Firms

Playground Global

Palo Alto, California, US

playground.vc

signal.nfx.com

goldi.ai

Playground is an early-stage investment firm that helps old and new investors and entrepreneurs working at the intersection of bits, atoms, and AI. It focuses on investment, innovation, connected hardware, artificial intelligence, and robotics. Playground was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Founded: —
Type: Venture capital

Funds3

Fund IV2026-05-182026-05-18$475M
RaisedUSD475Mannounced, preciselegalvehicle/finalclosedate notestablished; AUMUSD1.7Bseparate.
Fund III2023-12-142023-12-14$410M
RaisedUSD410M Seed/SeriesA initialUSD1–20Mmandate specificthisfund, notfreshFundIVrange.
Fund II20162016$500M
HistoricalraisedUSD500M in2016 per2020-02-18report; notcurrentdeployablecapital.

Team

Investments

team@apexlogos.ai7 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 sizes and stages | Vehicle/metric | Amount/status | Date and evidence | Interpretation | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Fund IV | US$475 million announced; firm says it is announcing the fund, and Axios says the money has been raised | 2026-05-18, [official announcement](https://www.playground.vc/playground-blogs/playground-global-announces-475-million-fund-iv); [Axios](https://www.axios.com/2026/05/18/playground-global-fund) | Latest-known fund found; raised capital rather than an identified target. Precise legal vehicle and final-close date were not established. | | Fund III | US$410 million raised | 2023-12-14, [official announcement](https://www.playground.vc/playground-blogs/playground-global-raises-410-million-to-accelerate-the-time-to-impact-for-deep-tech-and-science-companies) | Announcement identifies Seed/Series A deployment and US$1–20 million initial checks. | | Fund II | US$500 million; reported raised in 2016 | 2020-02-18, [Axios reporting](https://www.axios.com/2020/02/18/building-a-new-playground-laurie-yoler) | Historical reporting; not current investable capital. | | AUM | US$1.7 billion | [Official About page](https://www.playground.vc/about), undated, accessed 2026-10-06 | Firm-level self-reported assets, not the size of Fund IV or dry powder. | | Earlier AUM | More than US$1.2 billion | 2023-12-14 Fund III announcement above | Dated historical metric, superseded by the current About page. | Current official materials describe early-stage deep tech, including computing, AI, automation, materials and biology. The most explicit stage/check mandate found is the Fund III release's **Seed and Series A**, with initial **US$1–20 million** checks. The Fund IV article emphasizes new compute architectures, semiconductor materials/packaging, energy and physical infrastructure but does not restate numerical check ranges. Do not silently apply Fund III's range to Fund IV. Verified Series B transactions below show follow-on activity; they do not establish a general Series B entry mandate. The official [portfolio page](https://www.playground.vc/portfolio), undated and accessed 2026-10-06, says the firm partners early, sometimes before product or company naming. Funds recorded in Adex after this review: | Fund | Disclosed amount | Announcement / filing date | | --- | --- | --- | | Fund II | USD 500000000 | 2016 | | Fund III | USD 410000000 | 2023-12-14 | | Fund IV | USD 475000000 | 2026-05-18 |
team@apexlogos.ai8 hours ago
Match research 2026-10-06 / PlaygroundGlobal / sha256:bc969af0191feb088de744d1b8a043a01a470f70d07522c17fa6708e79736044 / 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. | **Inscopix** | Miniaturized optical brain-imaging hardware and analysis infrastructure; see neurotech evidence below | US$10 million Series A, 2016-08-25, company-issued financing release. This example is both deep tech and direct neurotechnology. | ## Verified previous neurotech investment **Inscopix — direct neurotechnology, preclinical neural recording and brain mapping.