Drew Volpe
Partner, Co-Founder @ First Star Ventures
Boston, United States
Drew Volpe is an investor, entrepreneur, and technologist with a deep experience in search, machine learning, sensors, and mobile technologies.He was the founding VP of Product Development for Semantic Machines, the stealthy AI startup backed by $21m from Bain and General Catalyst. Drew was previously co-founder/CTO of Locately and leadthe development of Locately's location-based mobile market research platform from inception through the company’s successful acquisition by SMG. Prior to Locately, Drew was Director of Product Development at Endeca Technologies, a pioneer in search and unstructured database systems, acquired by Oracle for $1.1 billion.Drew is an active speaker and mentor for startups at MassChallenge, MIT, Harvard, and elsewhere. Drew holds an AB in Computer Science from Harvard University.
- Total investments:
- 33
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 15%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Drew Volpe invests in
Stages Drew Volpe invests in
Countries Drew Volpe invests in
Investment Focus
Industry
- Software 7 (21%)
- Artificial Intelligence 7 (21%)
- Information Technology 5 (15%)
- Biotechnology 4 (12%)
- Machine Learning 4 (12%)
Stage
- Seed 19 (58%)
- Pre-Seed 8 (24%)
- Series A 2 (6%)
- Angel 1 (3%)
- Funding Round 1 (3%)
Country
- United States 22 (67%)
- Canada 1 (3%)
- Israel 1 (3%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
iOrganBio
|
iOrganBio is a pioneering cell production platform that uses CellForge to facilitate the intelligent manufacturing of human cells and organoids. | $2M / Seed / Oct 29, 2025 | |
Phaseshift Technologies
|
PhaseShift Technologies is addressing the critical need for new materials that can overcome limitations in performance, efficiency, cost, availability, and sustainability. Traditional material development relies heavily on trial-and-error, requiring costly and time-consuming physical experiments. This approach can extend projects over 10-20 yearsand cost millions of dollars, with no guarantee of success.PhaseShift's Rapid Alloy Design (RAD)™ technology revolutionizes this process by using AI to create optimized alloys tailored to specific use cases. Paired with Multi-Scale Simulations to accurately predict material performance, RAD™ minimizes the time and effort spent on unsuccessful trials. This leads to faster, more efficient development cycles and a significant reduction in resources required to meet design goals.Through the RAD™ platform, PhaseShift designs a portfolio of innovative alloys, which are commercialized via strategic partnerships with manufacturers. | $3M / Seed / Oct 21, 2024 | |
SaolaAI
|
SaolaAI is the go-to platform for zero-maintenance, maximum-coverage quality, powered by real user behavior insights. With over 30 million user sessions recorded, SaolaAI stands at the forefront of autonomous quality, trusted by hundreds of engineering teams to catch critical issues throughout the application lifecycle, ensuring top-notch productquality with ease. | Pre-Seed / Sep 12, 2023 | |
Blumen Systems
|
Blumen is an early-stage technology company building software to streamline the regulatory challenges associated with upstream natural resources production in the US. We are focused on producers building and utilizing land-based assets powering the energy transition including carbon sequestration, geothermal, critical minerals, hydrogen, and RNGprojects. | $1.3M / Pre-Seed / Apr 04, 2023 | |
|
Blumen Systems
|
Blumen is an early-stage technology company building software to streamline the regulatory challenges associated with upstream natural resources production in the US. We are focused on producers building and utilizing land-based assets powering the energy transition including carbon sequestration, geothermal, critical minerals, hydrogen, and RNGprojects. | $1.3M / Seed / Apr 04, 2023 | |
Genialis
|
Genialis is a precision medicine data science company focused on new ways to treat disease. Blending computational biology and AI-based methods, Genialis merges and models data at the intersection of clinical and translational medicine and drug discovery. Genialis is trusted by biopharma and big pharma alike, to validate targets, predict biomarkersand optimally position novel drugs. Together, Genialis and its partners are bringing improved solutions to drug discovery to change people's lives. | $13M / Series A / Mar 29, 2023 | |
Robigo
|
Robigo is a biomanufacturing company engineering microbes to create more sustainable crop protection solutions. | $6.9M / Seed / Feb 15, 2023 | |
|
Robigo
|
Robigo is a biomanufacturing company engineering microbes to create more sustainable crop protection solutions. | $1.2M / Pre-Seed / Nov 05, 2021 | |
Path
|
ScholarMe is a website where students in high school and college can pay their entire college tuition by applying for all of their financial aid (FAFSA®, scholarships, student loans and ISAs) with just a single application. Once you get into college, we help you pay for it in the most cost effective manner. | Seed / Sep 01, 2021 | |
Kanary
|
Kanary company helps you protect your digital identity. | $895K / Pre-Seed / Mar 01, 2021 | |
| See all 33 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
About First Star Ventures
First Star partners with entrepreneurs solving real-world problems using data and machine learning, focusing on applications of frontier technologies such as AI, computational biotech, connected sensors, AR/VR, and blockchain. We believe in investing with conviction in visionary, technical founders inventing the future. Drawing on ourexperience and network of strategic partners across industries and regions, we help startups think big and grow fast.
First Star Ventures Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Drew Volpe
Partner, Co-Founder
|
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Millie Liu
Co-Founder, Partner
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3 more contacts available
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FAQ
What does Drew Volpe invest in?
Drew Volpe invests primarily in Software, Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 33 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
When did Drew Volpe last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Drew Volpe closed in Oct 2025. Shizune tracks 33 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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