The venture capital (VC) firm Shield Capital on Monday said it has closed a new fund focused on early-stage investments in support of startups in the areas of artificial intelligence, autonomy, cybersecurity, and space.
Shield has $186 million in commitments from institutional and private investors for its Shield Capital Fund I, L.P., The new fund was oversubscribed by 55 percent above the target, Shield said.
Some of Shield’s existing investments include Albedo, a high-resolution satellite company, Apex, which manufactures satellite buses, Elroy Air, a developer of an electronic vertical take-off and landing aircraft, and edge AI sensing company Overwatch Imaging.
“We are a very founder focused firm,” Raj Shah, managing partner at Shield Capital, said in a statement. “We provide our startups with significant support from recruiting executives to accessing government customers to developing strategy. This successful fundraise enables us to back additional founders and provide even greater assistance to our current portfolio.”
Last spring, Shield admitted Michael Brown, a previous director of the Defense Department’s Defense Innovation Unit, as a partner. The DIU is focused on helping the DoD adopt commercial technologies.