Pillar VC’s 2021 Year in Review: $192M Fund III + 29 New Cos

We couldn't have imagined the growth the past 12 months would bring.

From new company creation to new venture funding to newly burgeoning sectors, 2021 was truly a banner year. Thousands of founders joined us to help catalyze the Founder-Led Bio Movement, we expanded our interest in crypto and Web3 with 11 new investments, and we continued to invest in inspiring founders spinning out of the university ecosystem.

We feel grateful to be surrounded by such a supportive community, and we wish you and your families a happy and healthy new year!

by the
numbers

Crypto

+ 11 investments

38%

Biotech

+ 7 investments

24%

Tech

Enterprise, Manufacturing,
FinTech & Consumer

+ 11 investments

38%

Pillar
Stats

Portfolio companies

Pre-seed / seed investments

First capital in

68%

New investments in 2021

Unicorns to date

$192M

In July, we closed $192 million of capital for Pillar III ($169M) and Pillar Select ($23M), our firm’s latest venture funds.

The added capital enables us to amplify our mission of building important, lasting companies — the future “pillars” of our economy. Pillar III will continue to invest in founders at the earliest stages, with a particular emphasis on biotech, crypto, enterprise SaaS and university spinouts.

The
Decentralized
decade

2021 has been a significant year for the crypto markets. Maturing infrastructure paired with broader market acceptance has helped drive values across the space to all time highs. At Pillar, we recognize we’re in a period of exuberance, but believe the ground under the hype represents a significant technological and cultural shift. The caliber of founders flowing into the space and the pace of building strengthen our conviction that the future is decentralized.

Silvio Micali Founder of Algorand

Investing in the Algorand Ecosystem

Algorand powers El Salvador digital currency

The government of El Salvador is developing its blockchain infrastructure on top of Algorand’s technology in partnership with Koibanx, a leading Latin American asset tokenization and blockchain financial infrastructure company.
Read more
Jeremy Allaire Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO

Web 3.0 is Here

Circle plans to go public via SPAC at $4.5B valuation

Circle issues and provides services around a stablecoin cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar called USD Coin.
Read more

Filter:

All

Algorand Ecosystem

Non-Algorand

Raises

New in 2021

Flip to News

Flip to Founders

Spac

$4.5B

Valuation

Circle issues and provides services around a stablecoin cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar called USD Coin.
Read More

Jeremy Allaire, Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO of Circle
Raise

$2.8M

Seed

Algofi is a fast, low-cost lending market and stablecoin protocol built on the Algorand blockchain.
Read More

Owen Colegrove, Co-Founder of AlgoFi
Tinyman is a decentralized trading protocol

Tinyman is a decentralized trading protocol which utilizes the fast and secure framework of the Algorand blockchain, creating an open and safe marketplace for traders, liquidity providers, and developers.
Read More

Kaan Eryilmaz (Image Soon), CEO of Tinyman
Aorist launches in Miami

Aorist is a next-generation cultural institution supporting a climate-forward NFT marketplace for artists creating at the edge of art and technology built on the Algorand blockchain.
Read More

Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile, Co-Founder & CEO of aorist
Republic acquires Seedrs to expand into UK market

Republic is a crowdfunding platform that allows people to invest in crypto offerings. The acquisition will allow them to expand past the US market.
Read More

Kendrick Nguyen, Co-Founder & CEO of Republic
The future of the Loot Box

The Loot Box economic model is broken. People spend ~$20B a year and they have nothing to show for it. Game Jam fixes this.
Read More

Stealth, of Game Jam Protocol
Odysee is a video sharing platform on the blockchain

Odysee is a video sharing alternative to Youtube powered by the LBRY blockchain
Read More

Jeremy Kauffman, CEO of LBRY
Reach allows developers to easily code blockchain applications

Reach language allows developers to easily code blockchain applications without needing to learn a new development language.
Read More