** Its August 25, 2016 company-issued release reports a **US$10 million Series A led by Playground Ventures**, with AME Cloud Ventures and Floodgate as co-investors. It quotes Mark Valdez explicitly as being of **Playground Global**, linking the Ventures name in the financing sentence to the Global brand. This is firm investment evidence, not a partner's investment at another firm. The exact legal fund vehicle and Playground check remain unspecified. Source: [company release republished by BioSpace](https://www.biospace.com/inscopix-secures-10-million-series-a-to-map-the-brain-in-action), 2016-08-25. The neural technology is independently confirmed by buyer Bruker's **November 8, 2022 acquisition announcement**: Inscopix's head-mounted miniature fluorescence microscopes enable imaging of neural activity in freely behaving animals. Its roughly two-gram instrumentation originated from Stanford research. This is research neurotechnology, not a verified human implantable BCI or consumer mental-health product. Bruker reported the acquisition but did not disclose transaction financial terms in that release. Source: [Bruker acquisition announcement](https://ir.bruker.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2022/Bruker-Announces-Acquisition-of-Inscopix-for-Neuroscience-Research/default.aspx/1000/), 2022-11-08. **NVision is adjacent medical imaging, not counted here as verified direct neurotech.** The financing announcement emphasizes metabolism and cancer/therapy response on conventional MRI, plus quantum computing. Brain applications cannot be inferred merely from the MRI label. Likewise, general AI chips, robotics, genomics and engineered-biology companies are not classified as neurotech merely because they use biological analogies or may eventually serve neurological disease. No additional direct neurotech investment was verified in the sources checked. This is a bounded research finding, not a claim that the firm has no other neurotech investments. ## Conflicts, gaps and concrete Adex review notes - Preserve the exact `PlaygroundGlobal` identity; normalize the Playground Ventures wording in the Inscopix announcement only with the explicit Global quotation retained as evidence. Legal-entity reconciliation remains open. - Update any fund summary to latest-known **Fund IV, US$475 million, announced 2026-05-18**, while preserving **Fund III US$410 million, 2023-12-14** separately. Axios's brief Fund IV story calls Fund III a 2022 raise; the official 2023 announcement and March 2025 firm statement saying closed at end-2023 support using 2023 as public announcement/close evidence. A filing/start-vintage distinction may explain 2022; it was not resolved. - Current official AUM is **US$1.7 billion**. Do not add fund amounts to infer AUM, dry powder or an investment budget; do not use Signal's US$40 million current-fund field. - Snapshot's Inscopix participation has `isLead: false` and missing announcement date; company financing release supports a lead role and **2016-08-25** date. Whole US$10 million round is not Playground's check. - Snapshot contains several NVision naming variants and US$55 million round entries. Review for duplicate organization/transaction records against the official NVision Quantum Technologies identity; retain the loan component. No deduplication was performed. - Signal's founded 2018 conflicts with its own 2015 narrative; snapshot founded field is null. Do not populate the founding year from its structured field without independent historical evidence. - Stage/check information is explicit for Fund III, but no fresh numerical Fund IV range was established. Current early-stage orientation is supported; historical later rounds should remain transaction facts. - The snapshot contains many more investment claims than the selected examples verified here, including apparent name variants. They need individual reconciliation before treating the complete investment list as audited. No current ownership percentage, individual investment amount, LP roster, remaining capital or separate neurotech allocation was established. All linked sources were accessed on **2026-10-06**. Publication dates are given beside dated announcements; official About/portfolio pages and Signal profiles are undated. Official firm materials are self-reported strategy/portfolio evidence; investee and buyer releases establish named transaction/technology facts, while reputable reporting corroborates fundraising and historical context.
team@apexlogos.ai8 hours ago
