AIN Ventures
Venture capital firm; participated in Solideon's oversubscribed $5M+ pre-seed round (July 2024).
New York-based seed-stage venture firm (full name Academy Investor Network) investing in early-stage dual-use deep tech spanning Space, Defense, AI/ML, Life Sciences/Health, and Resiliency/Climate. Pairs a traditional venture fund with the Academy Investor Network, an invite-only syndicate of 600+ U.S. Service Academy graduates who serve as advisors/co-investors, and advises portfolio companies on securing non-dilutive government capital (~$100M secured for portfolio companies to date, per the firm's own site).
Overview
- Firm
- AIN Ventures
- Headquarters
- New York, NY
- Founded
- 2020
- AUM
- Stages
- Pre-Seed, Seed
- Thesis
- "Where national priorities meet frontier innovation" — invests where breakthrough technology meets mission-critical demand.
- X / Twitter
- twitter.com/AIN_ventures/
- Website
- www.ainventures.com/
Portfolio companies4
- CompanySolideonBuilds Aperture, an autonomous multi-robot manufacturing system for large aerospace structures.
- CompanyArcee AIMiami-founded developer of domain-adapted small language models (SLMs) for regulated-industry and public-sector enterprises, deployable on-prem, in a private cloud, or via SaaS.
- CompanyOrbit FabColorado-based in-space propellant-logistics company whose RAFTI refueling port was formally designated by U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command as an accepted military-satellite refueling interface.
- CompanyInversion SpaceLos Angeles-based startup building Arc, an autonomous reentry cargo-delivery capsule, backed by a $71M U.S. Space Force STRATFI award tied to the Pentagon's Rocket Cargo program.
Partners2
- FounderSherman Williams IICo-Founder and Managing Partner of AIN Ventures; former Naval Intelligence Officer and healthcare-tech M&A investment banker, now a veteran-first dual-use tech investor.
- FounderEmily McMahanCo-Founder and General Partner of AIN Ventures; West Point graduate and Army combat veteran who previously built veteran-focused entrepreneurship organizations before co-founding a dual-use deep-tech venture fund.
Frequently asked
- What is AIN Ventures?
- "Where national priorities meet frontier innovation" — invests where breakthrough technology meets mission-critical demand.
- What stages does AIN Ventures invest at?
- AIN Ventures invests at Pre-Seed, Seed.
Tags
Sources & citations3
Each claim links to its underlying source. Confidence reflects how directly the source supports the claim.
- 1
AIN Ventures invests in early-stage dual-use deep tech across Space, Defense, AI/ML, Life Sciences, and Resiliency, pairing capital with the Academy Investor Network syndicate of 600+ Service Academy graduates
AIN Ventures: AboutVerified2026-08-09 - 2
Academy Investor Network's Venture Fund I received an anchor investment from USAA in June 2021
FinSmes: Academy Investor Network Venture Fund I Receives Anchor Investment From USAAVerified2021-06-01 - 3