# Lab360 Hardware Incubator

Lab360 Hardware Incubator is an Asset Manager based in Santa Clara, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Asset Manager
- **Headquarters:** Santa Clara, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Santa Clara, CA, United States
- **Founded:** 2014
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** lab360.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/lab360-hardware-incubator

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Lab360 Hardware Incubator is a US-based investment company headquartered in Santa Clara. It employs a Venture Capital strategy.

## Sectors

- Hardware & IoT
- Robotics & Automation
- Enterprise Software
- Mobility & Transportation

## People

- Joseph Wei — Co-founder and Managing Director, Technology Ventures Group
- Michael Liao — Partner, Lab360; Founder, Heuristic Capital

## 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.

### 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.

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- [LAAD & Company](https://altss.com/profile/laad-company)
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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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