technology
Arizona VC Firm Raises $300 Million Fund After Early Bet on Chip Startup
Copper Sky Capital is raising a second fund of $300 million. The firm previously invested in Etched, a chip designer now preparing to ship its first product.
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Copper Sky Capital, a Phoenix-based venture firm, is raising a $300 million second fund, according to a regulatory filing. The firm made an early investment in Etched, a four-year-old chip designer now valued at $5 billion. Etched announced this week that its first chip was manufactured by TSMC earlier this year and that systems using the chip are scheduled to ship to customers later this summer.
Sky participated in Etched's $120 million Series A round two years ago. The firm secured its allocation in part by offering to help the startup move chip production to Arizona. Jack Selby, who founded Copper Sky in 2021 after serving as a managing director at Thiel Capital, holds a board seat at the Arizona Commerce Authority.
He told TechCrunch that Etched understood the firm's connections to the state's semiconductor industry when the investment was made.
Sky's first fund of $115 million focused on Arizona and Southwest companies. The firm has since broadened its scope to hardware and defense startups that can establish manufacturing operations in Arizona. Etched and other chip designers face competition for production capacity at TSMC's Taiwan facilities.
Copper Sky has expressed hope that Etched will eventually use TSMC's Arizona factory to ease those constraints.
