Adam Grosser

Adam Grosser is Chairman and Managing Partner of UP.Partners, an early-stage venture firm (based in Santa Monica, CA) that builds and invests in technologies to move people and goods "cleaner, faster, safer, and at lower cost — on the ground, in the air, on the sea, and in space." He oversees more than $500M in assets, including a roughly $250M second fund that closed in mid-2023. He is also a Senior Advisor to CPP Investments (Canada Pension Plan Investment Board), which he joined in April 2020 to help its San Francisco team source and evaluate technology opportunities and partnerships in Silicon Valley — the origin of his cppinvestments.com email.

Grosser has more than 30 years as an operator and investor. He began his career in engineering and executive roles at Apple, and worked at Lucasfilm developing attractions and digital media, before moving into finance at Montgomery Securities and Credit Suisse First Boston, where he was a Managing Director leading the global technology group. He spent roughly a decade as a General Partner at Foundation Capital, helping build its technology practice and serving on the boards of category leaders including Silver Spring Networks, EnerNOC, Calix, and Peribit. He later became a Managing Director and Group Head at private-equity firm Silver Lake, where he launched and led a new investment strategy focused on innovation across energy, resources, manufacturing automation, data communications, and mobility.

He holds BA, MS, and MBA degrees from Stanford University, in biomechanics, mechanical engineering, and business, respectively. Grosser is a four-time member of the Forbes Midas List, a lecturer at Stanford, an Edmund Hillary Fellow, a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum, and a Senior Fellow of the MIT Mobility Initiative. A lifelong movement enthusiast, he is a certified airline transport pilot who has designed aircraft, boats, and vehicles.

• Invests at early stage in "deep technology companies that are poised to redefine how the world moves," aiming for a "more efficient and connected global infrastructure."
• Core thesis is the transformation of physical technology and mobility: ground transport, aerospace, maritime, space, logistics, electrification, and the energy transition, increasingly enabled by AI and robotics.
• Backs frontier, capital-intensive hardware/deep-tech — a domain he cautions is "not for the faint of heart," reflecting a long-term, mission-driven, hands-on posture.
• Emphasizes active, hands-on support: helping portfolio companies navigate market challenges and scale operations, drawing on his operating and board experience.
• More than two decades of experience in climate/impact and energy-related investing informs a durability- and infrastructure-oriented lens rather than short-cycle software bets.