Match research 2026-10-06 / PlaygroundGlobal / sha256:bc969af0191feb088de744d1b8a043a01a470f70d07522c17fa6708e79736044 / 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. # Playground Global Research completed: 2026-10-06. Exact Adex ID: `PlaygroundGlobal`. Canonical Adex URL: https://adex.page/firms/PlaygroundGlobal. Official website: https://www.playground.vc/. This document is research for later Adex review; no database changes were made. ## Summary Playground Global is a Palo Alto venture firm with a clear early-stage deep-tech mandate and verified investments in robotics, semiconductor architectures, quantum technologies, green metals and brain-research instrumentation. The latest fund announcement found is **US$475 million Fund IV, announced May 18, 2026**. Its current official About page reports **US$1.7 billion AUM**, which is separate from fund size. A directly attributable historical neurotech example is **Inscopix**, a supplier of miniature microscopes for recording brain activity in freely moving animals. Sources: [Fund IV announcement](https://www.playground.vc/playground-blogs/playground-global-announces-475-million-fund-iv), [About](https://www.playground.vc/about), [Inscopix financing](https://www.biospace.com/inscopix-secures-10-million-series-a-to-map-the-brain-in-action). ## Starting evidence and access The saved exact-ID snapshot `data/research/_sources/PlaygroundGlobal.adex.json`, retrieved 2026-10-06, contains an early-stage hardware/AI/robotics description, a null founded field, null check-size fields, numerous people/roles and investment participations. Its source links include the official site, NFX Signal and Goldi. Named investments include Inscopix, NVision, Element Zero, Agility Robotics and many others. These records were treated as leads, not independent verification. Snapshot participation amounts generally describe whole rounds, not Playground's investment amounts. [NFX firm page](https://signal.nfx.com/firms/playground-global) was directly read on 2026-10-06. It describes early-stage investments at the intersection of hardware, AI and robotics, but internally conflicts: narrative says founded 2015 while a structured field says 2018. Location headings include San Francisco, while the narrative says Palo Alto. The official site supports Palo Alto. Firm team content was sparse in the extracted page. [Jory Bell's Signal profile](https://signal.nfx.com/investors/jory-bell) was directly read on 2026-10-06. It lists a US$1–20 million investment range, US$10 million sweet spot, Seed/Series A deep-tech and biotech rankings, and records including Strand Therapeutics, Atomic AI, Amber Bio, Manifold Bio and Infinimmune. Its “current fund size” of US$40 million is inconsistent with official fund announcements and should not populate the firm fund-size field. Individual-profile records and rankings do not independently prove firm participation or a current mandate. ## Fund sizes and stages | Vehicle/metric | Amount/status | Date and evidence | Interpretation | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Fund IV | US$475 million announced; firm says it is announcing the fund, and Axios says the money has been raised | 2026-05-18, [official announcement](https://www.playground.vc/playground-blogs/playground-global-announces-475-million-fund-iv); [Axios](https://www.axios.com/2026/05/18/playground-global-fund) | Latest-known fund found; raised capital rather than an identified target. Precise legal vehicle and final-close date were not established. | | Fund III | US$410 million raised | 2023-12-14, [official announcement](https://www.playground.vc/playground-blogs/playground-global-raises-410-million-to-accelerate-the-time-to-impact-for-deep-tech-and-science-companies) | Announcement identifies Seed/Series A deployment and US$1–20 million initial checks. | | Fund II | US$500 million; reported raised in 2016 | 2020-02-18, [Axios reporting](https://www.axios.com/2020/02/18/building-a-new-playground-laurie-yoler) | Historical reporting; not current investable capital. | | AUM | US$1.7 billion | [Official About page](https://www.playground.vc/about), undated, accessed 2026-10-06 | Firm-level self-reported assets, not the size of Fund IV or dry powder. | | Earlier AUM | More than US$1.2 billion | 2023-12-14 Fund III announcement above | Dated historical metric, superseded by the current About page. | Current official materials describe early-stage deep tech, including