• Utrip

  Participated · Series A · Feb 2017

  Utrip is a free travel-planning platform that uses predictive machine-learning to build personalized day-by-day itineraries with recommendations for restaurants, parks, nightlife, museums and more. The company leverages a travel database curated by local area experts to sort millions of combinations based on a traveler’s interests and budget. Utrip PRO, the white-label product, allows DMOs, hospitality groups and attractions to offer personalized travel planning on their sites. A companion mobile app provides access to itineraries, directions and personalized recommendations on the go. The company plans to use new funding to hire staff, grow operations, further enhance mobile applications, enrich its machine-learning capabilities and automate white-label infrastructure. Utrip was founded in Seattle in 2012 by CEO Gilad Berenstein; it completed a $4M Series A in February 2017. Utrip provides a free travel-planning platform that uses artificial intelligence to generate personalized itineraries based on users' interests and budgets. The platform sorts through millions of sites, activities, events and restaurant recommendations to deliver itineraries in minutes. Users can purchase lodging and share their itineraries with friends. The company just launched out of beta and is focused on expanding its user base and product. Led by founder and CEO Gilad Berenstein, Utrip plans to use the new funding for expansion and hiring personnel. Advisors on the board include Oren Etzioni and David Conrad, with Matthew D. Upchurch and Matt Klein recently joining the advisory board.

• Flyp

  Participated · Seed · Feb 2016

  Flyp provides a mobile communications app that enables users to add and manage multiple U.S. phone numbers on one device and unifies calls, texts, and voicemail in a single feed. The company uses proprietary technology that plugs into existing cellular networks to deliver higher call quality and text reliability than typical OTT VoIP services. Its app is available on iOS and Android and for international users provides real U.S. phone numbers in 17 countries for free U.S. calling and texting. Flyp has seen more than one million downloads globally in the past nine months and reports that over 50% of users identify as freelancers or small business owners. The company recently raised a $5.8M seed round and is using the funds to refine the user experience, expand business-quality features, and launch the service in an additional 30 countries in 2016. Flyp is positioned as a low-cost alternative to traditional telcos that aims to combine telco-grade quality with OTT-like economics.

• Airbiquity

  Participated · Equity · Aug 2011

  Airbiquity is a Seattle-based connected-car telematics company founded in 1997 that builds cloud delivery and over-the-air (OTA) software for automakers. Its core products include Choreo, a cloud-based connected-car delivery platform, and OTAmatic, software that enables continuous in-vehicle software updates. The 70-person company supports more than eight million vehicles across over 60 countries and in 30 languages. It has raised more than $80 million to date and recently disclosed a new $15 million investment. CEO Kamyar Moinzadeh, who joined the company in 2002, said Airbiquity will work with its new strategic partners to optimize and leverage OTAmatic for next-generation connected vehicles. The company and article highlight that the investment could strengthen its value proposition as automakers invest in autonomous driving and advanced driver-assistance systems. Airbiquity builds underlying technologies and connected‑vehicle services used by automakers and suppliers, with customers that include OnStar, BMW and Ford. The company employs about 100 people and plans to grow headcount by roughly 20% this year. Management says demand for its connected‑vehicle services is growing very quickly and that it has multiple unannounced contracts with automakers and suppliers. To meet contracted demand the company increased its capital base and is accelerating growth. Total funding in the company now stands at close to $80 million. Airbiquity is led by Kamyar Moinzadeh. Airbiquity is a wireless telematics company offering services that track vehicle performance, airbag deployment and navigation while enabling emergency calling and concierge features. The company was founded before the dotcom boom and initially focused on adding GPS to mobile phones, but it nearly disappeared during the tech crash and subsequently reworked its business toward connected-vehicle services. Airbiquity says its product is installed in over 8 million vehicles. The company is based in Seattle, Washington. It recently raised $25M in funding led by Ignition Partners, with prior backers Acorn Ventures, Kirnaf LTD and Shell Internet Ventures participating. Press coverage framed the raise as validation that Airbiquity has found its home in wireless communications for vehicles.

No current team members are available.