• HONK

  Led · Equity · Jun 2018

  Honk operates a marketplace that applies ride‑hailing technology to roadside assistance and towing, letting customers request service via mobile web or the company app and track tow trucks in real time. The company says insurers, auto OEMs and fleets use its transparent platform to cut wait times by over 50%, improve customer satisfaction and achieve industry‑leading net promoter scores. Honk reported a network of 75,000 tow truckers and roadside assisters and plans to use new funding to expand that network and add services for insurers, fleet managers and manufacturers. A little over a year after inking a significant contract with the insurer Farmers, Honk raised new capital to scale operations. CEO Corey Brundage declined to comment on the company’s revenue, path to profitability or valuation. HONK is an on-demand mobile app for tow, tire change, jump start, fuel and lockout services, connecting motorists to a nationwide network of more than 20,000 tow trucks. Launched in November 2014 and founded in 2014, the Santa Monica–based company offers guaranteed 'Never to Exceed' pricing starting at $49 with no membership fees and provides 15–30 minute ETAs via mobile track-and-trace technology. Since launching four months ago it has grown to become the largest service fleet in the United States for app-based roadside assistance. HONK plans to use its new funding to continue enhancing its service offering and technology, expand distribution in the $10 billion roadside assistance market, and unveil new features for drivers and tow operators. The company has onboarded more than 20,000 trucks nationally, is rapidly expanding its team, and has raised $13.8 million in total venture funding to date.

• Dreamlines

  Participated · Equity · Aug 2016

  Dreamlines is Europe’s largest online travel agency specializing in cruise-related travel, founded in 2012 and based in Hamburg. The company connects customers to the largest portfolio of cruises around the world and offers exclusive Dreamlines packages. Since launch it has expanded into 10 countries and partners with over 100 cruise operators. Dreamlines positions itself as a tech-focused platform to move the cruise industry online and expand internationally. Management says the new capital will support continued growth and international expansion. Dreamlines operates an online cruise marketplace and provides an online portal for cruises across seven European countries. The company is led by Managing Director Felix Schneider and has its global headquarters in Hamburg, with offices in France, Brazil, Russia, the Netherlands and Australia. Dreamlines intends to use the newly raised funds to expand organically and through acquisitions. The company raised €18m in the reported funding round and had previously raised €32m in 2016. The raise is intended to support the company’s international growth and M&A-driven expansion plans. Dreamlines is an online travel agency for cruises that offers bookings across approximately 30,000 cruises via more than 100 shipping companies. The company was founded in 2012 by Felix Schneider and Nils Regge and is based in Hamburg, Germany. It employs over 350 people across offices in Germany, France, Brazil, Australia, Italy, Russia and the Netherlands. Dreamlines has raised a total of €44m to date and recently secured an additional €14m in funding. The new funds will be used to continue growth in Germany and to support international expansion. The company’s platform and distribution through a broad set of shipping partners underpin its expansion plans. DREAMLINES operates an online cruise portal that lists over 30,000 products, from short cruises to around-the-world and transatlantic itineraries. Founded in January 2012 and headquartered in Hamburg, the company serves the German-speaking market and also operates in Australia, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Russia and Brazil. DREAMLINES employs about 280 people worldwide. In August the company acquired one of the biggest cruise portals in Australia as part of its international expansion. The recent €20 million Series C financing will fund the company’s rapid growth and support further global expansion. DREAMLINES is described in the article as one of the most important providers of cruises on the German market.

