An Introduction to the AI & Robotics Fund

Brian is a seasoned venture capitalist with over 20 years of investing experience across a range of industries. Before joining Chestnut Street Ventures, Brian was the Managing Director for New York Ventures, the venture capital arm of the State of New York. Prior to that, he was VP of Strategy & Corporate Development at Arbitron (now Nielsen Audio) and a Managing Director at the Peacock Fund, the venture capital arm of NBC Universal. Before joining the Peacock Fund, Brian worked at GE Capital and Bain & Co. Brian holds an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School and a BS in Industrial Engineering from The University of Southern California.

Before joining Chestnut Street Ventures, Mason attended Waseda Business School in Tokyo, Japan where he earned an MSc in Finance and wrote a master’s thesis linking founders’ attributes and strategic partnerships to firm performance in new ventures. While attending Waseda Business School, Mason was selected as a G51 Venture Scholar and participated in the Global Venture Catalyst where he served as a graduate startup advisor. Mason also holds a BA in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin.

Overview:

Clare brings a dual-lens of public policy and business strategy to venture investing, shaped by hands-on experience across emerging technologies, national security, and public systems. Her work spans both the public and private sectors—from prosecuting complex criminal networks at the Manhattan DA’s Office to driving strategic insight at frontier tech startups, such as Skydio and SandboxAQ.

At Alumni Ventures, Clare is a Senior Associate on the Strategic Tech team, where she focuses on dual-use technologies with commercial and national security applications. Her investment thesis centers on companies modernizing public infrastructure and defense capabilities—particularly those leveraging software, autonomy, and advanced energy systems to address mission-critical challenges.

Funds actively worked on:

• Lakeshore Ventures
• Purple Arch Ventures
• US Strategic Tech

Investment Areas of Focus:

Clare’s broader investment strategy is driven by a belief that venture capital can be a powerful lever for societal impact. She gravitates toward founders working in highly regulated, under-innovated sectors where technological progress can unlock system-wide change—across domains such as govtech, housing, law enforcement, critical infrastructure, healthcare access, next-gen energy, and defense. She’s particularly interested in companies that are reimagining how government and industry work together to solve large-scale problems through scalable, resilient technology. Her recent investments highlighting this thesis include: Aslan Protects, deploys AI agents to detect online leakage and prevent mass shootings, enabling proactive intervention by law enforcement; Closure Intelligence, a geospatial analytics platform for security and law enforcement; Unique Minds, builds AI-powered digital support systems tailored for neurodiverse individuals, enhancing independent living and therapeutic outcomes; Zeno Power, building radioisotope power systems for off-grid and deep space applications. These companies reflect Clare’s broader strategy: to invest in enduring platforms that serve strategic public systems and unlock decades of impact through dual-use innovation. She believes the next great venture outcomes will come not just from software or marketplaces, but from building the connective infrastructure between government and technology