Christopher Swenor, Founder & CEO of Reach
C3 Protocol builds an all-in-one capital market for cross-chain trading

A decentralized capital market powered by a cross-margin cross-collateralization clearing engine protocol.
Read More

Michel Dahdah, Co-founder of C3
Algorand powers El Salvador digital currency

The government of El Salvador is developing its blockchain infrastructure on top of Algorand’s technology in partnership with Koibanx.
Read More

Silvio Micali, Founder of Algorand

The Future of Biotech is Founder-led

There has been an incredible surge in technologies and discoveries in the life sciences, and a record amount of capital is now available to biotech startups. Yet, company creation has lagged. Ideas, technology, and investment capital are no longer the scarcest resources; the limiting reagent is founders.

Together, we have the power to provoke this change.

Andy Beck Co-Founder & CEO

Founder-Led Biotech

PathAI raises $165 Million in Series C Financing

Led by Andy Beck and Aditya Khosla, PathAI creates AI-powered technology for pathology research in laboratories and biopharmaceutical companies. Earlier this year, PathAI signed a strategic partnership with Roche, to develop an integrated digital diagnostic solution for improved patient care.
Read more
Alec Nielsen Founder & CEO

Founder-Led Biotech

Asimov

Asimov is developing a mammalian synthetic biology platform — from cells to software — to enable biotechnologies with outsized impact, with an initial focus on gene therapies, cell therapies, and protein therapeutics.
Read more

Filter:

All

Founder-led

Petri

Sustainability

Raises

New in 2021

Flip to News

Flip to Founders

Raise

$10M

Seed

New Equilibrium Biosciences leverages machine learning to discover drugs that regulate intrinsically disordered proteins (IDP) in cancers and neurodegenerative disorders.
Read More

Virginia Burger, Co-Founder & CEO of New Equilibrium Bio
$25M

Series A

Co-founded by Dan Mandell, Christopher Gregg and George Church, GRO Bio is working on turning lab-invented amino acids into a new class of protein therapeutics.
Read More

Dan Mandell, CEO of GRO Biosciences
Compound Foods featured in New York Times

Compound Foods creates beanless coffee with microbes in the lab, mimicking the flavor and taste of coffee beans to tackle the impact climate change is having on the coffee industry.
Read More

Maricel Saenz, Founder & CEO of Compound Foods
Raise

$11M

Seed

Nabla Bio is developing a platform to enable AI-first protein design and antibody therapeutics.
Read More

Surge Biswas, Co-Founder & CEO of Nabla Bio
Adaptilens received the MA Life Science Center’s MassNextGen Award

Founded by Dr. Liane Clamen, a Harvard-trained ophthalmologist, Adaptilens is developing an intraocular lens mimicking the natural human lens.
Read More

Liane Clamen, Founder & CEO of Adaptilens
Asimov is a mammalian synthetic biology platform

Asimov is developing a mammalian synthetic biology platform — from cells to software — to enable biotechnologies with outsized impact, with an initial focus on gene therapies, cell therapies, and protein therapeutics.
Read More

Alec Nielsen, Founder & CEO of Asimov
Galy wins 2021 LVMH Innovation Award

Galy uses synthetic biology to create lab-grown cotton at 10x the rate of normal production while using 20% of the resources.
Read More

Luciano Bueno, Founder & CEO of Galy
Raise

$10.5M

Seed

Guardian Agriculture has developed an autonomous vehicle called the eVTOL to fertilize crops with a drone and update the traditional crop-dusting process.
Read More

Adam Bercu, CEO of Guardian Agriculture
Raise

$10M

Seed

Kula Bio creates sustainable nitrogen biofertilizers that reduce nitrogen runoff, improves crop yields and reduce the environmental impact of agriculture.
Read More

Bill Brady, CEO of Kula Bio
Yard Stick helps farmers measure carbon soil

Yard Stick helps farmers measure the amount of carbon stored in their soil to accelerate soil carbon sequestration efforts and fight climate change.
Read More

