Attracting Deep Tech Talent from Big Companies is Now Easier for Startups, According to Mytra CEO Chris Walti

Walti spent more than seven years at Tesla, where he ultimately led the project that became the much-discussed humanoid robot Optimus. Since 2022, he’s been CEO and cofounder of warehouse robotics startup Mytra, whose backers include Greenoaks and Eclipse Ventures. There’s never been a better time to build serious hardware at the startup level, Walti says—and it’s all because coveted talent is increasingly willing to take a chance. In the 2000s, in the early days of Tesla and later Rivian, a gifted roboticist might have seemed crazy to leave a cozy corporate job for a startup. To boot, there was also a finite number of roboticists out there. But that’s all slowly changing.

“There’s this wedge of great folks who have proven track records,” Walti told Fortune. “Ten or 15 years ago, it would have been really hard to find those people, who have the experience in scale, sophistication, innovation, and speed. Now there’s a critical mass—not many, but a critical mass—of folks who can help energize Mytra, our few dozen peers, and the next 500,000 companies solving all the different problems in the physical world.”

Mytra recently brought in three key (and illustrative) hires, Fortune can exclusively report. Tesla veteran Laurel Fullerton is joining the company as director of electrical engineering, while Matthew Clark left Rivian to be Mytra’s director of structural engineering. Mike Brevoort, who has led product and development teams at Slack and Lockheed Martin, will be Mytra’s new principal engineer for AI. This kind of technical talent is historically rare, says Walti.

“One of the hardest things about building any deep tech-hardware-software robotics company is that you need these varied disciplines,” he said. “Very rarely do people come right out of college with the wisdom and expertise…They’re also really hard to recruit because they’re 10 to 15 years in their careers, and they probably have small children. They’re not interested in taking a massive salary cut to be a fly on the wall.”

But for some time, the winds have been shifting. Walti told Fortune that the rise of companies like Tesla, Lucid Motors, Rivian, and SpaceX created situations where more people than ever were put into “positions of innovation…[and] developed hardware at speed and scale.” “The compounding effect of success” for these hardware-centric startups has given other deep tech founders (and employees) a playbook, said Walti.

“There’s a path to success now,” he said. “There’s a large TAM, and a blueprint for disrupting these entrenched legacy industries that investors believe in, employees believe in, and founders ourselves, that we can believe in.”

Mytra has raised a total of $78 million in funding so far to build warehouse robots that specialize in material flow—a ubiquitous process across supply chains that involves moving and storing raw materials, objects, parts, and more. Mytra’s currently building a robot that can lift 3,000 pounds. 

And, yes, there’s an AI-sized elephant in the room right now, and no shortage of talk about how AI is ushering in a new era for robotics. It’s a double-edged sword. Walti said that the AI boom has created a lot of hiring “noise,” with Mytra receiving 100x more applicants for AI positions compared to other roles. But there are positives—Walti says people are more attuned to software’s potential to affect our physical world. For Mytra, that creates opportunities with great timing.

“We would not be able to build the company that we’re building, with the speed we’re going at, if we didn’t have these kinds of people available to us,” said Walti. “I wouldn’t have chosen to start this company ten or 15 years ago.”

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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VENTURE DEALS

– Asaas, a Joinville, Brazil-based  financial automation solutions provider for small and medium-sized enterprises, raised R$820 million ($148.2 million) in Series C funding. BOND led the round and was joined by Softbank, 23S Capital, and Endeavor Catalyst.

– City Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based small interfering RNAs therapeutics developer, raised $135 million in Series A funding. ARCH Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Fidelity Management & Research Company, Invus, Slate Path Capital, and others.

– EvenUp, a San Francisco-based AI platform developer for personal injury cases, raised $135 million in Series D funding. Bain Capital Ventures led the round and was joined by Premji Invest, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and others.

– Maven Clinic, a New York City-based women’s and family health virtual clinic, raised $125 million in Series F funding. StepStone Group led the round and was joined by existing investors General Catalyst, Sequoia, Oak HC/FT, and others.

– Auger, a Bellevue, Wash.-based AI-powered supply-chain developer, raised $100 million in Series A funding from Oak HC/FT.

– Blue Energy, a Washington D.C.-based nuclear power plant company, raised $45 million in Series A funding. Engine Ventures and At One Ventures led the round and were joined by Angular Ventures, Tamarack Global, Propeller Ventures, and others.

– Paebbl, a Stockholm-based company converting CO2 into permanent, carbon-storing materials, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Capnamic led the round and was joined by The Climate Pledge Fund, Holcim, Aurum Impact, existing investors 2050, Pale Blue Dot, the Grantham Foundation, and others.

– Distributional, a San Francisco-based enterprise AI testing platform, raised $19 million in Series A funding. Two Sigma Ventures led the round and was joined by Andreessen Horowitz, Operator Collective, NextEra Energy, and others.

