Eclipse

Eclipse is a Palo Alto-based venture capital firm founded in 2015 by Lior Susan that focuses on startups transforming the physical economy through manufacturing, logistics, robotics, defense technology, advanced compute, healthcare infrastructure, energy systems, and industrial automation. The firm positions itself as “Operators with Capital,” combining venture investing with operational expertise across manufacturing, industrial systems, policy, AI, and supply chain infrastructure. Eclipse partners include Greg Reichow, Angela Hayward, Jiten Behl, Seth Winterroth, Kaitlyn Glancy, Joe Fath, Thomas Storch, and other operators with backgrounds tied to industrial execution and complex systems.

Eclipse matters right now because venture capital is rotating back toward infrastructure, resilience, industrial modernization, and AI-powered physical systems. Categories once dismissed as “too hard” or “too operationally heavy” are becoming central to geopolitical competition, supply chain security, defense modernization, and enterprise AI deployment. The Eclipse portfolio reflects that thesis directly. Companies like Cerebras Systems, VulcanForms, Cellares, Bright Machines, Augury, Reliable Robotics, Arc, Ursa Major, and Enovix sit at the intersection of software, hardware, automation, manufacturing, and infrastructure. The broader market signal is clear: the next era of venture-backed growth increasingly depends on rebuilding real-world systems, not just optimizing browser tabs.

About Eclipse

Venture capital spent the better part of a decade acting like the physical world was an annoying side quest. Investors chased frictionless software because software scales clean. No factories. No forklifts. No delayed shipments sitting outside Long Beach while three executives argue over a spreadsheet and somebody quietly develops acid reflux in a WeWork conference room. Then reality showed up swinging. Supply chains fractured. Semiconductor shortages hit global manufacturing. Defense technology became strategically urgent again. AI workloads started demanding absurd amounts of compute infrastructure and energy capacity. Governments rediscovered industrial policy with the enthusiasm of a casino gambler who suddenly remembered rent is due Monday morning.

Eclipse built its entire identity around that shift before most of the market fully processed it. Founded in 2015 by Lior Susan, Eclipse focused early on what the firm calls the “physical economy.” Translation: the industries that actually keep civilization functioning when the cloud dashboards stop refreshing. Manufacturing. Logistics. Transportation. Energy systems. Robotics. Defense infrastructure. Industrial automation. Healthcare manufacturing. Advanced compute. Not glamorous sectors by traditional Silicon Valley standards. Hugely important sectors by actual economic standards. That distinction matters more every quarter.

Investment Philosophy

Eclipse calls itself “Operators with Capital,” which sounds like polished venture branding until you examine the partner bench. Greg Reichow brought manufacturing experience from Tesla. Angela Hayward leads strategy initiatives across the platform. Joe Fath oversees growth. Thomas Storch focuses on policy. The broader partnership includes investors and operators who understand that scaling industrial systems involves more than posting inspirational leadership threads on LinkedIn beside a professionally photographed espresso machine.

Eclipse invests in companies where software collides directly with physical infrastructure. That creates a fundamentally different investment profile than traditional SaaS investing. Industrial systems punish mistakes differently. Hardware delays ripple across supply chains. Regulatory friction slows deployment cycles. Factory constraints turn spreadsheets into crime scenes. The physics always collect their debt eventually. Many venture firms avoided those categories for years because operational complexity compresses timelines, capital efficiency, and investor patience simultaneously. Eclipse leaned toward that complexity instead of away from it. That philosophy increasingly looks less contrarian and more inevitable.

Market Focus and Thesis

Eclipse’s investment focus spans manufacturing, logistics, transportation, defense technology, healthcare infrastructure, energy systems, industrial automation, robotics, advanced compute, and electrification. The unifying thesis is that physical systems are becoming programmable. Factories now operate more like intelligent software environments. Warehouses increasingly depend on robotics and machine intelligence. Defense systems are becoming autonomous. Energy infrastructure requires software orchestration at massive scale. AI deployment depends on compute, power availability, semiconductor infrastructure, and physical network capacity.

The old separation between “software companies” and “industrial companies” is collapsing. That convergence explains why Eclipse matters right now. The firm positioned itself around infrastructure modernization years before industrial resilience became a dominant venture capital narrative. Today, those themes sit at the center of enterprise spending, government policy, geopolitical competition, and AI infrastructure expansion. The market moved toward Eclipse’s worldview. That timing gives the firm stronger pattern recognition in sectors many investors only recently started studying seriously.

Portfolio and Ecosystem Positioning

The Eclipse portfolio reads like a map of industries under reconstruction. Cerebras Systems focuses on wafer-scale AI compute infrastructure designed for large-scale workloads. VulcanForms is rebuilding advanced manufacturing infrastructure through digital production systems. Cellares industrializes cell therapy manufacturing. Bright Machines modernizes factory automation. Reliable Robotics pushes autonomy into aviation systems. Ursa Major operates across propulsion, aerospace, and defense infrastructure. Arc electrifies marine transportation. Augury applies predictive intelligence to industrial equipment. Enovix develops advanced battery systems.

