Participated · Seed · Oct 2025

Founded in 2021 by former Wells Fargo bankers Vram Ismailyan and Kevin Miyamoto, Identifee tackles the fragmented tech stack that slows down commercial bankers. Its software bundles a CRM, a business-intelligence dashboard and a sales-enablement module that can be purchased individually or as an integrated suite. AI functionality powers tasks such as automatically completing RFPs while staying within each bank’s compliance parameters. The founders claim Identifee is the only platform purpose-built for the more than 8,800 U.S. commercial banks and credit unions. Early traction includes over 170 clients, with notable names like Silicon Valley Bank, First Fidelity Bank and Comerica already onboard. To date, the company has secured about $5 million in seed capital from Ocean Azul Partners, 10X Capital and Gaingels, funding continued product development and market expansion.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2024

Portal builds a proprietary mechanoporation-based platform to enable efficient, scalable delivery of RNA, gene editors, probes, and other molecules into hard-to-transfect cells across diverse cell types and workflows. The company targets applications across novel drug discovery workflows, multi-perturbation AI data generation, and next-generation cell therapies, and integrates with high-throughput robotics and GMP manufacturing systems. Portal reports commercial traction with more than 100 customer sites, including public collaborations or use by Microsoft, Merck, AbbVie, Mass General Brigham, the Ragon Institute, and Purdue University. Use cases highlighted include high-throughput, physiologically relevant screening, generation of model-training biological data, and same-day circRNA-based multifunctional CAR-T production at the point of care. DARPA has expanded an initial $8M contract and is supporting commercialization through its EEI program, underscoring validation for Portal's point-of-care cell therapy manufacturing efforts. The company states it has achieved meaningful commercial revenue and technical validation from large pharma and academic partners.

Led · Equity · Mar 2024

Founded in 2022 by Joey Levy and Jake Paul, Betr operates at the intersection of real-money gaming and sports media. The company’s flagship product, Betr Picks, debuted in September 2023 and has already attracted several hundreds of thousands of paying users across 33 states and Washington, D.C. In 2024 it added Betr Arcade, now live in 29 states, and it plans to roll out additional nationwide gaming offerings within the same app in 2025 to further diversify its product suite. Betr complements its gaming platform with original media programming that drives user engagement and acquisition. By integrating high-profile personalities and tailored content, the firm seeks to blur the lines between wagering, entertainment, and fan communities. Its strategy relies on leveraging the large social footprints of partners and creators to amplify reach and lower customer-acquisition costs. Although specific revenue figures were not disclosed, the rapid user growth and expanding product roadmap underscore the company’s ambition to become a leading consumer brand in U.S. real-money gaming.

Led · Equity · Oct 2023

Upvest provides an investment infrastructure platform that facilitates asset classes such as stocks, ETFs and some mutual funds and is built on a fractional trading engine. The platform can be extended to additional asset classes including bonds, derivatives and crypto, and to other investment use cases enabled by fractional trading. Upvest partners with fintechs and digital wealth managers — including Revolut, Raisin Bank and Plum — to offer savings plans, tailored portfolios and real-time fractional investing. Led by CEO Martin Kassing and based in Berlin, the company plans to use recent funding to enhance its product offering and pursue regional expansion with leading fintechs, banks and wealth managers. The company recently raised €30M in funding to support those efforts. Upvest offers a simple gateway API that integrates with existing infrastructure to let fintechs deliver capital market products — from ETFs and stocks to crypto assets — to their end customers. The company holds BaFin licenses for securities and crypto brokerage and custody, allowing clients to avoid building their own brokerage and custody infrastructure. Upvest positions its platform as delivering significant time and cost savings for both neo and traditional banking players. Recently it signed a deal with ABN AMRO to provide payment rails and transaction banking services, and it could win BNP Securities Services as custodian for B2B clients. The new $42 million Series B will be used to further develop and optimize the API, support internationalisation goals, and augment the team. Upvest is based in Berlin. Upvest offers an API-first Investment API designed to let any business provide investment opportunities to its customers, effectively embedding brokerage into apps. The platform is positioned to simplify and lower the cost and regulatory complexity of traditional European investment structures. Upvest says its API is "battle-tested" and has been reviewed by a selected group of experts. The company reports it is in talks with more than 30 companies interested in its offering. Management expects the product to go live in Q4, contingent on receiving a securities trading bank license. Financially, Upvest has raised a total of €20 million to date, including a recent Series A extension. Upvest provides a plug-and-play, pan-European securities API that lets fintechs create investment products such as ETFs, equities, and commodities with faster integration while complying with European regulations. Its API is designed to be easy to integrate into existing infrastructure, enabling greater flexibility and speed for clients. The company recently closed its Series A with an additional €5 million, building on an earlier €7 million tranche. Upvest will use the fresh funding to add a brokerage bank license (Wertpapierhandelsbank) and extend its product into investment brokerage and traditional securities custody. The startup plans to grow its team from 14 people to about 40 by the end of the year. No operating metrics (revenue/users) are disclosed in the article. Upvest offers fintech-ready, blockchain-agnostic APIs that enable companies to store financial assets on the blockchain and lower barriers to investment. The platform allows users to invest with minimums as small as €1 and to manage investments from anywhere. Upvest says its solution reduces issuance, distribution and custodial costs—clients report saving up to 85% in custodial and security issuance costs. Founded in 2018 by Martin Kassing and based in Berlin, the company has attracted API sign-ups from over 80 countries. The platform has processed €50 million in volume to date, and investors noted the company generates real revenues with a clear ROI for customers. Company and investor statements position Upvest as an enterprise-grade asset tokenization provider aiming to scale globally without compromising user experience.

Participated · Series A · Nov 2022

Biofire builds biometric “smart” guns that unlock only for owners and registered users using fingerprint and facial-recognition technology and automatically relock when the gun leaves a registered user’s hands. Its system runs on a closed-loop architecture designed to keep the unlocking mechanism secure and resistant to hacking. The company positions the product to reduce unintended access to firearms and to help prevent child deaths; the article notes firearms are the leading cause of death for children in the U.S., with 29% being suicide and 3.5% accidental. Founder Kai Kloepfer started the project as a science‑fair effort after the 2012 Aurora, Colorado mass shooting, and over twelve years the project became Biofire. Kloepfer and the company acknowledge they cannot solve the broader gun violence epidemic but say the technology can make a meaningful difference for accidental or non‑intentional incidents. Biofire has begun to attract institutional venture interest after earlier rounds were mainly angel‑backed. Biofire develops a Smart Gun® — a handgun with fully integrated, instantly unlocking biometrics that permits access only to users authorized by the owner. The company is led by founder and CEO Kai Kloepfer and is based in Broomfield, Colorado. It emerged from three years in stealth in May 2022, at which time it disclosed an over $17m seed funding round. Biofire raised $14m in a Series A to accelerate growth and expand operations and its business reach. The product and strategy are focused on reducing firearm accidents, criminal misuse, suicides, and other tragic outcomes. No operating metrics such as revenue or user numbers were disclosed in the article. Biofire is developing a firearm with deeply integrated biometric locking so the weapon only functions for its authorized user. The team, drawn from aerospace and military backgrounds, redesigned the firearm’s locking mechanism from the ground up rather than adding an external lock. Images show a fingerprint sensor on the left side of the grip and the company says the device contains modern electronics but no RF communications, prioritizing privacy and a hardened interface port. Biofire says the system is designed so most customers (about 99%) will not need to think about battery maintenance. The company is running a private beta with owners, military and law enforcement, and cybersecurity experts before a public launch. Biofire has been cautious about releasing technical details on its authentication mechanisms while it completes testing and validation.