Oliver Mitchell

Oliver Mitchell is a partner at Arkenstone Venture Partners, a dual-use venture firm investing in defense technology, cybersecurity, automation, and AI-driven enterprise software, born out of Israel’s elite military units. Oliver is also a partner at ff Venture Capital, where he leads investments in robotics, artificial intelligence, drones, industrial automation, and climate tech, and builds strategic alliances with limited partners and corporate venture groups. A seasoned investor, Oliver boasts a proven track record of successful exits, including two IPOs (Novocure and Ekso Bionics), a $1.4 billion private equity sale of TripleLift, and high returns from recent transactions, including the acquisition of Scite.ai by Research Solutions (RSSS) and CardFlight’s growth equity round led by WestView Capital Partners. He currently serves on the boards of CivRobotics, Cambrian Robotics, and Paraspot, leveraging his deep tech expertise to scale transformative companies. Previously, he built and exited ventures such as Holmes Protection, AmeriCash, and RobotGalaxy, a national STEM-focused brand. As an Adjunct Professor at Sy Syms School of Business and the author of A Startup Field Guide in the Age of Robots and AI, he continues to shape innovation, sharing insights on his blog as the “Robot Rabbi.“

The Uncanny Valley Of Human-Robot Interactions

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The device named “Spark” flew high above the man on stage with his hands waving in the direction of the flying object. In a demonstration of DJI’s newest drone, the audience marveled at the the Coke can-sized device’s most compelling feature – gesture controls. Instead of a traditional remote control, this flying selfie machine follows hand movements across … Read more

What Has Twenty Years Of RoboCup Taught Us?

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In 1985, a twenty-two year old Garry Kasparov became the youngest World Chess Champion. Twelve years later, he was defeated by the only player capable of challenging the grandmaster, IBM’s Deep Blue. That same year, RoboCup was formed to take on the world’s most popular game, soccer, with robots. Twenty years later, we are on the … Read more

Drones Land Back To Earth At Xponential 2017

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JD Claridge’s story epitomizes the current state of the drone industry. Claridge, founder of xCraft, is best known for being the first contestant on Shark Tank to receive money from all the Sharks – even Kevin O’Leary! Walking the floor of Xponential 2017, the annual convention of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems Integration (AUVSI), Claridge remarked to me how the drone industry … Read more

An AI Primer For Mechatronics

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This week I attended an “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Roundtable” of leading scientists, entrepreneurs and venture investors. As the discussion focused mainly on basic statistical techniques, I left unfulfilled. My friend, Matt Turck recently wrote that “just about every major tech company is working very actively on AI,” which also means that every startup hungry for capital … Read more