# Material Impact

> Material Impact is a VC fund backing Manufacturing and Biotechnology. See 56 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Boston, United States
- Total investments: 56
- Last investment: Jul 2026
- Lead investor: 48%
- Last fund: Nov 2023
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/material-impact/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/materialimpact
- Website: http://www.materialimpact.com

Material Impact is a VC fund in Boston focused on Manufacturing and Biotechnology. Material Impact establishes companies dedicated to transforming advancements in material science and deep technology into products.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Material Impact. Shizune tracks 8 team members at Material Impact. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/material-impact-fund?utm_source=investor_profile

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $3M–$17M |
| Series A | $8M–$23M |
| Series B | $10M–$40M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Manufacturing | 10 | 18% |
| Biotechnology | 6 | 11% |
| Robotics | 4 | 7% |
| Industrial | 4 | 7% |
| Renewable Energy | 4 | 7% |

56 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series A | 14 | 25% |
| Seed | 10 | 18% |
| Series B | 10 | 18% |
| Series C | 4 | 7% |
| Funding Round | 2 | 4% |

10 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 27 | 48% |
| Singapore | 1 | 2% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 2% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Adam Sharkawy | Co-Founder & Managing Partner | 9 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/adam-sharkawy |
| Elyse Winer | Partner | 1 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/elyse-winer |
| Brian Zatulove | Partner | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/brian-zatulove |
| Carmichael Roberts | Founder & Managing Partner | 139 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/carmichael-roberts |
| Christian Theriault | Entrepreneurial Partner | 3 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/christian-theriault |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Oxipital AI | Soft Robotics opens new markets to automation through the application and commercialization of its proprietary soft robotics technology. The business end of a robotic arm is the gripper. The March 2105 edition of Modern Materials Handling best describes the challenge when they wrote: “Perhaps more than any other element of robotic development inwarehousing and distribution, the end-of-arm tooling, or gripper, is the place that can make or break a robot’s success.” Advancing gripper technology is the key to unlocking a new age of automation. An age where they can automate tote pick and pack for grocery distribution, bin picking of soft and delicate parts, e-commerce order fulfillment, fruit harvesting, luggage handling, and consumer goods packaging. The US fresh produce packing market alone represents a $27 billion retail market searching for automation solutions. Soft Robotics has demonstrated the ability to bring robotic product handling and packaging to this market. These are problems of adaptability, complexity, and cost. The search for a more adaptable gripper has driven up the complexity of design to devices like servo grippers and complicated tool changing requirements. This complexity comes at a high price in gripper cost, the need for larger arms, and complex software and hardware integration. Their revolutionary soft robotic technology, covered by more than 40 patents and applications, enables us to design and manufacture soft robotic hands that address the new unstructured world of automation and logistics. Through their propriety knowledge of actuator geometry, material selection, and operating envelope, they can tune actuators to be force limiting with NO CLOSED LOOP FEEDBACK system required. Soft Robotics brings the highest level of adaptability, while lowering system complexity and total system cost.The adaptive nature of their technology allows a single grasper to handle an unprecedented range of objects, regardless of shape, size, or weight, with no tool or software changes between cycles. We’ve demonstrated the ability to grasp bags of rice, raw food, bars of soap, boxes of toothpaste, and clothing all with a single device. But soft does not mean weak. Their technology has the ability to scale from the smallest to the largest task. The result is an automation solution that can pack a tote for retail distribution, pick fruit off the vine, or easily handle a ten pound kettle bell. They have demonstrated the speed and precision necessary to integrate into the factories and warehouses of today and the future, operating at speeds up to 130 picks per minute.Their system is plug and play with the most common industrial robots using industry standard protocols and vision systems.They have designed the system to be “robot and vision agnostic,” allowing the system to quickly and seamlessly integrate with the full range of robots, from small collaborative systems to high speed industrial packing cells. Soft Robotics launched their industrial product at Automate 2015 in March 2015, Their produce handling system in June 2015, and started shipping in June 2015. They are now selling systems to their pilot customers. Soft Robotics is foundational technology that solves the problems of today and unlocks the future of automation. |  | Series A | Jul 08, 2026 |  |
| Foundation Alloy | Foundation Alloy leverage advanced materials technology to design novel alloys optimized for additive manufacturing. | $22M | Series A | Jun 16, 2026 |  |
| AgZen | AgZen develops pesticide sprays stick to plants which reduces pollution and helps farmers save. | $10M | Series B | Mar 13, 2026 |  |
| Ripple Foods | Ripple Foods specializes in making non-dairy milk with just as much protein as milk and half the sugar. Ripple has 8x the protein of almond milk and half the sugar of dairy milk. It’s high in bioavailable calcium (50% more than milk), potassium and provides a good source of omega-3s. It’s lower in calories than milk and best of all, it has thecreamy, delicious texture our dairy-free friends are missing. No more thin, chalky almond/ soy/ cashew milk.It was founded in 2014 and headquartered in Emeryville, California. | $17M |  | Dec 02, 2025 |  |
| Amperesand | Amperesand operates as a grid infrastructure solution provider. | $80M | Series A | Nov 18, 2025 |  |
| Debut | Debut Biotech develops biotechnology-based beauty ingredients and formulations in a vertically integrated manner, beginning with AI-powered discovery and continuing through biosynthesis, biomanufacturing, downstream processing, and finished formulations. The company utilizes its BeautyORB platform to computationally screen vast chemical librariesand predict novel bioactives, which then proceed through validation, safety testing, and formulation for skincare and haircare applications. Debut employs both engineered microbial fermentation and cell-free enzymatic systems to produce these novel ingredients sustainably and then transitions them into proprietary formulations or custom white-label products. | $20M | Venture - Series Unknown | Aug 26, 2025 |  |
| Still Bright | Still Bright has discovered transformative reaction chemistry to enable the rapid, clean, and complete recovery of copper. | $18.7M | Seed | Jul 30, 2025 |  |
| Foundation Alloy | Foundation Alloy leverage advanced materials technology to design novel alloys optimized for additive manufacturing. | $7.5M | Seed | May 07, 2025 |  |
| AgZen | AgZen develops pesticide sprays stick to plants which reduces pollution and helps farmers save. | $10M | Series A | Mar 06, 2025 |  |
| 6K | 6K develops materials into products that will advance industries in manufacturing, renewable energy, aerospace, and consumer electronics. The company assembled a team of material, process, and production experts. 6K Inc. was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in North Andover, Massachusetts. | $82M | Series E | Sep 05, 2024 |  |

10 of 56 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Anzu Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/anzu-partner) — VC Fund, 6 deals together
- [LaunchCapital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/launchcapital) — VC Fund, 6 deals together
- [Breakthrough Energy Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/breakthrough-energy-ventures) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Emerald Technology Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/emerald-technology-ventures) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [RKS Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/rks-ventures) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [SOSV](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sosv) — VC Fund, 5 deals together

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## FAQ

### What does Material Impact invest in?

Material Impact invests primarily in Manufacturing, Biotechnology and Robotics startups, most often at Series A and Seed stage. Most of the 56 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 Material Impact's check size?

Material Impact typically joins rounds of $3M–$17M at Seed, $8M–$23M at Series A and $10M–$40M 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 Material Impact participates in.

### How do I contact Material Impact?

Public channels for Material Impact include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at Material Impact?

The team at Material Impact includes Adam Sharkawy (Co-Founder & Managing Partner), Elyse Winer (Partner) and Brian Zatulove (Partner), among 8 team members tracked by Shizune. The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### 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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