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.“

Cashiers Go To The Bots: The Loss Of The Entry Level Job

by

Yesterday, Amazon reported a record  fourth-quarter earnings with a profit of $749 million on $43.7 billion of revenue. Amazon is in so many businesses beyond books and e-commerce, from shipping & logistics (and eventually drones) to cloud hosting services. In the spirit of our upcoming event on The Societal Impact of Robotics on March 2nd, I would like to analyze its … Read more

The Oil Rig of the Future, Sans Human Roughnecks

by

There has been a furry of executive orders this past week, including the reinstallation of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. Many are wondering if this new administration (especially with the former Exxon CEO at State) will be a boom for the Energy sector. Since falling off its high of $115 dollars a barrel … Read more

Climate Change & Robotics

by

This past Wednesday, scientists reported that the Earth reached its highest temperature on record in 2016, trouncing a record set only a year earlier, which beat one set in 2014. It is the first time in the modern era of global warming data that temperatures have blown past the previous record three years in a … Read more

Big Brother (or Sister) Is Always Listening

by

Alexa had a good show. She was everywhere at CES with 35 new embedded product introductions, from cars to refrigerators to robots to vacuum cleaners. Google Home chose the more luxurious path by partnering with Mercedes and Sony. While consumers love talking to their devices, no one has ever asked Alexa if she enjoys listening to our every whim, burp, … Read more