computing, AI, automation, materials and biology. The most explicit stage/check mandate found is the Fund III release's **Seed and Series A**, with initial **US$1–20 million** checks. The Fund IV article emphasizes new compute architectures, semiconductor materials/packaging, energy and physical infrastructure but does not restate numerical check ranges. Do not silently apply Fund III's range to Fund IV. Verified Series B transactions below show follow-on activity; they do not establish a general Series B entry mandate. The official [portfolio page](https://www.playground.vc/portfolio), undated and accessed 2026-10-06, says the firm partners early, sometimes before product or company naming. ## Verified previous deep-tech investments These are selected substantiated examples, not an exhaustive portfolio audit. All amounts are aggregate round sizes unless stated otherwise; Playground's checks and fund allocation are generally undisclosed. | Company | Technology rationale | Firm attribution and financing evidence | | --- | --- | --- | | **Agility Robotics** | Bipedal locomotion and robots combining mechanical design, control software and hardware; substantial robotics engineering rather than ordinary software | Company-issued release names Playground Global and DCVC as co-leads of a **US$150 million Series B**, April 2022 (reported 2022-04-22; Business Wire URL encodes 2022-04-21, and its extracted page omits a visible date). [Company release](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220421006147/en/Agility-Robotics-Raises-%24150M-Series-B-Led-by-DCVC-and-Playground-Global-to-Accelerate-Blended-Human-Robot-Workplaces). Official Agility page also confirms Playground led an earlier US$8 million round, but its extracted page has no publication date: [earlier round](https://www.agilityrobotics.com/content/agility-robotics-secures-8m-in-funding), accessed 2026-10-06. | | **d-Matrix** | Digital in-memory compute and chiplet architecture for efficient AI inference; silicon and memory/compute integration | **US$110 million Series B**, 2023-09-06, led by Temasek. Official company release quotes Playground partner Sasha Ostojic and lists Playground among backers. This supports firm investment history; the extracted release does not clearly enumerate Playground as a fresh-money participant in that specific round, so avoid assigning a new check or lead role. [Official release](https://www.d-matrix.ai/announcements/d-matrix-announces-110-million-in-series-b-funding-to-make-generative-ai-commercially-viable-with-first-of-its-kind-inference-compute-platform/). The firm separately identifies d-Matrix as a Fund III investment in its 2023-12-14 release. | | **Element Zero** | Low-temperature electrochemical conversion of metal ores to metals using renewable electricity; materials/process technology | Official company announcement, **US$10 million Seed led by Playground Global**, 2024-01-18. Peter Barrett joined its board. [Official announcement](https://elementzero.green/element-zero-raises-us10m-seed-funding-led-by-playground-global-to-scale-up-green-materials-platform-decarbonize-iron-and-other-critical-metals-production/). | | **NVision Quantum Technologies** | Molecular quantum systems for enhanced metabolic MRI and a quantum-computing platform | Official **US$55 million Series B package**, 2026-05-13, anchored by Abbott, explicitly includes Playground Global. **US$17 million of the US$55 million is an EIB venture loan**, so do not label the whole package equity or Playground capital. [Official announcement](https://www.nvision-quantum.com/blog/series-b-piqc). | | **PsiQuantum** | Utility-scale fault-tolerant quantum computing based on photonic technology | Official firm March 26, 2025 release identifies PsiQuantum as a Playground portfolio company. The investee's current About page lists Peter Barrett of Playground on its board and a US$1 billion Series E in September 2025; board membership alone does not verify Playground participation in that Series E. [Firm announcement](https://www.playground.vc/playground-blogs/pat-gelsinger-joins-playground-global-as-general-partner), 2025-03-26; [company About](https://www.psiquantum.com/about), accessed 2026-10-06. Round-specific attribution not asserted here. |
team@apexlogos.ai22 days ago
MATCH

