# Ben Marcus

> Ben Marcus is a seed investor at UP Partners backing Artificial Intelligence and Drones. See 11 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [UP Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/up-partners)
- Location: Santa Monica, United States
- Total investments: 11
- Last investment: Mar 2026
- Lead investor: 73%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamindmarcus
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/FlyingBenji
- Website: https://x.com/FlyingBenji
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benjamin.d.marcus

Ben Marcus is a seed investor at UP Partners in Santa Monica focused on Artificial Intelligence and Drones. Ben Marcus is based out of Santa Monica, California, and is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at UP Partners. Ben previously worked at Co-Founder and Chairman of AirMap. Ben Marcus attended Purdue University. Ben Marcus is an FAA-certified Airline Transport Pilot and Flight Instructor.

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $1.5M–$40M |
| Series A | $10M–$15M |
| Series B | $15M–$24M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Artificial Intelligence | 3 | 27% |
| Drones | 2 | 18% |
| Robotics | 2 | 18% |
| Software | 2 | 18% |
| Aerospace | 2 | 18% |

28 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 5 | 45% |
| Series A | 3 | 27% |
| Series B | 2 | 18% |
| Series C | 1 | 9% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 7 | 64% |
| Israel | 1 | 9% |
| Switzerland | 1 | 9% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| PartsPulse | PartsPulse is an AI based platform that helps understanding the business parts such as price and customer behaviour to act confidently. | $3M | Seed | Mar 04, 2026 |  |
| Point One Navigation | Point One Navigation provides a centimeter-accurate positioning platform that combines a professionally managed Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) corrections network, a developer-friendly API, and a sensor-fusion positioning engine. Their Polaris network delivers GNSS corrections from thousands of base stations to achieve very high precision, while theirFusionEngine software fuses satellite signals, inertial data, and motion sensors to maintain accuracy even without clear sky view. They also offer reference hardware like their Standard Development Kit and Atlas device for rapid prototyping or deployment. Point One supports a variety of use cases, from drones and robotics to autonomous vehicles and surveying. | $35M | Series C | Nov 20, 2025 |  |
| Loft Dynamics | Loft Dynamics is a training solutions provider that creates a virtual reality (VR) flight simulator. It was the first VR full motion simulator to receive Flight Simulation Training Device (FSTD) EASA FTD Level 3 authorization from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Loft Dynamics, with a talented team of passionate engineers, highlyspecialized developers, and dedicated aviation experts, assists leading global aircraft manufacturers, airlines, aviation operators, flight schools, and training organizations around the world in providing safer and more effective pilot training.It was formerly known as VRMotion AG, which was founded in Zurich in 2018 and has quickly established itself as the market leader in the development and manufacture of virtual reality training devices for helicopter pilots. | $24M | Series B | Aug 21, 2025 |  |
| Sayso | Sayso is a speech editing software that uses audio and Artificial Intelligence. The company aims to help English-speakers around the world communicate their expertise clearly and understand each other with ease. | $40M | Seed | Mar 11, 2025 |  |
| SaySo | SaySo is the next-generation platform reinventing how retailers handle clearance by transforming unsold stock into a profit-driving opportunity. | $4M | Seed | Dec 01, 2024 |  |
| Voyant Photonics | Voyant Photonics creates chip-scale LiDar 3D sensing technology. It won first place at Startup Columbia Track Award in 2017. | $15.4M | Series A | Dec 30, 2021 |  |
| Point One Navigation | Point One Navigation provides a centimeter-accurate positioning platform that combines a professionally managed Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) corrections network, a developer-friendly API, and a sensor-fusion positioning engine. Their Polaris network delivers GNSS corrections from thousands of base stations to achieve very high precision, while theirFusionEngine software fuses satellite signals, inertial data, and motion sensors to maintain accuracy even without clear sky view. They also offer reference hardware like their Standard Development Kit and Atlas device for rapid prototyping or deployment. Point One supports a variety of use cases, from drones and robotics to autonomous vehicles and surveying. | $10M | Series A | Nov 08, 2021 |  |
| VOOM Insurance | SkyWatch and VOOM Insurance develop smart, technology driven insurance products for specialty mobility segments across drones, aircraft, and motorcycles. SkyWatch is the largest digital commercial drone insurance provider in North America and one of the fastest growing solutions in light aircraft insurance. VOOM offers the only pay per milemotorcycle insurance product in the market, giving riders a fair and flexible alternative to traditional insurance.All products are powered by VOOM Core, the company’s cloud based platform that integrates advanced risk analytics, a modern policy administration system, and flexible distribution tools for direct to consumer channels, brokers, and embedded partners. This technology enables rapid creation and scaling of data driven insurance programs in categories that are often underserved by traditional insurers.SkyWatch and VOOM partner with leading insurance carriers across the United States and Canada and have served tens of thousands of policyholders. The company continues to expand its offerings across additional specialty mobility categories through digital innovation, strong carrier relationships, and a modern approach to underwriting. | $15M | Series B | Oct 05, 2021 |  |
| VOOM Insurance | SkyWatch and VOOM Insurance develop smart, technology driven insurance products for specialty mobility segments across drones, aircraft, and motorcycles. SkyWatch is the largest digital commercial drone insurance provider in North America and one of the fastest growing solutions in light aircraft insurance. VOOM offers the only pay per milemotorcycle insurance product in the market, giving riders a fair and flexible alternative to traditional insurance.All products are powered by VOOM Core, the company’s cloud based platform that integrates advanced risk analytics, a modern policy administration system, and flexible distribution tools for direct to consumer channels, brokers, and embedded partners. This technology enables rapid creation and scaling of data driven insurance programs in categories that are often underserved by traditional insurers.SkyWatch and VOOM partner with leading insurance carriers across the United States and Canada and have served tens of thousands of policyholders. The company continues to expand its offerings across additional specialty mobility categories through digital innovation, strong carrier relationships, and a modern approach to underwriting. | $15M | Series A | Oct 05, 2021 |  |
| Ware | Ware deploys autonomous, self-flying drones—combined with machine learning—inside warehouses to automate their inventory tracking. Designed to solve some of the $1.9 trillion warehousing industry’s most pressing issues, Ware’s product helps their customers operate more efficiently. A partner of Skydio and funded by Bloomberg Beta, Ware works withthe world’s largest 3PL’s and global brands to improve their accuracy, workflows, and save money. | $2.5M | Seed | Oct 22, 2020 |  |

10 of 11 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Alaska Star Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alaska-star-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [IA Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ia-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [JAL Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jal-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [2048 Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/2048-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Arbor Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/arbor-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About UP Partners

VC Fund · Santa Monica, United States

UP Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm that partners with entrepreneurs building companies that support multi-dimensional mobility.

5 contacts available at UP Partners.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Ally Warson | Investor | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ally-warson |
| Ben Marcus | Co-Founder and Managing Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ben-marcus |
| Adam Grosser | Chairman and Managing Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/adam-grosser |
| Cyrus Sigari | Co-founder & Managing Director | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/cyrus-sigari |
| Gary Gysin | Operating Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/gary-gysin |

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## FAQ

### What does Ben Marcus invest in?

Ben Marcus invests primarily in Artificial Intelligence, Drones and Robotics startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 11 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Ben Marcus's check size?

Ben Marcus typically joins rounds of $1.5M–$40M at Seed, $10M–$15M at Series A and $15M–$24M at Series B. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Ben Marcus participates in.

### When did Ben Marcus last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Ben Marcus closed in Mar 2026. Shizune tracks 11 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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