Engine Ventures, the deep tech investor created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is planning to raise a $500 million fund, The Next Leap can reveal.
The Scale Up Fund I has yet to secure any capital. If raised in full, it would bring Engine Ventures’ assets under management to $1.6 billion.
The firm closed its $398 million Fund III in 2024, shortly after spinning out of The Engine, which was launched by MIT in 2016 and continues to operate as an incubator and accelerator.
The separation reflected the broader scope that Engine Ventures had already long pursued by that point. Harvard University became a limited partner in Fund II in 2020, reportedly investing $25 million, while MIT supplied $35 million.
Today, Engine Ventures invests globally in what it calls “tough tech” – technologies such as fusion energy, quantum systems, biotech, advanced materials, photonics, space tech, and AI-enabled physical systems.
To date, the firm has backed 65 companies, and they have raised more than $7 billion in venture capital between them.
