Ondine Capital has completed the first close of its third USD-denominated venture capital fund, securing commitments from top-tier institutional and strategic limited partners, including several leading semiconductor enterprises in Taiwan. The firm said Ondine Capital Fund III will invest across the full AI value chain, spanning AI foundation models, next-generation semiconductors, AI infrastructure, AI-native software, and physical AI applications.
The announcement matters because it pairs capital with the semiconductor expertise that underpins the current wave of artificial intelligence investment. Taiwan is a critical node in global chip supply, and the participation of semiconductor enterprises as limited partners suggests industrial players are seeking early visibility into the startups that will consume and shape their future output.
Ondine Capital pointed to three early portfolio companies as illustrations of its thesis. Recursive Superintelligence, founded by former Salesforce Chief Scientist Richard Socher with veteran researchers from OpenAI, Google, and Meta, focuses on recursive self-improving AI systems and recently raised $650 million at a $4 billion pre-money valuation led by Google Ventures, with participation from Nvidia and AMD. Bot Auto, founded by Xiaodi Hou, former co-founder and CTO of TuSimple, is a Houston-based physical AI startup specializing in autonomous freight transportation and recently partnered with Ryan Transportation to launch driverless freight operations along the Houston-Dallas corridor. Salience Labs, founded by Vaysh Kewada and Johannes Feldmann, develops silicon-photonics optical switching technology for AI data centers and, partnering with Tower Semiconductor, recently closed a $125 million financing round led by Bullhound Capital with strategic backing from AMD Ventures and Intel Capital.
Alongside the fund close, Ondine Capital appointed Brian Yen as Partner to reinforce its global sourcing and founder network. Yen previously served as Principal and Head of the Taipei Office at Headline Asia, building a network across Japan, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, with investments including respond.io, forest inc., Braid, and iMotorbike. At Ondine Capital he will focus on early-stage founders building intelligent software and physical AI platforms.
"The convergence of AI and semiconductors is unleashing unprecedented opportunities across global tech," Yen said. "As these technologies mature, we anticipate monumental value creation throughout the entire stack. Through Fund III, we look forward to empowering visionary founders who are shaping the future of computing and industry applications."
The firm said it continues to actively deploy capital and evaluate global investment opportunities in breakthrough, category-defining companies across the AI and semiconductor landscape. For readers in the technology and industrial sectors, the fund's stated scope signals continued appetite for hardware-adjacent AI bets, from optical networking for data centers to autonomous logistics, areas where capital intensity and chip supply relationships can determine which startups scale. Ondine Capital describes itself as a venture capital firm focused on frontier technologies, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, enterprise software, clean energy, and emerging technology platforms, backing founders from inception with strategic support and access to a global network of industrial partners, investors, and entrepreneurs. The announcement was distributed via Media OutReach Newswire, and further details are available at https://www.ondinecap.com/.
