Team Spotlight: Introducing Alessandro Levi
Why the future of Robotics may be softer than you think!
If you are a shrewd reader of our blog, you likely noticed a new name on yesterday’s byline. We are very happy to announce Alessandro Levi joined our world class team of scientists as Electrical Engineer and Partner. Like with many on our team there is a through-line of how we know Alessandro; while he is new to being full-time on the team he is not new to knowing us. I first met Alessandro in 2016, when his startup Semplus (Sensing Electromagnetic Plus, i.e. sensing with electromagnetic waves where the Plus meant detecting the Force) applied to StartX, Stanford University’s elite entrepreneur community. That is also the thread of how I know Dakin, Brandon and Caleb not to mention a number of our portfolio company CEOs and advisors.
Alessandro founded Semplus while working as a researcher at Stanford working in Professor Alberto Salleo’s material science lab focused on organic transistors circuits for sensing applications. He has a PhD from the Italian Institute of Technology where he focused on innovative design, materials, and sensors for tactile sensing applied to soft robots. In 2013 Alessandro and Semplus won the Intel Business Challenge Europe. He earned his undergraduate degree in Electronics Engineering from Pisa University. As you may have guessed, he is Italian! He presently calls the Bay Area home but tries to frequently get back to Europe to see family and friends.
He also sent me flowers as a thank you for introducing him to this opportunity at Prime Movers Lab and is an all around phenomenal human. :)
Suzanne: Take us through your journey of going from Entrepreneur to Venture Capitalist!
Alessandro: I grew up in Italy, and despite having a passion for business and finance at an early age, I chose to pursue an Electronics Engineering degree and then received my doctorate in Innovative Tech of Information & Communications Engineering and Robotics.
When I first started out, I liked doing research and working in the lab, but over time, I became more self-aware, realizing that sometimes I was frustrated with the slow pace of academia. Also, I didn’t like the disconnect between research and the industry. That said, one of my research projects during my Ph.D. became the core technology and foundation for my first startup, Semplus.
I started Semplus in 2013, shortly after moving to the United States. At the time, I was a visiting researcher at Stanford. I caught the Silicon Valley bug immediately. I worked alongside some of the brightest minds and found it exhilarating that everyone I knew was either a startup founder or thinking about creating one. I lived in downtown Palo Alto just off of University Ave, where every cafe, including my favorite, Coupa Cafe, was full of people coding, strategizing, or both.
In 2013, I raised my first round of funding, negotiated a license agreement with my university (where I developed my technology), and ever since then, I’ve been off to the races.
During my time at Semplus, I had the privilege of meeting so many angel, corporate and institutional investors. As some of these folks became friends of mine, I started to think about maybe one day being on the other side of the table as a venture capitalist. There’s so much to love about this type of work: 1) You have the opportunity to meet brilliant, passionate entrepreneurs, 2) you get to evaluate cutting-edge technologies, and 3) you have the privilege of helping to drive impact and fuel the future. The excitement of taking smart risks and backing the companies that you think have the potential to change the world is very appealing to me.
After my entrepreneurial experience, I took some time for myself and slowly started to work on private technological projects. When I was ready to get back into the game, I began to have informational chats with friends and contacts in venture capital. I was curious how they got their start in the VC world, and honestly, I didn’t see a clear path for myself because I wasn’t the typical candidate.
Luckily, my conversations led me to you, Suzanne. I wanted to reconnect in the Fall of 2020 because I thought you were one of the smartest investors I met at StartX, and I wanted to get your advice on how to join a VC. You mentioned your firm, Prime Movers Lab, was expanding and that I could be a good fit.
I liked your expertise and immediately felt connected to the mission of Prime Movers Lab and its core sectors, which focused on my area of expertise, deep-tech hardware. I can count on one hand the number of VCs investing in deep tech technologies. It’s rare to find investors for companies in hardware, biotech, or medical. And often VCs don’t lead funding rounds at Seed stage because they do not understand the core technology and science or they fear it’s cost-prohibitive to bring it to market.
I believe my background in hardware and being an entrepreneur prepared me for my role at Prime Movers Lab. Now I’m on the other side of the table, ready to help drive growth and impact.
Suzanne: Why do you think it is so important to have been a founder before joining a VC firm?
Alessandro: Founding a company and developing something from nothing, is a unique privilege and opportunity. Your employees trust that you are making the right decisions, and your investors trust that you are being a good steward of the local or global economy by fueling the future with innovative products, systems, and ideas. Having been a founder myself, I will say, it’s not for the faint of heart. Founders have a certain mindset. They are willing to be bold, go against the grain, sacrifice for their team, fail, be resilient, fail again, and develop compelling stories that give investors, partners, and customers a reason to believe.
