Jason Whaley
Co-Founder & General Partner at Rhapsody Venture Partners
Reviewed Updated Apr 6, 2026This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.
Co-founder of Rhapsody Venture Partners, a Cambridge-based seed fund exclusively backing hard-tech startups born from university research. Former CEO of Manus Biosynthesis. Leads $500K-$2M first checks into industrial science — semiconductors, food tech, materials, clean energy — with 27 investments including Apeel (unicorn exit) and Wavelogix.
Background
Jason Whaley is the Co-Founder and General Partner of Rhapsody Venture Partners, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based seed-stage venture firm focused exclusively on hard-tech and industrial science startups 12. He co-founded Rhapsody in 2012 3.
Prior to Rhapsody, Whaley was the Co-Founder and CEO of Manus Biosynthesis (now Manus Bio), an industrial biotechnology company that produces high-value flavor, fragrance, and sweetener ingredients through sustainable fermentation processes 24. He holds a degree from MIT Sloan School of Management 2.
Stated Thesis
(Self-reported. See Inferred Thesis for analysis of actual investment behavior.)
Rhapsody’s stated vision is that “hard tech innovation can create a sustainable and prosperous world” 5. The firm targets scientific researchers — graduate students, post-docs, undergrads, and professors — who have developed innovations through rigorous experimentation and years of often grant-funded research 5.
Whaley and Rhapsody believe that traditional VC and angel networks are poorly suited for early-stage hard tech, which requires specialized expertise, deep industry access, and substantial time investment 5. The firm positions itself as a co-creation partner, not just a capital provider 5.
Rhapsody invests exclusively in hard science startups addressing industrial problems (non-life science), with a typical first check of $500K to $2M and frequently leads large syndicates in follow-on rounds 3.
Inferred Thesis
Based on 26 verified active portfolio companies from the Rhapsody portfolio page 4:
- Semiconductors / Photonics: 4 companies (15%) — VioNano, ChEmpower, Polaris, Light Trace Photonics
- Food Tech / Ag Tech: 4 companies (15%) — Lasso, NuCicer, Chinova, Manus Bio
- Energy / Climate: 4 companies (15%) — Cnergreen, Ph7, Fluid Efficiency, SpinDrive
- Autonomous Systems / Sensors: 4 companies (15%) — NODAR, GPR, Tendo Technologies, Sensatek
- Materials / Manufacturing: 4 companies (15%) — Biophilica, HyperDamping, Kinalco, Adden
- AI / Computing Infrastructure: 2 companies (8%) — Netpreme, Wavelogix
- Hardware / Haptics: 1 company (4%) — Titan Haptics
- Healthcare: 1 company (4%) — Magnolia Medical
- Other: 2 companies (8%) — Latys (wireless), Holiferm (renewable chemicals)
Key patterns: - 100% hard tech / deep tech — no software-only or consumer internet investments - Strong university research pipeline: companies spun out of Harvard (Adden, Lasso), Purdue (Wavelogix), and other research institutions - Exclusively seed-stage first checks, with follow-on through later rounds - Geographic concentration in Boston/Cambridge ecosystem - 5 exits including Apeel (unicorn, acquired by Nature’s Fynd), LiquiGlide, Hazel, Safi Tech, VerdaFresh 4 - Portfolio of 27 total investments as of October 2025 3
Portfolio
| Company | Year | Stage | Sector | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VioNano | 2024 | Seed | Semiconductors | Active | 4 |
| Light Trace Photonics | 2024 | Seed | Photonics | Active | 4 |
| SpinDrive | 2023 | Seed | Industrial Technology | Active | 4 |
| Cnergreen | 2023 | Seed | Energy/Carbon Capture | Active | 4 |
| Ph7 | 2023 | Seed | Materials/Energy | Active | 4 |
| Wavelogix | 2024 | Series A | Construction Tech | Active | 6 |
| NuCicer | 2022 | Seed | Ag Tech | Active | 4 |
| Netpreme | 2024 | Seed | AI Infrastructure | Active | 4 |
| Titan Haptics | 2023 | Seed | Hardware | Active | 4 |
| GPR | 2020 | Seed | Autonomous Vehicles | Active | 4 |
| Manus Bio | 2012 | Co-founded | Biomanufacturing | Active | 4 |
| Lasso | 2020 | Seed (led) | Food Tech | Active | 4 |
| NODAR | 2019 | Seed | Autonomous Vehicles | Active | 4 |
| Tendo Technologies | 2021 | Seed | Sensors | Active | 4 |
| ChEmpower | 2022 | Seed | Semiconductors | Active | 4 |
| Polaris | 2023 | Seed | Photonics | Active | 4 |
| Latys | 2022 | Seed | Wireless | Active | 4 |
| Sensatek | 2020 | Seed | Aerospace Sensors | Active | 4 |
| Holiferm | 2021 | Seed | Renewable Chemicals | Active | 4 |
| Fluid Efficiency | 2021 | Seed | Industrial/Energy | Active | 4 |
| Biophilica | 2022 | Seed (led) | Sustainable Materials | Active | 4 |
| Adden | 2023 | Seed | Energy Storage | Active | 4 |
| HyperDamping | 2022 | Seed | Materials | Active | 4 |
| Chinova | 2020 | Seed | Food Preservation | Active | 4 |
| Kinalco | 2022 | Seed | Materials | Active | 4 |
| Magnolia Medical | 2019 | Seed | Healthcare | Active | 4 |
| Apeel | 2013 | Seed | Food Tech | Exited (unicorn) | 34 |
In Their Own Words
No independently sourced quotes from Jason Whaley found at this time.
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials found.
Sources
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Bloomberg Markets, “Jason Whaley, Rhapsody Venture Partners: Profile and Biography,” accessed April 2026. https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/201049↩
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LinkedIn, “Jason Whaley — Rhapsody Venture Partners,” accessed April 2026. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmwhaley/↩↩↩
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Crunchbase, “Rhapsody Venture Partners — Company Profile & Funding,” accessed April 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/rhapsody-venture-partners-llc↩↩↩↩
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Rhapsody Venture Partners portfolio page, accessed April 2026. https://rhapsodyvp.com/portfolio/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Rhapsody Venture Partners mission page, accessed April 2026. https://rhapsodyvp.com/mission/↩↩↩↩
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Purdue University, “Purdue-related startup Wavelogix receives $3M investment from Rhapsody Venture Partners,” 2024. https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/2024/Q2/purdue-related-startup-wavelogix-receives-3m-investment-from-rhapsody-venture-partners/↩