Spotlighting Founders With a Berkeley Connection

Matt Caspari is a Managing Partner at Alumni Ventures, where he leads the Deep Tech, Georgetown (Potomac Ventures) and UC Berkeley (Strawberry Creek Ventures) funds. He invests in mission-driven founders developing groundbreaking technologies. His investments encompass a diverse range of sectors, including AI, agriculture, aviation, battery technology, cybersecurity, direct air capture of CO2, energy generation, longevity, and robotics. Prior to Alumni Ventures, Matt gained operational experience as a two-time venture-backed founder/CEO and as a leader of the innovation team at Nike. He was the founding CEO of Aurora Biofuels, a deep tech venture that grew to 100+ employees, secured over $100 million in funding and was acquired by Reliance Industries. In earlier roles, Matt served as a strategic management consultant at Cambridge Pharma Consultancy, later acquired by IMS Health, and gained experience on the M&A team at Bloomberg. He holds a BS in Biochemistry from Georgetown University and an MBA with a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from UC Berkeley.

Overview:

Carl brings a systems-level mindset to venture investing, shaped by two decades of experience across public equities, M&A, and technology. He focuses on foundational technologies that rewire how the real world operates—betting on enduring platforms across deep tech sectors such as climate, energy, infrastructure, space, and AI. His work is rooted in a belief that innovation at the intersection of the physical and digital worlds is key to building a more equitable and sustainable future.

Funds actively worked on:

Strawberry Creek Ventures

Investment Areas of Focus:

At Alumni Ventures, Carl backs companies with the potential to tilt markets and drive systemic change. He gravitates toward mission-driven founders with deep technical insight—those unlocking new layers of productivity, resilience, and sustainability while reshaping legacy systems. His thesis centers on platform technologies with long time horizons and compounding strategic advantages—businesses that scale with time and fundamentally transform how industries operate.

Recent investments that reflect this approach include:

• 44.01, permanently removing CO₂ through mineralization in peridotite formations
• Omnidian, providing performance assurance for distributed solar assets
• Equilibrium Energy, building software-defined power markets
• Pebble, creating all-electric smart trailers for off-grid living
• Navier, designing hydrofoiling electric watercraft
• Neo Financial, reimagining consumer finance in Canada
• Radix Health, improving out-of-network reimbursement for healthcare providers
• Cerby, securing unmanageable apps in modern enterprises
• LeoLabs, operating radar infrastructure for orbital tracking
• Samaya AI, deploying expert AI agents in financial services

Prior to Alumni Ventures, Carl was a Principal at Solasta Ventures, where he led investments in deep tech and enterprise software. He previously held corporate development and strategy roles at Upwork and Riverbed Technology, and began his finance career at London Capital Management before moving into investment banking at J.P. Morgan in San Francisco.

Hailing from Korea and Canada, Carl holds a double degree in Mathematics and Business Administration from the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, and an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas. Outside of work, he enjoys spirited competition on the soccer field, at the poker table, or over hours-long board games.