"Investors keep asking questions our model can't answer."
The model, use-of-funds and round structure were built for a pitch, not for diligence on a hardware company.
Capital intelligence for the frontier
You build
the future.
We architect
the capital.
From first prototype to the next frontier.
Capital strategy for the companies building
physical AI, space, and defense.
+THE NEXT FRONTIER
Built in the real world.
Built in the real world.
BUILT FOR WHAT'S NEXTPhysical AI+Space+Defense+Dual-use technology
01 / THE PHYSICAL FRONTIERIntelligence, embodied. ↗
Built for a different kind of builder
Hard problems.
Real hardware.
A different
capital playbook.
Hardware capex. Long test cycles. Procurement timelines. The companies shaping our world don't fit a software funding model.
CI Studio brings finance, working capital, and capital intelligence together—so your ambition has a plan behind it.
Meet your capital advantage01 / The capital challenge
Exceptional engineering.
Meet capital intelligence.
Builders know how to build. The capital stack around a physical AI company is a different discipline, and most teams meet it for the first time mid-raise.
01 / FINANCE
02 / WORKING CAPITAL
"We need nine more months and don't want to raise at this price."
Non-dilutive, SBIR, customer-funded and revenue-backed paths exist. Nobody on the team has run them.
03 / CAPITAL INTELLIGENCE
"We don't know which investors actually fund this."
The investor list is a spreadsheet of names, not a sequenced map of who funds what, in what order, and why.
02 / From ambition to execution
Four stages. One capital plan.
We work alongside the founder and report to the founder directly.
Stage 1
Diagnose
Capital position audit: model, runway, cap table, prior investor feedback. Two weeks.
Stage 2
Build
Fund-ready model, use-of-funds, round structure and working-capital plan.
Stage 3
Position
Sequenced investor map and narrative.
Stage 4
Execute
The founder runs the plan, supported by the alternative capital system.
03 / A more complete approach
Every existing option gives founders one of the three.
Advisors recommend. Accelerators batch. Studios build companies from zero. CI Studio operates all three capital disciplines for a company that already exists.
| Who | What they do | Skin in the game | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fractional CFO / advisor | Builds the model, advises | Hourly or retainer, no upside | Recommends; doesn't execute |
| Accelerator | Cohort, curriculum, demo day | Equity for a fixed program | Batch, not bespoke; stage-locked |
| Venture studio | Builds companies from zero | Founding equity | Only for companies it creates |
| CI Studio | Operates finance, working capital and capital intelligence | Retainer | The studio model, applied to capital |
Operators who execute, not advisors who recommend.
Backed by
CI Studio draws on GenLab Venture Studio's operating record across ~14 portfolio companies, Orbital Infrastructure Fund II's cislunar and defense investor network, and GenLab's multi-model research stack for capital intelligence.