Deep-tech angel investor  ·  Family office  ·  Toronto

We write the first cheque in deep tech.

We're the family office of Adam McNamara. We back deep-tech founders at angel and seed with our own capital, and because there's no fund clock, we stay as long as the company takes to grow.

Tell us what you're building Read our thesis

Our companies went on to raise from

Andreessen Horowitz  Founders Fund  Khosla Ventures  Lux Capital  Y Combinator

Companies backed
40+
Unicorns
5
Acquisitions
9
Meeting to a decision
1

Portfolio

All 40+ companies

Companies we backed early.

A selection of the companies we've backed, every one of them at the angel or pre-seed stage.

Factory-built nuclear micro-reactors to power AI data centres. Nuclear Energy Unicorn
Making pharmaceuticals in microgravity and flying them home by re-entry capsule. Space Manufacturing Unicorn
Permanent carbon removal using the ocean. XPRIZE Carbon Removal winner. Carbon Removal
Zinc-air batteries that store grid energy for days, not hours. Long-Duration Storage
Gallium nitride power semiconductors, the successor to silicon in power conversion. Power Semiconductors Acquired by Infineon
Machine learning for molecular discovery. AI Drug Discovery Acquired by Recursion
Computational protein design for faster, more precise peptide therapeutics. Protein Design 40+ See the full portfolio View all

Thesis

Read our thesis

What we look for.

New science makes new companies possible. We look for three things before anything else.

01 / Team

Deeply technical founders.

Scientists and engineers who understand something the rest of the market doesn't yet. Often, the people who invented the science.

02 / Solution

First, best, or unique.

Genuinely novel technology. If a dozen teams could build the same thing, it isn't for us.

03 / Market

Problems that matter.

Energy, health, defence, space. The harder the problem, the more interested we are.

How we invest

Process, terms & FAQ

We decide in days, on standard terms.

One decision-maker, a short process, and standard terms. You'll spend your time building, not fundraising.

  1. 01

    One meeting.

    Tell us what you're working on. If we understand the science and believe in you, you'll have an answer within days.

  2. 02

    A decision in days.

    There's one decision-maker, so there's no committee to wait on.

  3. 03

    Up to $250,000.

    Initial cheques on a YC Post-Money SAFE. We don't take pro rata, so we never crowd your next round.

Instrument
YC Post-Money SAFE
First cheque
Up to $250K
Board seat
None
Stage
Angel to Seed

Who you'll work with

About Adam
Adam McNamara

We know what the first yes is worth.

Adam co-founded a mobile company that Shopify acquired, then became Shopify's first VP Product. He has sat on the founder's side of the table, waiting for someone to believe first.

We invest our own money. There are no outside investors and no fund clock, so we can wait as long as the company needs.

More about Adam