Cathie Wood is bringing another major Silicon Valley investor into St. Petersburg, teaming up with venture capitalist Tim Draper and Austin-based Capital Factory to expand the national investment network surrounding her ARK Innovation Center.
The agreement, announced Thursday, Oct. 29, will place a member of Capital Factory’s investment team inside the 45,000-square-foot ARK Innovation Center, where the firm will scout emerging technologies across Florida. Wood’s ARK Invest and Draper are joining Capital Factory’s All Access 2027 program as investors and strategic partners, connecting local entrepreneurs with a national network of more than 1,000 venture funds and angel investors.
For Wood, who moved ARK Invest’s headquarters from New York to St. Petersburg in 2021, the partnership brings another national investment organization into the city’s Innovation District, where her firm operates spARK Labs, an early-stage business incubator supported by St. Petersburg and Pinellas County. Companies working with spARK Labs will gain access to Capital Factory’s Austin network, while the two firms’ investment and research teams share prospective deals and conduct due diligence.
The relationship grew out of investments the three organizations had already made in some of the same companies, including Apptronik, the Austin-based humanoid robotics developer that joined Capital Factory’s portfolio in 2017 and later attracted backing from the ARK Venture Fund. Capital Factory and Draper also invested in Colossal Biosciences, the Dallas biotechnology company using genetic engineering in its effort to revive extinct species.
“ARK found Apptronik. Tim Draper found Colossal. Capital Factory helped connect both companies to new investors and there are several more great companies we share,” said Bryan Chambers, president and co-founder of Capital Factory. “When we keep landing on the same founders, it makes sense to work together from day one.”
Draper, a third-generation venture capitalist who founded Draper Associates in 1985, has spent four decades investing in technology companies, with early investments including Tesla, SpaceX, Skype, Coinbase and Robinhood. His relationship with Capital Factory predates Thursday’s announcement, including the organization’s Meet the Drapers event during South by Southwest in March, where portfolio companies were introduced to the Draper family.
Capital Factory, whose portfolio includes more than 1,000 early-stage companies, has partnered with approximately 100 startups annually through All Access since 2017, helping founders from seed funding through Series B reach investors, corporate customers and government agencies. The 2027 program will concentrate on robotics, autonomy, space, energy, advanced manufacturing and biotechnology, including technologies with both commercial and military applications.
That defense focus extends the firm’s network toward MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, home to U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, as Capital Factory expands its work with companies developing technologies for the national security sector. Its government and defense relationships will become available to companies working through the St. Petersburg partnership alongside ARK’s research expertise in emerging technologies.
“Our research led us to Apptronik, where we saw firsthand the role Capital Factory was playing in supporting its growth,” Wood said. “This partnership brings our researchers closer to the entrepreneurs building the future and brings Capital Factory’s network, including its government and defense relationships, to St. Petersburg alongside spARK Labs.”
Capital Factory is advertising venture-team positions in St. Petersburg, Austin and Washington, D.C., although the announcement did not disclose the amount invested by ARK or Draper, how many additional employees the company expects to hire locally or how much capital could ultimately reach Florida startups.