How to Get Funded by Bison Ventures: What Deep Tech Founders Should Know After Its $160 Million Fund 2 Filing

Bison Ventures, one of the active deep tech investors writing seed and Series A checks in the US, reported $160.4 million raised for a vehicle named Bison Ventures Fund 2, L.P. in a filing dated October 19, 2026. Ben Hemani, a founding partner, is listed on the filing. It is the largest venture fund among the day's filings, and for founders building hardware, robotics, biotech tools or AI infrastructure it is worth a close look.

A caution first. Bison has not publicly announced a second fund, and we found no public statement on its size, so treat the filing as the only confirmed fact. A filing shows money that investors have committed to a vehicle. It does not show the fund's target, its terms or how much the firm plans to invest in each company.

What Bison Ventures Backs

Bison describes itself as an all-engineer venture firm that invests in frontier technology. Its stated view is that the best opportunities sit where several technical disciplines overlap, a space that software-focused investors often overlook. Its focus areas include AI in the physical world, techbio, and climate and sustainability, with extra interest in food and agriculture and in computing infrastructure for frontier AI.

The firm says it is not interested in small improvements or pure software plays without deep technical differentiation. It looks for step-change gains of roughly ten times, enabled by advances in AI, robotics, materials science and biotechnology. If your product is a better dashboard, this is the wrong firm. If it is a new sensor, a new chip, a new biological tool or a robot that works in a hard environment, you are in the right place.

Who Runs It

Tom Biegala and Ben Hemani founded Bison after working at Cascade Asset Management, the investment office that manages assets for Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation, as GeekWire reported when the firm launched. Biegala has about 20 years of experience as an engineer and investor in frontier technology and started his career at Intel. Hemani previously worked at Braemar Energy Ventures, an early investor in ChargePoint.

The team also includes partner Caleb Appleton, who focuses on techbio and AI in the physical world, and principals Ari Wright and Ellie McDonald. Public profiles describe a small partnership rather than a solo investor, so expect more than one person to take part in diligence.

The First Fund and the Portfolio

Bison announced a debut fund of $135 million in November 2023, with six investments at the time. Fund 2, at $160.4 million on the filing, would be about 19% larger than that first fund. That step up in size suggests the firm has kept deploying, although we cannot say how the filing amount relates to any final close.

Public profiles list more than a dozen portfolio companies, including Cobot in collaborative robotics, Vivodyne in human tissue testing for drug development, Zyphra in AI training infrastructure, Grid Aero in autonomous cargo aircraft and Great Sky in superconducting computing hardware. One public research profile reports that Bison led Great Sky's $14 million seed round in March 2026 and co-led Grid Aero's $20 million Series A in January 2026. It also reports that Bison joined the General Catalyst-led $100 million Series B for Cobot in April 2024. Check each round against the company's own announcement before you cite it.

What the Pattern Says About Check Size and Stage

Bison does not publish check sizes. The rounds above, from a $14 million seed to a $100 million Series B, suggest a firm that leads early rounds and joins larger syndicates later. Directories list its stages as seed, Series A and select growth follow-ons. For a founder this means two entry points: a lead or co-lead conversation at seed or Series A, or a place in a later syndicate if you already have a strong lead investor.

How to Approach the Firm

Start with a clear technical story. Explain what is hard about your product, why current methods fall short, and what ten times better looks like in numbers a skeptical engineer would accept. Show the evidence you have: lab results, pilot data, a prototype that works or a customer who is waiting. For hardware and biotech companies, also lay out how much capital it takes to reach the next proof point, because a seed round for a robot or a chip is a different size from a seed round for software.

Because Bison works in a partnership, find the person whose background matches your field. A biotech tools company should read Appleton's work, and a climate or infrastructure company should look at McDonald's. Founders in robotics and AI hardware should expect questions from engineers, so bring your technical lead to the first call.

Questions to Ask a Deep Tech Investor

Ask how much of the fund is held back for follow-on rounds, since hardware companies often need more than one round to reach revenue. Ask whether the firm will lead your Series A or expects another investor to lead, and how it supports hiring and customer introductions. Ask how it thinks about dilution when a company needs a large amount of capital before it has revenue.

What to Watch Next

Watch for a public announcement of Fund 2, which would confirm its size and terms. Until then, treat the $160.4 million figure as a filing amount. If you are raising now, the filing is a useful signal that the firm has capital to deploy, and a reason to reach out sooner rather than later.

Browse the deep tech investor directory for more active funds, read the baseline mechanics of a limited partner if the term is new, or explore active capital on AngelLinx @ angellinx.ai/register.

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