Venture Capital

Playground Global

Playground Global is an early-stage deep tech venture capital firm founded in 2015 by Andy Rubin, Bruce Leak, Matt Hershenson, and Peter Barrett, and headquartered at 380 Portage Ave, Palo Alto, California. The firm invests "somewhere between improbable and impossible," backing technical founders who take large technology risks and build companies from first principles. Playground concentrates on four pillars: next-gen compute (quantum computing, novel AI chip architectures, advanced interconnects, and semiconductors), automation (robotics, supply-chain and industrial automation with tangible ROI), energy transition and decarbonization, and engineered biology (AI-driven drug discovery, RNA editing, and next-generation therapies). It invests at the earliest stages, often at company formation, and operates Studio Palo Alto, a lab and prototyping environment for hardware and deep-science founders. Reported assets under management are over $1.2 billion across its funds. Notable portfolio companies include PsiQuantum, Relativity Space, Ultima Genomics, d-Matrix, Velo3D (NYSE), and MosaicML (acquired by Databricks).

43 portfolio companies 43 publish APIs here 10 properties
Venture CapitalDeep TechEarly StagePre-SeedSeedQuantum ComputingSemiconductorsRoboticsAutomationEnergy TransitionEngineered BiologyAINorth America
Portfolio Strength across 43 profiled portfolio companies on the network
1 top-rated API companies 1 exemplar · 0 strong
1 agent-ready companies 0 agent-native · 1 agent-ready
Average quality of the book:
Composite minimal 13.6
Agent-Readiness human-only 4.7

Firms are ranked by cumulative portfolio strength — how many highly-rated API companies they've backed, weighted by tier across composite quality and agent-readiness. The averages below are a secondary read on the typical company in the book.

Playground Global has 43 portfolio companies tracked on the APIs.io network, of which 43 (100%) publish APIs indexed here.

Its highest-rated API providers on the network are MosaicML, Skydio, RapidSOS, Branch, Velo3D.

Portfolio on the Network

Portfolio companies that publish APIs indexed on APIs.io, grouped by their API Evangelist rating. Exemplar and Strong are expanded by default.

Exemplar 1 Complete, well-documented, and agent-ready
MosaicML 57 APIs 72.2
Developing 1 Usable, with meaningful gaps to close
Skydio 7 APIs 45.5
Emerging 10 Early or largely undocumented
RapidSOS 23.2 Branch 1 API 23.1 Velo3D 4 APIs 22.5 Relativity Space 3 APIs 22.0 Anjuna 17.9 Virta Health 16.7 Ultima Genomics 16.1 Nauto 15.6 d-Matrix 15.0 Bodyport 13.5
Minimal 31 Almost no public developer surface
Owl Labs 11.9 1910 Genetics 11.8 Fabric 11.6 Phasecraft 11.5 Ayar Labs 11.3 Outpace Bio 10.5 Robust.AI 10.5 NextSilicon 10.3 Agility Robotics 10.1 Atomic AI 9.2 Ideon AI 8.4 Unconventional 8.0 Infinimmune 7.5 Sizable Energy 7.5 Vertical Semiconductor 7.5 Amber Bio 6.9 Alva Energy 6.6 Boxbot 6.6 Element Zero 6.3 PicoJool 6.3 Snowcap Compute 6.1 PsiQuantum 5.7 GigaCrop 5.4 NVision Imaging Technologies 5.4 Deice 5.0 Insamo 5.0 Manifold Bio 5.0 Power Lattice 5.0 Syenta 5.0 Synthetic Design Lab 5.0 xLight 4.1

Properties

Portfolio

Where the firm publishes its investments

Portfolio
Portfolio
 Portfolio
Portfolio
 InvestmentThesis
InvestmentThesis

Team

Partners and investing staff

Team
Team
 Team
Team

Content

Blog, podcast, newsletter, and research

News
News

Firm

The firm itself

Website
Website
 Jobs
Jobs
 LinkedIn
LinkedIn
 Contact
Contact

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: playground-global
name: Playground Global
description: >-
  Playground Global is an early-stage deep tech venture capital firm founded in
  2015 by Andy Rubin, Bruce Leak, Matt Hershenson, and Peter Barrett, and
  headquartered at 380 Portage Ave, Palo Alto, California. The firm invests
  "somewhere between improbable and impossible," backing technical founders who
  take large technology risks and build companies from first principles.
  Playground concentrates on four pillars: next-gen compute (quantum computing,
  novel AI chip architectures, advanced interconnects, and semiconductors),
  automation (robotics, supply-chain and industrial automation with tangible
  ROI), energy transition and decarbonization, and engineered biology
  (AI-driven drug discovery, RNA editing, and next-generation therapies). It
  invests at the earliest stages, often at company formation, and operates
  Studio Palo Alto, a lab and prototyping environment for hardware and
  deep-science founders. Reported assets under management are over $1.2 billion
  across its funds. Notable portfolio companies include PsiQuantum, Relativity
  Space, Ultima Genomics, d-Matrix, Velo3D (NYSE), and MosaicML (acquired by
  Databricks).
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Unknown
  confidence: low
  source: []
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: >-
  https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/67a0cf547fd16e142c2fba80/67a313441369d4566db3b44e_playground-logo-symbol.svg
x-type: venture-capital
x-category: Venture Capital
created: '2026-07-17'
modified: '2026-07-17'
specificationVersion: '0.20'
tags:
  - Venture Capital
  - Deep Tech
  - Early Stage
  - Pre-Seed
  - Seed
  - Quantum Computing
  - Semiconductors
  - Robotics
  - Automation
  - Energy Transition
  - Engineered Biology
  - AI
  - North America
apis: []
common:
  - type: Website
    url: https://www.playground.vc/
  - type: Portfolio
    url: https://www.playground.vc/portfolio
  - type: Portfolio
    url: portfolio/playground-global-portfolio.yml
  - type: Team
    url: https://www.playground.vc/people
  - type: Team
    url: team/playground-global-team.yml
  - type: InvestmentThesis
    url: https://www.playground.vc/about
  - type: News
    url: https://www.playground.vc/news
  - type: Jobs
    url: https://careers.playground.global/jobs
  - type: LinkedIn
    url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/playground-global/
  - type: Contact
    url: mailto:info@playground.global
  - type: Features
    data:
      - 'Stage: Pre-seed / earliest stage (company formation)'
      - 'Sectors: next-gen compute, automation, energy transition, engineered biology'
      - 'Geography: North America (US), select global'
      - 'AUM: over $1.2 billion (reported)'
      - 'Founded: 2015'
      - 'Founders: Andy Rubin, Bruce Leak, Matt Hershenson, Peter Barrett'
      - 'HQ: 380 Portage Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94306'
      - 'Studio: Studio Palo Alto (in-house deep-tech lab)'
    sources:
      - https://www.playground.vc/about
      - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playground_Global
      - https://pulse2.com/playground-global-410-million-raised-bringing-aum-to-over-1-2-billion/
    updated: '2026-07-17'
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com
    url: https://apievangelist.com
  - FN: APIs.json
    url: http://apisjson.org
  - FN: Playground Global
    email: info@playground.global
    url: https://www.playground.vc/