Capital for the companies rebuilding American industry.
We back early-stage founders across manufacturing, enterprise software, advanced materials, and sustainability — the sectors the Great Lakes region was built to lead.
American industry is being rebuilt. Most venture capital isn't set up to back it
The country is in the early innings of the largest industrial rebuild in three generations. Manufacturing capacity is being reshored. Supply chains are being hardened. The energy system is being rewired for electrification, storage, and next-generation nuclear. Hundreds of billions of dollars of federal and private capital are flowing into factories, fabs, battery plants, and the hard infrastructure that underpins them.
The venture industry, optimized for two decades of pure-software outcomes, is structurally under-allocated to this shift. Most funds have no thesis for a machine-vision QC startup sitting next to a Tier-1 auto supplier. No instrument for an industrial-robotics company whose value is in a signed shop-floor contract, not an ARR multiple.
1885 Capital was built for it.
Industries We Invest In
Reindustrialization Tech & Manufacturing
Advanced Materials
We back the technologies digitizing the factory floor, from advanced robotics and automation to machine-vision quality control and industrial IoT.
Investing in the creation and application of novel materials with superior properties.
Enterprise Software
Sustainability & Natural Resources
Developing scalable software solutions that drive business efficiency and digital transformation.
Technologies revolutionizing sustainable resource management, enabling data-driven solutions and reducing environmental impact
How We Invest
Differentiated Financial Instruments
First Check: Seed+ or Seed-Strapping
Capital structure should fit the company, not the other way around. We underwrite equity, debt, or mezzanine — whichever matches the founder's long-term plan.
Twelve months from a Series A, or twelve months from profitability — that's our entry point. The product is validated. The work is go-to-market.
Staged Capital & Follow-on Reserves
Building a startup requires patience and precision. We deploy initial capital early and maintain heavy follow-on reserves to ensure your scale-up is fueled through every phase of development.
Collaboration with Michigan Tech University
Photo Credit: Michigan Technological University
World-class research and top-tier engineering talent, on our doorstep.
1885 Capital was founded as the result of efforts under a US Economic Development Administration Grant received by Michigan Technological University — an R1 research institution with $124M+ in annual R&D across advanced materials, energy, computational engineering, and autonomous systems. Spin-outs like Handshake (now the dominant early-career hiring platform for 1,500+ universities) and Orbion Space Technology (commercializing MTU-developed Hall-effect thrusters, acquired by York Space Systems) exemplify what the engine produces.
For 1885, the partnership delivers close coordination on emerging university IP, presence in the pipeline for STEM talent cohort, and collaborative opportunities inside MTU's labs.