Fontinalis Partners

Fontinalis Partners, LLC is a private equity and venture capital firm founded in 2009 and headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, with an additional office in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm specializes in investments across a wide range of stages, from seed to pre-IPO, with a particular focus on next-generation mobility and technology companies. Fontinalis targets sectors including transportation, software and services, and communications equipment, emphasizing areas such as connected vehicles, data analytics, intelligent infrastructure, and mobility transactions. The firm seeks to invest throughout the entire mobility ecosystem, covering various modes of transportation including road, rail, air, and maritime. Fontinalis typically invests between $3 million to $10 million in early-stage companies, with an average investment of $5 million to $8 million over the life of a company. It aims to contribute not only capital but also strategic guidance by often taking board seats in the companies it supports.

Ralph Booth

Founder and Managing Partner

Christopher Cheever

Founder and Partner

Mei-Wei Cheng

Venture Partner

Gabe Cunningham

Partner

Amy Dai

Senior Associate

Laura Petterle

Partner and CFO

Daniel Ratliff

Partner

Chris Stallman

Partner

Past deals in Drones

Verity

Series B in 2023
Verity Studios AG, founded in 2014 and based in Zurich, Switzerland, specializes in the development of indoor drone systems. The company is recognized as a leader in the indoor drone market, providing innovative solutions for both the live event and logistics industries. Verity offers end-to-end drone show production services that cater to bespoke events, theatrical productions, and entertainment shows, delivering captivating aerial performances for clients such as Cirque du Soleil and Madison Square Garden. Additionally, Verity has created a commercially successful inventory tracking solution using fully autonomous indoor drones, which is deployed in warehouses to enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and minimize errors. Its clientele includes prominent companies like Maersk and Samsung SDS. With a commitment to sustainability, Verity’s systems also aim to lower waste and carbon emissions.

Ouster

Post in 2021
Ouster, Inc. develops high-resolution digital lidar sensors and software for various applications, including autonomous vehicles, drones, mapping, defense, robotics, industrial automation, building security, smart cities, and virtual/augmented reality. Founded in 2015 and based in San Francisco, California, the company utilizes a unique all-semiconductor design to enhance its lidar technology, applying principles akin to Moore's Law to improve 3D sensing capabilities. Ouster's product offerings include both scanning and solid-state lidar sensors, catering to a diverse array of industries such as automotive and smart infrastructure. The company primarily generates revenue from the Americas, with a distribution network that spans regions including Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Verity

Convertible Note in 2020
Verity Studios AG, founded in 2014 and based in Zurich, Switzerland, specializes in the development of indoor drone systems. The company is recognized as a leader in the indoor drone market, providing innovative solutions for both the live event and logistics industries. Verity offers end-to-end drone show production services that cater to bespoke events, theatrical productions, and entertainment shows, delivering captivating aerial performances for clients such as Cirque du Soleil and Madison Square Garden. Additionally, Verity has created a commercially successful inventory tracking solution using fully autonomous indoor drones, which is deployed in warehouses to enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and minimize errors. Its clientele includes prominent companies like Maersk and Samsung SDS. With a commitment to sustainability, Verity’s systems also aim to lower waste and carbon emissions.

Ouster

Series B in 2020
Ouster, Inc. develops high-resolution digital lidar sensors and software for various applications, including autonomous vehicles, drones, mapping, defense, robotics, industrial automation, building security, smart cities, and virtual/augmented reality. Founded in 2015 and based in San Francisco, California, the company utilizes a unique all-semiconductor design to enhance its lidar technology, applying principles akin to Moore's Law to improve 3D sensing capabilities. Ouster's product offerings include both scanning and solid-state lidar sensors, catering to a diverse array of industries such as automotive and smart infrastructure. The company primarily generates revenue from the Americas, with a distribution network that spans regions including Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Helm.ai

Seed Round in 2020
Helm.ai Inc. specializes in designing and developing artificial intelligence software solutions for autonomous navigation across various platforms, including self-driving cars, drones, and consumer robots. Established in 2016 and based in Redwood City, California, the company focuses on next-generation AI applications for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and fully autonomous driving. Helm.ai's technology employs an unsupervised learning approach, allowing for the training of neural networks without relying on extensive fleet data, simulation, or manual annotation. This innovative method aims to enhance the safety and scalability of autonomous technologies, and the company collaborates with global automakers on projects that are set for production. Helm.ai's offerings include full-stack real-time AI solutions, deep neural networks for both highway and urban driving, and development tools powered by its proprietary Deep Teaching™ technology.

Verity

Series A in 2018
Verity Studios AG, founded in 2014 and based in Zurich, Switzerland, specializes in the development of indoor drone systems. The company is recognized as a leader in the indoor drone market, providing innovative solutions for both the live event and logistics industries. Verity offers end-to-end drone show production services that cater to bespoke events, theatrical productions, and entertainment shows, delivering captivating aerial performances for clients such as Cirque du Soleil and Madison Square Garden. Additionally, Verity has created a commercially successful inventory tracking solution using fully autonomous indoor drones, which is deployed in warehouses to enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and minimize errors. Its clientele includes prominent companies like Maersk and Samsung SDS. With a commitment to sustainability, Verity’s systems also aim to lower waste and carbon emissions.

Verity

Series A in 2018
Verity Studios AG, founded in 2014 and based in Zurich, Switzerland, specializes in the development of indoor drone systems. The company is recognized as a leader in the indoor drone market, providing innovative solutions for both the live event and logistics industries. Verity offers end-to-end drone show production services that cater to bespoke events, theatrical productions, and entertainment shows, delivering captivating aerial performances for clients such as Cirque du Soleil and Madison Square Garden. Additionally, Verity has created a commercially successful inventory tracking solution using fully autonomous indoor drones, which is deployed in warehouses to enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and minimize errors. Its clientele includes prominent companies like Maersk and Samsung SDS. With a commitment to sustainability, Verity’s systems also aim to lower waste and carbon emissions.

Ouster

Series A in 2017
Ouster, Inc. develops high-resolution digital lidar sensors and software for various applications, including autonomous vehicles, drones, mapping, defense, robotics, industrial automation, building security, smart cities, and virtual/augmented reality. Founded in 2015 and based in San Francisco, California, the company utilizes a unique all-semiconductor design to enhance its lidar technology, applying principles akin to Moore's Law to improve 3D sensing capabilities. Ouster's product offerings include both scanning and solid-state lidar sensors, catering to a diverse array of industries such as automotive and smart infrastructure. The company primarily generates revenue from the Americas, with a distribution network that spans regions including Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Hangar

Seed Round in 2016
Hangar is building an automated platform for drones to deliver fast, professional aerial data across industry. Using a proprietary autonomous flight engine deeply integrated with the world’s top selling drones, Hangar allows a worldwide network of pilots to safely and professionally acquire data. This data is processed and analyzed using proprietary and market leading technology to deliver actionable results to their clients.

Autonomous Marine Systems

Seed Round in 2016
Low-cost, self-powered ocean surface drones, deployed in fleets that form an intelligent sensor network to collect and transmit marine data
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