Chris Tolles, Co-Founder & CEO of Yard Stick
Raise

$165M

Series C

Led by Andy Beck and Aditya Khosla, PathAI creates AI-powered technology for pathology research in laboratories and biopharmaceutical companies.
Read More

Andy Beck, Co-Founder & CEO of PathAI

Founder-led Biotech Summit

Earlier this year, Pillar’s Tony Kulesa published, The Future of Biotech is Founder-Led — a commentary on the changing early-stage biotech landscape. The post was a reflection on the work we’ve been doing at Petri for several years — backing PhD students and scientists at formation — and it struck a chord with the wider biotech ecosystem, catalyzing a conversation about founder-led companies in biotech.

900

Summit Attendees

100

Pitch Competition
Submissions

1000

Audience-Choice Votes

$ 100 K

Non-dilutive grant funding

The spirit of community, possibility, and impact really shined through... a perfect balance between science and entrepreneurism.

Bram Frankel, The Abraham Group
Founder-led Biotech Summit Attendee

Thank you Pillar VC team for putting together such a meaningful session. I learned and felt connected with fellow biotech leaders

Danae Moya, DelphiStem
Founder-led Biotech Summit Attendee

Enterprise & Manufacturing

A new world of 3d printing

Desktop Metal Acquires ExOne

Led by Ric Fulop, Desktop Metal is a metal 3D printing company reinventing the way engineering and manufacturing teams produce metal parts. Desktop Metal acquired ExOne earlier this year to cement its leadership position in the additive manufacturing and 3D printing industry.
Read more
Andrew Lau Co-Founder & CEO

The Future of Work

Jellyfish secures $31.5M Series B

Jellyfish was co-founded by Andrew Lau, Phil Braden and David Gourley to drive engineering team productivity and align engineering resources with business priorities.
Read more

Filter:

All

Enterprise

Manufacturing

Raises

Flip to News

Flip to Founders

Raise

$30M

Series A

Neural Magic is building a software platform for machine learning infrastructure founded at MIT.
Read More

Nir Shavit, Co-founder of Neural Magic
Raise

$21M

Series A

Higharc automatically generates 3D home plans based on your needs, letting you access a custom home design without hiring an architect.
Read More

Marc Minor, Founder & CEO of Higharc
Raise

$31.5M

Series B

Jellyfish was co-founded by Andrew Lau, Phil Braden and David Gourley to drive engineering team productivity and align engineering resources with business priorities.
Read More

Andrew Lau, Co-Founder & CEO of Jellyfish
Zapata Computing expands to the UK and Middle East

Zapata Computing was founded by Harvard quantum scientists to develop quantum computing software and algorithms.
Read More

Christopher Savoie, Founder & CEO of Zapata AI
Raise

$15M

Series A

Verve Motion was founded by Harvard PhD student Ignacio Galiana to empower the way people move in the world.
Read More

Ignacio Galiana, CEO of Verve Motion
Fluent Metal brings 3D printing to small metal parts

Fluent Metal will make metal 3D printing economical, efficient, and safe. Led by Peter Schmitt, Fluent Metal is reinventing the way we print metal parts.
Read More

Peter Schmitt, Founder of Fluent Metal
Simbe Robotics expands to 111 stores

Simbe Robotics has developed Tally, an autonomous robot that wanders grocery store aisles to monitor product levels and detect misplaced items.
Read More

Brad Bogolea, Co-Founder & CEO of Simbe Robotics
New commercial and industrial applications for 3D printing

Quadratic is revolutionizing the entire concept of 3D printing to open up new commercial and industrial applications.
Read More

Throop Wilder, CEO of Quadratic 3D
JobGet helps hospitality workers find a job without a resume

JobGet is the job platform for hospitality workers to find a job without a resume.
Read More

