After almost a decade, industrials-focused VC Eclipse expanded out of Silicon Valley. The agency opened its second workplace in New York’s Soho neighborhood with plans to speculate extra on the East Coast.
Eclipse backs startups in sectors together with manufacturing, provide chain, healthcare, and infrastructure, amongst others, each by its early stage and early growth-focused funds. Because the agency’s founding in 2015, it has been completely situated in Silicon Valley — till now.
Kaitlyn Glancy, a New York-based accomplice that joined Eclipse in 2023 after eight years at Flexport, instructed TheTrendyType that the timing was proper for the agency to formally increase to New York.
Glancy mentioned that the pandemic made lots of people “get up” to the problems in legacy industries like provide chain and transportation. She added that since then there was a noticeable rise in corporations seeking to repair these industries’ woes and these startups are more and more popping up on the East Coast.
“In case you have a look at just like the deep industrial ecosystem of New York, and the broader Northeast, there’s a robust industrial historical past,” Glancy mentioned. “Once I’m assembly with founders, they’re type of pulling on that. They’re pulling on some fascinating household historical past. They’re additionally pulling on fascinating present occasions. Provide chains are damaged, transportation methods are damaged. There’s a whole lot of alternative right here.”
This workplace additionally permits the agency to arrange a neighborhood hub for the businesses it has already backed in New York and past on the East Coast. Eclipse has already invested in a handful of East Coast startups.
New York-based Augury is one. Eclipse backed the machine well being diagnostic firm in August 2015, it was final valued at $1 billion in 2021. Reframe Systems is one other. Reframe relies in Andover, Massachusetts and constructed a microfactory to supply small sustainable houses.
Glancy added that there are different secondary advantages to establishing camp in New York too. This workplace places them nearer to lots of their LPs and in addition offers them simpler entry to Washington D.C., which is more and more necessary, she mentioned, because the agency has gotten extra into protection tech investing.
“We’re seeing founders, and we’re seeing success in our present portfolio corporations on this industrial area, so let’s go double down,” Glancy mentioned. “If we now have a workforce that’s primarily based right here, we should always have the ability to go and discover extra founders which are enjoying on this ecosystem and assist actually be the middle of gravity.”
Eclipse isn’t the one agency that’s seeking to put extra emphasis on investing within the New York tech scene this yr. Index Ventures only in the near past instructed TheTrendyType they had been trying so as to add a number of new individuals to their New York workplace. Index did simply lose Paris Heymann, one of many agency’s founding companions in New York, this month.
New York startups raised $5.6 billion throughout 406 offers in Q3 of 2024, in line with PitchBook knowledge. Whereas this determine represents a dip from Q2, $7.1 billion was invested throughout 420 offers, it nonetheless cements New York because the second largest startup ecosystem within the U.S. and reveals that San Francisco is just not the one place to construct a profitable firm regardless of what some Bay Area VCs think.
For now, Eclipse’s New York workplace will home Glancy and Ashwin Pushpala, an Eclipse enterprise accomplice, along with room for portfolio firm founders. Eclipse is currently investing out of its fifth early-stage fund, $720 million, and second early development fund, $510 million. Glancy mentioned the agency is seeking to put that capital to work and actively searching for new corporations in New York and throughout the East Coast.
“We wish everyone who’s enjoying in that industrial area to be working with us, having conversations with us, or constructing round us,” Glancy mentioned.