These are not lightweight software abstractions chasing engagement metrics and dopamine loops. They are infrastructure businesses. That distinction changes everything about how these companies scale, hire, manufacture, regulate, and compete. It also changes how venture firms support them. Founders building industrial systems need investors who understand manufacturing timelines, procurement cycles, supply chain risk, factory operations, regulatory complexity, and hardware integration. A generic “growth-at-all-costs” SaaS playbook does not help much when your company depends on propulsion systems, industrial robotics, semiconductor infrastructure, or advanced manufacturing facilities. Eclipse appears structured specifically for those environments.

Leadership and Partners

Lior Susan remains central to Eclipse’s identity and market positioning. The firm’s messaging consistently reinforces the idea that industrial systems, infrastructure, and physical-world technologies represent one of the largest untapped opportunities in venture capital. The broader leadership structure reinforces that thesis operationally.

Angela Hayward serves as Partner and Head of Strategy. Greg Lyon operates as Partner and CFO. Joe Fath leads growth initiatives. Thomas Storch focuses on policy strategy. Jiten Behl, Seth Winterroth, Kaitlyn Glancy, Charly Mwangi, and Aidan Madigan-Curtis contribute sector-specific investment and operational expertise. Even the organizational structure tells a story. Eclipse built dedicated functions around AI, community operations, policy, investor relations, marketing, and operational infrastructure because scaling industrial startups requires ecosystem coordination, not just financing. Defense technology, manufacturing systems, energy infrastructure, and logistics platforms all operate within dense regulatory and operational environments. That level of specialization increasingly separates industrial-focused venture firms from generalist software investors.

Why Founders Pay Attention

Founders building in manufacturing, defense, robotics, energy infrastructure, industrial automation, or advanced compute increasingly face a venture landscape split into two camps. One group still optimizes primarily around software metrics, recurring revenue velocity, and lightweight deployment models. The other group understands that modern infrastructure businesses require patience, operational depth, and tolerance for complexity. Eclipse belongs firmly in the second category.

That matters because infrastructure startups rarely scale neatly. Deployment cycles are longer. Supply chain dependencies are real. Regulatory oversight matters. Hardware iterations cost money. Industrial customers buy cautiously because downtime destroys margins and reputations simultaneously. Founders operating in those categories often care less about social media theatrics and more about whether an investor understands how factories, logistics systems, industrial procurement, and infrastructure scaling actually work. Eclipse’s hiring momentum across portfolio companies also signals where venture conviction is concentrating. The firm’s jobs platform includes hiring activity across AI infrastructure, robotics, manufacturing, operations, logistics, aerospace, defense technology, and industrial systems. That is not just recruiting activity. It is market intelligence.

What This Signals for Venture Capital

The broader signal surrounding Eclipse is difficult to ignore. Venture capital is rotating back toward fundamentals. AI acceleration requires physical infrastructure. Energy transition requires industrial modernization. National security increasingly overlaps with venture-backed technology. Supply chain resilience became a boardroom priority instead of an academic discussion. Semiconductor manufacturing, compute infrastructure, defense systems, robotics, and industrial automation all moved closer to the center of global economic strategy.

Software still matters enormously. But software no longer explains the full story. The next decade of venture-backed growth likely belongs to firms capable of understanding both software and physical systems simultaneously. Eclipse built an investment platform specifically around that convergence. That positioning now looks less niche and more predictive.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Eclipse?

Eclipse is a Palo Alto-based venture capital firm founded in 2015 by Lior Susan. The firm focuses on startups modernizing the physical economy through manufacturing, logistics, robotics, defense, advanced compute, healthcare infrastructure, and industrial systems.

Who leads Eclipse?

Eclipse is led by Founder and CEO Lior Susan. Key partners include Greg Reichow, Angela Hayward, Joe Fath, Thomas Storch, Jiten Behl, Seth Winterroth, Kaitlyn Glancy, Charly Mwangi, and Aidan Madigan-Curtis.

What sectors does Eclipse invest in?

Eclipse invests across manufacturing, industrial automation, transportation, logistics, defense technology, healthcare infrastructure, robotics, advanced compute, energy systems, and electrification.

What are notable Eclipse portfolio companies?

Notable Eclipse portfolio companies include Cerebras Systems, Bright Machines, VulcanForms, Cellares, Augury, Arc, Reliable Robotics, Enovix, and Ursa Major.

Why does Eclipse matter in venture capital right now?

Eclipse reflects the growing venture capital focus on infrastructure, industrial resilience, AI-powered physical systems, advanced manufacturing, and defense modernization as markets prioritize real-world operational systems.

Are Eclipse portfolio companies hiring?

Yes. Eclipse portfolio companies are actively hiring across engineering, manufacturing, robotics, AI infrastructure, logistics, aerospace, operations, and defense technology.