Bison Ventures closes $160M Fund 2 to back early-stage founders bringing AI into the physical world

Bison Ventures has closed its $160 million Fund 2, up from a $135 million debut fund. The San Francisco firm will invest from pre-seed through Series B in deeply technical founders building what it calls Real World Intelligence, AI applied to energy, food, factories, biology and infrastructure.

Bison was founded in 2021 by Tom Biegala and Ben Hemani, both founding partners. The team combines investing and engineering experience in robotics, semiconductor manufacturing, energy, biology and materials science.

Fund 1 holdings include Zyphra, Cobot, Vivodyne and Thinking Machines. Early Fund 2 deployments include Grid Aero, Great Sky and Inner Logic. The firm sizes the Real World Intelligence category at $50 trillion across the global economy.