Idealab

This venture capital firm invests in pioneering tech companies with breakthrough innovations, providing resources and strategic guidance to maximize their po...

ActiveVenture Capital

Updated: Dec 5, 2025 ·

About

Founded in 1996 by Bill Gross, Idealab was established to create and operate pioneering technology companies. Idealab has worked with companies with breakthrough technologies in robotics (Evolution Robotics), wireless broadband (ClearMesh Networks) and renewable energy (Energy Innovations), among others. Idealab also continues to partner with venture capital firms and other strategic investors to provide the resources to maximize the potential of these companies. The incubating facilitates offer a wide range of resources that include: office space and the accompanying office services, development and technology, graphic design, marketing, competitive research, legal, accounting, and business development support and services. In addition, Idealab provides advice on strategy, branding and corporate structure.

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Oct 1, 2024	Pacific Fusion	$900.0M Series A	—	Addition, Adverb Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Chloe Sladden, Bond, C2 Investment, Catapult Capital, Commerce Ventures, Contrary Capital, DST Global, Expa, Floodgate, gener8tor, General Catalyst, Gradient Ventures, Greylock, Haystack, Infinite Niches, Initialized Capital, Innovation Endeavors, Jetstream, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lakestar, LGF, Long Journey Ventures, Lux Capital, Matrix, Mohamad Makhzoumi, Next Level Ventures, Quiet Capital, Rethink Education, Saga, Sherpalo Ventures, Softbank Group, Sound Ventures, SV Angel, The Hit Forge, Thrive Capital, Tribe Capital, Venture Highway, Aaron Levie, Anne Wojcicki, Bradley Horowitz, Dylan Field, Elad Gil, Emil Michael, Gokul Rajaram, Henry Kravis, Immad Akhund, Jim Pitkow, Kunal Shah, Mandeep Singh, Manik Gupta, Marc Benioff, Mato Peric, Max Mullen, Nico Rosberg, Omid Ashtari, Scott Banister, Tony Xu
Oct 1, 2024	Kick	$9.0M Seed	—	AirAngels, Alpine Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Amicus Capital, Baroda Ventures, B Capital Group, Bow Capital, Browder Capital, Davidovs VC, Fin Capital, Footprint Coalition, General Catalyst, Greylock, Kickstart Fund, Lead Edge Capital, LGF, monashees, Mucker Capital, Hans Tung, Otherwise Fund, Picus Capital, Resolute Ventures, Seaside Ventures, Seguin Ventures, Sequoia Capital, SignalFire, Stellar Capital, TechSquare Labs, Tiger Global Management, Vera Equity, Vibe Capital, Wave Financial, Yext, Alexander Zhuravlev, Alex Zhuravlev, Bartek Pucek, Beau Laskey, Ding Zhou, Eddie Lou, Gokul Rajaram, Gregory Waldorf, Guilherme Bonifacio, Humberto Ayres Pereira, Jason Goldberg, Jason Lemkin, Karim Atiyeh, Kim Perell, Manik Gupta, Robert Moore, Ron Pragides, Sahil Lavingia, Scott Belsky, Youcef Es-skouri
Sep 1, 2024	Vahan.ai	$10.0M Series B	—	DST Global, gener8tor, Khosla Ventures, Lakestar, LGF, Next Level Ventures, Kunal Shah, Mato Peric
Sep 1, 2024	Moxie	$10.0M Series B	—	Amicus Capital, Baroda Ventures, B Capital Group, Bow Capital, Fin Capital, Greylock, LGF, Resolute Ventures, SignalFire, Eddie Lou, Gokul Rajaram, Jason Goldberg, Kim Perell, Manik Gupta, Robert Moore
Feb 1, 2024	Sonus Microsystems	$2.0M Seed	—	LDV Capital, Tyler Willis
