It’s been a strong first half of the year at Calibrate Ventures. Over the past few months, we’ve had the chance to gather with founders, operators, and investors at our annual Calibrate Retreat, deepen our partnership with @askflux_ai as they announced new funding to accelerate their engineering intelligence platform, and support Grid Aero through its Series A as the team continues building critical infrastructure for autonomous aviation. What continues to stand out to us is the caliber of technical founders building at the intersection of AI, robotics, infrastructure, and industrial systems. We’re grateful to work alongside ambitious teams tackling complex, real-world problems — and we’re excited for what’s ahead in the second half of the year. @nbvc4, @Katie_Calibrate

Calibrate investor @Katie_Calibrate’s latest Substack unpacks one of the biggest themes emerging from #CVPR2026: in robotics, looking right and being right are very different problems. The industry is starting to move past flashy, photorealistic demos and toward systems that can actually operate reliably in the real world. Her recap covers the shifting center of gravity toward physical AI, robotics memory limitations, humanoids in the home, and more: katievasquez7.substack.com/p…

Congratulations to @CobotCorp on the launch of Proxie Gen 2 — the next generation of its autonomous mobile robot. “For decades, deploying robots has meant choosing between mobility and dexterity, and always required custom software integration. Our second-generation Proxie brings all of that together in one platform we designed end-to-end.” — Founder and CEO @BradPorter_ More in @therobotreport: therobotreport.com/cobots-pr…

Calibrate portfolio company @QCHardware has demonstrated a new approach to building a quantum computer. @johnpletz has the scoop in @CrainsChicago: chicagobusiness.com/technolo…

“Are we really getting value from AI? Where could we be doing better? Is our AI transformation creating risk we can’t see?” @eajulian on the questions engineering leaders are increasingly being asked to answer as AI reshapes software development. @askflux_ai is building the visibility layer to help teams answer them with confidence. Read more in Startup Rise: startuprise.io/flux-raises-5…

Grid Aero is pioneering the future of autonomous cargo logistics with rugged, long-range aircraft built for scale and resilience---and its Lifter Lite drone was recently included in @ASForcesMag: airandspaceforces.com/hasc-a…

"Physical AI is the next frontier. It's transforming many different aspects of the world, and at @GrayMatterRobot our primary focus is in manufacturing.” GrayMatter Robotics CEO @ariyankabir joined @furrier at @theCUBE @NYSE to discuss how GrayMatter is revolutionizing manufacturing across industries and what he sees as the future of physical AI and robotics. Tune in at youtu.be/pOW4pixk9aQ?si=qZpJ…

Calibrate is proud to back @manifold_ai as they launch Agent OS today. Agent OS is built on a simple bet: the most valuable agents in life sciences are the customer’s own, grounded in their data and workflows. Congrats to @vinaysethmohta and the Manifold team! Learn more and read customer stories from Foundation Medicine and UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center at manifold.ai/resources/agent-…

Calibrate investor @Katie_Calibrate recently shared some of her insights from #CVPR2026 on her Substack. "The companies that win the physical AI era will not be the ones with the prettiest world model," she writes. "They will be the ones who can run it close to the metal, fast enough to matter, on hardware that obeys the same laws the rest of us do." Read her takeaways about the shifting center of gravity toward physical AI, when she actually thinks we'll see humanoid robots in the home, why bolting more memory onto robots makes them perform worse, and more: katievasquez7.substack.com/p…

Calibrate portfolio company @BuiltRobotics is transforming construction with autonomous equipment. And their AI-powered robots are actually working on jobsites. See them in action ⬇️

.@EON_events returns November 11–12, 2026. Our 5th annual applied AI event convenes the people shaping what’s next in AI, from research to real-world deployment. Exclusive and invite-only. Request an invite now: eon.events

Jason Schoettler on why engineering leaders need visibility into how code is evolving in real time — and why @askflux_ai is building a more direct path from engineering activity to business impact. More from @pulse2news on Flux’s latest funding round: pulse2.com/flux-raises-5-mil…

We’re thrilled to continue supporting @askflux_ai with a fresh $5 million in funding as they build the future of code-first engineering intelligence in the age of AI. As software development rapidly evolves, engineering leaders need better visibility into how code is changing across their organizations — from quality and security to technical debt and team dynamics. Flux is helping bring that clarity directly from the source of truth: the code itself. Congratulations to @eajulian and the Flux team! askflux.ai/press-releases/fl…

Join the team accelerating the development of autonomous systems through high-fidelity simulation and synthetic data. @parallel_domain is hiring across engineering, simulation, machine learning, and more: paralleldomain.com/jobs

Calibrate portfolio company @trellis_law is bringing the largest state trial court dataset in the U.S. directly into Claude — making decades of rulings, motions, verdicts, and litigation intelligence more accessible inside modern AI workflows. “Litigators have been flying blind in trial courts for decades. The strategy, research, and intelligence that actually wins cases has never been available through any research tool. We built Trellis to fix that.” — @Nicole_A_Clark, CEO and Co-Founder of Trellis An important step toward making real-world legal data more usable, searchable, and actionable for attorneys and legal teams. Read more: prnewswire.com/news-releases…

More highlights from the 2026 Calibrate retreat. A reminder that some of the most meaningful conversations happen in person — away from screens, timelines, and scheduled meetings. Great discussions, new ideas, and time well spent with founders and the broader Calibrate community.

Every country wants to control what it makes. The ones that will are the ones that solve the workforce problem first. Ariyan Kabir (@ariyankabir) joined John Furrier (@Furrier) on theCUBE at the NYSE Wired program to talk about why legacy automation never cracked 90% of manufacturing, and how GrayMatter Robotics is changing that with autonomous solutions that adapt on the fly, no pre-programming required. The robots that can program themselves are the ones that actually scale. cc: @theCUBE, @GemmaAllenSays, @bjbaumann2014 @NYSE #NYSEWired #PhysicalAI #Manufacturing #Robotics #Automation #AI #NYSE

World models are quickly moving from research concept to real conversation in robotics. Calibrate Investor @Katie_Calibrate breaks down why predictive world models may be a key unlock for physical AI — giving machines the ability to simulate, plan, and adapt before acting in the real world. Read her Substack: katievasquez7.substack.com/p…

On the Machine Minds podcast, @GrayMatterRobot Co-Founder & CEO @ariyankabir joins @Toroosian to discuss why manufacturing remains one of the biggest untapped opportunities for AI, and why solving real-world variability is much harder than most people think. The conversation spans everything from “factory superintelligence” and multimodal robotics to the operational realities of deploying AI on factory floors today. A great listen for anyone building at the intersection of AI, robotics, and industrial systems: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

Exciting to see @CobotCorp Founder & CEO @BradPorter_ featured in @Deloitte's CEO Perspectives section of @WSJ. In the piece, Brad explains why the next major wave of AI may not happen on screens alone — but in the warehouses, factories, and logistics systems that quietly power the physical world. “Once you see how automation changes things, it becomes very addictive to the organization.” A thoughtful look at why companies experimenting with physical AI today could build lasting operational advantages over time: deloitte.wsj.com/ceo/the-mom…