As a founder, I had to earn the trust of my investors. I never took it for granted each and every time someone wrote me a check. This experience stays with you.
Now that I’m on the other side, I can immediately relate to a founder when we meet. We both have war stories to tell, and my guidance or advice is one of the best gifts that I can give to entrepreneurs. I share with them the many highs and lows that I’ve experienced. I don’t want them to make the same mistakes that I did. I want them to learn from them, tweak and pivot if necessary. As an investor, I believe my job is to coach the entrepreneurs and help them sharpen their tech evaluation, hardware design, product roadmap and business strategy skills.
Now that I have the “been there, done that” T-shirt when I evaluate companies, I know all the right questions to ask.
Suzanne: So, I know our readership wants to know what exactly is ‘Soft Robotics’? I am picturing a robot that has gone a bit overboard on the carbs during the pandemic!
Alessandro: Good one. If you ask most people to describe a robot, they might say it is something bulky made from metal or plastic secured with nuts and bolts. In essence, they describe the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz or Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 1. But times have changed, and so have robots. You may not be familiar with the term soft robotics, but it’s where the industry is heading. Rigid robots like the ones from Boston Dynamics are fantastic but as the industry matures, we’re starting to see how soft robotics can be integrated or layered on top, to create malleable systems of muscles and skin like the ones of cyborgs in Terminator 2 (and beyond) made from liquid metal and polymers.
Soft robotics was first developed a decade ago by Professor George Whiteside from Harvard University. Professor Whiteside started building robots that worked similar to the biological and human systems. Their movements are engineered by soft artificial muscles instead of rigid heavy motors. Their energy storage is different and isn’t like the bulky batteries that power mobile phones or tablets. And their sensors and transducers (the systems that convert one form of energy into another) enable new modalities similar to those of human beings.
While we’re still years off from mass commercial availability, this new disruptive technology is exciting. It has so much potential. For example, currently, most of the robots on assembly lines or in warehouses are far away from humans. Why? Because they can badly injure or kill a person if something goes wrong (hence our investment in Fort Robotics). However, soft robots have the potential to work alongside humans and may minimize or prevent injuries between man and machine altogether.
Another application is food and drug packaging using tentacle grippers to handle objects with care, minimizing damage or imperfections. Soft robotics can also enhance the medicine and healthcare industry. It increases the performance of prosthetic limbs and makes them appear more lifelike. Right now, we’re just on the edges of this technology’s potential.
Suzanne question: You are making me want to go back and rewatch the Terminator movies! Can you share something that may sound a bit outrageous but you think will happen in robotics in the next 10 years?
Alessandro: I like the analogy between robots and personal computers. In 1980 when Bill Gates was the chairman and CEO of Microsoft, he made a bold prediction: “A computer on every desk, and in every home running Microsoft software.” At that time his comments were laughable, but fast forward to now and he’s right. As a society, we cannot function without computers, and the current pandemic has shown all of us, all we need is a computer, camera, and WiFi to keep things moving forward.
I believe one day, there will be a robot in every home. Right now robots are largely relegated to areas such as manufacturing applications, Defense, the medical industry, and food delivery. But we know they will eventually do much more.
Labs around the world are working to figure out how robots can go mainstream. The key is they have to be able to perform intelligent tasks in unstructured environments such as a busy office. They have to see obstacles and objects, hear voices and respond, grasp objects firmly and move about without injuring anyone. But we’re moving in the right direction. The cost of hardware and sensors has dropped significantly in the last ten years, but software and tools are the primary pain points. Currently, there are a couple of research groups that are working on tools that they hope will make programming robots easier and less time-intensive in the near future. The goal is to have tools to easily program robotic applications that could work on different sets of hardware.
Suzanne question: What are some of the things you enjoy that will help us to get to know you as a whole person?
Alessandro: I love skiing (always ready for that), and I enjoy snowboarding. Also, I like playing tennis and soccer. Other passions of mine include bonsai trees (I have a Juniper Procumbens “Nana”), traveling, discovering new places and cultures. When it comes to food, I usually stay close to my Italian roots. I love lasagne and carbonara. That said, I’m a big fan of Japanese food. Invite me to a sushi spot and I’m there. Lastly, I’m really into electronic music. My favorite DJ is Tiesto.
Suzanne question: If founders want to share what they are working on with you, what is the best way for them to get in touch?
Alessandro: Hit me up on Linkedin or send me an email at alessandro@primemoverslab.com. I look forward to hearing from bold entrepreneurs working on exciting technologies. I am here to help founders, and I am always happy to provide feedback, brainstorm, and build.
Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation and agriculture.
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