Audrey Woods, MIT CSAIL Alliances | April 13, 2026
For venture firm and CSAIL Alliances Affiliate Future Labs Capital, investment ideas begin in the classroom.
Founded by serial entrepreneur and investor Mack Shwab, Future Labs Capital focuses on early-stage investments in quantum computing and AI. In its first phase of growth, the firm raised and deployed more than $25M in capital within 18 months and achieved two early exits, translating advanced access to emerging technologies into a growing portfolio of investments and scalable businesses.
With the help of CSAIL Alliances, Future Labs Capital is building its strategy around MIT and CSAIL, where breakthroughs are shaping the next generation of companies.
ABOUT FUTURE LABS CAPITAL
Shwab first came to MIT in 2022 because his previous company, API Foundry, was developing healthcare data standardization tools in collaboration with Aneesh Chopra, the first CTO of the White House. This work was significantly complicated by the pressures of the pandemic, which he says, “globally decoupled data, more data than we could handle and try to bring meaningful use to with the current compute we had.” Shwab sought out the expert insight of CSAIL Director and Professor Daniela Rus, who advised him to sign up for MIT classes to learn about the available technology solutions. While enrolled in MIT Professor Steven Eppinger’s Design Thinking class, Shwab heard the origin story of Airbnb—two students of Professor Eppinger’s struggling to afford rent in San Francisco decided to list air mattresses on a blog called AirBed & Breakfast. “That’s when the light bulb went off for me. If I fund the early stages of these students that I meet right in the classroom, I bet I’d do pretty well.”
Photo Credit: Mack Shwab
That experience helped shape the investment thesis behind Future Labs Capital: identifying promising companies early and helping bridge the gap between frontier research and commercial execution.
This proved to be an excellent strategy. During MIT Professor Will Oliver’s course on quantum computing, Shwab was introduced to the co-founders of Atlantic Quantum. Future Labs Capital became the company’s first investor, backing the team at the earliest stages before Atlantic Quantum was later acquired by Google. The success of that investment inspired Shwab to seek out other CSAIL ventures, which brought him to CSAIL Alliances. “We’ve enjoyed our relationship with CSAIL ever since.”
Photo Credit: Mack Shwab (Left to right: Shwab at dinner with the Atlantic Quantum founding team & Shwab visiting Atlantic Quantum’s facilities)
CSAIL ALLIANCES: EVENTS, COMMUNITY, AND AN ABUNDANCE OF OPPORTUNITY
For Shwab, CSAIL Alliances is equal parts innovation engine, learning community, and relationship builder. “It’s phenomenal. We do everything we can get our hands on at CSAIL. It’s opened the doors to so many of our best opportunities.”
For example, Shwab is a regular at CSAIL Alliances gatherings and often plans his own events, such as an annual meeting for his investors to come to MIT and visit the lab—which he compares to “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”—and a recent VC breakfast with members of the CSAIL Alliances programs Startup Connect and Startup Connect+. After hearing pitches at the breakfast, Future Labs Capital has since invested in and led the funding round for two early stage startups, including Advanced Silicon Group who recently closed their latest funding round at over $1M. Shwab enjoys his visits to CSAIL because “I really get to interact with the students. They are special people and I love their passion and creativity.”
While at CSAIL, Shwab says, “not only do I get to see the latest and greatest innovation, the events are fun!”
The community of CSAIL and Alliances is a highlight for Shwab as well as a built-in filtering mechanism. “I depend a lot on my CSAIL network because they know the kind of people I’m after,” he explains. “CSAIL itself is a due diligence process. If you have an MIT founder, you have a 73% higher rate of success.” For this, he relies on Senior Client Relations Coordinator Christiana Kalfas who he says is “like family.” Kalfas helps him organize events and sorts through ventures to “bring me the good ones.” Beyond that, having people like Professor Rus and Interim Director of CSAIL Alliances Glenn Wong “on my side for whatever we may need is a huge benefit.”
“It’s such a different world at MIT,” Shwab says. “CSAIL is my favorite place on the planet.”
Photo Credit: Mack Shwab
Overall, Shwab is grateful for the doors CSAIL Alliances opens for Future Labs Capital. “The opportunities that have been presented to us and what we've been able to capitalize on have been enormous. We see ideas before anyone even knows it exists.” Future Labs Capital has invested in several companies emerging from CSAIL research groups, including Inkbit and Foundation EGI from Professor Wojciech Matusik’s lab. The firm has also tracked innovations such as Liquid AI from CSAIL Director Daniela Rus’s group, which reflect the depth of entrepreneurship at CSAIL.
“What they did was brilliant, and it started right there at CSAIL.” Shwab says, “it’s crazy if you're interested in AI, or investing in AI, not to be a part of the Alliances program. It’s impossible to not be excited about AI right now, and if you want to see where the next breakthroughs will come from, CSAIL is the best place in the world to watch.” For his part, Shwab will continue to leverage everything CSAIL Alliances offers. “CSAIL calls me and we say yes, yes, yes.”
LOOKING FORWARD: DEEP TECH & BIG AMBITIONS
Future Labs Capital remains focused on the hard tech areas where MIT and CSAIL continue to produce foundational research. “I want the moonshot,” Shwab says. “Bring me the thing that no one believes will work.” For him, it’s enormously motivating to “help the students bring their ideas forward and watch their journey, because I know how much they’re going to help mankind.” And, he jokes, “writing checks back to our investors is wonderful.”
“I’ve never had so much fun in my career, ever, and I owe a big thank you to CSAIL for empowering it. Because without CSAIL, I would not be as successful. MIT is our compass and our jumping-off point.”
In a world where AI moves fast, CSAIL Alliances gives Future Labs Capital early insights, trusted relationships, and a front-row seat to the technologies shaping what comes next.
