• Reactful

  Led · Seed · Sep 2016

  Reactful offers a real-time web optimization platform that uses machine-learning to interpret visitor 'digital body language' (clicks, scrolls, mouse movements) and trigger contextual 'Reactions' to improve conversion. The product provides automated Reaction Suggestions and lets marketers deploy visual changes like tooltips or button animations to address confusion, hesitation or form abandonment. The company exited a private beta started in January 2015 and publicly launched its platform, claiming a median conversion lift of 25 percent. Reactful lists enterprise customers including Kimberly‑Clark and Coca‑Cola and several B2B clients. The company is based in Palo Alto with R&D in Tel Aviv and is led by CEO Jonathan Friedman and CTO Aaron Hakim. It planned to use new funding to grow the team, accelerate product development, and support its customer base.

• MoviePass

  Participated · Equity · Sep 2014

  MoviePass is developing Mogul, described as Hollywood’s first daily fantasy entertainment platform that turns passive viewership into active participation. Mogul lets fans predict box-office rankings, award outcomes, and sentiment scores while competing on leaderboards. The platform launched in beta and is built on the Sui blockchain, backed by Mysten Labs and Animoca Brands, and uses virtual currency and digital rewards to power its community. MoviePass received a $100 million token purchase agreement commitment from GEM Token Fund and its partner C3 Foundation to accelerate Mogul’s development. The commitment is flexible over 24 months; MoviePass controls timing and number of drawdowns and has no minimum drawdown obligation. Funds will be used to enhance platform features including data-driven competitions, digital collectibles, rewards-based gameplay, and community-led challenges. MoviePass operates a credit-based subscription marketplace that enables members to attend select new movies in theaters. The company says AI and machine-learning enhancements have optimized the MoviePass Cinematic Marketplace and driven recent growth. MoviePass surpassed one million movies seen on its platform and reported the first profitable year in its history. It claims the largest theater footprint of any subscription service, with over 3,500 locations across all 50 states and more than 97% market reach. MoviePass was started in 2011; after an acquisition in 2017 the co-founder and CEO Stacy Spikes bought the assets out of bankruptcy and re-launched the company in 2022. The company says it is continuing to invest in its cinematic marketplace so studios and partner theaters can engage directly with movie fans. MoviePass operates a movie-theatre subscription service that lets members attend select new releases and purchase tickets and seats via its app. The company is led by CEO Stacy Spikes and is based in New York. Its service is live in nine U.S. markets and has signed strategic deals with more than 25 exhibitor partners, including B&B Theatres, Cinepolis Luxury Cinemas and Landmark Theatres. MoviePass plans to accelerate a beta relaunch of its subscription service and to develop a Web3 strategy, including virtual reality cinema experiences. The company is also in discussions with studios to share learnings on increasing attendance and engagement through technology. MoviePass recently closed a Seed funding round (amount undisclosed) to support these initiatives. MoviePass operates a subscription service selling movie-ticket access, most notably an unlimited plan priced at $9.95 per month. The specifics of its pricing model have been changing frequently. Parent company Helios & Matheson disclosed in a regulatory filing that MoviePass took a demand note totaling $6.2 million, including $5.0 million in cash. The filing states the $5.0M cash proceeds were used to pay the company’s merchant and fulfillment processors and warns that failure to make such payments could cause processors to cease processing, creating service interruptions. The filing links an inability to pay a service provider to a MoviePass outage on July 26, 2018, and says the borrowed funds were used to address that outage. An earlier Helios & Matheson filing indicated the company was looking to raise up to $1.2 billion in equity and debt financing to fund MoviePass’s operations and growth. MoviePass operates a consumer subscription that allows members to see one movie a day, up to 30 per month, for about $30 a month. After signup the company mails a personalized MoviePass card and provides an iPhone/Android app to locate participating theaters and check in. Members use the app to check in at the theater and then present the MoviePass card at the box office or kiosk to receive their ticket. The service is already accepted at 93% of movie theaters nationwide. MoviePass says the subscription is the company’s core product and is also working with theatrical exhibitors on additional services to drive attendance. Financially, the company announced a new $2.2 million financing round to support its growth.

