Andra Keay
About Andra Keay
Andra Keay is the founder and Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics, a non-profit industry group that supports the innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies. Her LinkedIn profile lists the Managing Director role from 2011, and she is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
She also founded the Robot Launch global startup competition, co-founded the Robot Garden hackerspace and the robotics news site Robohub, and founded Women in Robotics. She is a Visiting Scholar at the CITRIS People and Robots Lab at UC Berkeley. Her background includes film, television and media production, with degrees in interaction, communication and human-robot cultural studies.
Other listed roles include Venture Partner at The Robotics Hub since 2018, mentor at Creative Destruction Lab and Singularity University, advisor to Circuit Launch, and venture consultant at Comet Labs from 2016 to 2018. She writes about socially positive robotics and AI on "The Robot State" site.
Crunchbase records 1 investment, 1 portfolio company, no lead investments and no exits. NFX Signal also shows one investment on record: a $1M seed round in Catalia Health in June 2015.
Her AngelList syndicate page lists Catalia Health, Wise.io, Modbot, TerrAvion, MightyCarma, Tidal Scale and Ocular Robotics under investments. The page does not give investment dates or amounts for these. It says she intends to syndicate all her deals on AngelList.
Her stated interest is commercializing socially positive robotics and AI. The Robotics Hub, where she is Venture Partner, describes itself as an early seed stage fund for science-based breakthroughs in robotics, AI, AR/VR and quantum computing. Public sources do not separate out her individual AI-specific investments or their dates.
Her AngelList syndicate says it focuses on early-stage robotics companies with relatively low technical risk and a strong business model. NFX Signal ranks her in pre-seed and seed robotics and IoT, including among San Francisco Bay Area robotics investors.
The syndicate page shows $80k as typical investments, 3 expected deals a year and 3 unique LPs. Those figures describe the syndicate, not a personal check size, and no personal check size is public. Geography is not restricted in her own words, but she says she sees robotics startups from around the world through her organizations.
- Catalia Health: invested in its $1M seed round in June 2015, per NFX Signal.
- Wise.io: listed on her AngelList syndicate page, date not public.
- Modbot: listed on her AngelList syndicate page, date not public.
- TerrAvion: listed on her AngelList syndicate page, date not public.
- MightyCarma: listed on her AngelList syndicate page, date not public.
- Tidal Scale: listed on her AngelList syndicate page, date not public.
- Ocular Robotics: listed on her AngelList syndicate page, date not public.
Investing activity
Andra Keay has made 1 investment according to Crunchbase across 1 portfolio company, and has founded 1 company.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Andra Keay
Does Andra Keay invest in AI startups?
Yes, with a robotics focus. She says she has a strong interest in commercializing socially positive robotics and AI. She is also Venture Partner at The Robotics Hub, which backs robotics, AI, AR/VR and quantum computing.
What stage does Andra Keay invest in?
Her syndicate page says she focuses on early-stage robotics companies. NFX Signal ranks her in pre-seed and seed robotics.
What is Andra Keay's check size?
No personal check size is public. Her AngelList syndicate lists $80k as typical investments, which describes the syndicate.
What does Andra Keay look for in a startup?
Her AngelList syndicate says it looks for early-stage robotics companies with relatively low technical risk and a strong business model.
How can robotics founders reach Andra Keay?
She runs Silicon Valley Robotics and the Robot Launch startup competition, which are common routes for founders to meet her. She is also on LinkedIn and lists andra@svrobo.org as a contact on Silicon Valley Robotics materials.
Which companies has Andra Keay invested in?
NFX Signal shows Catalia Health (seed, June 2015). Her AngelList syndicate also lists Wise.io, Modbot, TerrAvion, MightyCarma, Tidal Scale and Ocular Robotics.
Is Andra Keay an angel investor?
Yes. Andra Keay invests personally as an angel and is Managing Director, Founder at Silicon Valley Robotics. Crunchbase counts 1 investment.
Where is Andra Keay based?
Andra Keay is based in San Francisco, California, United States.
How can founders reach Andra Keay?
Founders on Lounge can see Andra Keay's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Andra Keay to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.