Founder & Solo GP at Wave Function Ventures
Ex-SpaceX and Scaled Composites engineer turned solo GP, backing deep tech hardware founders at pre-seed
Jamie Gull is the founder and solo general partner of Wave Function Ventures, the Los Angeles deep tech fund he started in 2024 to back hardware founders across aerospace, defense, energy, robotics and industrial manufacturing. He announced the final close of its $15M Fund I in October 2025, nine investments in — among them Airship Industries, Persona AI, Deep Fission and Tobe Energy — with roughly 25 planned out of the fund; the portfolio has since grown past 20 companies. He invests at pre-seed and seed, and occasionally pre-incorporation, when an idea still needs shaping into a product plan. His LPs are largely deep tech founders and engineers, alongside family offices and funds of funds. He spent his career building the hardware he now funds. He was at Stanford from 2002 to 2007, leaving with bachelor's and master's degrees in aerospace engineering, and joined Scaled Composites in the Mojave Desert as a design engineer, working on prototype aircraft including a 5,000-pound optionally manned aircraft and the initial sizing of what became Stratolaunch — still the largest wingspan ever flown. From 2010 to 2016 he was in the structures group at SpaceX, on Falcon 9 and Dragon, where his signature contribution was the Falcon 9 aft thermal shield: the hardware that let a booster survive hypersonic reentry and come back to be reused. He has co-founded two deep tech companies since. The first builds space deployables — antennas that fold down to low mass and volume for launch, then unfold on orbit. The second was Talyn Air, founded in 2019 with fellow SpaceX engineer Evan Mucasey, where he was CEO. Its eVTOL borrowed the staging logic of a rocket: a lift vehicle carries a cruise vehicle to altitude, then releases it. Talyn went through Y Combinator, won seven government contracts across the Air Force and Navy — including a $1.7M AFWERX TACFI award tied to the Agility Prime program — flight-tested subscale prototypes, and was acquired by hybrid-electric propulsion developer Ampaire in July 2023. He started angel investing near the end of his time at SpaceX in 2016; his first check was Boom Supersonic, and later bets included K2 Space and Varda. He is also a venture partner at Pioneer Fund, the fund run by Y Combinator alumni, and a private pilot.
Episode featuring Jamie Gull will be out soon.
Jamie Gull is the founder and solo general partner of Wave Function Ventures, an early-stage deep tech fund investing in hardware companies across aerospace, defense, energy, robotics and manufacturing. Before investing full time he was an engineer at Scaled Composites and SpaceX, and co-founded two deep tech companies — a space deployables startup and eVTOL company Talyn Air, where he was CEO.
Wave Function Ventures is a Los Angeles-based deep tech fund Jamie founded in 2024. It closed a $15M Fund I in October 2025 and invests at pre-seed and seed, sometimes pre-incorporation. Its LP base is largely deep tech founders and engineers, alongside high-net-worth individuals, family offices and funds of funds.
He was at SpaceX from 2010 to 2016, in the structures group on Falcon 9 and Dragon. His biggest contribution was the Falcon 9 aft thermal shield — the hardware at the base of the booster that made hypersonic reentry, and therefore first-stage reuse, survivable.
He was a design engineer at Scaled Composites in the Mojave Desert, working on prototype aircraft including a 5,000-pound optionally manned aircraft and the initial sizing of the aircraft that became Stratolaunch — which still holds the largest wingspan ever flown.
Talyn Air was the eVTOL company Jamie co-founded in 2019 with Evan Mucasey and ran as CEO. Inspired by two-stage rockets, its aircraft split into a lift vehicle that carries a cruise vehicle to altitude. Talyn went through Y Combinator, won seven government contracts across the Air Force and Navy including a $1.7M AFWERX TACFI award under Agility Prime, flew subscale prototypes, and was acquired by Ampaire in July 2023.
Deep tech hardware at the earliest stage: aerospace, defense, energy, robotics and industrial manufacturing. Jamie had made nine investments by the fund's announcement — including Airship Industries, Persona AI, Deep Fission and Tobe Energy — and expects roughly 25 pre-seed and seed investments out of Fund I.
Yes. He started angel investing around 2016, near the end of his time at SpaceX. His first check was Boom Supersonic, and he later backed companies including K2 Space and Varda. He is also a venture partner at Pioneer Fund, the fund run by Y Combinator alumni.
Technical founders who have nailed the problem set. His view is that deep tech does not let you stumble your way into product-market fit the way software does — the physics and the customer problem have to be understood up front, and the best founders treat the company like a life mission.