– Unify, a San Francisco-based go-to-market technology company, raised $19 million in Series A and seed funding. Emergence Capital and Thrive Capital led the round and were joined by OpenAI Startup Fund and others.

– Corvus Robotics, a Mountain View, Calif.-based autonomous inventory management systems provider, raised $18 million in Series A funding. S2G Ventures and Spero Ventures led the round and were joined by Y Combinator.

– Centaur Labs, a Boston-based health data annotation platform, raised $16 million in Series B funding. SignalFire led the round and was joined by Samsung Next, Alumni Ventures, and existing investors Y Combinator, Accel, Susa Ventures, and others.

– SPRY Therapeutics, a Wilmington, Del.-based AI practice management platform developer for physical therapy, raised $15 million in funding. Flourish Ventures led the round and was joined by Together Fund, Eight Roads, and F-prime Capital.

– Claim, a Boston-based brand discovery social app, raised $12 million in Series A funding. VMG Technology led the round and was joined by Sequoia Capital, Susa Ventures, and Lightbank.

– Lightdash, a London-based open-source business intelligence platform, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Accel led the round and was joined by Operator Partners, Shopify Ventures, and existing investor Y Combinator.

– Driver, a Austin-based technology decoding and interactive documentation automation AI platform, raised $8 million in seed funding. Google Ventures led the round and was joined by Y Combinator and angel investors.

– CYRISMA, a Rochester, N.Y.-based risk management platform for managed service providers, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Blueprint Equity led the round and was joined by SaaS Ventures, Golden Venture Partners, LaunchNY, and Eddie Lou.

– Kiva AI, a San Francisco-based data solutions platform for specialized AI applications’ development, raised $7 million in seed funding. CoinFund led the round and was joined by Protagonist, Hashkey, Peer VC, and others.

– Third Dimension AI, a San Francisco-based 3D generation company, raised $6.9 million in seed funding. Felicis led the round and was joined by Abstract Ventures, MVP, Soma Capital, and the Salt Fund.

– Cove, a Palo Alto-based AI collaborative visual workspace, raised $6 million in seed funding from Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil, Homebrew, and others.

– clock.bio, a Cambridge, England-based healthspan biotech company, raised $5.3 million in seed funding. LocalGlobe led the round and was joined by BlueYard Capital, Onsight Ventures, and Dr. Jonathan Milner.

– 100, a New York City-based multifamily rental software platform, raised $5.2 million in funding from MetaProp, Freestyle Capital, RiverPark Ventures, and others.

– Drawer AI, an Austin-based AI-powered estimating system, raised $5 million in seed funding. Brick & Mortar Ventures led the round and was joined by Base 10 Partners.

– TreQ Global, an Alexandria, Va.-based quantum computing company, raised $5 million in seed funding. Lavrock Ventures led the round and was joined by Creator Fund, Green Sands Equity, and firstminute capital.

– Windmill, a New York City-based air care products and technology developer, raised $5 million in Series A funding from YETI CapitaI, Pentland Ventures, angel investors, and others.

– Vectorize, a Boulder, Colo.-based AI-powered data integration platform, raised $3.6 million in seed funding. True Ventures led the round and was joined by angel investors.

PRIVATE EQUITY

– Blue Point Capital Partners recapitalized Pinnacle MEP Holdings, a St. Clair Shores, Mich.-based HVAC and plumbing services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– NewSpring acquired C Speed, a Liverpool, N.Y.-based radar systems and engineering solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Outdoor Living Supply, a portfolio company of Trilantic North America, acquired Mid-Atlantic Concrete Products, a Winston Salem, N.C.-based hardscapes, natural stone, and porcelain products distributor. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Outdoor Living Supply, a portfolio company of Trilantic North America, acquired South-Atlantic Concrete Products, a Cumming, Ga.-based hardscapes, natural stone, and porcelain products distributor. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EXITS

– KKR acquired The Parking Spot, a Chicago-based near-airport parking properties owner and operator, from Green Courte Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.

OTHER

– Zeta Global agreed to acquire LiveIntent, a New York City-based marketing technology provider, for $250 million.

– Infinite Reality acquired Zappar, a London-based XR platform and creative studio, for $45 million.

– Cloudflare acquired Kivera, a New York City-based cloud security, data protection, and compliance platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– BD acquired a minority stake in Babson Diagnostics, an Austin-based diagnostic blood testing technology company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

– Renovus Capital Partners, a Wayne, Pa.-based private equity firm, raised $875 million for its fourth fund focused on the knowledge and talent industries.

PEOPLE

– Braemont Capital, a Dallas-based investment firm, added Lindsay Grider as partner and head of capital partnerships. Previously, she was at Levine Leichtman Capital Partners.

– Water Street Healthcare Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, promoted Katie Ossman to partner.