Celesta Capital is a global deep tech venture capital firm that invests in companies at the forefront of science and engineering, targeting technologies that enable mass adoption of emerging tech, improve health outcomes, and transform large industries. Formerly known as Walden Riverwood Ventures (WRVI Capital), the firm was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Silicon Valley.
Founded 2013
Type Venture capital 1 Celesta Capital V, L.P. 2025-09-17 2025-09-17 — Form D/A USD102083333 sold, signed16Sep2025/filed17Sep2025; firstsale20Sep2024. Offeringindefinite; formernameCelestaCapitalVI; not finalclose.
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$3M $2M – $5M Montreal $1M $100K – $5M Boise City, Idaho $1M $100K – $5M Menlo Park, California $1M $100K – $5M Menlo Park, California $1M $100K – $5M Menlo Park, California · San Francisco, California $1M $100K – $5M Mumbai, India $1M $100K – $5M Raleigh, North Carolina $1M $100K – $5M San Francisco Bay Area · Oakland, California $1M $100K – $5M San Francisco, California · Los Altos, California · Menlo Park, California · San Francisco Bay Area $1M $100K – $5M San Jose, California $1M $500K – $2M Palo Alto, California · San Francisco Bay Area · India — — – — — — – — — — – — — — – — — — – — — — – — — — – — — — – — — — – — — — – — — — – —
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$55M 2026-06-30 Stathera Celesta Capital , Nicholas Brathwaite , Charles Lespérance $50M 2026-03-25 Normal Computing Samsung Catalyst Fund , Celesta Capital , Nicholas Brathwaite , ArcTern Ventures , Drive Capital , First Spark Ventures , Micron Ventures $40M 2025-10-14 Movandi Celesta Capital , Sierra Ventures $15M 2025-10-08 HiOctave Khosla Ventures , Anthology Fund , Celesta Capital , Primary Venture Partners , Carya Venture Partners $— 2025-09-17 Upscale Celesta Capital $— 2025 Aurascape Celesta Capital $50M 2024-10-02 Crescendo General Catalyst , Celesta Capital , Sriram Viswanathan , Anand Chandrasekaran , Hemant Taneja $102M 2024-02-20 Recogni Celesta Capital $— 2024 etherWhere Celesta Capital $— 2023-10-16 Agnikul Celesta Capital $— 2023-09-15 Pixis Celesta Capital $— 2023-08-09 ShapesXR Celesta Capital $81M 2023-05-16 Auradine Celesta Capital , DCVC $— 2023 Stathera Celesta Capital $— 2023 Komprise Celesta Capital $40M 2022-11-08 Eliyan Celesta Capital $10M 2022-09-20 Calumino Celesta Capital , Nicholas Brathwaite $35M 2022-08-10 Prellis Bio Avidity Partners , Celesta Capital , Black Diamond Ventures , IndieBio , Khosla Ventures , Lucas Venture Group , SOSV , True Ventures $— 2022-06-28 Arzooo Celesta Capital $— 2022-06-14 Platform9 Celesta Capital $14M 2021-12-15 Prellis Khosla Ventures , Celesta Capital , IndieBio $100M 2021-11-07 H2O.AI Celesta Capital , Crane Venture Partners $— 2021-08-31 Nifty Games Celesta Capital $— 2021-08-31 Brilliant Celesta Capital $— 2021-08-02 Novakid Celesta Capital , PortfoLion Capital Partners $— 2021-04-13 SambaNova Systems Celesta Capital $— 2021-04 Exotanium Celesta Capital $48M 2021-02-17 Recogni Celesta Capital , Bosch Ventures , Yvonne Lutsch $— 2021 Questt Celesta Capital $100M 2021 H2O.AI Celesta Capital , Crane Venture Partners $50M 2020-12-15 Boom Supersonic Celesta Capital , Michael Marks $— 2020-12-01 Novakid Celesta Capital , PortfoLion Capital Partners $— 2020-09-24 Nuvia Celesta Capital $— 2020-01-30 Novakid Celesta Capital $— 2019-11-15 Nuvia Celesta Capital $— 2019-09-23 DustPhotonics Celesta Capital $100M 2019-01-04 Boom Supersonic Emerson Collective , Y Combinator , Caffeinated Capital , SV Angel , Sunstone Management , Celesta Capital , Paul Graham , Sam Altman , Ron Conway , Greg McAdoo , Michael Marks $— 