Carnegie Foundry

Carnegie Foundry is a venture studio founded in partnership with the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC), a semi-autonomous business unit of Carnegie Mellon University. Its business is building industrial automation companies that commercialize robotics, AI, sensor, and signal-processing technology for the energy, manufacturing, defense, construction, and healthcare industries. Its companies include VoxEQ, Freespace Robotics, and Thryve Labs.

Its stated edge over the venture capital a robotics founder would otherwise raise comes from starting each company with NREC technology already at a higher technology-readiness level and a shared bench of engineering expertise. The studio says this minimizes the engineering risks, long lead times, and high burn rates that commonly fail robotics start-ups, and that it serves physical industries long under-invested.