SVAI Hub and past Women in Supply Chain Summits.
Geographic Focus
US and Canada, with the US enterprise as the primary target market. The firm works from co-working spaces in Menlo Park and San Francisco.