For years, the most important shifts in AI happened in the digital world. At Hickory Falls Ventures, we believe the next wave will be different — intelligence moving into factories, supply chains, logistics, defense, and physical performance. This is our updated investment thesis: why the bottleneck was never the models, and why the companies that win will build the best bridges, not the best benchmarks.

Hickory Falls Ventures Managing Partner Andrew Chen joins SparkLabs Taiwan as Venture Partner, bringing 20+ years of US startup experience to help AI and deep tech founders scale globally.

There's a version of venture investing that's purely transactional. You find a promising company, you wire capital, you wait. That version has never been the one we're interested in at Hickory Falls Ventures. Today, we're celebrating something much richer than a return — and the founder who made it possible.

Spaceium has successfully demonstrated the most precise robotic actuator ever tested in orbit — achieving 0.003° rotation accuracy on SpaceX’s Transporter-15 mission, translating to less than one millimeter of movement at the end of a five-meter robotic arm. This breakthrough marks a major step toward making in-space refueling a practical reality. By proving ultra-high precision performance in vacuum, radiation, and extreme temperature swings, Spaceium has de-risked one of the hardest technical challenges in orbital servicing — bringing the vision of automated fuel stations in space significantly closer to scale

Shutterbird, the moving short film by Justin “Rei” Ching, has reached the Oscars shortlist consideration stage—and we’re honored to have journeyed with him as executive producers. At Hickory Falls Ventures, supporting Rei has been a window into the creative process, the power of authentic Asian American storytelling, and the profound privilege of helping a deeply human story take flight.