2 VCs and 2 funds investing in robotics
Founder
Khosla Ventures
Check: $500K-$50M+ (across seed fund and main fund)
Explicitly optimizes for ~70% failure rates to back 'black swan' outcomes. Actively seeks opportunities that appear 'crazy' to most of the market. Capital-intensive, science-heavy bets. Believes fusion and superhot geothermal will be primary energy sources by mid-2030s. Bets on the future being radically different from the present. Co-founded Sun Microsystems. Famous for saying 'expertise is the enemy of imagination' — believes experts are often the worst at predicting disruption in their own fields because they're anchored to existing paradigms. Has been one of the most aggressive climate tech investors, putting billions into energy transition companies. Views AI as the most transformative technology in history, predicting it will replace 80% of jobs in 80% of occupations within decades. Runs both a seed fund (for earlier, riskier bets) and a main fund (for larger investments). Willing to lose money on most investments if the winners are transformational.
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Lux Capital
Check: $1M-$50M+
'Atoms, not bits.' The biggest opportunities are in companies that manipulate the physical world, not just software. Willing to fund multi-year R&D timelines. Just raised the firm's largest fund ever ($1.5B, Jan 2026, oversubscribed). Invests at the intersection of science and engineering where structural technical advantages create durable moats. Core belief: the 'directional arrow of progress' in science is inevitable — you can bet on where science is going because it only moves forward. Lux looks for 'narrative violations' — moments when consensus is wrong and reality is about to prove it. Josh believes the best founders have 'a secret' — proprietary technical insight that others can't see or don't believe. Has been vocal that the defense tech renaissance is just beginning, not a trend.