Aug 1, 2023	Moxie	$16.0M Series A	—	Amicus Capital, Baroda Ventures, B Capital Group, Bow Capital, Fin Capital, LGF, Resolute Ventures, SignalFire, Eddie Lou, Gokul Rajaram, Jason Goldberg, Kim Perell, Manik Gupta, Robert Moore
Aug 1, 2023	Beloit Kombucha Company	$800K Seed	—	DST Global, gener8tor, Khosla Ventures, Lakestar, LGF, Next Level Ventures, Kunal Shah, Mato Peric
Jul 1, 2023	MSPbots.ai	$5.0M Seed	—	Amicus Capital, Baroda Ventures, B Capital Group, Bow Capital, Fin Capital, LGF, Resolute Ventures, SignalFire, Gokul Rajaram, Jason Goldberg, Kim Perell, Manik Gupta, Robert Moore
Jun 1, 2023	Volt Money	$2.0M Seed	—	DST Global, gener8tor, Khosla Ventures, Lakestar, LGF, Next Level Ventures, Mato Peric
Nov 1, 2022	Surfboard	$5.0M Seed	—	AAF Management Ltd., Ada Ventures, American Express Ventures, Anamcara Capital, Angel Invest, Atomico, Broadhaven Capital Partners, Cherry Ventures, DN Capital, DST Global, Expert Dojo, Aniq Kassam, Felix Capital, Foundation Capital, Gaingels, gener8tor, Global Ventures, Gold House Ventures, Heroic Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Lakestar, LGF, Next Level Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Piton Capital, Plug & Play Ventures, Point Nine Capital, Project A Ventures, Resurge Growth Partners, Ribbit Capital, Saltagen Ventures, Seedcamp, Singular, SoftBank Investment Advisers, Speedinvest, Team Ignite Ventures, Tet Ventures, Upload Ventures, Y Combinator, Akhil Paul, Alison Engel, Amit Gudka, Benedikt Franke, Chris Murphy, Eric Quidenus-Wahlforss, Felix Jahn, Fredrik Jung Abbou, Jonathan Lenson, Jose Gaztelu, Julius Köhler, Kunal Shah, Lea- Sophie Cramer, Mandeep Singh, Marc McCabe, Mario Götze, Mato Peric, Michael Pennington, Paul Forster, Rand Hindi, Richard Fearn, Stan Massueras, Tim Sadler, Verena Pausder
May 1, 2022	Felt	$15.0M Series A	—	AirAngels, Alt Capital, AngelList, Astanor Ventures, Balderton Capital, Blackbird Ventures Australia, C2 Investment, Cedar Capital Group, CRV, Flex Capital, Footwork, Forerunner Ventures, Gradient Ventures, La Famiglia, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Polygon, Rainfall Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Shaan's All Access Fund, Tiger Global Management, Twelve Below, Weekend Fund, Y Combinator, Adam Gross, Amit Agarwal, Ariel Finkelstein, Matias Woloski, Guillermo Rauch
Apr 1, 2022	JOBOX.ai	$42.0M Series B	—	Amicus Capital, Baroda Ventures, B Capital Group, Bow Capital, Composite Ventures, Fin Capital, General Catalyst, LGF, Ponte Partners, Resolute Ventures, SignalFire, Silverton Partners, Vertex Ventures, Zeev Capital, Abe Burns, Eddie Lou, Gokul Rajaram, Jason Goldberg, Kim Perell, Manik Gupta, Robert Moore
Mar 1, 2022	finally	$11.0M Series A	—	Active Capital, Amicus Capital, Backstage Capital, Baroda Ventures, B Capital Group, Bedrock Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Bow Capital, CapitalX, Color Capital, Craft Ventures, Cyphr VC, Fin Capital, LGF, Lightspeed Venture Partners, LOI Venture, Long Journey Ventures, Paradox Capital, Prototype Capital, Resolute Ventures, Rising Tide Partners, SaaSholic Fund, Shaan's All Access Fund, SignalFire, The Club, The Hit Forge, Vibe Capital, Weekend Fund, Alex Lieberman, Anthony Pompliano, Ben Tossell, Chris Herd, Dharmesh Shah, Eddie Lou, Gokul Rajaram, Greg Isenberg, Immad Akhund, Jaime Schmidt, Jason Goldberg, Julian Shapiro, Justin Welsh, Kim Perell, Kyle York, Manik Gupta, Moshe Lifschitz, Musaab Hakami, Paul Yacoubian, Robert Moore, Sahil Lavingia, Sam Parr, Zack Kanter
