Grit is a community of technologists and builders with a vision for a better future.

TEAM Members

RIOS

Jennifer Gill Roberts

Co-Founder, Managing Partner

Jennifer leads Grit’s investment team and helps build companies that are pioneering automation and logistics and transforming core industries.

Before founding Grit, Jennifer spent several decades as a technologist, repeat entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Jennifer started her venture career at top tier firm, Sevin Rosen Funds, where she co-led the telecom practice, investing in seed-stage market-leading companies in optical and wireless equipment including Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Diamond Lane Communications (Nokia), MontereyNetworks (Cisco), Lightspeed (Cisco), Sentient (Cisco), Metawave communications(MTWV), Everypath, Shomiti (Finisar), and Kabira (Tibco).

Jennifer is devoted to serving universities through formal and informal advisor roles.Jennifer chairs Grit's Academic Council and is on numerous Advisory Councils at the University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University, UC Santa Cruz, andStanford.

Asan early champion of women entrepreneurs, Jennifer co-founded Watermark in1992. She has been dedicated to creating opportunities for women in technology ever since.

About me:

I grew up in Berkeley in the 70s. In the5th grade I learned Swahili, Transcendental Meditation, and had a pen pal at San Quentin Prison. I also hung out at the Lawrence Hall of Science where I learned entomology and coding.

My father was one of the original founders and VCs in Silicon Valley and he influenced my passion for technology and entrepreneurship. My parents are Texans and I since my mother was a teacher, we spent every summer of my childhood in Houston,Galveston and East Texas.

I have three adult children. None of them have pursued technical or business careers. My husband and I have watched thousands of movies, so maybe we shouldn't be surprised that our son decided to become a screenwriter. I love to cook. Right now, I'm making every recipe in Gaby's three cookbooks. I also love biking, hiking and just enjoying nature. My husband and I are working our way through National Parks in the US.

Current Companies

Tortuga Tortuga DiligentCanvas RoboticsRIOSTortuga

See additional companies

Get in touch with Jennifer

Erin Keller

Venture Partner

Erin is a venture partner at Grit where she helps source and diligence deals across sectors, with a particular interest in synthetic biology and automation applied to heavy labor industries.

Before joining Grit, Erin spent more than six years in the Bay Area working as an investor for two early stage VCs. She was most recently at Toyota Ventures, where she led deals as a part of their frontier tech fund. Erin started her career at a medtech venture studio in Atlanta, where she is from and currently resides. She has a degree in biomedical engineering from Georgia Tech.

About me:

I was born in Chicago but grew up in Atlanta with my parents and two sisters. I've been competitive since grade school - finishing a times tables test first, beating my sisters to the car for a 'captain' seat in our minivan, being a 3x varsity tennis state champion, running 2 marathons, outsmarting Waze with a faster route to my destination. I'm lucky that I get to carry this spirit into investing - hustling to find the next great founder(s) that are trying to change the world.

I recently moved back to Atlanta to be close to family, as did my little sister from Chicago. For the first time in over 7 years we get to have regular family dinners and outings, including but not limited to competitive pickleball matches and board game nights. I'm also a very proud aunt to a nephew and niece; they continuously fascinate me with their ability to absorb and learn new things.

Atlanta has a vision to become a top five tech hub; with its strong talent and resources (Georgia Tech is the largest non-medical university in terms of research budget), it can definitely get there. I'm thrilled to be a part of the growing investor community here and hope it leads to more capital and more founders building here in the southeast.

Current Companies

Get in touch with Erin

INDUSTRY ADVISORS

Grit engages industry advisors to collaborate in support of the Grit Ventures portfolio and Grit Labs. Grit Industry Advisors have deep expertise spanning industrial automation, defense, AI, construction and energy.

Jordi Artigas
ABB

LinkedIn
Xiaoming Yin

Xiao Yin
Lockheed

LinkedIn
Adity Sherma

Adity Sharma

LinkedIn
Chris Stern

Chris Stern
Trimble

LinkedIn

Greer Carper
Fortem

LinkedIn

Sherwin Prior
BVC

LinkedIn

PartnerS

Kelly Coyne

Kelly Coyne
D4 Investments
Grit Ventures I
Denver, CO

LinkedIn
Kelly Coyne

Christy Cardenas
Grit Ventures II
Co-Founder, Grit Labs
Austin, TX

LinkedIn
Kelly Coyne

Erin Keller
Grit Ventures II
Atlanta, GA

LinkedIn