ABOUT

I partner with technical founders building physical AI - robotics, automation, industrial systems, and the infrastructure underneath them - at the earliest stages, when the technology is ahead of the story and the path to capital is unclear.

I've made 35 investments in applied and physical AI over the past five years, alongside Khosla Ventures, Sequoia, General Catalyst, Y Combinator, and many others. Those companies have collectively raised over $1 billion.

Before venture, I spent seven years as an industrial and systems engineer, commissioning control systems and plant startups for clients including Emerson Electric, Genentech and Broadcom. Systems that had to work in production, not on slides. Founders trust me because we speak the same engineering language.

Alongside investing, I build the rooms where this ecosystem meets:

Optim Circle - a community of 180 founders, operators, and investors in physical AI, from builders at OpenAI, Anthropic, Tesla, Waymo, and Nuro to investors across 60 funds.

The OPTIM Update - a newsletter and podcast covering real-world AI, automation, robotics, industrial systems, and AI infrastructure.

I also work hands-on with a small number of companies each year - customers, capital, and executive hiring. How that works: www.bogdancristei.com

What Founders Say

I first met Bogdan during my time at UC Berkeley, when I was beginning to explore spinning SirenOpt out of the lab. He was our first angel investor and has been a trusted advisor ever since - helping me think through the spin-out process, guiding us on which investors to approach, advising on term sheet negotiations, and supporting our fundraising. Beyond capital, he’s gone out of his way to help with the little but important things, even bringing monitors for our very first office conference rooms - and has remained one of the investors I trust most as we’ve grown.

Jared O'Leary, Founder & CEO of SirenOpt 

As we refined the idea behind Alterego, Bogdan provided helpful perspective from the very beginning. His encouragement and feedback during our first pitch practices were invaluable, and he later introduced us to the investor who went on to lead our round. We are grateful to have him as one of our earliest angel investors.

Max Newlon, Founder & CEO of Alterego 

Bogdan wrote one of our early checks and then went to work. He helped us blow up our round, brought investors to the table, and pushed on the technical story until it was tight. I have sent other founders his way since.

Freeman Irabaruta, Co-Founder & CEO of Unit Zero

More founder perspectives available here if helpful.