Member Spotlight: First Bight Ventures
For this deep dive, we spoke to Veronica Breckenridge, Founder & Managing Partner of First Bight Ventures.
Tell us about your firm. What makes it different?
We are the leading venture firm in the country focused on accelerating the $6 trillion chemical industry’s transition to bio-based alternatives. We invest in companies building the future of industrial biomanufacturing – from early proof to scale-up.
We don’t just write checks. We lead rounds. We roll up our sleeves to help build out governance, work alongside founding teams to secure strategic partners, and shape commercial roadmaps. Our conviction is simple: if we want better products for our homes, our health, and our environment, we have to reinvent how they’re made.
What defines your portfolio?
We back companies with deep, defensible technology—those transforming scientific breakthroughs into scalable, economically viable products. Every company in our portfolio is built around proprietary IP, is actively working toward commercialization, and has strategic backing to help accelerate that path.
Tell us about the current VC landscape in your geography/region.
We sit at the intersection of three VC categories: biotech, climate, and deep tech. While we overlap with all three, none of these are built around industrial biomanufacturing. Biotech investors tend to focus on pharma and therapeutics. Climate and deep tech funds cast a wider net – across energy, carbon, and materials – but rarely concentrate on scaled bioproduction.
This creates a clear opportunity. As industrial biomanufacturing companies move from lab to production, they face a capital and infrastructure gap. That’s where we specialize.
Based in Houston – a city with deep chemical engineering expertise, industrial infrastructure, affordable land, and a pro-business environment—we’re uniquely positioned to support scale-up. We collaborate with programs like IndieBio, MIT’s Engine, Activate, Plug & Play and Capital Factory to offer more startups a defined path from early science to commercial scale.
What are the benefits of being an NVCA member?
As our companies grow, they require more than venture dollars – corporate alliances, project finance, infrastructure, and policy engagement are all essential. NVCA’s platform helps us connect with others building the future of American industry. We see it as a key partner in scaling capital, influence, and community.
What’s ahead for your firm?
We are raising Fund II to expand our ability to back the next wave of biomanufacturing pioneers. Alongside it, we are working to launch a dedicated scale-up facility in Houston – giving startups access to critical infrastructure they can’t find elsewhere in the U.S.
