We build for the flourishing of American civilization
We build companies and back founders at the intersection of software and steel — energy, industry, and intelligent systems. A playground for special projects, investments, and the conviction that the best is still ahead.
Technology in service of human flourishing
The oldest idea in Western thought is that the good life isn't passive — it's built. Every generation inherits a civilization and decides whether to maintain it, squander it, or build it higher. We believe this is a generation of builders. The technologies emerging today — in energy, intelligence, industry — aren't just commercially interesting. They're the raw materials of a more abundant, more capable, more enduring civilization. That's what we're building toward. We're a playground for special projects, investments, and the conviction that the best is still ahead.
Conviction capital for the builders of abundance
Three pillars that guide where we build, what we back, and why we get in the trenches.
Ontology is the future of software
The winners of the post-SaaS era won’t just serve industries — they’ll encode how those industries work. We build platforms that map complex, real-world workflows into intelligent systems.
America builds what matters
The next generation of great companies will make real things — energy, materials, infrastructure, machines. We back the founders who see hard problems as the biggest opportunities, and who believe deeply that American ingenuity still compounds.
In the trenches, not on the sidelines
We build from scratch when we see the opportunity and invest at pre-seed when we find founders whose conviction matches ours. Speed matters. We’d rather run ten experiments than architect one monument.
Where we build & back
Ontology & Workflow Platforms
The winners of the post-SaaS era won’t just serve industries — they’ll encode how those industries actually work. Platforms that turn complex workflows into intelligent, composable systems.
Reindustrialization & Supply Chain
American manufacturing is entering a renaissance. Advanced materials, smarter supply chains, and the industrial capacity to turn ideas into physical products at scale.
Physical Intelligence & Robotics
Machines that understand and operate in the physical world — from industrial automation to embodied AI. The frontier where software learns to touch things.
Nuclear & Energy
Abundance requires energy. We’re building and backing the power infrastructure for what comes next — fusion, fission, radioisotopes, and the grid that makes it all possible.
Built from scratch & backed at the frontier
What We Build
Simpli
The operating system for American giving. Simpli replaces destruction with donation at enterprise scale — a physical ontology that streamlines the movement of $163B+ of excess inventory per year to charities in need.
Wave
Identity ticketing platform and data layer for nightlife. Scaled from ideation to over 10,000 tickets sold, piloting with category leaders like Barstool Sports and Virgin Hotels — successfully proving the technical validity of identity ticketing and go-to-market potential.
What We Back
SpaceX
Reusable launch vehicles, satellite broadband (Starlink), and next-generation space transportation.
Stellar Atomics
Transformative electrostatic fusion platform maximizing neutron flux for on-site radioisotope production.
Stealth — Neutron Detection
Solid-state neutron detection using proprietary micro sensors with advanced nanoparticles.
Vanderbilt Fusion
Founded by Tommy Pennington while an undergraduate at Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt Fusion became the first fully undergraduate-led fusion research team in the United States. HELIOS Mk. 1 achieved plasma under fusion operating conditions in Spring 2025, with deuterium fusion runs planned for Fall 2026.
Dispatches from the frontier
Our weekly pulse on the American investor and operator ecosystem — hard tech, industrial capacity, AI, energy, and the people building what comes next.
Working on something that matters?
We partner with founders at pre-seed who share our conviction. If you're building at the frontier of energy, industry, or intelligent systems — we'd love to talk.
Headquarters
New York City, NY
team@pennington.capital
If you're building something that aligns with our thesis and want a partner who gets in the trenches, we'd love to hear from you.