2018-11-15 Habana Labs Bessemer Venture Partners , Celesta Capital $— 2017 SambaNova Systems Celesta Capital $— 2017 Orion Labs Celesta Capital $— 2016-05-23 Jirnexu Celesta Capital $— 2016 Orion Labs Celesta Capital $— 2016 Clairvolex Celesta Capital $30M 2015-06-01 Canary Khosla Ventures , Cota Capital , Celesta Capital , Western Technology Investment , Two Sigma Ventures $— 2014-09-29 365 Sports Celesta Capital $— 2014 Orion Labs Celesta Capital $— Unknown date Very Good Ventures Celesta Capital $— Unknown date Tensordyne Celesta Capital $— Unknown date Brick & Bolt Celesta Capital $— Unknown date Baffle Celesta Capital $— Unknown date Aurascape.ai Celesta Capital $35M Unknown date Prellis Bio Khosla Ventures , SOSV , Celesta Capital , True Ventures , Cantos , Lucas Venture Group $35M Unknown date Prellis Khosla Ventures , SOSV , Celesta Capital , True Ventures , Avidity Partners , Lucas Venture Group $16M 2024-11-21 OneCell Diagnostics Celesta Capital , Michael Marks $— 2024 OneCell Diagnostics Celesta Capital $680M 2021-04-13 SambaNova Celesta Capital , Lip-Bu Tan , Deep Nishar $100M 2021 H2O Celesta Capital , Crane Venture Partners $— 2018-01-10 Reviver Auto Celesta Capital $— Unknown date Finicast Celesta Capital $— Unknown date 5C Networks Celesta Capital $— Unknown date 5C Network (India) Pvt. Ltd. Celesta Capital
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team@apexlogos.ai · 14 hours ago
Investment-fund research reviewed 2026-10-06. Publicly identified funds, dates, amounts and fundraising status are below. Undisclosed commitments remain unknown; this is not a complete register of private SPVs or parallel entities.
Fund size, status and stages
| Measure / vehicle | Amount and date | Status, meaning and source |
|---|---|---|
| Firm AUM | **$1.1B**, displayed on official site when accessed 2026-10-06 | Self-reported firm-wide AUM. No measurement date or methodology shown. [Official About](https://www.celesta.vc/about ). |
| Celesta Capital V, L.P. | **US$102,083,333 sold** in a Form D/A signed 2025-09-16; first sale **2024-09-20** | Primary SEC filing directly read. Offering total and remaining amount are indefinite; duration exceeds one year. This is disclosed sales as of the filing, **not a final fund close or fixed target**. It lists 27 investors and previous name Celesta Capital VI, L.P. [SEC Form D/A](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1987549/000198754925000002/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml ). |
| India-focused deep-tech fund | **₹2,000 crore** = **INR20 billion**, reported **2026-09-18** | Business Standard reports the firm is currently raising this fund and earlier received SEBI AIF category II approval. Treat as fundraising target, not closed capital. Legal fund name, first-close amount and completion date remain unverified. The article also mentions the separate India Deep Tech Alliance coalition pool; that pool is **not Celesta fund capital**. [Business Standard](https://www.business-standard.com/industry/news/india-s-semicon-opportunity-goes-beyond-chip-design-celesta-capital-126091800881_1.html ). |
Fund V is the latest-known directly verified individual US vehicle in this research; the India fundraising report is newer. A newer final-close announcement was not located. [The 13f.info index](https://13f.info/form-d/0001987549-celesta-capital-v-l-p ) calls the Form D/A date 2025-09-16, whereas [the SEC filing index](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1987549/000198754925000002/0001987549-25-000002-index.html ) gives filing/effectiveness date 2025-09-17 and acceptance on the evening of 2025-09-16. Preserve this date distinction.
