Red Glass Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Red Glass Ventures invests at the intersection of AI and the physical world. The firm's own site is a single page with one line: "Investing at the intersection of AI and the physical world," plus a contact address ([email protected]) and Menlo Park, CA. Everything else below comes from third-party profiles and the founder's public posts. The fund backs technical founders where AI directly touches atoms: autonomy, robotics, industrials, manufacturing, automotive, construction, defense and national security, health, and energy. It describes itself as looking for critical infrastructure, defense-tech and resilience platforms, and avoids consumer and pure SaaS AI plays.
Stage Focus
The fund describes itself as an early-stage fund covering incubation and formation stage through pre-seed, seed and Series A. It aims to write the first check and to hold high ownership in technically ambitious companies.
Check Size
No check size is published for Red Glass. Founder Bilal Zuberi's earlier bio at Lux Capital cited $100K to $100M across seed and early stage, which does not describe this fund. Check size is left unset. The fund is $150M, which implies first checks in the low single-digit millions with follow-on reserves, but that is an inference and is not recorded.
Lead Tendency
Zuberi's X bio says he "led in Applied Intuition, Nominal, Nozomi, Foundry, more," but that spans his time at Lux and General Catalyst. In the one confirmed Red Glass deal, Foundry Robotics' $13.5M seed was led by Khosla Ventures with Red Glass participating, and Red Glass returned for the $100M Series A led by Marlinspike Partners. On the evidence at hand, lead tendency is unknown.
Recent Activity
- October 2026: participated in Foundry Robotics' oversubscribed $100M Series A, led by Marlinspike Partners, with Khosla Ventures, SE Ventures, Wing VC and Axiom Ventures.
- Early 2026: participated in Foundry Robotics' $13.5M seed led by Khosla Ventures (about $19M total seed, with Hanabi Capital, Embark Ventures, Zero Shot Fund and Recall Capital).
- Late 2026: announced a partnership with Dream Labs (founder post, no date confirmed).
- 2026: Zuberi publicly described raising a $150M first fund. Founded 2025 after he left Lux Capital.
The fund looks actively deploying from its first fund.
Portfolio Highlights
The firm publishes no portfolio page. Confirmed Red Glass investments are Foundry Robotics (AI-first manufacturing and robotics; builds an autonomous factory for assembly; Emeryville, CA) and Dream Labs. Companies Zuberi backed earlier in his career, such as Applied Intuition, Nominal and Nozomi Networks, were investments at Lux or General Catalyst and are not counted as Red Glass portfolio.
Team
- Bilal Zuberi, Founder and Managing Partner: MIT PhD (chemistry background), 11 years as a General Partner at Lux Capital and earlier an investor at General Catalyst. Reportedly led about 65 deals and sat on about 35 boards. Left Lux in 2025 to start Red Glass.
- Adam Zhou, Investor: listed on LinkedIn as an investor at Red Glass Ventures.
Decision Process
Zuberi is the single founding managing partner, so decisions look GP-led. This is an inference; the firm has not described its process.
Founder Preferences
Technical founders building AI-driven solutions with physical-world impact, at formation stage. The firm offers heavy hands-on support, per Zuberi's interviews (the OVNIs podcast describes substantial support to founders).
Geographic Focus
Based in Menlo Park, CA. Foundry Robotics is in Emeryville, CA. No geographic limits are published; the portfolio so far is US-based.
Gaps
No portfolio page, no check size, no stated fund timeline, and few dated deals. Two Red Glass portfolio companies are confirmed; domains were not verified and are left null.