We back founders who teach machines to see, learn and move.
Cadavid Ventures makes angel investments in early-stage companies building computer vision, machine learning and robotics. Led by Steven Cadavid, founder of KinaTrax, acquired by Sony Corporation in 2024.
Software learned to read the internet. The next generation has to learn the physical world — a harder problem, and a more valuable one.
Computer vision is the bottleneck.
Cameras are cheap; measured reality is not. We back teams turning pixels into measurement: pose, geometry, motion and intent, at the accuracy the real world demands.
Models that live where the data is.
Learning systems that run at the edge, in real time, in the loop with people and machines, and the data engines that keep improving them after launch.
Machines that act on what they see.
Manipulation, mobility and inspection, and the tooling that makes robots trainable: simulation, teleoperation and the data that closes the loop.
First checks into technical founders with a hard problem they can't put down.
- Stage
- Pre-seed and seed. Often the first check, alongside other angels and early funds.
- Founders
- Technical founders close to the problem, ideally ones who have already measured it. A working prototype counts for more than a deck.
- Edge
- A real advantage in data, sensing or deployment, not only a model. The moat is usually in the capture, the calibration or the installed base.
- Help
- Operator support from a founder who has built, deployed and sold vision systems in the field: hiring, early customers, and the unglamorous work of making a computer-vision system hold up.
Steven Cadavid
Founder, Cadavid Ventures · Founder, KinaTrax (acquired by Sony, 2024)
Steven founded KinaTrax, the markerless motion-capture company that brought in-game biomechanics to professional baseball: multi-camera systems that measure an athlete's movement from video alone, with no markers and no suits. KinaTrax was acquired by Sony Corporation in 2024.
He holds a PhD in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Miami. He built KinaTrax's computer-vision stack, took it into stadiums, and learned what it takes to make a vision system hold up outside the lab. Cadavid Ventures backs founders at the point he once was: a working prototype, a hard problem, and the conviction that the world's most valuable data is still waiting to be measured.
"The internet has been read. The physical world hasn't. That's where the next decade of great companies gets built."
Three places, one firm.
Miami
South Florida, where the firm is based.
West Palm Beach
The Palm Beaches, an hour up the coast.
Palo Alto
Silicon Valley, for the founders and the labs.
We meet founders where they are. Most first conversations are a call; the good ones turn into a visit.
Building in vision, learning or robotics? Send us a deck.
A short note and a deck is enough. We read everything and reply to what fits.