Steel Perlot

Steel Perlot

Steel Perlot was established as a technology-first investment platform by Michelle Ritter and Eric Schmidt. The firm operates at the intersection of deep technology and venture capital, leveraging Schmidt's decades of experience scaling Google into a global computing giant. Its formation reflects a broader trend of seasoned technology operators building dedicated vehicles to capture early-stage technical risk. Steel Perlot targets seed and early-stage companies developing hard technology — artificial intelligence, machine learning, computational infrastructure, and advanced enterprise software. Rather than a fund-of-funds or diversified pledge model, the firm makes concentrated, direct investments where Schmidt's operational acumen is a force multiplier. Public record confirms Steel Perlot participated in a $20 million seed round for Keystone, an AI-driven legal research platform, in 2022 alongside other prominent technology investors. The firm's footprint is concentrated in the United States, with an outlook oriented toward globally scalable enterprise technology. The investment team is lean by design, operating from New York with a mandate to write early checks into companies where technical due diligence is a competitive differentiator. While total capital deployed is not publicly disclosed, the structure pairs institutional capital with Schmidt's personal balance sheet. Philanthropic or adjacent vehicles connected to Schmidt's broader ecosystem, including Schmidt Futures, operate independently from Steel Perlot's commercial investment activities. Steel Perlot's architecture is distinct for embedding a former Big Tech CEO as a co-founder and active sourcing engine — a structure that mirrors the rise of family offices built by technology founders but structured as an external asset manager welcoming co-investors. This operational DNA allows the firm to access founder networks and technical talent pools that traditional early-stage funds often cannot replicate.