Two MBA founder teams are pitching advanced manufacturing as a venture class that now attracts venture capital and institutional interest. Matter, a Harvard‑rooted contract manufacturer, secured a $20m seed and claims AI‑native factories can speed hardware scale‑up. The team emphasized national security and reshoring themes when selling to investors and early customers. K1 Semiconductor, emerging from a Chicago Booth founder group, disclosed a spalling wafer reuse technique and has signed early pilots with NASDAQ‑listed manufacturers. Both startups frame their technology as solving supply‑chain shortages in advanced materials and chips — a message resonant with university research offices and tech transfer shops seeking industry partners and applied research grants. Higher education tech‑transfer officials are watching these deals for partnership models that combine deep‑tech faculty IP and student talent with industrial pilot capacity.