🚀 Calling all Hardware Founders and Investors 🚀

Raising investment for consumer hardware comes with a different set of challenges. Founders need to prove more than demand for the product. Investors also want to understand how the company will manufacture, distribute and scale.

Join us for an open conversation between consumer hardware founders and investors about what it really takes to build a fundable hardware company.

We’ll discuss the traction investors expect, how to know when you’re ready to raise, what makes a hardware business stand out and the realities of taking a physical product from idea to market.

Meet the panel:👉 Tom Lipinski: Founder and CEO of AIRA, building and deploying Physical AI systems for real-world manufacturing environments.👉 Simran Dodhia: Investment Associate at PT1 Ventures, focusing on early-stage investments in European companies upgrading the physical world through AI, robotics, software and hardware.

👉 Tatiana Klimanova: Programme Director at Grishin Robotics, with over 15 years of experience in venture building, product and innovation. Her work with more than 70 startups spans product strategy, go-to-market, investment readiness and scaling operations.What we’ll cover:

  • The traction milestones for consumer hardware companies

  • Knowing when your company is ready to fundraise

  • What investors evaluate beyond the strength of the product

  • Securing your first investor meetings

  • The early signals that make investors interested

  • Manufacturing readiness and supply-chain risk

Agenda:

  • 9:30am - 10.00am: Registration & Breakfast

  • 10:00am: Doors close and no entry after

  • 10:00am - 11.00am: Panel & Q&A

  • 11:00am - 12.30am: Networking - your chance to connect with our panel and other ambitious founders.

About our hosts

IDEALondon and WilbeLABS

This event is hosted at IDEALondon, part of UCL Engineering, which is a workspace and community for early-stage deeptech companies in Shoreditch.

Managed by WilbeLABS, IDEALondon provides flexible workspace, founder support and community programming for founders, researchers and operators.

Learn more about the IDEALondon community, events and membership.

About Grishin Robotics Accelerator

The Grishin Robotics Accelerator is London's highly selective, one-month intensive program dedicated to pre-seed and seed tech startups.

We're now accepting applications for GRx Accelerator 5th Cohort, November 2026.

Apply now 👉https://www.grishinrobotics.com/accelerator

About Grishin Robotics

Grishin Robotics is an early-stage Venture Capital firm based in Silicon Valley. We back founders of consumer and consumerized enterprise startups that disrupt large and growing markets.

The fund has backed category-defining companies such as Ring (acquired by Amazon for $1B), Spin (acquired by Ford), Zipline (autonomous drone delivery), Starship (last-mile delivery robots), Sphero (robotic toys), and Eero (acquired by Amazon). We invest in Seed and Series A startups targeting large consumer markets such as online entertainment, gaming, food, education, team productivity and collaboration