Feb 1, 2022	Sunhero	$4.0M Seed	—	All Iron Ventures, DST Global, Felix Capital, gener8tor, Khosla Ventures, Lakestar, LGF, Next Level Ventures, Kunal Shah, Mato Peric
Feb 1, 2022	Ex Parte	$8.0M Series A	—	Anorak Ventures, BITKRAFT Ventures, Fabric Ventures, Flex Capital, Pareto Holdings, Viola Ventures
Feb 1, 2022	Bonrepublic	$860K Seed	—	—
Dec 1, 2021	Proov	$10.0M Series A	—	Amicus Capital, Baroda Ventures, B Capital Group, Bow Capital, Fin Capital, LGF, Resolute Ventures, SignalFire, Eddie Lou, Gokul Rajaram, Jason Goldberg, Manik Gupta, Robert Moore
Nov 1, 2021	General Fusion	$130.0M Series E	—	2048 Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, IBX, Imaginary Ventures, IVP, Lampros Capital Partners, Lerer Hippeau, RRE Ventures, Aman Narang
Sep 1, 2021	Rocket Dollar	$8.0M Series A	—	DST Global, gener8tor, Khosla Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Lakestar, LGF, Next Level Ventures, Primetime Partners, Raine Ventures, Saturn Partners, Sure, Village Global, Henry Yoshida, Kunal Shah, Mato Peric
Sep 1, 2021	Vahan.ai	$8.0M Series A	—	DST Global, gener8tor, Khosla Ventures, Lakestar, LGF, Next Level Ventures, Kunal Shah, Mato Peric
Sep 1, 2021	inyad	$8.0M Series A	—	DST Global, gener8tor, Khosla Ventures, Lakestar, LGF, Next Level Ventures, Kunal Shah
Jun 1, 2021	LocoNav	$37.0M Series B	—	AIX Ventures, Amicus Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Baroda Ventures, B Capital Group, BigSpring, Bow Capital, Brick & Mortar Ventures, Chicago Ventures, CVS Health, Fin Capital, Foundamental, General Catalyst, Initialized Capital, IVP, Kima Ventures, LGF, LocalGlobe, Logos Labs, Lux Capital, Musha Ventures, Anh-Tho Chuong Degroote, Pareto Holdings, Quiet Capital, Resolute Ventures, Sequoia Capital, SignalFire, SJF Ventures, Surface Ventures, Akhil Paul, Akshay Sriprasad, Arash Ferdowsi, Austin Walters, Brendan O'Driscoll, Chris Herd, Eddie Lou, Gabriel Jarrosson, Gokul Rajaram, Ian Hogarth, Jason Goldberg, Joanne Bradford, Kim Perell, Kunal Shah, Marc Benioff, Martin Li, Mathilde Collin, Mike Krieger, Nate Matherson, Ricardo Marino, Robert Moore, Roxanne Varza, Samvit Ramadurgam, Tony Jamous
Jun 1, 2021	Norbert Health	$5.0M Seed	—	50 Partners Impact, Amicus Capital, Baroda Ventures, B Capital Group, Bow Capital, Fin Capital, Hardware Club, LDV Capital, LGF, Resolute Ventures, Serena Capital, SignalFire, Eddie Lou, Gokul Rajaram, Jason Goldberg, Kim Perell, Manik Gupta, Robert Moore
May 1, 2021	Atlan	$17.0M Series A	—	Accel, Air Street Capital, Amicus Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Baroda Ventures, Rexhep Dollaku, TJ Nahigian, B Capital Group, Bow Capital, Construct Capital, Craft Ventures, Aniq Kassam, Fin Capital, Flex Capital, Helium-3 Ventures, Illuminate Financial Management, Insight Partners, LGF, LombardStreet Ventures, Resolute Ventures, SignalFire, Alexandre Dalyac, Alex Kayyal, DJ Patil, Eddie Lou, Gokul Rajaram, Jason Goldberg, Kim Perell, Manik Gupta, Nir Eyal, Zehan Wang
Apr 1, 2021	Moxie	$6.0M Seed	—	Accel, AlleyCorp, Amicus Capital, AperiamVentures, Baroda Ventures, B Capital Group, Bow Capital, C2 Investment, Cabra VC, Cedar Capital Group, CRV, Fin Capital, Flex Capital, GV (Google Ventures), IVP, LGF, Math Capital, Glenn Solomon, Recursive Ventures, Resolute Ventures, SignalFire, The Hit Forge, Bala Chandra, Eddie Lou, Gokul Rajaram, Jason Goldberg, Kim Perell, Manik Gupta, Robert Moore

