Bolt
Pre-seed venture firm investing at the intersection of software and physical goods, backing founders early and supporting hardware businesses through prototyping, manufacturing, and go-to-market.
Bolt is a pre-seed venture capital firm investing at the intersection of software and physical goods. The firm writes early checks - frequently a founder's first - into companies combining digital technology with physical products, with the stated aim of helping build scalable hardware businesses. Between 2013 and 2020 Bolt invested in 80 portfolio companies across that period.
The firm's coverage spans the sectors where software and physical goods converge: hardware startups, consumer products, physical goods and e-commerce, software-hardware hybrids, and the supporting industries of manufacturing, retail, and logistics. Its technical domains of focus include hardware development, software, prototyping, manufacturing, supply chain, and go-to-market.
Operational involvement is a defining element of the model. Bolt supports portfolio companies across team building, prototyping, financing, manufacturing, logistics, marketing, retail, and exits, and publishes practical guidance drawn from hands-on experience with hardware products, covering product development and company building.
Bolt maintains a presence in San Francisco and Boston.