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Lab360 Hardware Incubator
Joseph Wei's Lab360 pairs seed capital with physical prototyping labs in Santa Clara, connecting hardware startups to Shenzhen supply chains.
Lab360 Hardware Incubator
Lab360 Hardware Incubator launched in Santa Clara with backing from Qihoo 360, the publicly traded Chinese cybersecurity firm, as a dedicated US innovation center for hardware startups. Co-founder Joseph Wei, who holds leadership roles within IEEE including Region 6 Director, runs the firm alongside Michael Liao and his parallel venture vehicle, Heuristic Capital. The founding premise combined access to prototyping facilities with pre-seed and seed capital, offering portfolio companies a path from lab bench to low-volume production that traditional software-focused accelerators could not match. Lab360 targets early-stage hardware companies, deploying seed checks alongside incubator resources including electronics labs, 3D printing bays, and mechanical design workstations. The firm routinely co-invests with Taiwan-based Wistron Corporation, a manufacturing partner visible in portfolio positions such as the luxury EV startup Lucid. Confirmed strategic focuses span robotics, IoT, mobility, and industrial automation — categories where physical prototyping speed trumps lines-of-code iteration. Geographic emphasis remains cross-border: portfolio companies incorporate in the US while tapping Shenzhen and Taipei for component sourcing and contract manufacturing. The firm operates from a single known facility in Santa Clara, integrating office space, shared labs, and a maker floor under one roof. Michael Liao's dual role at Heuristic Capital creates a de facto co-investment pipeline that extends Lab360's reach beyond its own balance sheet. Joseph Wei's IEEE leadership — spanning regional governance and industry standards committees — provides portfolio companies with early visibility into hardware certification and interoperability requirements that often blindside first-time founders. Lab360's structural differentiator is its embedded China-Taiwan supply-chain connectivity, which reduces the single largest failure mode for hardware startups: the cost and timeline of moving from prototype to first production run. By housing both the capital layer and the prototyping infrastructure under one roof, and by maintaining active co-investor relationships with Asian manufacturers rather than arm's-length vendor contracts, the firm functions less like a conventional incubator and more like a vertically integrated launch partner for selected hardware companies.
General information
Firm type
Generalist
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Santa Clara
Corporate office
Santa Clara, CA, United States
Principals
Joseph Wei
Co-founder and Managing Director, Technology Ventures Group
Michael Liao
Partner, Lab360; Founder, Heuristic Capital
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
How did Lab360 originate, and what is its relationship with Qihoo 360?
Chinese cybersecurity firm Qihoo 360 supported the establishment of Lab360 as a US-based innovation center focused on hardware. Joseph Wei co-founded the incubator to give early-stage hardware startups a physical presence in Silicon Valley with prototyping resources, while leveraging the manufacturing relationships and capital networks Qihoo 360 brought. The firm operates independently as a seed-stage investor and incubator, not as a corporate venture arm.
Who runs investment decisions at Lab360?
Co-founder Joseph Wei, Managing Director of Technology Ventures Group, leads investment decisions alongside Partner Michael Liao. Liao also runs Heuristic Capital, a separate venture firm that frequently co-invests with Lab360, creating overlapping decision-making on shared portfolio positions. Wei's leadership roles within IEEE inform technical diligence on hardware-stage companies.
Does Lab360 invest its own capital, or is it purely an incubator?
Lab360 combines seed-stage direct investment with incubator-style resources — electronics labs, 3D printing bays, and mechanical design workstations — under one roof in Santa Clara. The firm writes checks at the pre-seed and seed stages, typically alongside co-investors such as Wistron Corporation and Heuristic Capital. Portfolio companies receive both capital and access to prototyping-to-production transition support.
What investment stages does Lab360 target?
Lab360 focuses on early-stage hardware companies, typically entering at pre-seed or seed rounds when the founding team has a working prototype but has not yet reached volume manufacturing. The firm does not participate in growth-stage or late-stage rounds. Its incubation model is designed to compress the time and cost of moving from functional prototype to first production run.
How does Lab360 source proprietary deal flow?
Deal flow originates through Joseph Wei's IEEE network — which spans hardware engineers, standards bodies, and academic labs globally — and through the co-investment pipeline shared with Michael Liao's Heuristic Capital. The cross-border structure surfaces startups in both Silicon Valley and Asia, with particular strength in robotics, IoT, and industrial automation categories where IEEE-connected founders are concentrated.
What is Lab360's co-investment posture alongside external VCs and manufacturers?
Lab360 routinely co-invests alongside Wistron Corporation, the Taiwan-based manufacturing giant, and Heuristic Capital, Michael Liao's venture firm. The firm is open to syndicated seed rounds and frequently serves as the hardware-domain specialist within broader investment groups. Co-investments are structured as direct equity rather than fund commitments.
Which sectors does Lab360 explicitly avoid?
Lab360 does not invest in software-only startups, consumer apps, or enterprise SaaS without a physical-hardware component. The firm's Santa Clara prototyping labs and supply-chain relationships are purpose-built for tangible products, making pure-software deals incompatible with the incubator model. Life sciences and biotech hardware also appear absent from known portfolio activity.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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