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Idealab.

Scott Banister

VP Ideas

Reed Sturtevant

Managing Director, VP Technology

Leadership Team

Key people at Idealab.

Scott Banister

VP Ideas

Reed Sturtevant

Managing Director, VP Technology

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Idealab is a pioneering technology incubator and venture capital firm that invests in and builds breakthrough tech companies by providing capital, strategic guidance, and comprehensive operational support. Founded in 1996, it has created over 150 companies, with more than 45 achieving IPOs or acquisitions, demonstrating a strong track record of transforming innovative ideas into successful businesses. Idealab focuses on solving big problems through technology across diverse sectors including internet services, mobile technologies, robotics, and renewable energy, thereby significantly impacting the startup ecosystem by nurturing early-stage ventures with resources and expertise to accelerate growth[1][2][3].

Origin Story

Idealab was founded in 1996 and is recognized as the longest-running technology incubator. It was established with the vision of unlocking human potential through entrepreneurship by identifying large-scale problems and testing multiple ideas simultaneously. When a promising concept emerges, Idealab recruits top teams to spin off these ideas into independent companies. Over time, Idealab has evolved from primarily internet-focused startups to a broader technology frontier including robotics and renewable energy. Key leadership includes CEO Susan Aledort and Managing Director Yeran Melelian, who continue to steer the firm’s growth and innovation[1][2].

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Idealab operates as both an incubator and venture capital firm, creating companies internally by testing multiple ideas in parallel before scaling the most promising ones.
Comprehensive Operating Support: Beyond capital, Idealab provides office space, development and technology resources, marketing, legal, financial, HR, and business development support.
Strong Track Record: Over 150 companies created with more than 45 IPOs and acquisitions, including notable successes like CitySearch, eToys, and Overture Services.
Network Strength: Partnerships with leading venture capital firms and strategic investors enhance resource availability and market reach.
Focus on Breakthrough Technologies: Expanding beyond internet services into mobile, robotics, and renewable energy sectors[1][2][3].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Idealab rides the trend of technology-driven entrepreneurship aimed at solving large-scale societal and business challenges. Its timing is significant as digital transformation, robotics, and clean energy technologies are rapidly evolving markets with high growth potential. By incubating and scaling companies that pioneer new business models and technologies, Idealab influences the broader ecosystem by setting innovation benchmarks and creating market categories, such as paid search and local online directories. Its model fosters collaboration and cross-pollination among startups, accelerating technological advancement and economic growth[1][2].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, Idealab is likely to continue expanding its portfolio into emerging technology sectors while deepening its operational support to startups. Trends such as AI, robotics, renewable energy, and digital transformation will shape its investment focus. As the startup ecosystem becomes more competitive, Idealab’s integrated approach of combining incubation with venture capital and hands-on support positions it to remain a key player in nurturing visionary companies that can define future markets. Its influence will likely grow as it continues to build enduring companies that address critical global challenges through technology[1][2][3].

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded Idealab?

Idealab was founded in 1996 by Bill Gross (Founder and Chairman).