Rock Yard Ventures

Rock Yard Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2022 by solo GP Daniel Dart, backing US-based founders building technology for the industrial base. The firm invests across construction, supply chain, manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, healthcare, robotics, and frontier tech including quantum and chip design, and writes $50K–$100K checks into Pre-Seed and Seed rounds, occasionally deploying smaller $10K–$25K exploratory checks; Rock Yard does not lead but will commit ahead of a lead. Beyond capital, the team supports portfolio companies with customer introductions, GTM refinement, and fundraising. The debut Rock Yard Fund, targeting $10M, held a first close of just over $2M in April 2024 Venture Capital Journal with LPs including former Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn, and the fund remains actively deploying as of early 2026 Rock Yard Ventures. Founders in sectors outside the industrial thesis, based outside the US, or seeking a lead investor are unlikely to be a fit.