Vantora, a startup lab once known as UP.Labs, has raised $100 million from Silversmith Capital Partners. The round is the company's first investment from an outside firm since it launched four years ago.
Vantora does not build startups for the open market. Instead, it builds them for corporate partners who invest in the ventures and become their first customers.
Those partners include Porsche, Alaska Airlines, J.B. Hunt, Wabash, and TDG, the parent company of Ashley Furniture. Vantora also works with new partners in industrial manufacturing and oil and gas, though it did not name them.
Founder and CEO John Kuolt explained that the company is changing how it works with these partners.
A New Approach to Building Startups
Under the new model, corporate partners can choose to fold a startup into their core business. This means they can keep the venture for themselves instead of bringing it to outside buyers or competitors.
Kuolt described this as a shift toward a "proprietary M&A pipeline." He said the change lets Vantora take on ideas that were once considered too sensitive to develop.
In the past, the firm often had to pass on projects that were too strategic or private for a partner to share. Those ideas carried some of the biggest potential value, according to Kuolt.
"We were missing on the biggest value problems," he said, pointing to cases where a corporate partner needed full ownership of a technology rather than a shared product.
Physical AI Becomes a Bigger Focus
The new structure has pushed Vantora toward more physical AI work. Physical AI refers to systems that help machines and industrial hardware operate with more autonomy.
Kuolt pointed to an earlier idea built for J.B. Hunt as an example. The partner did not want the idea taken to the broader market, so Vantora shelved it at the time.
Under the current model, that kind of project can now move forward. Kuolt said large industrial companies often want full control over their AI systems rather than relying on outside vendors.
He said this is especially true when a company needs to retrofit older machines for autonomous operation. In those cases, the technology needs to stay within the company rather than be sold elsewhere.
Vantora launched in 2022 with Porsche as its first corporate partner. Since then, it has built several startups for Porsche and formed partnerships with Alaska Airlines, J.B. Hunt, Wabash, and TDG.
The company was previously connected to venture firm Up.Partners, though the two were never financially linked. Vantora still shares office space with Up.Partners in California but operates as its own independent business.
The $100 million from Silversmith marks the first time Vantora has taken on an outside investor. Kuolt said the funding supports the company's move toward building more physical AI ventures for its industrial partners.