**Current public stage description:** in an undated interview on his official Celesta biography, founding managing partner Sriram Viswanathan characterizes the firm primarily as **Series A/Series B**, with some seed investments, a preference to lead, typical starting checks of **$5M–$10M**, and usually less than **$20M total per company** including subsequent investment. These are descriptive ranges, not hard limits. The same page emphasizes the US–India corridor. [Official partner biography and Q&A, undated](https://www.celesta.vc/people/sriram-viswanathan?44714587_page=2 ).
The official description is stronger firm-level evidence than the lower individual check ranges on Signal. Historical seed and Series C transactions below demonstrate breadth; they do not establish a dedicated pre-seed or growth mandate.
Funds recorded in Adex after this review:
| Fund | Disclosed amount | Announcement / filing date |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Celesta Capital V, L.P. | Undisclosed / unverified | 2025-09-17 | SHOW MORE
team@apexlogos.ai · 15 hours ago
Match research 2026-10-06 / CelestaCapital / sha256:4085139fdb3a46530884a261aab2408ec8d8952dcde0ef8997cba6040904947b / part 2 of 2
Imported completed research. Baseline Adex/Signal statements describe prior state, not independent verification. Retain cited attribution, date, currency and classification caveats.
| **Recogni, earlier WRVI round** | Low-power computer-vision inference processors for autonomous driving. | **US$48.9M Series B**, **2021-02-17**, led by WRVI Capital. Firm attribution follows the independently documented WRVI-to-Celesta name change. | [EE Times reporting, 2021-02-17](https://www.eetimes.com/recogni-to-push-out-high-tops-ai-chip-to-avs-very-edge/ ), plus rebranding release above. |
| **OneCell Diagnostics / 1Cell.Ai** | Circulating tumor cell biopsy and single-cell multi-omics for precision oncology; complex diagnostics and biological engineering. | **US$16M oversubscribed Series A**, announced **2024-11-21**, led by Celesta; Michael Marks and Celesta advisor James Rothman to join the board. | [OneCell-issued release, 2024-11-21](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/onecell-diagnostics-inc--announces-oversubscribed-series-a-funding-round-to-accelerate-proprietary-cell-biopsy-technology-to-democratize-precision-oncology-302311843.html ). Current official homepage labels the portfolio company 1Cell.Ai. |
| **Eliyan** | Chiplet die-to-die interconnect IP and packaging architectures, with demonstrated 5nm tapeout. | **US$40M Series A closed**, announced **2022-11-08**. Tracker Capital led; Celesta participated with Intel Capital and Micron Ventures. | [Eliyan official newsroom release, 2022-11-08](https://eliyan.reportablenews.com/pr/eliyan-closes-40m-series-a-funding-round-and-unveils-industry-s-highest-performance-chiplet-interconnect-technologies ). |
| **Prellis Biologics** | Holographic 3D tissue printing to reproduce human immune responses, combining biological systems, materials and engineering. | Celesta's official article says it invested in **2021**. Exact transaction date, round and Celesta amount not established by that article. | [Firm article, 2022-08-31](https://www.celesta.vc/insights/the-bio-convergence-boom-revolutionizing-healthcare-through-deep-tech ). |
| **Berkeley Lights** | Opto-electropositioning systems automate cell discovery and biological workflows. | Firm investment expressly acknowledged in the 2021 rebranding release and 2022 bioconvergence article; exact round/date not reverified here. | [Firm article, 2022-08-31](https://www.celesta.vc/insights/the-bio-convergence-boom-revolutionizing-healthcare-through-deep-tech ); [rebranding, 2021-05-27](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wrvi-capital-changes-name-to-celesta-capital-301300769.html ). |
The [official portfolio](https://www.celesta.vc/portfolio ), undated and accessed 2026-10-06, additionally identifies Agnikul (orbital rockets), Biomason (biologically produced cement), Boom Supersonic (supersonic aircraft), Calumino (thermal sensing), Nuvia (processors), SambaNova (AI infrastructure), Movandi, Tonbo Imaging, TagoreTech and Vayyar. These are firm-level portfolio confirmations, not independently dated funding-round verification. They broaden the deep-tech evidence without making ordinary SaaS, consumer-finance or education investments deep tech by default.
