• Tactile Robotics and the future of Physical AI

  • ChEmpower Announces Chakra™, the First Functional Pad for Abrasive-Free Planarization

  • Building Better Data Centers: Why We Invested in Nautilus

  • What is hard tech (and why we are so passionate about it?)

Pangaea News, Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine Pangaea News, Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine

Connecting Japanese Industry to AI and Semiconductor Hard Tech (Webinar) (Japanese)

Pangaea Venturesは白博堂およびCorundum Systems Biologyとともに、2026年6月24日(火)午後4時(PT)(日本標準時:6月25日午前8時)にオンラインウェビナーを開催します。PangaeaパートナーのAndrew Haughianが登壇し、AI、半導体、および周辺インフラにおけるグローバルなハードテック機会をどのようにマッピングしているか、またその変革から成る「新規事業の機会を見守る」立場から「新規事業を形成する」立場へと移行したい日本のコーポレートベンチャー・戦略リーダーにとって何を意味するかを共有します。

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Pangaea News, Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine Pangaea News, Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine

Connecting Japanese Industry to AI and Semiconductor Hard Tech (Webinar)

Pangaea Ventures is joining Hakuhodo and Corundum Systems Biology for an online webinar on June 24 at 4pm PT (8am June 25 Japan Standard Time), featuring Pangaea Partner Andrew Haughian. Andrew will share how our team has mapped global hard tech opportunities in AI, semiconductors, and adjacent infrastructure.

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Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine

The Agtech Reset - Part 2: (re)Growing Value

In Part 1 of the Agtech Reset series, we explored how a decade of misaligned capital and expectations left many ag and foodtech innovations stranded, even as fundamentals strengthened. In Part 2, we turn to the practical question: where, exactly, are the opportunities, and what does it mean to both fund and fix them.

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Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine

Building Hard Tech in the Desert: Why Our U.S. Office Calls Arizona Home

We’re often asked why our US office is in Phoenix. To us, the answer is clear. Arizona offers an unusually strong fit for hard tech: a rising startup hub, a deep pipeline of engineering and scientific talent, concentration in advanced manufacturing and semiconductors, and a supportive policy and business environment.

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Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine

Light at the Edge of Compute: Photonics and the Future of Data Infrastructure

Photonic networking offers a way around today’s bottlenecks by moving more of the data path into the optical domain, where light can carry far more information with lower loss than copper. This shift is not just another speed bump on a roadmap, it is part of a broader hard tech revolution in compute and networking infrastructure, where materials innovation and systems-level design are reshaping what is possible in AI-era data centers.

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Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine

Tactile Robotics: Giving Hard Tech a Sense of Touch

Robotics is entering a phase where simply “seeing” the world is not enough. Tactile robotics adds the sense of touch, allowing robots to understand force, texture, slip, temperature, and deformation so they can handle fragile objects, work safely alongside people, and operate reliably in unstructured environments. For corporate investors, this is a critical enabling layer of the ongoing hard tech revolution.

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Has AI Solved Materials Discovery? - AI & Materials Discovery Part 2

Has AI truly “solved” materials discovery, or has it mainly supercharged our ability to explore chemical space faster? We examine what, if anything, has genuinely changed with foundational models and autonomous labs, what stubborn physics and simulation limits still stand in the way, and how investors might think about the opportunity in AI-driven materials discovery platforms.

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Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine Industry Insights Mitchell Ballentine

Scaling Impact Through Partnership: Yuki Furuta on Tosoh’s Strategy in Advanced Materials

In this edition of our 25th Anniversary interview series, Yuki discusses Tosoh’s approach to evaluating hard tech startups: it’s not only about technical excellence and IP, but also about building trust-based relationships and aligning with a shared roadmap for societal impact. By working closely with partners like Pangaea Ventures, Tosoh brings financial support, technical expertise, and manufacturing muscle to those innovations with real-world promise.

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From Startup Pivots to Industry Lessons: Doug Wiggin on Building Hard Tech That Lasts

This week’s 25th anniversary interview spotlights Doug Wiggin’s honest reflections on startup realities past and present. Funding environments may be tougher today, but Doug’s core advice remains evergreen: prove your technology meets a real business need, get early feedback, and don’t be afraid to change course.

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Industry Insights, Pangaea News Mitchell Ballentine Industry Insights, Pangaea News Mitchell Ballentine

Marking 25 Years of Breakthroughs: Voices from Pangaea’s Journey at the Frontier of Hard Tech

As we continue to commemorate our 25 years in Hard Tech, join us for weekly interviews with past and current LPs and portfolio company CEOs starting Tuesday October 28, on the Pangaea blog. With contributions from Tony Sun from GC Ventures, Glenn Bindley of Redlen Technologies, Soichi Ueki of JX Advanced Metals, along with other past and present CEOs and LPs, who will share their unique perspectives and stories.

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