After practically 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 take a position extra on the East Coast.
Eclipse backs startups in sectors together with manufacturing, provide chain, healthcare, and infrastructure, amongst others, each via its seed and early growth-focused funds. For the reason that agency’s founding in 2015, it has been solely positioned in Silicon Valley — till now.
Kaitlyn Glancy, a New York-based companion that joined Eclipse in 2023 after eight years at Flexport, instructed TechCrunch that the timing was proper for the agency to formally develop 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 trying to repair these industries’ woes and these startups are more and more popping up on the East Coast.
“For those who take 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. “After I’m assembly with founders, they’re sort of pulling on that. They’re pulling on some attention-grabbing household historical past. They’re additionally pulling on attention-grabbing present occasions. Provide chains are damaged, transportation techniques are damaged. There’s a number of alternative right here.”
This workplace additionally permits the agency to arrange an area 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 Methods is one other. Reframe is predicated in Andover, Massachusetts and constructed a microfactory to supply small sustainable houses.
Glancy added that there are different secondary advantages to organising 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 essential, she mentioned, because the agency has gotten extra into protection tech investing.
“We’re seeing founders, and we’re seeing success in our current portfolio corporations on this industrial house, so let’s go double down,” Glancy mentioned. “If we now have a workforce that’s based mostly right here, we must always be capable of go and discover extra founders which are taking part in on this ecosystem and assist actually be the middle of gravity.”
Eclipse isn’t the one agency that’s trying to put extra emphasis on investing within the New York tech scene this 12 months. Index Ventures only recently instructed TechCrunch they have been wanting 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 information. 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 exhibits that San Francisco is just not the one place to construct a profitable firm regardless of what some Bay Space VCs assume.
For now, Eclipse’s New York workplace will home Glancy and Ashwin Pushpala, an Eclipse enterprise companion, along with room for portfolio firm founders. Eclipse is at the moment investing out of its fifth early-stage fund, $720 million, and second early development fund, $510 million. Glancy mentioned the agency is trying to put that capital to work and actively in search of new corporations in New York and throughout the East Coast.
“We would like all people who’s taking part in in that industrial house to be working with us, having conversations with us, or constructing round us,” Glancy mentioned.