Tony Liu, Co-Founder & CEO of JobGet
Desktop Metal Acquires ExOne

Led by Ric Fulop, Desktop Metal is a metal 3D printing company reinventing the way engineering and manufacturing teams produce metal parts, from prototyping through mass production.
Read More

Ric Fulop, Founder & CEO of Desktop Metal

Consumer
& Fintech

Craving for original digital and
IRL experiences

original digital and IRL experiences

Sofar Sounds — Songs from a Room

Sofar Sounds hosts concerts in intimate and unique spaces. Founded in 2009 by Rafe Offer in London and now led by Boston-based CEO Jim Lucchese, it has since expanded to over 400 cities worldwide.
Read more
Jeff Glass President & CEO

Proptech

Hometap raises $60 million

Led by Jeff Glass, Hometap provides alternative financing solutions for homeowners looking to tap into their home equity to liquidity without taking on debt.
Read more

Filter:

All

Consumer

Fintech

Raises

New in 2021

Flip to News

Flip to Founders

Raise

$10M

Series A

Knox provides a smart and frictionless way to turn a home into an investment property.
Read More

David Friedman, Co-Founder & CEO of Knox Financial
Waeve featured in Vogue

Waeve was co-founded by Williams grads Mary Imevbore, Tiiso McGinty and Susana Hawkens to give Black women a place to buy beginner friendly and trend-forward wigs.
Read More

Mary Imevbore, Co-Founder & CEO of Waeve
Raise

$3.7M

Seed

Founded by MIT PhD graduate Suelin Chen, Cake is the leading platform for end-of-life planning, helping over 30 million people navigate death planning and services.
Read More

Suelin Chen, Co-Founder & CEO of Cake
Conjure featured in Architectural Digest

Conjure lets people who move frequently rent designer curated furniture. Available exclusively in New York City, Conjure was featured in Architectural Digest, Thingtesting and Domino this year.
Read More

Daniel Ramírez-Yunqué, Founder & CEO of Conjure
Raise

$60M

Operating Capital

Led by Jeff Glass, Hometap provides alternative financing solutions for homeowners looking to tap into their home equity to liquidity without taking on debt.
Read More

Jeff Glass, President & CEO of Hometap
Sofar Sounds hosts concerts in intimate and unique spaces

Sofar Sounds hosts concerts in intimate and unique spaces. Founded in 2009 by Rafe Offer in London and now led by Boston-based CEO Jim Lucchese, it has since expanded to over 400 cities worldwide.
Read More

, of Sofar Sounds

A growing
community

We were happy to find a way to gather safely with vaccinated friends to talk about life and leadership at The Exchange.

We were seeking human connection this year and felt fortunate for the chance to finally find safe ways to connect face to face.

While it’s clear that we’re all still spending plenty of time on Zoom, we were so happy to spend time with so many of you IRL.

A free virtual event spotlighting and supporting women and under-represented genders in bio.

Watch videos

90

In-person and virtual events hosted in 2021

We brought together 100 leaders from the Boston community for a relaxing two-day mountain retreat. Unplug. Unwind. Connect.

Learn More

20,000

People reached all over the world.

Frequency Bio is a flexible and free virtual program designed to help future founders explore launching a startup.

Apply to Frequency

5

Summits supporting first-time founders.

Petri makes pre-seed investments in companies developing at the frontier of biology and engineering.

Learn More

A week-long, free virtual summit convening founder-led biotech founders, PhDs, scientists, investors and leaders.

Watch videos

Founding
Pillar
News

We’re pleased to welcome our newest Founding CEOs: Chad Laurans (SimpliSafe), Lisa Dyson (Air Protein), Jennifer Holmgren (LanzaTech), Matt Kalish (DraftKings), Paul Lieberman (DraftKings), Bill Brady (Kula Bio), Andras Forgacs (Modern Meadow), Paul Bleicher (Optum), and Doug Cameron (Apeel) to the team.

View all Founding Pillars