Drew Volpe

Active

Overview

First Star Ventures is a pre-seed and seed stage venture capital fund based in Boston, focusing on hard tech and frontier technologies such as AI/ML, computational biology, robotics, blockchain, and sensors. The firm invests in technical founders across North America, typically participating in rounds led by others with check sizes of $500K-$1M. It emphasizes startups with defensible technological innovation, applying a 'rebuildability bar' where products cannot be easily replicated by a small team of top engineers.

History

First Star Ventures was founded in 2014 by Drew Volpe, a technologist and entrepreneur with prior roles at Semantic Machines, Locately (acquired by SMG), and Endeca Technologies (acquired by Oracle for $1.1B). The firm has backed early-stage companies in deep tech sectors including energy, biology, and robotics. It maintains a conviction-driven investment approach without leading rounds, prioritizing founder partnerships.

Notable Products

Jellyfish - Developer tools platform backed at early stage.
Oculii - Radar sensor technology for autonomous systems.
PlusOne Robotics - AI-powered robotic picking for logistics.
Seven Bridges - Cloud platform for genomics data analysis.
Skynet Labs (Sia) - Decentralized cloud storage and Web3 infrastructure.
nplex biosciences - Computational biology tools for drug discovery.

Reputation

First Star Ventures is regarded by founders and the deep tech community as a specialized early-stage investor with strong technical expertise from its founder's background in AI and search technologies. Professionals note its hands-on value-add and focus on truly innovative startups via the rebuildability criterion. It receives limited public visibility compared to larger VC firms, with feedback centered on selective deal flow in hard tech.

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