Jory Bell Playground Global, general_partner	$10M$1M – $20M	Palo Alto, California
Peter Barrett Playground Global, general_partner	$10M$1M – $20M	Palo Alto, California
Brian Burton Playground Global, investor	$10M$1M – $20M	San Francisco Bay Area
Bruce Leak Playground Global, partner	$10M$1M – $20M	San Francisco Bay Area
Laurie Yoler Playground Global, partner	$10M$1M – $20M	San Francisco Bay Area
Matt Hershenson Playground Global, unknown	$10M$1M – $20M	San Francisco Bay Area
Victoria Sun Playground Global, principal	$10M$1M – $20M	San Francisco Bay Area
Justin Ernest Playground Global, associate	$10M$1M – $20M	San Francisco, California
Benjamin Kim Playground Global, associate	$10M$1M – $20M	Stanford, California
Andy Rubin Playground Global, managing_partner	$25K$10K – $50K	San Francisco Bay Area
Austin Yu Playground Global, Senior Associate Investment	—— – —
Caroline Little Playground Global, Director Government Affairs Platform	—— – —
Chika Nakasu Playground Global, Executive Manager Operations	—— – —
Cici Tong Playground Global, Assistant Controller Operations	—— – —
Clinton Lazzari Playground Global, Operating Partner, Supply Chain Technical	—— – —
Daniel Yum Playground Global, Partner Investment	—— – —
Gael Huynh Playground Global, Executive Assistant Operations	—— – —
Greg Wilson Playground Global, Chief Financial Officer Operations	—— – —
Guocong Song Playground Global, Data Scientist Technical	—— – —
Hadley Wilkins Playground Global, Operating Partner Marketing Platform	—— – —
Jacqueline Tame Playground Global, Operating Partner External Affairs Platform	—— – —
Jasmine Jordan Playground Global, Events Manager Platform	—— – —
Jeff Freburg Playground Global, Real Estate & Operations, Vice President Operations	—— – —
Jeff Merver Playground Global, Head of IT & Infrastructure Operations	—— – —
Jim Vieceli Playground Global, General Counsel Operations	—— – —
John Vormbaum Playground Global, Principal Talent Partner Operations	—— – —
Jon Carter Playground Global, Venture Partner Platform	—— – —
Kendra Perlitz Playground Global, Chief Operating Officer Platform	—— – —
Kim Watson Playground Global, Finance Manager Operations	—— – —
Marissa Ramirez de Chanlatte Playground Global, Principal Investor Investment	—— – —
Michelle Wagner Playground Global, Operating Partner People and Talent Platform	—— – —
Nancy Ly Playground Global, Associate, Finance & Administrator Operations	—— – —
Nate Chang Playground Global, Platform	—— – —
Nicole Sonnert Playground Global, Senior Associate Investment	—— – —
Pat Gelsinger Playground Global, General Partner Investment	—— – —
Rahul Meka Playground Global, Partner Investment	—— – —
Rasheed Auguste Playground Global, Investor Investment	—— – —
Richard Becker Playground Global, Manager, Prototype and Lab Operations Technical	—— – —
Richard Peretz Playground Global, Venture Partner Investment	—— – —
Sarah Nelson Playground Global, Senior Fund Accountant Operations	—— – —
Sasha Ostojic Playground Global, Venture Partner Investment	—— – —
Steph Heath Playground Global, People Partner & Programs Lead Platform	—— – —
Vilma Roa Playground Global, Receptionist Operations	—— – —

