Participated · Series A · May 2020

Span began by selling internet-connected electrical panels that give homeowners real-time insight and control over circuits, enabling easier integration of EV chargers, batteries, heat pumps, and rooftop solar. Over 2025 the company expanded its focus from individual residences to utilities, targeting regions facing rapid load growth and ambitious decarbonization mandates, such as California. In partnership with Landis+Gyr, Span launched the SPAN Edge, an at-the-meter device utilities can deploy to avoid costly upgrades to poles, wires, and transformers while still accommodating higher demand. The technology was field-tested in PG&E’s virtual power plant pilot that coordinated 400 Span smart panels and 1,500 Sunrun-managed batteries to relieve feeder constraints. Span continues to sell its $2,550 smart panel for new and existing homes, but sees the larger growth opportunity in utility deployments now moving from pilot to rollout phase. Hiring plans include utility delivery roles and an expanded development team in Bangalore, signaling execution on this broader market strategy. Prior to the current raise, Span had secured more than $200 million in funding from investors such as Wellington Management, Fifth Wall, and Munich Re Ventures.

Participated · Series A · Jun 2019

Climb Credit is a NYC-based student lending company that provides affordable financing for career-skill programs. It identifies, selects, and funds career-relevant training intended to increase graduates' earning potential, covering programs from software engineering and data science to teaching and heavy equipment operation. The company verifies school quality through a proprietary return-on-investment calculation that reviews cost, time to completion, graduate performance, job placement, starting salaries, and salary growth. Led by CEO Angela Ceresnie, Climb positions itself to expand socioeconomic opportunity for lower- and middle-income Americans. To date it has originated over $100 million in loans, funded the education and skills training of over 11,000 students, and partnered with more than 140 schools and post-graduate training programs. The company plans to use the new funding to roll out an outcomes-based loan within the next year. Climb Credit is an NYC-based fintech that provides financing for students to affordably learn career skills. Launched in 2014 and led by CEO Angela Ceresnie, the company partners with programs and schools ranging from IT, coding and data science to healthcare, welding, and heavy machine operations. Climb provides schools with the opportunity to offer affordable financial aid to all students. To date the company has originated nearly $100 million in loans, funded the education of nearly 10,000 students, and partnered with over 100 schools. The company raised an additional $50M in lending capital from Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group. It intends to use the new capital to expand access to education for more students. Climb Credit, founded in 2014, builds a student‑lending business focused on funding “high ROI” education that leads to employment. The company identifies schools that link training to employer demand and builds outcome databases to underwrite loans. It partners with roughly 40 schools operating across about 70 campuses, including coding bootcamps (General Assembly, The Iron Yard, Galvanize), medical and industrial training programs, and newer programs like Minerva. Climb negotiates agreements with partner schools to reduce a borrower’s repayment obligation if the student cannot find a job. The founders—Zander Rafael, Amit Sinha, and Vishal Garg—previously founded MyRichUncle and worked on FinanceMyFuture (Future Finance). Financially, Climb has secured a large lending facility and raised a small venture round to fund operations.

Participated · Equity · Dec 2018

Props provides an integrated technology platform that combines original content with AI to connect brands and independent content creators. Its platform leverages IBM Watson to help brands align with relevant creators to publish, share, boost, promote, measure and optimize authentic content. Stories are distributed to both creators’ and brands’ native media channels, shared and boosted on social media feeds, and promoted through digital ad networks and search. Leadership includes president and CEO Joseph Perello, Head of Artificial Intelligence Oliver Blodgett, and Head of Development Scott Powell. The company is NYC-based. In December 2018 it raised $5.5M in funding.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2016

Future Finance provides tailored loans to UK students to top up government loans and bursaries when they do not cover higher education costs. Led by CEO Alex King, the company is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 719436). The business has funded close to £70 million in loans to date. To support growth, Future Finance closed a new £100m funding facility with Waterfall Asset Management. Prior to this facility the company had raised over €90 million in equity and £150 million in debt. The new debt facility is intended to allow the company to continue growing its student lending business. Future Finance is a private student lender that provides competitive, tailored loans to UK students whose government loans and bursaries are insufficient to cover higher education costs. Led by CEO Alex King, the company is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the U.K. (Firm Reference Number 719436). It recently closed a €40m Series C round of venture capital financing to support scale-up efforts. The firm has raised nearly €90m in equity and £150m in debt to date. Future Finance plans to use the funding to scale and hire top software engineering and data science/analytics talent across London, Dublin, and Chicago. The Series C was an internal round led by KCK with participation from S-Cubed, Invus, Fenway Summers and other existing shareholders. Future Finance offers tailored loans to undergraduates and postgraduates at universities across the UK, using a proprietary lending platform that factors continuation, employability and earnings into lending decisions. Led by CEO Brian Norton, the company provides financing for tuition fees and living expenses and partners with universities to deploy its product. Since launch in May 2014, Future Finance has lent nearly £25m and partnered with 33 universities across the UK. The company said it will use the new funds for growth and lending capital. The article reports the company has raised £185m in total to date. The business is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2015

Paribus integrates with users' email providers to scan inboxes for online purchase receipts and automatically files price‑match claims with retailers when items go on sale. The service works with about 20 major retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Bonobos, J.Crew and Newegg. Paribus takes a 25% commission on any savings it secures for users. The company reports roughly 50,000 customers, has saved its user base hundreds of thousands of dollars, and is on pace to protect over $100 million in purchases against price drops annually. Growth has been driven largely by referrals, with member growth in the double digits weekly since May, and the company recently launched an iOS app. Paribus is expanding its retailer footprint and categories (including home improvement and additional popular retailers) and plans to launch a credit‑card price‑protection product next year; the New York–based startup is a team of five expecting to double headcount and hire more engineers. Paribus is a Brooklyn-based startup that automatically tracks online purchase prices and files retailer price-match or coupon refund claims on users' behalf. Users authenticate their email provider (Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail/Outlook, or iCloud) so Paribus can scan receipts and monitor price changes across retailers. At launch it supports price tracking for 20 retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Bonobos and J.Crew, and it understands each store’s claim procedures. The system can also detect missed coupon codes and request the difference, with refunded money returned to the user's payment card. Paribus takes a 25% commission on any savings it finds and says it will never sell users’ data. Founded last summer by CEO Eric Glyman and CTO Karim Atiyeh, the company ran a beta with roughly 1,500 friends and family who saved over $10,000 combined. Paribus launched publicly at TechCrunch Disrupt NY, plans to expand its retailer coverage and user base, intends to release a native mobile app later this summer, and may work with credit-card cashback programs in the future.