Foothill Ventures
Venture capitalLos Altos · Pre-Seed–Series A · 20 people tracked
Investment thesis
Foothill Ventures backs early-stage frontier-tech companies with genuine technical or product-level differentiation, betting that superior technology will drive their success. The firm prioritizes the quality of the founding team, favoring strong technologists with a track record of leadership, and has found particular success with immigrant, female, and PhD founders, leaning into diverse founding teams. It is drawn to cross-disciplinary opportunities where two fields intersect, viewing such collisions as sources of very large outcomes. Its focus spans infrastructure and AI applications, including areas like AI inference and advanced optical interconnect technologies.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.
Team · 20 people
from the firm's website & public directories
What they invest in
from 64 of 205 portfolio companiesAI & Machine Learning ×33Hardware ×12Medical Devices ×12Healthtech ×11Biotech ×10Deep Tech ×10Energy ×10SaaS ×10
HQs:United States×45China×2United Kingdom×1
Investments · 205 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathNext-generation genetic sequencing using microfluidics for sequencing and molecular diagnostics
electroCore develops non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) medical devices, marketed as gammaCore, to treat patients suffering from pain and chronic conditions.
BiotechDigital HealthHardwareHealthtechMedical DevicesBasking Ridge, US
Brian Posner(Executive Officer)Daniel S. Goldberger(Executive Officer, Director)Reese Terry(Director)Peter Staats(Director)JP Errico(Executive Officer)Trevor Moody(Director)
Gossamer Bio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing seralutinib, an investigational drug candidate for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease.
BiotechDigital HealthMedical DevicesSan Diego, US
Bryan Giraudo(Executive Officer)Faheem Hasnain(Executive Officer, Director)Russell Cox(Director)Renee Gala(Director)Kristina Burow(Director)Laura Carter, Ph.D.(Executive Officer)
Designs high energy-efficiency SiC chip for power management applications
Quanterix develops technology for highly sensitive detection of protein biomarkers using non-invasive sample types, aimed at early disease detection and prevention.
BiotechDigital HealthHealthtechMedical DevicesLexington, US
John Connolly(Director)Paul Meister(Director)Douglas Cole(Director)David Walt(Director)Martin Madaus(Director)Dennis Sandstedt(Director)
Inventor of next generation delivery methods for gene and biologics therapies
SentinelOne provides an AI-powered cybersecurity platform for enterprises that integrates endpoint protection, threat detection, and incident response capabilities.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityEnterprise Software
Tomer Weingarten(Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer)
WeRide develops autonomous driving technology for vehicles deployed across multiple cities and countries.
AI & Machine LearningMobility & TransportationRobotics
Nanostructured copper thermal interface materials for enhanced chip heat transfer
Pittsburgh, US
Sheng Shen(Executive Officer, Director)Robert Wenner(Executive Officer)
BoardTina Tosukhowong(Director)Ning Li(Executive Officer, Director)Paul Sheng(Director)
Board seatEric Rosenblum· per SEC Form D
HealthtechSan Diego, US
Joseph Wang(Executive Officer)Ashwin Pushpala(Director)Lu Yin(Executive Officer, Director)Xinyu Liu(Executive Officer)
Board seatXuhui Shao· per SEC Form D · $2M raise · filed May 2025
Santa Clara, US
Yan Liu(Executive Officer, Director)Fangquan Ming(Executive Officer, Director)Haiping Jin(Director)Xuhui Shao(Director)Jie Chen(Director)
Board seatXuhui Shao· per SEC Form D
HealthtechLos Angeles, US
Xuhui Shao(Director)Michael McLaughlin(Executive Officer, Director)Chris McLaughlin(Executive Officer, Director)
Board seatXuhui Shao· per SEC Form D · $5.2M raise · filed Nov 2023
Developer of advanced thermal interface material for CPU, GPU, and XPU
EnergyN/A
Conor Madigan(Director, Executive Officer)Michelle Robson(Director)Philippe Inagaki(Director)
Develops highly automated system to modernize agriculture industry
AI-based software system that leverages machine learning to supercharge wireless connections
Airtable is a San Francisco-based no-code platform that lets teams build apps and workflows on a flexible database.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingEnterprise SoftwareSaaS
Howie Liu(Co-founder and CEO)Andrew Ofstad(Co-founder)Emmett Nicholas(Co-founder)
Designs ultra power efficient extreme performance ADC/DAC/AFE
Gurnee, US
Holger Heims(Director)King Lee(Director)Tom Lacey(Executive Officer, Director)Charles W. Moore, Jr.(Director)Ron Vaisbort(Director)Haydar Alireza(Director)
AM Batteries develops Powder to Electrode dry coating technology for lithium-ion electrode manufacturing, reducing solvent use and energy consumption compared to traditional slurry methods.
Advanced ManufacturingCleantechEnergyMassachusetts, US
Yan Wang(Director)in
BoardAnil Achyuta(Director)Jimmy Kan(Director)inLisa Coca(Director)inLie Shi(Director)in
Amperesand manufactures medium voltage solid-state transformers for critical power infrastructure, enabling faster deployment of power systems for AI data centers and industrial applications.
Deep TechEnergyHardware
Brian Dow(Chief Executive Officer)Tommy Joyner(Sr. VP of Engineering)Marc Bouchet(Chief of Staff)Andrey Reznik(Chief Financial Officer)
Develops sub-1nm 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenide materials for logic and memory
Saratoga, US
Vishal Sarin(Executive Officer, Director)
Single-call LLM model and inference engine for long-horizon reasoning
Anyware Robotics develops general-purpose mobile robots with proprietary embodied AI for labor-intensive industries; its first robot, Pixmo, handles unloading tasks in warehouse operations.
