Startup Studio UP.Labs Rebrands as Vantora, Raises $100M to Focus on Physical AI for Corporate Partners

UP.Labs, a startup-building firm that has worked with companies including Porsche and Alaska Airlines, has rebranded as Vantora and secured $100 million in funding from Silversmith Capital Partners, the company announced in September 2026.

Founded in 2022, Vantora operates differently from a traditional incubator or venture firm. It builds startups designed to solve problems for corporate partners, who invest in the ventures and serve as their first customers. Past and current partners include Porsche, Alaska Airlines, J.B. Hunt, Wabash, and TDG, the parent company of Ashley Furniture. The firm has also added new partners in industrial manufacturing and the oil and gas sector, though it declined to name them.

The $100 million from Silversmith Capital Partners marks Vantora’s first outside investment. Founder and CEO John Kuolt said the firm is now shifting toward a “proprietary M&A pipeline,” giving corporate partners the option to fold startups directly into their core businesses rather than making those ventures available to the broader market.

That shift has driven Vantora’s increased focus on physical AI — artificial intelligence applied to hardware, machines, and industrial operations. Kuolt said the previous model forced the firm to pass on ideas that were too strategically sensitive for corporate partners to share with competitors. “We were missing on the biggest value problems, which had the biggest upside because of that,” he told TechCrunch. As one example, he cited an AI concept developed for logistics partner J.B. Hunt that the company refused to allow Vantora to take to market — something the new proprietary model would now allow them to pursue.

Vantora is based in California and continues to share office space with venture firm Up.Partners, though Kuolt emphasized the two are separate entities with no financial ties.