## Neurotech investment findings
**No verified neurotech investment found in the sources checked.** This is a bounded research result, not evidence of absence across all investments.
Checked the exact-ID baseline, directly accessible Signal firm page, official portfolio, official bioconvergence discussion and searches for Celesta/WRVI combined with brain, neural, neurotech and neurotechnology. No attributable investment in brain-computer interfaces, neural recording/stimulation or a dedicated neural device surfaced.
Prellis, Berkeley Lights and OneCell are biomedical engineering investments; the sources support immune-system modeling, cellular discovery and oncology diagnostics respectively, not direct neurotechnology. Recogni, Normal Computing and SambaNova concern artificial computation; AI, including neural-network terminology, does not by itself establish neurotech exposure. General imaging or sensor investments such as Vayyar/Tonbo/Calumino likewise require evidence of actual neural applications before receiving a neurotech classification. James Rothman's scientific expertise and advisory role are not themselves evidence of a neural portfolio company.
## Conflicts, missing information and later Adex review
1. **Fund records:** retain $1.1B as undated self-reported AUM; retain $102.083M as Fund V securities sold as of its 2025 filing, not a closed fund; retain ₹2,000 crore as an India fundraising target reported in September 2026. No definitive final close or newer US fund size verified. Review vehicle naming carefully: Fund V's filing lists former name Fund VI.
2. **Stage/check discrepancy:** Signal's individual $100K–$5M ranges differ from the official partner's $5M–$10M initial-check description. Keep attribution and source dates; do not silently replace all null firm profile fields with individual profile values. The official interview itself is undated.
3. **Normal stage:** baseline labels the 2026 $50M financing Series C; directly read release calls it strategic funding. Flag Series C pending an explicit source. The baseline personal Signal history is insufficient to resolve this.
4. **Stathera:** baseline includes a 2023-05-18 Series B linked to 2026 reporting, alongside a separate 2023 Series A record. The directly verified $55M Series B announcement is **2026-06-30**. Correct date/stage only during a separately authorized Adex review.
5. **Round-size versus investor contribution:** baseline investment `amount` values sometimes copy total rounds ($50M Normal, $40M Movandi). No disclosed Celesta-specific contribution verified for the rounds above. Do not preserve those as investor check amounts without evidence.
6. **Aliases/duplicates:** baseline has SambaNova/SambaNova Systems, Prellis/Prellis Bio, OneCell variants, Recogni/Tensordyne and repeated H2O names. The current official portfolio labels Tensordyne; current homepage labels 1Cell.Ai. Before merging IDs, verify legal/company continuity and preserve original round sources. This research does not merge records.
7. **Attribution boundaries:** WRVI rebranding is established; Walden International, Walden Catalyst, prior IndusAge funds and partners' Intel-era or personal investments still require transaction-specific vehicle attribution. Shared people or a Signal co-investor list are insufficient.
8. **Source limitations:** Inc42's India-fund lead was encountered but failed on subsequent direct text reads; its precise publication date and detailed terms were not used. The accessible September 2026 Business Standard article supplies the fund target/status. Public portfolio listings may combine older holdings and exits. No exhaustive private holdings or LP documents available.
This is research only. No Adex/database edits, MCP Patch calls, commits or manifest modifications were made by this researcher. All linked sources were accessed 2026-10-06; undated pages are explicitly identified above. SHOW MORE
team@apexlogos.ai · 15 hours ago
Match research 2026-10-06 / CelestaCapital / sha256:4085139fdb3a46530884a261aab2408ec8d8952dcde0ef8997cba6040904947b / part 1 of 2
Imported completed research. Baseline Adex/Signal statements describe prior state, not independent verification. Retain cited attribution, date, currency and classification caveats.
# Celesta Capital
- Exact Adex ID: `CelestaCapital`
- Canonical Adex URL: https://adex.page/firms/CelestaCapital
- Research date and source access date: **2026-10-06**
- Research status: complete for the requested review fields; unresolved facts are identified below.