AI & Machine LearningLogistics & Supply ChainRoboticsFremont, US
Te Tang(Executive Officer, Director)Yongxiang Fan(Director)Thomas(Co-founder & CEO)Bruce(Co-founder, Head of Robotics Engineering)Sam(Co-founder)Torsten(Co-founder, Head of Product & Marketing)
Ingestible drug delivery and monitoring technology
AI agents that execute complex, multi-step tasks by autonomously operating cloud-hosted mobile applications
Disruptive automotive radar system using Luneburg lens antenna
BiotechHanover, US
Bruce Cooper(Director)Dan Zhao(Director)Jihong Chen(Director)Xi Qin(Director)Hong Jiang(Director)Alex Li(Director)
Develops automated forklift for loading and unloading
BioEclipse Therapeutics is a clinical-stage oncology company developing immuno-oncology therapeutics using a proprietary platform that targets the tumor microenvironment through engineered immune cell therapies.
BiotechDigital HealthHealthtechMedical Devices
Catherine Sohn(Director)Gregory Schiffman(Director)Biao He(Director)Mark Frohlich(Director)Stephen Thau(Executive Officer)Elona Baum(Director)
World's first high-acuity spherical bionic retina
Developer of AI based Security Cameras
AI-powered mobile robots that autonomously unload boxes in containers and trucks
Develops functional brain map to facilitate brain disorder diagnosis and treatment
Micro-VCSEL optical interconnect technology
Pioneering AI-driven live-cell imaging for cell therapy and regenerative medicine
Provides at-home individualized cardiac rehabilitation program
CertiK is a Web3 security platform that provides smart contract audits, penetration testing, compliance solutions, and real-time project evaluation for blockchain projects and institutions.
Crypto & Web3Cybersecurity
Sergey Gorbunov(Co-Founder)Alex Wilke(Co-Founder)Muhan Zou(Director)Ronghui Gu(Director)Kai Jiang(Director)Zhong Shao(Director)
ChEmpower develops an abrasive-free, environmentally sustainable chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) process and consumables such as polishing pads for semiconductor fabrication, aiming to increase chip yields, simplify fab processes, and recycle water and recover metals.
CleantechNew MaterialsSemiconductorsBeaverton, US
SCOTT SHAW(Director)SUDHANSHU MISRA(Executive Officer, Director)OWEN LOZMAN(Director)BABU SURYADEVARA(Director)Sudhanshu Misra(CEO)SV Babu(CTO)
Grew from a Japanese startup to a global business with 500 enterprise customers (60% US, 30% EMEA, 10% APAC).
Transforming understanding and addressing of CNS diseases
CodeRabbit provides AI-powered code review tools for developers to improve software quality and efficiency in development workflows.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsWalnut Creek, US
Harjot Gill(Executive Officer, Director)Vishavjeet Kaur(Executive Officer)Guritfaq Singh(Executive Officer, Director)
CohZero technology delivers coherent performance for data center optical interconnects
AI-driven data privacy management using privacy-enhancing technologies
Fully automated AI-powered coding software
Browse all 205 investments with full details →
Rows marked “SEC filing” are inferred from directors named on the company's SEC Form D — public regulatory data, not a portfolio list published by the firm.
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does Foothill Ventures invest at?
- Foothill Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.
- What is Foothill Ventures's typical check size?
- Foothill Ventures typically writes checks of $100K – $10M.
- What sectors does Foothill Ventures focus on?
- Foothill Ventures focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Biotech, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Data & Infrastructure, Deep Tech, Enterprise Software, Fintech, Hardware, Medical Devices, Quantum Computing, Semiconductors.
- Where is Foothill Ventures located?
- Foothill Ventures is headquartered in Los Altos, US.
- Does Foothill Ventures lead rounds?
- Foothill Ventures typically participates in rounds rather than leading them.
Media · Podcasts & interviews
featuring the teamSBT Investor Spotlight - Xuhui Shao, Managing Partner, Foothill Ventures - Full conversation
SBT Industries · Xuhui Shao
Eric Rosenblum of Foothill Ventures on his journey to becoming an unemployable entrepreneur.
Rich Robinson · Eric Rosenblum
Co-investors · 39
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Neotribe Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in early and growth-stage entrepreneurs solving complex, high-impact problems, backing bold and unconventional 'category-defining' ideas.
GV (formerly Google Ventures) is a venture investment firm that backs founders across many industries, aiming to build long-term relationships and support companies across multiple stages and milestones.
Kortschak Investments is an investment firm that backs technically talented founders tackling difficult scientific and engineering problems, aiming for outsized returns.
Social Starts is a group of early-stage venture funds that applies a data-driven, analytics-based methodology to identify and back promising companies in high-potential segments. Its current fund, Social Starts Health and Happiness, targets startups focused on helping people live longer and better.
Dig Ventures is a European venture capital firm that invests in early-stage B2B software founders, focusing on pre-seed and seed stage companies.
▶27 more co-investors
Bloomberg BetaIlluminate VenturesBootstrapLabsGSR VenturesSupernode VenturesBee PartnersMedical Excellence CapitalLong Journey VenturesUnknown VenturesBoxGroupPlug and Play VenturesSusa VenturesUpHonest CapitalStellar CapitalPractical Venture CapitalOperator LPFlatiron HealthQueensBridge Venture PartnersArray Ventures Management LlcSpider CapitalRubicon Venture Capital1984 Ventures Management, LlcJAZZ Venture PartnersJohnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDCmParticleHorizon 3 Venture StudioVertex Ventures HC
Firms observed investing alongside Foothill Ventures, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with Foothill Ventures's recorded portfolio.
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