The Engine Ventures Fund III

The Engine Ventures

cb Email

Status

ACTIVE

Global HQ

Cambridge, United States

Countries of investment

United States
Canada
United Kingdom
Germany
France
Netherlands
Israel

Investment stages

Pre-Seed
Seed
Series A
Series B

Industries

Advanced Materials
Biotech
Climate
Energy
Health
Industrial
Semiconductors
Quantum
DeepTech
Fusion
Robotics
Space

About
The Engine Ventures is a Cambridge-based venture capital firm focused on backing Tough Tech founders solving world's biggest problems through science and engineering. Their focus spans advanced materials, biotech, climate, energy, and industrials across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Netherlands, and Israel. The firm supports Tough Tech founders from pre-seed through Series B stages.

Min check size: $1M
Max check size: $10M
Fund size: Unlock
NPS: Unlock

Investment Thesis

The Engine Ventures is a pre-seed to Series B stage venture capital firm deploying capital across advanced materials, biotech, climate, energy, health, and industrial sectors. They invest in Tough Tech companies from MIT and top research institutions, providing shared lab space, specialized equipment, and hands-on operational support. The firm differentiates itself as MIT's official spinout venture platform with $700M+ AUM and unique tough tech infrastructure enabling capital-intensive science ventures to scale.

Lead investor: Unlock
Co Invest: Unlock
Number of exits: Unlock
Preferred contact method: Unlock

Manager's Experience

Founded in 2016 as MIT's official spinout venture platform, led by Katie Rae (CEO and Managing Partner, former CEO of Techstars Boston and Managing Partner at Project 11) and Reed Sturtevant (Managing Partner, founding Managing Director of Techstars Boston, co-founder of Radius). Michael Kearney serves as Partner. The team combines venture experience with hands-on operational support providing shared lab space, specialized equipment, and technical infrastructure for Tough Tech companies. The firm manages over $700M across two funds, backed by MIT, Harvard, and other leading universities. Portfolio includes Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Boston Metal, Form Energy, Kytopen, Sublime Systems, and Analog Photonics. The Engine's unique physical infrastructure at MIT provides portfolio companies access to specialized manufacturing, wet labs, and prototyping equipment typically unavailable to early-stage deep tech startups.