• LiveNinja

  Participated · Equity · May 2016

  LiveNinja is best known for a chat and video interface sold to brands to interact with customers on the web. Its LiveNinja Messenger combines live chat with messaging via an embeddable widget, a dedicated short-link (ln.co/brand-name), and an iOS app tied into CRM. The company plans to build new functionalities within the Messenger, expand its sales team, and add support for messaging apps with available APIs starting with Facebook Messenger and Twitter. The product is currently offered free for a limited time and will transition to a “pay as you grow” model charging on a per-customer engagement basis. Key features include customer verification to limit spam and tools to centralize multi-channel conversations. Competitors named in the article include LivePerson, Intercom, Zendesk, and oLark. LiveNinja launched the Katana video-chat platform as a customer-service application after initially operating as a video marketplace to connect users with experts. Katana enables real-time video support for industries such as banking, financial services, insurance, real estate, retail and other service-focused businesses. The company positions Katana as suitable for large enterprises while remaining affordable for small-to-medium businesses. A new version with mobile device support is on the way. LiveNinja has raised new funding from Scout Ventures, though terms were not disclosed. Competitors mentioned in the article include Vee24 (which has had $5.5 million in funding) and Video Desk (which has raised $4.8 million). LiveNinja is a video chat marketplace that provides real-time video, audio, screen-sharing and text-based chat to connect experts and businesses with customers. The company previously operated a consumer-focused marketplace that grew to over 3,000 live experts and is preparing a mobile-optimized relaunch of that side of the business. It has launched Katana, a business marketplace that embeds on company websites and adds reporting, analytics and third-party integrations to support e-commerce and customer support use cases. Katana supports routing via an 'Available Now' system or a booking system for scheduled appointments, aiming to offer a richer sales and support experience than typical IM-like live chat. LiveNinja debuted in December 2012 and is based in Miami with 10 full-time employees; it faces competition from offerings such as Google Helpouts. The company plans to use new funding for marketing, distribution around Katana, and the forthcoming LiveNinja relaunch. LiveNinja is a video-chat marketplace that lets experts offer advice and services over live video without building their own sites. The platform provides tools for service providers to create an online presence, set pricing by the minute/half-hour/hour, schedule sessions, and receive payments via PayPal. LiveNinja hosts a community setting with optional ratings and reviews, and offers refunds or free replacement sessions if users are unhappy. The company takes a 20% cut of paid sessions; it reports the majority of sessions are paid and roughly one in ten are free. With seed funding the team grew to five and moved into new offices, and the company is building an iPhone app to allow providers to set availability on the go. The app was planned to launch in the spring as the company moved from beta to a public launch.

• Raw Shorts

  Participated · Series A · Jan 2016

  Raw Shorts provides a SaaS-based, cloud drag-and-drop video builder that enables users to create explainer, demo, and marketing videos for the web. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Antonio Otalvaro and technical co-founder George Estrella. Raw Shorts is headquartered in Miami, Florida. It raised $1.0M in a Series A financing to support growth. The company said it will use the funds to make hires in product development and marketing. The round included participation from prior investors Mosley Ventures and Accelerated Growth Partners.

• ClassWallet

  Participated · Seed · Jul 2015

  ClassWallet’s patented digital wallet technology enables state agencies and school districts to disburse public funds quickly and compliantly while automating the purchasing and reimbursement lifecycle. The platform is used across 32 states and helps clients realize the full potential of over $2.7 billion in public funds. ClassWallet operates an integrated marketplace of retailers and service providers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Home Depot, Michaels, Office Depot, Scholastic, Staples and Varsity Tutors. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Hollywood, Florida, the company says it reduces the time and cost of existing solutions while ensuring compliance and mitigating potential fraud. ClassWallet has been recognized on the Inc. 5000 and Deloitte Technology Fast 500 lists for its rapid growth. The recent $95 million institutional growth capital investment is intended to support continued expansion and efforts to reshape how state and local government agencies do business. ClassWallet is a Hollywood, Fla.-based fintech led by founder and CEO Jamie Rosenberg that provides school districts with a spend management platform that reconciles and pays for transactions in a cashless, paperless and automated manner. Its software streamlines manual tasks such as collecting receipts, reconciling invoices and statements, making vendor and reimbursement payments, and performing data entry required to meet annual audit requirements. The company is used in over 2,000 schools across 15 states. ClassWallet raised $2.3M in the reported round and has raised over $7M to date. It intends to use the new funds to expand product offerings and add to its business development and support staff. ClassWallet provides an end-to-end digital solution to disburse, track and manage school system funds, combining funds disbursement, e-commerce, a reloadable debit card and tracking in an integrated platform. The company is used in over 850 schools and is working with large districts including Los Angeles Unified and Polk County; it is also gaining traction with university athletic departments and states for education savings account management. ClassWallet says it reduces transaction costs that historically reached about 40% to less than 5% and shortens the fund-spend-track lifecycle from weeks to same day. The company planned a platform release in January 2017 that includes a solution to allow schools to accept cash payments from parents without bringing cash into school buildings or classrooms, and several districts are already working to implement that solution. In partnership with Brentwood Associates, ClassWallet will accelerate its product roadmap and invest in sales and marketing to expand distribution. ClassWallet operates a platform that enables school systems and related organizations to disburse and track funds. The platform is used by groups and districts including Harrington Park School District, Albuquerque Public Schools Education Foundation, Reading is Fundamental and Broward Education Foundation. More than 40 retailers, including Amazon, Office Depot, Best Buy, School Specialty and Scholastic, accept ClassWallet as a form of payment. The company plans to release a new version of its platform this summer that will add a reloadable debit card and an API for vendor integration. ClassWallet has raised a total of $2.53M and intends to use new proceeds to accelerate sales and advance its product roadmap. The company is led by founder and CEO Jamie Rosenberg and is based in Miami.

No current team members are available.