## Identity and summary
Celesta is a global deep-tech venture firm founded in 2013 and headquartered in Silicon Valley. Its current official website reports **$1.1 billion assets under management**. This is firm AUM, not the size of a single fund. Its focus spans compute hardware, engineering-intensive AI, and the convergence of engineering and biology. [Official About page, undated](https://www.celesta.vc/about ).
**WRVI Capital changed its name to Celesta Capital on May 27, 2021**, making explicitly attributed WRVI investments relevant historical investments of this firm. The rebranding release names Innovium, Berkeley Lights, SambaNova Systems and Movandi as funded companies. It does not authorize attributing every personal investment by its partners, or every Walden-branded investment vehicle, to Celesta. [Firm-issued rebranding announcement, 2021-05-27](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wrvi-capital-changes-name-to-celesta-capital-301300769.html ).
## Starting evidence: Adex snapshot and NFX Signal
The saved exact-ID MCP snapshot is `data/research/_sources/CelestaCapital.adex.json`, retrieved 2026-10-06 at 19:29:43 UTC. Its URL and ID match this firm. The baseline description identifies the firm as formerly Walden Riverwood Ventures / WRVI; its founding-date field is null despite the description saying 2013. `checkMin`, `checkMax` and `sweetSpot` are null. Sources include the firm website, Signal and Goldi intelligence. Investment records include Normal Computing, Movandi, Upscale, OneCell, Recogni, Stathera, Eliyan, Calumino, Agnikul, Auradine, Prellis, Nuvia and others. These are starting claims, not independent verification.
[The NFX Signal firm page](https://signal.nfx.com/firms/celesta-capital ) was **directly read**, not just search-indexed. It lists individual team members and broad stage/sector tags. Sriram Viswanathan has DeepTech pre-seed, Series A and Series B tags; Arun Kumar and Charles Lespérance have seed/Series A deep-tech tags. Many profiles show a $1.5M sweet spot and $100K–$5M range; Lespérance shows $3.5M and $2M–$5M. These are individual profile claims, not a confirmed firm-wide check policy. Intro paths require Gmail sign-in; the public text was sufficient for starting evidence. Signal mixes many locations and potentially historical associations; do not normalize all of them into current firm offices. Publication date absent; accessed 2026-10-06.
## Fund size, status and stages
| Measure / vehicle | Amount and date | Status, meaning and source |
|---|---|---|
| Firm AUM | **$1.1B**, displayed on official site when accessed 2026-10-06 | Self-reported firm-wide AUM. No measurement date or methodology shown. [Official About](https://www.celesta.vc/about ). |
| Celesta Capital V, L.P. | **US$102,083,333 sold** in a Form D/A signed 2025-09-16; first sale **2024-09-20** | Primary SEC filing directly read. Offering total and remaining amount are indefinite; duration exceeds one year. This is disclosed sales as of the filing, **not a final fund close or fixed target**. It lists 27 investors and previous name Celesta Capital VI, L.P. [SEC Form D/A](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1987549/000198754925000002/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml ). |
| India-focused deep-tech fund | **₹2,000 crore** = **INR20 billion**, reported **2026-09-18** | Business Standard reports the firm is currently raising this fund and earlier received SEBI AIF category II approval. Treat as fundraising target, not closed capital. Legal fund name, first-close amount and completion date remain unverified. The article also mentions the separate India Deep Tech Alliance coalition pool; that pool is **not Celesta fund capital**. [Business Standard](https://www.business-standard.com/industry/news/india-s-semicon-opportunity-goes-beyond-chip-design-celesta-capital-126091800881_1.html ). |
Fund V is the latest-known directly verified individual US vehicle in this research; the India fundraising report is newer. A newer final-close announcement was not located. [The 13f.info index](https://13f.info/form-d/0001987549-celesta-capital-v-l-p ) calls the Form D/A date 2025-09-16, whereas [the SEC filing index](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1987549/000198754925000002/0001987549-25-000002-index.html ) gives filing/effectiveness date 2025-09-17 and acceptance on the evening of 2025-09-16. Preserve this date distinction.
