{"id":3110181,"date":"2026-04-07T14:24:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=3110181"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:28:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:28:45","slug":"vc-eclipse-has-a-new-1-3b-to-back-and-build-physical-ai-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/04\/07\/vc-eclipse-has-a-new-1-3b-to-back-and-build-physical-ai-startups\/","title":{"rendered":"VC Eclipse has a new $1.3B fund to back \u2014 and build \u2014 \u2018physical AI\u2019 startups"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\" class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It takes just a skim of Eclipse&#8217;s recent investments to see where this venture firm&#8217;s interests lie \u2014 and where it is headed.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Palo Alto-based VC, which saw its median deal size explode over the past several years, has poured an increasing amount of money into the &#8220;physical world.&#8221; Its deals include electric boat developer <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/03\/19\/arc-expands-into-electric-commercial-and-defense-boats-with-50m-raise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Arc<\/a>, buzzy battery recycling and material firm <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/01\/28\/redwood-attracts-google-for-its-425m-series-e-as-ai-power-needs-rise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Redwood Materials<\/a>, self-driving construction vehicle startup Bedrock Robotics, autonomous vehicle tech company Wayve, and industrial robotics lab <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/03\/11\/rivian-mind-robotics-series-a-500m-fund-raise-industrial-ai-powered-robots\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mind Robotics<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With <a href=\"https:\/\/eclipse.capital\/blog\/announcing-eclipse-fund-vi-and-early-growth-iii\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">$1.3 billion in fresh capital<\/a> \u2014 which is split between a $591 million early-stage incubation fund and one more oriented toward growth startups \u2014 Eclipse is zeroing in on what partner Jiten Behl describes as the next big technological era.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Over the last two decades, we&#8217;ve seen multiple waves of innovation,&#8221; Behl said, listing the internet, mobile cloud, and social media eras. &#8220;This is the first time where stuff is going to move from our screens into the physical world; we&#8217;re going to see advanced levels of intelligence, along with actual actions, in terms of solving problems in the real, physical world.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI and the physical world have collided; the ubiquity of the term &#8220;physical AI&#8221; is just one signal. Behl said this era is being propelled by a confluence of talent, technological advancements, demand, and policy. And, of course, capital.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We have a nice war chest to go and make a serious dent in the market and support the companies in the right way across the life cycle,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eclipse isn&#8217;t breaking new ground by investing in physical AI. It is, after all, the next shiny new thing to invest in. How Eclipse picks startups is worth noting. The VC is looking to invest across all physical sectors, including transportation, energy, infrastructure, compute, and defense. The interesting part, as Behl described it, is a strategy to build a web, or ecosystem of startups in overlapping fields that will likely become partners as they scale.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-techcrunch-inline-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"inline-cta__wrapper\">\n\t\t<div class=\"inline-cta__logo\">\n\t\t\t<svg aria-hidden=\"true\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"41\" height=\"20\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 41 20\"><path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M0 0v6.452h7.097V20h7.097V6.452h6.451V0zM27.742 13.548V6.452h-7.097V20h20v-6.452zM40.645 0H27.742v6.452h12.903z\"\/><\/svg>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"inline-cta__flag\">Techcrunch event<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"inline-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"inline-cta__header-container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"inline-cta__header-container-desktop\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"inline-cta__header has-h-5-font-size\">Meet your next investor or portfolio startup at Disrupt<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"inline-cta__subheader\"><br>Your next round. Your next hire. Your next breakout opportunity. Find it at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, where 10,000+ founders, investors, and tech leaders gather for three days of 250+ tactical sessions, powerful introductions, and market-defining innovation. Register now to save up to $410.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"inline-cta__header-container-mobile\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"inline-cta__header has-h-5-font-size\">Meet your next investor or portfolio startup at Disrupt<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"inline-cta__subheader\"><br>Your next round. Your next hire. Your next breakout opportunity. Find it at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, where 10,000+ founders, investors, and tech leaders gather for three days of 250+ tactical sessions, powerful introductions, and market-defining innovation. Register now to save up to $410.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"inline-cta__event-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__location\">San Francisco, CA<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__separator\">|<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__date\">October 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"inline-cta__register-button\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a data-ctaText=\"REGISTER NOW\" data-destinationLink=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/events\/tc-disrupt-2026\/?utm_source=tc&amp;utm_medium=ad&amp;utm_campaign=disrupt2026&amp;utm_content=tc_inline_eb&amp;promo=tc_inline_eb&amp;display=\" data-event=\"button\" class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/events\/tc-disrupt-2026\/?utm_source=tc&amp;utm_medium=ad&amp;utm_campaign=disrupt2026&amp;utm_content=tc_inline_eb&amp;promo=tc_inline_eb&amp;display=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">REGISTER NOW<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Scale is so important, and if you can put it together in a way where companies partner early on to build scale, to build proof points, it just then enables them to go after the next set of demand,&#8221; Behl said, explaining that portfolio companies will partner with each other directly, but hopefully, also work with each other&#8217;s partners.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In some cases, those startups will be incubated within the confines of Eclipse. Behl said Eclipse plans to build companies from this new fund. And while he wouldn&#8217;t give too many hints, he did confirm that process has already started.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We&#8217;re definitely working on a couple of really cool ideas,&#8221; he said, noting that Eclipse is particularly interested in startups that work across enterprises.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The next insight is like, how do you connect these sectors? How do you build scale across sectors? And how do you use the data across sectors to build that moat?&#8221; he posed, adding data would be used to train smarter AI models to benefit a broader group. &#8220;That&#8217;s sort of the general thesis that we&#8217;ve been working on.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eclipse will put some of that money towards incubating, or building startups. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574188,"featured_media":3110333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tc-featured-article":false,"tc-header-option":"","tc-breaking-news":false,"tc-article-brief":false,"carmot_uuid":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-04-07T21:25:00Z","apple_news_api_id":"47e4eb3f-426e-422d-99e1-e0f0ba06a12e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-04-07T22:28:44Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AR-TrP0JuQi2Z4eDwugahLg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"tc_subtitle":"","tc_featured_image_disabled":false,"tc_exclude_from_rss_feed":false,"tc_exclude_from_content_rivers":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20429,2401,577030455,577123751],"tags":[18466,36665853],"tc_region":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_storyline_tax":[],"coauthors":[576606195],"class_list":["post-3110181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-startups","category-transportation","category-venture","category-robotics","tag-eclipse","tag-venture-2"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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