Our guests on this episode of The First Close are Jenna Bryant and Jordan Noone. Jenna and Jordan are co-founding partners of Embedded Ventures, a VC firm based in Malibu, California. Launched in 2020, Embedded Ventures invests in pre-seed and seed-stage companies focused in space operations, digital engineering, and advanced manufacturing. To date, Embedded Ventures has announced investments in Chromatic 3D Materials, Inversion Space, KittyCAD, and Skyryse. Embedded Ventures has also built a first-of-its-kind partnership with the United States Space Force.
Jenna moved to Los Angeles from Alabama to complete her bachelor’s degree in apparel design. After graduation, she took a job that was originally meant to be temporary, specializing in recruiting “hard to fill” engineering roles for early-stage startups in L.A. This led to an unexpected, permanent shift for Jenna, who has now spent the last decade first as a tech recruiter, and then as a venture capitalist. Jenna has invested in and helped build some of the most notable early-stage startups in the country from the ground up.
Jordan has had a lifelong interest in aerospace, and began designing and building spaceflight hardware at the University of Southern California. Jordan led USC’s Rocket Propulsion Lab and became the first student and youngest individual in the world to receive Federal Aviation Administration clearance to fly a rocket into space. After graduating, Jordan worked at SpaceX and later co-founded and was the CTO of 3D-printing rocket startup Relativity Space. In addition to his general partner role at Embedded, he also serves as CEO of portfolio company KittyCAD.
In our conversation, we discuss the Embedded Ventures approach to bridging the gap between government and innovation, how Jenna and Jordan combine their expertise in recruiting and engineering to serve founders, and their focus on space, advanced manufacturing, and digital engineering.
Listen to our interview with Embedded Ventures by streaming The First Close on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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