About Drive Catalyst
Drive Catalyst is a venture capital firm founded in 2019. It is primarily based out of Taipei, Taiwan. As of Nov 2023, Drive Catalyst has invested in 6 companies. It primarily invests in Series A round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to Environment Tech and High Tech. Most recently it participated in the $***** Series B round of Element Energy A lot of funds co-invest with Drive Catalyst, with names like Alumni Ventures sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Drive Catalyst has team of 6 people including 1 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Series A, Series B & 1 more
Portfolio Soonicorns
Drive Catalyst's List of Top Investments
Drive Catalyst has a portfolio of 6 companies. Their most notable investmentis in AmbercycleTheir portfolio spans across United States and China. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, Environment Tech, High Tech and 5 other sectors, across stages such as Series A, Series B and 1 more. Here is the list of top investments by Drive Catalyst:
Provider of AI-based solutions for materials informatics. It provides users with a data analytics platform which uses machine learning to mine data about materials, chemicals and processes. It also converts technical documents containing crucial data into a structured, searchable database. It also provides predictions about the performance of new materials, chemicals, and formulations.
Key facts about Citrine Informatics
- Founded Year: 2013
- Location: Redwood City (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $81.3M
- Employee Count: 69 as on Apr 30, 2026
- Investors: Prelude Ventures, Tencent and 17 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Grant (prize money), May 19, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Technology for Battery Management Systems. Their initial product is a cost-effective hardware and software system that manages large lithium battery packs.
Key facts about Element Energy
- Founded Year: 2009
- Location: Los Altos (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $101M
- Employee Count: 56 as on Apr 30, 2026
- Investors: Prelude Ventures, Mitsubishi and 15 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Grant (prize money), Jul 29, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
3. Novoloop
Provider of sustainable and performance thermoplastics. It utilises accelerated thermal-oxidative decomposition(ADOT) technology to convert packaging waste into polyester-based thermoplastic polyurethane. Its features include a low carbon footprint and sustainability. It has applications in apparel, consumer electronics, automotive, and additive manufacturing.
Key facts about Novoloop
4. LANDING AI
API-first agentic document extraction platform built for accuracy, reliability, and governance at scale. It develops agentic vision APIs and a visual AI platform. The company provides tools for document extraction, object detection, and custom vision model deployment. It offers APIs designed for parsing, splitting, and extracting structured data from documents. The platform supports various industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, energy, legal, and logistics, with applications like risk assessment, regulatory reporting, and contract review.
Key facts about LANDING AI
- Founded Year: 2017
- Location: Palo Alto (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $57M
- Employee Count: 115 as on Apr 30, 2026
- Investors: Samsung Catalyst Fund, Snowflake and 12 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Sep 17, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
5. Ambercycle
Provider of tech-based solutions for producing yarns from old cloths. It aims to produce virgin-grade polymers from textile waste. It partners with companies, cities, and consumers to collect end-of-life textiles.
Key facts about Ambercycle
- Founded Year: 2013
- Location: Los Angeles (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $44M
- Employee Count: 22 as on Apr 30, 2026
- Investors: Temasek, H&M and 13 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Jul 29, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Drive Catalyst's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Drive Catalyst has invested in 6 companies over the last 5 years, with an average of 1 new investment annually in the last 5 years. Its most recent first time investment was in Element Energy and most recent follow-on round was in Pickupp.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2025 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2022 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2021 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Drive Catalyst's Investments by Stage
Drive Catalyst has made 3 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $27.3M, 2 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $39M and 1 investment in Series C stage with an average round size of $16M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Series A | 3 |
Series B | 2 |
Series C | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Drive Catalyst's Investments by Sector
Drive Catalyst has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Chemicals and Materials Tech, Consumer, Enterprise Applications, Environment Tech and High Tech. Notably, it has invested in 6 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 6 Tech companies, 2 Saas companies and at least 2 companies focusing on Software.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Chemicals and Materials Tech | 2 |
Consumer | 2 |
Enterprise Applications | 2 |
Environment Tech | 2 |
High Tech | 2 |
Others | 6 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Drive Catalyst's Investments by Geography
Drive Catalyst has made most investments in United States (5), followed by China where it has made 1 investment.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United States | 5 |
China | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Drive Catalyst's recent investments
Drive Catalyst has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by Drive Catalyst:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nov 14, 2023 | United States | Series B | 7863 | [+8] | |
Nov 02, 2023 | United States | Series B | 5585 | - | |
Jan 04, 2023 | United States | Series C | 4862 | [+4] | |
Jun 01, 2022 | United States | Series A | 1817 | [+5] | |
Dec 08, 2021 | China | Series B | 6654 | [+4] |
Team profile of Drive Catalyst
Drive Catalyst has a team of 6 members including 1 Partner and 2 Principals located in United States. Drive Catalyst's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of all team members in Drive Catalyst:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | San Francisco | - | ||
Principal | - | - | ||
Principal | - | - |
Co-investors of Drive Catalyst
Over the past 5 years, 71 investors have co-invested in Drive Catalyst's portfolio companies. This includes only funds.
- Invested before Drive Catalyst: Prelude Ventures, DOE and 35 others have invested in rounds before Drive Catalyst. There are 2 companies where Prelude Ventures has invested before Drive Catalyst and 1 company where DOE has invested before Drive Catalyst.
- Top Co-investors of Drive Catalyst: 24 investors entered a company along with Drive Catalyst. These include investors like Alumni Ventures (1 company).
- Invested after Drive Catalyst: A total of 10 investors have invested in Drive Catalyst's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include OSTI (1 company), Taranis (1 company) and Family Office of the Bata Shoe Company (1 company).
Recent News related to Drive Catalyst
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Funding and M&A Roundup: Element Energy Secures $111 MillionMercom Capital•Nov 22, 2023•Element Energy, Keyframe, Cohort Ventures, AFW Partners and 7 others
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Citrine Informatics Raises $16M in Series C FinancingBusiness Wire•Jan 04, 2023•Citrine Informatics, Prelude Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Drive Catalyst and 2 others
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Plastic upcycling startup Novoloop raises $10M Series A extension to accelerate commercializationTechCrunch+•Jun 01, 2022•Novoloop, Hanwhasolutions, Mistletoe, Valo Ventures and 7 others
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Delivery startup Pickupp receives $37m in series B packageTech in Asia•Dec 08, 2021•Pickupp, Swire Properties, PChome, Jardines and 3 others
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Landing AI, a tech startup launched by the founder of Google Brain, raises $57M to help manufacturers create their own visual inspection softwareTechStartups.com•Nov 08, 2021•LANDING AI, McRock Capital, Intel, Samsung Catalyst Fund and 7 others
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Pickupp extends its Series A round to US$20M with fresh capital injection from Reefknote27•Oct 14, 2021•Pickupp, Reefknot Investments, Temasek, Kuehne + Nagel and 8 others
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E-Commerce Service Pickupp Raises US$15mn in Fundingbusinesschief.asia•Jul 12, 2021•Pickupp, PChome, Throne, Drive Catalyst and 4 others
