over $500k perks and benefits
ABOUT US
Hero House is an entrepreneurship hub in Glendale, CA that combines the scientific potential of local leading universities with the expertise and network of business leaders in entertainment, aerospace, bioscience, advanced transportation located in the Los Angeles area.
Southern California is home to entertainment industry giants such as Walt Disney, Paramount, DreamWorks, Warner Bros., NBCUniversal, MTV and others;
Hero House is established by the in-house venture capital fund SmartGateVC.
OUR INITIATIVES
SmartGateVC is a seed venture capital fund that is the initiator of the Hero House and GateWay Program. The fund invests in deep tech companies that graduate from the program, as well as backs promising deep tech founders of the Hero House community.
The fund is backed by notable Venture Capital Firms and Investors, among them Tim Draper and a number of serial entrepreneurs. It has invested in 29 early-stage companies at the edge where science and entrepreneurship join to disrupt the status quo.
SmartGateVC is a value-add investor providing hands-on technology and business development support to companies.
Co-founded by Davit Baghdasaryan and Artavazd Minasyan. SmartGateVC invested in Pre-Seed round (2018).
$14M Series A led by RTP Global,Sierra Ventures and Storm Ventures (2020-2021), $3.5M Seed led by Shanda Group and Sierra Ventures (2018).
Co-founded by Artyom Poghosyan, formerly co-founder of Advanced Technology Solutions. SmartGateVC has been the first investor since 2019.
$20.5M Series B led by Pelion Venture Partners (2023), $10M Series A led by Crosslink Capital (2021), $5.4M Seed led by Upfront Ventures (2020).
Founded by Vahan Petrosyan KTH Royal Institute of Technology PhD dropout and Tigran Petrosyan, ETH Zurich PhD dropout. SmartGateVC led the Pre-Seed round (2018).
$36M Series B led by NVIDIA and COX Enterprises (2024), $14.5M Series A led by Base10 Partners (2021), $3M Seed led by Point Nine (2020).
Co-founded by Arto Yeritsyan, former VP of Engineering at Picsart. SmartGateVC led the Pre-Seed round (2020).
$13.5M Series A led by Mosaic Ventures (2024), $7M Seed led by Point Nine and RTP Global (2021), $1.8M Seed led by Sierra Ventures (2020).
OUR INVESTMENTS
HIGHLIGHTS