• Factual

  Participated · Series B · Dec 2015

  Factual builds location-data products and an Observation Graph that interprets movements of roughly 300 million monthly active devices and filters billions of inputs daily to derive place visitation and activity signals. Its device-driven offerings power insights, audience targeting, measurement and data enrichment and are integrated within major marketing platforms that together represent more than 80% of programmatic spend. Factual counts more than 6,000 brands as users, including 49 of the 50 largest global brands and partners such as Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Snap and Uber. The company expanded into the Asia‑Pacific region in 2018 after raising an additional $42 million and now operates an office in Singapore. Factual says its data is neutral and not bound to specific media, targeting or attribution providers, and is already available via platforms including Adobe, Google DV360, The Trade Desk and others. Through a strategic partnership with Mitsui & Co., Factual plans to integrate its data into local Japanese programmatic, social and publisher platforms and drive adoption among Japan’s largest advertising agencies and corporations, with availability in local platforms slated for 2020. Factual provides location data and related measurement capabilities to enterprise customers, including Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft. The company has added capabilities such as measuring whether advertising campaigns drove in-store visits. Founded in 2009, Factual is positioning itself to augment first-party data for companies and to compete with major platform duopolies. The new funding is intended to fund geographic expansion beyond the U.S., particularly across the Asia‑Pacific region, where sales tripled last year and became the company’s fastest-growing geography. Factual is hiring a team in Asia and establishing an Asian headquarters in Singapore led by Chris Pattinson. The company also plans to invest in sales and marketing and to expand into new industries like out-of-home advertising and connected TV. Factual offers location data (branded Factual Data) that developers, publishers, advertisers and enterprises can integrate into search, mapping and social platforms. Its customers include Apple Maps, Facebook and Microsoft Bing, payments leaders across card-issuing networks and payment processors, thousands of small-to-midsize mobile app developers, and ad/marketing-technology firms that collectively account for over $2 billion in mobile ad spend. Led by founder and CEO Gil Elbaz, the company focuses on scaling its core data engineering capabilities and expanding commercial reach. Factual plans to use new capital to enhance engineering, grow sales and marketing, and accelerate international expansion. The company has raised $62 million to date, including the recent Series B. Factual is a collaborative data platform and web service that provides developers and publishers access to datasets through APIs. The company offers local business datasets across the US, Australia, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, Spain and the UK, and has partnerships with Home Junction, Booyah and Facebook Places. Factual plans to use the new funding to expand its data offerings and services and to hire new staff. The company raised $25M in its first round of financing and had previously secured $2M in angel funding earlier in the year. As part of the financing, Ben Horowitz and Danny Rimer will join Factual’s board of directors. Factual was founded in 2007 and is based in Los Angeles, CA. Factual, launched by Gil Elbaz last October, provides tools for creating table-based databases on any topic that can be embedded, shared, and edited in a wiki-like fashion. All data on Factual is available through its APIs, enabling programmatic access. The service already hosts hundreds of thousands of tables, including a Creative Commons database that contains 4 million rows. Factual’s stated goal is to encourage creation of as many open databases as possible to help make the web more programmable. It is often compared to other structured-data efforts such as Freebase and Wolfram Alpha. The company raised just over $1 million in an angel round from prominent investors.

• The History Project

  Participated · Equity · Nov 2015

  The History Project offers an interactive timeline and cloud storage product for collecting, curating and digitizing personal and family histories, including songs, voice recordings and offline assets. Founder Niles Lichtenstein began the work after finding records from his late father and documenting his mother’s life; he previously worked in mobile advertising. The product emphasizes multi-layered, multi-perspective storytelling so contributors can record confirming and conflicting accounts. The company focuses on digitizing offline content as well as capturing contemporary stories. For distribution it has partnered with filmmakers and has a History Project narrative tied to an HBO documentary about Richard Holbrooke. The startup operates a freemium model with a self-service timeline builder, paid digitization services starting at $295, and a premium package (photobook, video and time capsule) for $995. The History Project recently closed $2 million in investments.

• Saucey

  Participated · Seed · Sep 2015

  Saucey operates an on-demand alcohol-delivery service that lets customers order beer, wine and related items for fast delivery with no order minimum and no delivery fee. The company works with local retailers (including BevMo) to manage pricing and claims to have positive unit economics. Saucey employs 25 full-time staff and works with about 2,300 couriers, who are paid per order with guarantees in new zones; couriers provide their own insurance and undergo background checks. The service enforces strict age verification by scanning ID at delivery and charging a $5.50 service fee when ID is not provided and the order is returned. Saucey is available in several California cities and Chicago, and plans to expand into Texas and Florida while broadening assortment to mixers, snacks, cocktail packages and cheeses. The founders began the business in fall 2013 and position the company to compete with rivals like Drizly, Thirstie, Swill, Postmates, Instacart and Amazon. Saucey is a Los Angeles-based on-demand alcohol delivery service that has operated since 2013. Founded by Chris Vaughn, Daniel Leeb and Andrew Zeck after working together at TextPlus, the app lets users order beer, wine and spirits for rapid delivery in the greater L.A. area. The founders built early operations by partnering with local liquor stores and using a courier network, and the company deliberately held off on raising venture capital until this round. Couriers can run up to six deliveries per hour today, and Saucey plans to optimize infrastructure so couriers earn more per hour and delivery times get faster. Planned product improvements include backend optimization, broader selection, and personalization to tailor the shopping experience to individual users. The new funding will be used to improve customer service and increase sales by making the platform and backend more efficient.

No current team members are available.