Led · Series A · Nov 2022

QualSights is an insights technology platform that helps brands generate deep and authentic consumer insights. Its patented technology combines qualitative and quantitative research and captures offline behavioral data using in-context video and passive IoT sensors. The company also offers a suite of AI tools and a presentation builder to help brands analyze and present data. QualSights serves numerous Fortune 500 clients across CPG, pharmaceutical, technology and other industries to support product innovation, renovation, and optimization. The company raised $7.7M in a Series A led by 4490 Ventures and intends to use the funds to support strategic growth and hiring. Georama is a travel platform that uses an interactive world map as its primary user interface to let users plan, book, and share trips. Users click pushpin icons to drill into locations or planned trips, view friend recommendations, and then book flights, hotels, car rentals, and activities without leaving the site. The product surfaces friends who live in or have traveled to a location and integrates social sources (Facebook, Foursquare, YouTube, Instagram) to import recommendations and content. Georama also lets travelers share photos, videos, and trip memoirs after travel. The company launched its platform at DEMO Spring 2012, is in closed/private beta with a planned rollout, was founded in late 2010, is Chicago-based, and has about 20 employees; it raised $250,000 from its founders.

Participated · Series B · Jun 2021

Trainual is a SaaS platform that modernizes how businesses onboard, train and scale teams by enabling interactive, self-led training content and a centralized company playbook. The platform organizes company knowledge in one easy-to-access interface to make building a business playbook simpler. Spurred by remote work, Trainual doubled year-over-year revenue over the past year and now powers operations at more than 5,500 businesses across 177 countries. The company closed a $27M Series B and will use the proceeds to double down on product innovations. To support growth, Trainual plans to hire more than 50 new roles across departments over the next year. Total funding after the round is $33.75M. Trainual offers a SaaS-based Business Knowledge Transfer platform that lets companies design interactive training manuals, test employee knowledge, and build scalable processes. The product targets the shift away from legacy, paper-based onboarding by providing a streamlined, digital solution for training and process documentation. The company reports deployment in over 3,000 organizations across more than 100 countries and experienced over 500% year-over-year growth in 2019. Trainual plans to use new funding to accelerate product development, grow customer success resources, and expand and diversify its global marketing initiatives. The company also plans to hire an additional 50 employees by the end of 2020. The platform is positioned to serve a wide spectrum of vertical industries seeking to standardize employee onboarding and knowledge transfer.

Led · Seed · May 2021

Tiv builds a payments platform and card product purpose-built for gamers, rewarding users for both purchases and gaming activity. Its platform uses proprietary technology, including machine learning capabilities, to tie rewards to gameplay as well as spending. Tiv is accepting waitlist users for a debut card product and is planning a public launch slated for late 2021. The company is exploring partnerships with game publishers and studios to promote discovery, improve engagement, and drive conversion. Tiv will use the seed capital to scale its engineering and marketing teams as it builds out the platform. The company is headquartered in Chicago.

Led · Series A · May 2021

Cortex applies proprietary analytics and machine-learning algorithms to underutilized building data streams — equipment operations, space temperatures, meter readings, occupancy levels and weather forecasts — to improve comfort and sustainability while cutting emissions. Its mobile and web apps give building engineers simple charts and operational recommendations so they can operate complex HVAC systems more precisely without upfront investment. Recent product releases include a Building Health Dashboard that calculates metrics such as Air Changes per Hour and Fresh Air % to help safely bring tenants back to offices and improve indoor air quality. The company says customers save on average 5x Cortex fees and that Cortex clients saved 87.6 GWh in 2020, equivalent to taking 13,386 cars off the road. Cortex is using the new funding to grow product management, sales and marketing teams and to build new software and machine-learning products to expand its platform and customer value.

Led · Series A · May 2021

Cortex Intel develops building analytics software that applies proprietary analytics to underutilized data streams—equipment operations, space temperatures, meter readings, occupancy levels and weather forecasts—to optimize building operations. Its mobile and web apps provide building engineers with charts and operational recommendations to improve comfort and reduce carbon emissions. The company has released a Building Health Dashboard that calculates metrics such as Air Changes per Hour and Fresh Air % to help operators bring tenants back to offices post-COVID and improve overall indoor air quality. Led by founder and CEO Bryan Bennett, Cortex plans to use recent funding to grow product management, sales and marketing teams and to build new software and machine-learning products. Financially, the company completed a Series A that brought its total funding to date to $11M. The company is based in Washington, DC.