Participated · Seed · Feb 2018

KitSplit operates an online rental marketplace that lets creators rent and lend production gear such as cameras, lights, lenses, VR equipment and drones. The platform offers lower-cost rentals (CEO Lisbeth Kaufman estimated 30–50% cheaper than traditional rentals) and provides owners a way to monetize idle equipment. KitSplit has grown from 5,000 to 30,000 members and counts customers including NBC, Vox and National Geographic. The company has expanded via acquisition (CameraLends) and offers insurance options, a concierge service for logistics, and events as early product extensions. Leadership (CEO Lisbeth Kaufman and president Kristina Budelis) say the firm is focused on NYC and Los Angeles while serving renters across the United States. Long-term plans include becoming a one-stop shop for content creators and “reimagining the Hollywood production studio as a local marketplace.” KitSplit operates a peer-to-peer marketplace that lets creative professionals rent video and media equipment from other professionals and existing rental companies. The platform covers basic to high-tech gear such as 360-degree cameras and the Oculus Rift, and it integrates insurance purchase and delivery into the rental process. Owners of expensive equipment can list items to earn income when they are not using them. The service launched last year in New York and is expanding to Washington, D.C., with planned rollouts in Philadelphia and Boston. KitSplit has more than 5,000 members and listings representing $40 million worth of equipment. The company is deepening partnerships with media companies and aims to democratize access to film equipment.

Participated · Equity · Aug 2017

Sawyer is a mobile-first, subscription-free online marketplace that connects over 100,000 parents to local out-of-school activities such as art classes, music lessons, and summer camps. The company also operates Sawyer Tools, a SaaS backend used by providers that updates marketplace listings in real time. Sawyer processed $20M in parent spending in 2018 and targets a roughly $50B out-of-school learning market. The platform is live in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles and serves parents of children aged 0–17, with 70% of child profiles under age 8. Future plans emphasize building data intelligence and personalization into the product to better match parents and programs and to expand into additional markets within the year. Sawyer builds a subscription-based software suite called Sawyer Tools that it says “hundreds” of outfits across the U.S. use to schedule classes, communicate with parents and process payments. It also operates a direct-to-consumer marketplace where parents can purchase classes à la carte without a membership; that service is currently available in New York, L.A., and Chicago. The company positions itself as the OpenTable of children’s activities and compares its infrastructure-first approach to MindBody in the wellness space. Sawyer is two years old, is led by CEO and co-founder Marissa Evans Alden, and has nine employees, several of whom came from Rent the Runway. Management plans to use part of the new funding to enter additional markets as it grows both the software and marketplace sides of the business. Sawyer is building an OpenTable-like platform to help museums, theaters, sports centers and kid-focused providers sell children's classes directly to families. Today it centers on class-pass subscriptions, charging parents $99/month for access to six classes or $39/month for access to two classes. The company was originally named The Kids Passport and currently employs seven people. Customers have booked more than 1,000 classes and the platform lists about 4,000 other listings across dates and times; it has recruited roughly 80 vendors to date through commission-paid local promoters. Sawyer says it is focused on getting the product right in Brooklyn (and soon Manhattan) rather than rapid city expansion, and expects the passport to be one line of business. CEO Marissa Evans and cofounder Stephanie Choi, who met at Rent The Runway, are experimenting with growth and vendor economics while declining to disclose exact revenue shares with vendors.

Participated · Seed · May 2017

Donut Media is a Los Angeles-based digital media company that produces data-backed, shareable automotive video content for car enthusiasts. The company has built a content-creation process informed by data and serves clients including Nissan, Ford, Fiat and Microsoft. Donut plans to use recent funding to scale its content production and launch Donut Originals, an initiative to create millennial-focused automotive content for TV and premium streaming services. Founded in 2015 by CEO Matthew Levin, the company participated in the Ford-sponsored Techstars Mobility accelerator in 2016. Donut raised $800k in seed funding to support these growth plans.