J2 Ventures, an organization led primarily by U.S. navy veterans, introduced Thursday that it has raised $150 million in its second spherical of funding. The Boston-based firm invests in startups whose merchandise are bought by civilians and the U.S. Division of Protection.
Whereas many rising enterprise capital corporations are struggling to lift second rounds of funding, J2’s newest funding is greater than double its preliminary funding spherical of $67.5 million in 2021.
At first look, the corporate seems to be benefiting from rising enterprise capital curiosity in protection know-how. However J2 has no intention of positioning itself as a protection know-how investor.
“Our portfolio is nationwide security-adjacent however not defense-focused,” mentioned J2 managing accomplice Alexander Harstrick. The corporate doesn’t spend money on know-how that protects crucial nationwide infrastructure or helps thwart assaults, comparable to drones, robots or surveillance know-how.
As a substitute, J2 helps corporations whose merchandise assist preserve the well-being and well being care of almost 3 million individuals within the U.S. navy.
Hastrick mentioned the Division of Protection (DoD) has traditionally adopted new applied sciences earlier than they change into in style amongst civilians. It is not simply the Web, which was developed partly by the navy.
“The Division of Veterans Affairs was the primary to make use of telemedicine,” Hastrick mentioned. “They have been additionally the primary to undertake digital well being data.”
J2’s healthcare investments embrace Tasso, a maker of needle-free blood-drawing know-how, and Lumia Well being, a wearable system that measures blood move to the mind.
The corporate additionally helps cybersecurity, infrastructure and superior computing startups, comparable to Femtosense, a developer of energy-saving synthetic intelligence chips for sensible units.
J2 helps pre-Sequence A-stage corporations and writes checks starting from $1 million to $5 million. The agency’s restricted companions embrace JPMorgan Chase and the New Mexico Funding Fee.
Hastrick served as a U.S. Military Reserve navy intelligence officer and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Earlier than founding J2, he was an investor within the protection innovation sector.
