Eclipse

TIME recently included the Arc Sport — a sleek, high-performance electric wake boat — in its annual list of top inventions. The 23-ft Arc Sport replaces noisy, polluting gas engines with a silent, zero-emissions powertrain capable of 4 to 6 hours of wake surfing, tubing, or cruising. With joystick control for lateral movement, customizable wake settings, and over-the-air software updates, it’s a reimagined boating experience for the modern era. Arc is also applying the same electric powertrain technology to the tugboats envisioned for deployment in the Port of Los Angeles by 2027 — bringing its marine electrification vision to large-scale infrastructure. Breakthroughs like Arc Sport are more than consumer novelties — they’re testbeds for the industrial electrification we need across sectors, from marine to infrastructure. Read more: http://bit.ly/4mXfty8 Congratulations Mitch Lee, Ryan Cook, and Arc team!

Dr. Steve Hahn shares how his journey — from leading the FDA’s COVID vaccine push to guiding new cancer therapies — has shaped his mission as CEO of Eclipse portfolio company Nucleus RadioPharma today: To break down the infrastructure barriers that prevent precision medicines from reaching patients. Nucleus is building an end-to-end platform for radiopharmaceuticals that spans development, manufacturing, and distribution. These therapies deliver targeted radiation to tumors, but face unique logistical challenges, such as isotopes decaying quickly, doses can’t be stockpiled, and treatment access is limited to well-equipped centers. With new facilities in Minnesota, Arizona, and Pennsylvania in development, Nucleus aims to expand access, reduce patient wait times, and make treatment more equitable. As Hahn puts it, “You can have the most amazing drug in the world. But if you can’t manufacture or distribute it, it doesn’t matter.” Read more: https://bit.ly/3J4r2G1

The U.S. imports nearly 40% of the goods it consumes — both directly and indirectly — reflecting how much domestic industrial capability has been hollowed out over decades. Rebuilding that capacity isn’t just about tariffs or rhetoric; it’s about confronting deeply rooted structural headwinds. In a recent report, Eclipse Partner Aidan Madigan-Curtis and Bridgewater Associates outline how the challenges are multifaceted: The U.S. lacks scalable capacity in critical inputs — machinery, electronics, tooling — and faces a shortage of skilled labor. Even for industries where domestic manufacturing exists, scaling to meet demand is constrained by capital and time: Building heavy industrial facilities can take 3–5 years or more. Tariffs alone can’t close the gap, because many of the machines used to build things in the U.S. are still imported — “the machines that build the machines.” Overly broad tariffs risk raising input costs and undermining incentives to build domestically. The most durable path forward lies in productivity gains enabled by technology. Automation, robotics, AI, and next-gen industrial tools are the levers that can shrink the cost differential and make U.S. manufacturing competitive again. This research reinforces Eclipse's conviction that bringing back U.S. industrial strength depends not just on policy, but on backing founders building the tools and platforms that can scale productivity, bridge supply gaps, and reindustrialize America for the future. https://bit.ly/4nCNNQv

A government shutdown doesn’t just stall politics — it stalls innovation. Early-Stage companies in defense, energy, and industrials face real risks when regulatory approvals freeze, contracts stall, and federal grants are delayed. For founders, it’s a reminder to build resilience into business models and for investors to back startups creating long-term, mission-critical solutions that can withstand political cycles. Shutdowns underscore the urgency of investing in technologies that strengthen our economy and national security — no matter the headlines in Washington. Eclipse Partner Aidan Madigan-Curtis weighed in on the implications of the government shutdown this week with The Wall Street Journal: https://bit.ly/3ItCH13

Congratulations Daniel Jablonsky and Ursa Major team!

Capstan Medical continues pushing the boundaries of surgical robotics. A recent feature in Medical Design & Outsourcing showcases striking images and insights from Capstan's structural heart robot, offering a rare window into the precision engineering and integration at work behind the scenes. These visuals underscore how Capstan is not just experimenting with robotics — they’re building systems that combine hardware, software, and surgical insight to operate in one of medicine’s most delicate domains. The future of healthcare demands technology that works at the intersection of innovation and impact. Capstan’s progress is proof that with the right engineering mindset — and respect for the real-world constraints of patient care — we can bring transformative advancements from concept to clinic. https://bit.ly/42nxqi7

AI is only as powerful as the infrastructure that enables it. That’s why today’s announcement from Cerebras Systems is so significant: The company has raised $1.1B in Series G funding at an $8.1B valuation. Cerebras has established itself as the fastest AI inference provider in the world, routinely delivering speeds 20x faster than NVIDIA GPUs across leading models. That performance edge has fueled massive adoption — from tech giants like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Meta, and IBM, to government and research institutions including the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Mayo Clinic, and even individual developers through Hugging Face. With this new funding, Cerebras will expand its technology portfolio, U.S. manufacturing, and data center capacity to meet skyrocketing demand. More on today’s news from CNBC's Jordan Novet: https://bit.ly/46FMMQh Congratulations Andrew Feldman and Cerebras team!

As energy demand surges from electrification, AI-driven data centers, and reindustrialization, our aging grid can’t keep up. That’s why Eclipse is excited to lead Anode’s $9M seed round. Anode Technology Company is building clean, mobile battery micro-grids to deliver reliable, on-demand electricity to industries like data centers, EV fleets, construction, and more — without the pollution and noise of diesel generators. Led by seasoned founders Paul Huelskamp and Eric Hanson, Anode’s scalable, AI-driven systems bring a flexible, grid-independent solution to one of today’s biggest infrastructure challenges. This investment reflects Eclipse’s commitment to building a robust, reliable U.S. energy ecosystem — from renewables like Tandem PV and The Nuclear Company, to next-gen storage with Peak Energy, and now to flexible, on-demand power with Anode. More on today’s news from Eclipse Partner Jiten Behl: https://bit.ly/3WbskBW

The vibe at Foxglove’s second annual Actuate can be summed up in a single word: ALIVE. The energy of human attendees plus the amazing demos from a wide range of robots make it clear that the robotics revolution is no longer science fiction, it’s happening now. Following years of R&D, embodied AI is rapidly beginning to transform critical industries like transportation, construction, manufacturing, defense, healthcare, and more in ways we can all see. It’s only going to go faster from here, says Foxglove Co-Founder and CEO Adrian Macneil, thanks to the advancement of tooling and the ecosystem of innovators working together. This network includes pioneers like Wayve, Bedrock Robotics, Mytra, Reframe Systems, Rivian, Shield AI, Chef Robotics, Zipline, and more, who shared exciting progress and critical milestones. Getting to the next level — what NVIDIA’s physical AI lead Jim Fan called “the journey to the mundane” — is when robots become something we take for granted by handling all the boring tasks of life. Solving this last grand challenge means developing the LLM equivalent for robotics, based on synthetic and real-world data, and creating a foundation model that can truly democratize physical AI. We’ll get there very soon, said most of the attendees the Eclipse team spoke with. Within the next 5-10 years, physical AI will become physical API, augmenting human labor so the world of atoms can fully connect with the world of bits. For founders looking to get into robotics, solutions that merge the old industrial world with the new robotics world is the greatest opportunity of the moment. Just ask RJ Scaringe, who wrapped his fireside chat with the following: “Look at the broadest spectrum and apply robotics to that space. That’s how you can make a difference,” he said.    Eclipse has been backing and building robotics companies since our inception. If you are building in the space, please reach out to us!