$55M2026	nVision	Playground Global
$12M2025-11-18	PicoJool	Playground Global
$25M2025-11-17	PowerLattice	Playground Global
$8M2025-10-22	Sizable Energy	Playground Global
$11M2025-10-15	Vertical Semiconductor	Playground Global, Matt Hershenson, JIMCO Technology Fund
$34M2025-09-02	Phasecraft	Plural, AlbionVC, Playground Global, Ian Hogarth, Peter Barrett
$153M2025-08-07	Strand Therapeutics	ICONIQ Capital, Playground Global
$23M2025-06-23	Snowcap	Playground Global, Vsquared Ventures
$23M2025	Snowcap	Playground Global, Vsquared Ventures
$40M2025	xLight	Playground Global
$144M2024-08-01	Outpace	Playground Global
$10M2024-01-18	Element Zero	Playground Global
$—2023-08-16	Phasecraft	Playground Global, AlbionVC
$20M2023-04-20	Robust AI	Playground Global
$35M2023-01-25	Atomic AI	Playground Global, 8VC, Jory Bell
$35M2022-11-29	Saltbox	Playground Global, Laurie Yoler
$25M2022-11-14	Owl Labs	Playground Global
$75M2022-10-25	RapidSOS	Playground Global
$16M2022-09-19	Ideon	Playground Global
$45M2022-06-03	Farmwise	Playground Global
$—2022-05-31	Ultima Genomics	Founders Fund, D1 Capital Partners, General Atlantic, Khosla Ventures, aMoon, Playground Global, Lightspeed
$150M2022-04-22	Agility Robotics	DCVC, Playground Global
$25M2022	Owl Labs	Playground Global
$64M2021-10	MosaicML	DCVC, Frontline Ventures, Lux Capital, Playground Global
$16M2021-07-07	Lacuna	Playground Global
$21M2021-05-18	Artificial	Playground Global
$20M2021-04-22	Universal Hydrogen	Founders Fund, Airbus Ventures, Build Collective, Coatue Management LLC, Playground Global, SKY VC
$22M2021-03-23	1910 Genetics	Playground Global, Jory Bell
$10M2021	Saltbox	Playground Global
$—2020-10-28	Robust AI	Playground Global
$140M2020-10-01	Relativity Space	Y Combinator, Playground Global, Tribe Capital, Social Capital, BOND
$11M2020-08-11	BodyPort	Y Combinator, Playground Global, Initialized Capital, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund
$100M2020-07-13	Skydio Inc	Andreessen Horowitz, Playground Global
$28M2020-04-28	Velo3D	Khosla Ventures, Playground Global, Bessemer Venture Partners, Piva Capital, Jory Bell, David Cowan, Sven Strohband
$—2020	Relativity Space	Y Combinator, Coatue Management LLC, Playground Global, XN, Fidelity Investments, Robin Capital
$110M2019-10-23	Fabric	Innovation Endeavors, Playground Global
$15M2019-04-17	Owl Labs	Playground Global
$23M2018-12-17	RightHand Robotics	Playground Global
$30M2018-11-06	RapidSOS	Playground Global
$35M2018-03-27	Relativity	Playground Global
$20M2018-02	Fabric	Innovation Endeavors, Playground Global
$17M2017-05-11	Lighthouse	Eclipse, Felicis, Playground Global, Lior Susan, Seth Winterroth
$60M2017-04-10	Branch	Playground Global
$106M2016-11-28	Devialet	Playground Global
$10M2016-08-25	Inscopix	Playground Global, AME Cloud Ventures, Floodgate
$—2015-08-19	CAStar	Playground Global
$—2014-05-25	eero	First Round, Playground Global
$4MUnknown date	GigaCrop	Playground Global
$12MUnknown date	Infinimmune	Playground Global
$—Unknown date	Syenta	Playground Global
$26MUnknown date	Amber Bio	Playground Global
$37MUnknown date	Leaf Logistics	Playground Global
$303MUnknown date	NextSilicon	Playground Global
$159MUnknown date	Nauto	Playground Global
$—Unknown date	xLight	Playground Global
$5MUnknown date	Farmwise	Playground Global, Basis Set Ventures
$12MUnknown date	Boxbot	Playground Global
$—Unknown date	Alva Energy	Playground Global
$55M2026-05-13	NVISION QUANTUM TECHNOLOGIES GMBH	Playground Global
$23M2025-06-23	Snowcap Compute	Playground Global, Vsquared Ventures
$33M2022-01-11	Mangata Networks	Playground Global, Jory Bell
$4M2020-10-13	Lassogen	Playground Global
$13M2020-06-11	Sentropy	Playground Global
$20M2018	CommonSense Robotics	Playground Global
$15M2017-12-19	Canvas Technology	Playground Global, Andy Rubin
$8MUnknown date	Sizeable Energy	Playground Global
$55MUnknown date	NVision Imaging Technologies	Playground Global

Funds3

Team

Co-investing

Investments