Early-stage HardTech firm Matter Venture Partners has closed a $450 million Fund II, giving the Palo Alto shop fresh capital to keep writing cheques into the semiconductors, robotics and physical AI companies where its Fund I portfolio has already logged a full-price acquisition and a nine-figure follow-on round.
The LP Bench Reads Like A HardTech Supply Chain
Matter disclosed a strategic limited partner base that lines up with the physical-AI supply chain: lithography leader ASML, foundry TSMC, semiconductor customer Quanta Computer, chemicals and materials group Nitto Denko, Japanese materials firm Resonac, Kleiner Perkins, Development Bank of Japan and Japanese trading house Sojitz. That mix gives portfolio founders a direct path to advanced-packaging capacity, foundry allocations and Japan-market entry — three of the hardest asks in HardTech.
Where The Money Is Going
Founding managing partner Wen Hsieh, formerly a Kleiner Perkins partner, said Fund II will keep the firm's mandate steady: semiconductors, robotics, physical AI, AI infrastructure, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, energy building blocks and AI for science. "HardTech founders have to simultaneously navigate technical development, manufacturing, supply chains, commercialization and customer delivery," Hsieh said — a pitch that leans on Matter's operating partners as much as its cheque size.
The Fund I portfolio has already produced marquee names. Q.ai was acquired by Apple in January 2026; Rhoda AI raised a $450 million Series A in March; ultra-low-power specialist Ambiq went public in July 2025; Path Robotics is scaling physical AI for heavy manufacturing; Eridu builds AI data-centre network switches; and ChipAgents applies AI to chip design itself.
Signal On The Physical-AI Fund Cycle
Matter's close arrives during a broader wave of physical-AI fundraising: Robotics deals hit $4.87 billion in August, and Bain Capital Ventures earlier this week said it had closed a $1.6 billion fund positioning itself for a "post-AGI world." Where BCV's dollars will chase software, Matter's cheque is aimed at the hardware — the fabs, chips, actuators and robots — that runs beneath it.
Reporting based on Matter Venture Partners's press release via Business Wire and The Quantum Insider (September 16, 2026).