**Current public stage description:** in an undated interview on his official Celesta biography, founding managing partner Sriram Viswanathan characterizes the firm primarily as **Series A/Series B**, with some seed investments, a preference to lead, typical starting checks of **$5M–$10M**, and usually less than **$20M total per company** including subsequent investment. These are descriptive ranges, not hard limits. The same page emphasizes the US–India corridor. [Official partner biography and Q&A, undated](https://www.celesta.vc/people/sriram-viswanathan?44714587_page=2 ).
The official description is stronger firm-level evidence than the lower individual check ranges on Signal. Historical seed and Series C transactions below demonstrate breadth; they do not establish a dedicated pre-seed or growth mandate.
## Named verified deep-tech investments
All amounts below are **total company financing rounds**, not Celesta's individual contributions. Technology classification is the researcher's assessment based on the cited technology description. Company-issued releases verify attribution; claimed technical superiority and commercial performance are not independently audited.
| Company | Technology rationale | Attributed investment / date | Supporting evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Stathera** | Fabless silicon timing / MEMS components; precision synchronization for mobile devices, IoT and AI data centers. | **US$55M Series B closed**, announced **2026-06-30**. Maverick Silicon led; Celesta is expressly named as a continuing investor alongside others. | [Stathera-issued release, 2026-06-30](https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/stathera-announces-us55-million-series-b-to-scale-silicon-timing-and-accelerate-next-generation-ai-data-center-solutions-302813786.html ). This updates the baseline's older/conflicting date and stage. |
| **Normal Computing** | Semiconductor-design AI plus physics-based computing hardware, addressing chip-design complexity and AI energy consumption. | **US$50M strategic financing**, announced **2026-03-25**, led by Samsung Catalyst Fund. Celesta explicitly appears among existing investors alongside the new backers. | [Normal-issued release, 2026-03-25](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/normal-computing-raises-50m-led-by-samsung-catalyst-to-accelerate-silicon-design-and-solve-ai-hardware-energy-crisis-302724819.html ). Release supports the funding and firm association, but does **not explicitly call the round Series C**. |
| **Upscale AI** | High-performance networking infrastructure for scaling AI systems; engineering infrastructure rather than a generic AI application. | **Over US$100M seed round**, announced **2025-09-17**, co-led by Mayfield and Maverick Silicon; Celesta named as participant. | [Upscale-issued release, 2025-09-17](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/upscale-ai-launches-with-over-100-million-seed-round-to-democratize-ai-network-infrastructure-and-advance-open-standards-302558353.html ). |
| **Recogni** | AI inference compute systems and energy-efficient specialized processors. | **US$102M Series C closed**, announced **2024-02-20**, co-led by Celesta and GreatPoint Ventures. Release also names HSBC Innovation Banking debt; do not assume the headline amount is all equity. | [Recogni-issued release, 2024-02-20](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/recogni-raises-102-million-to-advance-next-generation-ai-inference-system-for-generative-ai-and-intelligent-autonomy-302064528.html ). A [2024-11-12 follow-up](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/juniper-networks-and-recogni-announce-venture-funding-and-collaboration-for-high-performance-energy-efficient-and-cost-effective-multimodal-generative-ai-inference-systems-302302009.html ) announces Juniper participation in the same named $102M Series C; do not automatically create another separate $102M round. | SHOW MORE
team@apexlogos.ai · 23 days ago
MATCH 
Khosla Ventures
HiOctave$15M · 2025-10-08
Prellis Bio$35M · 2022-08-10
Prellis$14M · 2021-12-15
Canary$30M · 2015-06-01
Prellis$35M · Unknown date
Boom Supersonic$50M · 2020-12-15
Stathera$55M · 2026-06-30
Normal Computing$50M · 2026-03-25
Calumino$10M · 2022-09-20
SOSV
True Ventures
Crescendo$50M · 2024-10-02
Bessemer Venture Partners
Habana Labs$— · 2018-11-15
Bosch Ventures
Recogni$48M · 2021-02-17
Cantos
Deep Nishar
First Spark Ventures
General Catalyst
Hemant Taneja
Paul Graham
Primary Venture Partners
Ron Conway
Sam Altman
Samsung Catalyst Fund
Sierra Ventures
Movandi$40M · 2025-10-14
Y Combinator
Yvonne Lutsch
