Participated · Series A · Sep 2021

Founded in 2013 and based in Edmonton with an office in London, Samdesk offers an AI-powered crisis monitoring platform that ingests social media, web crawled sources, government sites, sensory feeds and proprietary data to deliver real-time alerts. The platform detects more than 43 event types in over 20 languages and currently surfaces 80,000–90,000 critical events per month for customers across corporate and public sectors, including Siemens, BBC, Transport for London and The New York Times. Samdesk attributes recent sales growth to COVID-19–driven demand for risk detection and business continuity tools and has rebranded from Social Asset Management to Samdesk. The company plans to invest the new capital in product development (including integrations to reduce alert noise), and to expand sales, marketing, and customer success as it grows into more regions. Samdesk currently has 35 employees and expects to add 15–20 hires over the next year. SAM operates an online platform that powers social media search, curation and storytelling for newsrooms and media companies. The company secured an undisclosed seed financing in which The Associated Press and a number of other investors participated. It will use the capital to grow its development team and customer base and to build out offices in major media centres, starting with London and followed by New York. Led by founder and CEO James Neufeld, SAM was launched in 2013. The company counts AP, Reuters, FT, WSJ, Guardian, Toronto Star, Reportedly and other blue‑chip media companies as clients.

Led · Equity · May 2020

Social Asset Management (SAM) builds an AI engine that ingests billions of tweets, photos, videos and social posts to create a “global sensory network” for detecting early signals of emerging risks and crises. The platform analyzes unstructured, connected data to surface relevant on-the-ground information for customers in social, tech, public and aviation sectors, as well as emergency responders and NGOs. SAM reports record adoption and revenue growth and says it is also seeing interest from governments. During the COVID-19 pandemic the company has been notifying clients about lockdowns, closures, evacuations and other unexpected risks. The capital from the recent raise will be used to fuel growth and operations, support its client base, and further develop its AI to predict more crisis events. SAM was founded in 2013 and also maintains a hub in London, England.

Participated · Series A · May 2019

Gokada pivoted from ride-hailing to last-mile logistics after a 2020 Lagos two-wheeler ban and now focuses on food, grocery, parcel delivery and e-commerce fulfilment. The company has integrated with payment providers like Paystack and Flutterwave and expanded enterprise offerings for customers such as Jumia and Fan Milk. Gokada reports about 4,000 riders and over 40,000 deliveries per month, citing 3x year-on-year order growth and 2x e-commerce market growth. Management says the company was profitable as of 2021; CEO Nikhil Goel grew revenue tenfold and delivery order volume a hundredfold by 2021. In 2022 Gokada opened an investment opportunity under NIPOST licence, partnered with Octamile to offer digital insurance, and appointed Olutosin Oni as CEO as it pursues further expansion. Gokada operates a motorcycle ride-hail app that has on-boarded more than 1,000 motorcycles and pilots and completed nearly 1 million rides since its 2018 founding. The company provides DOT-approved helmets, rider training and quality controls, and has a partnership with TVS Motors for custom bikes. Gokada charges drivers a flat fee of 3,000 Nigerian Naira per day (about $8) rather than splitting fares, and reports an average passenger fare of $1.85. It is experimenting with safety sensors and additional GPS tracking to monitor driver behavior. The startup plans to use new financing to increase fleet size and ride volume and to build a commercial network around drivers, including “Gokada club” restaurants and a “Gokada Shop” for driver supplies. Gokada intends to expand across Nigeria rather than enter new African countries in the near term.