Eclipse: $2.5B from Cerebras — confirmation of investment strategy in the physical world

Friends — a tech update: Eclipse Ventures realized $2.5B from Cerebras' IPO — the payoff for a long bet on "digitizing the physical world."

Briefly:
- TechCrunch (Marina Temkin): Eclipse backed Cerebras with $6.5M in its 2016 Series A and invested $147M in total; the IPO delivered a 17× return at $185/share.
- Investors and founders are returning to hardware–software ventures — chips, robotics, energy.
- Key drivers: AI, capital, demand, talent and government support.

Why it matters: it confirms that manufacturing-linked and hardware platforms are regaining competitive advantage.

How do you assess the prospects for hardware–software startups today?

#Eclipse #Cerebras #hardware #investments