• Spree Commerce

  Participated · Series A · Feb 2014

  Spree Commerce is a Bethesda, MD-based provider of an open source e-commerce platform that enables retailers to create customized storefronts. Led by CEO Sean Schofield, the company offers software and a hub launched in 2013 that connects storefronts to fulfillment providers, accounting systems, ERPs and in-store payment systems. The hub works with leading storefront platforms including Spree, Magento and hybris. Spree serves more than 45,000 retailers in over 100 countries, with customers such as Bonobos, 3.1 Phillip Lim and Blue Bottle Coffee. The company raised $5m in a Series A and said it will use the funds to accelerate product development and expand operations. Spree is currently hiring. Spree Commerce is an open-source eCommerce solution built on Ruby on Rails. The platform provides hosting and support, full access to its code, customizable checkout flows (single- or multi-page), semantic HTML for easy theming, flexible product management, inventory tracking, and extensions for product assembly and order processing. It integrates with over 50 payment gateways, including Authorize.net and PayPal. Spree has grown popular on GitHub with hundreds of contributions and translations into over 30 languages. The company has been incorporated as Spree Commerce Inc., while Rails Dog (founded by Sean Schofield) will continue to offer consulting services. With a newly announced $1.5M seed round, the team plans to focus on refining the platform, keeping it open source, and offering additional support and services to the community.

• Vungle

  Participated · Series B · Feb 2014

  Vungle builds 15-second in-app mobile video ads and has primarily served trailers for other apps. The company says 100 million people see Vungle ads every month. Vungle is in the final stages of building what it calls the first-ever in-app mobile video ad exchange to attract brand advertisers and enable repurposing of TV ad content for mobile. CEO Zain Jaffer said the additional funding will allow the company to be more aggressive, including plans to triple headcount from around 50 employees by the end of the year and expand internationally, particularly in Asia. Vungle aims to become a full monetization platform for publishers and plans to launch more monetization products later in the year. The company has positioned its technology as plumbing to move the industry away from intrusive banner ads. Vungle operates a native mobile video advertising platform that serves 15-second high-definition video ads and provides an in-house creative team to produce ad creative. The company has shifted from a CPI pricing model toward ads that users complete. Vungle has amassed roughly 2 billion cumulative video views and operates with 35 employees in offices across San Francisco, London and Berlin. Its client base includes gaming studios such as Zeptolab, and it competes with firms like Flurry and Tapjoy. The team recently hired Wayne Chan, formerly a Kabam co-founder, as VP of engineering, and the company graduated from AngelPad the prior year. Vungle plans to use the new funding to expand its team and technology platform. Vungle builds a service that produces 15-second HD "trailers" of mobile apps using screen-capture technology and professional voiceovers, delivering finished videos within 24 hours. It also operates an in-app video platform that functions like an ad network, letting developers display trailers for other apps and monetize by showing trailers even without ad spend. The product is in alpha and is being tested with a handful of developers, with a wider beta rollout expected in June. Pricing has not been determined and the founders say they are not planning to offer trailer creation as a standalone service for now. Vungle was founded by Zain Jaffer and Jack Smith, who used aggressive targeted ads to gain entry into the AngelPad incubator. The company has secured outside capital, having closed a seed round to support product rollout and testing.

• Sailthru

  Participated · Series C · Dec 2013

  Sailthru is best known as an email marketing company but positions itself as a broader customer engagement platform that personalizes every touch point across websites, mobile apps, email, and offline channels. The company emphasizes “smart data” and real-time personalization rather than broad demographic segmentation. CEO Neil Capel says Sailthru personalizes every single event to deliver individualized experiences. Sailthru reported that its 2013 revenue was double what it was the prior year and counts customers including Mashable, Rent the Runway, Acumen Brands, and Khan Academy. The company plans to focus on growth, including international expansion. Capel noted the company still had funds from the prior round and raised now to avoid fundraising distractions next year. Sailthru provides "smart data" personalization for email marketers and publishers, using user data to drive personalized email recommendations and tailored on-site experiences. The company began in email communications and expanded to personalize homepages and other web content so users see different content based on interests. It also offers AdFlight to enable more targeted advertising. Sailthru's revenues grew 270% year-over-year and have been increasing at over 9% month-over-month. The company has about 85 employees and expects to double headcount over the next year while expanding its San Francisco office and growing its presence in Europe. It is using recent funding to accelerate growth, increase headcount, and open new strategic offices. Sailthru is a New York-based platform that delivers highly relevant, personalized content to users via email, the web, and advertising channels. Its technology enables publishers and e-commerce companies to communicate directly with individual users and tailor content based on user behavior. As users engage, their behavior provides insights that help create more personal and engaging experiences, encouraging profitable brand–customer relationships. Led by CEO Neil Capel, the company plans to expand into the e-commerce, flash sales, and publisher markets. Sailthru intends to hire additional staff and invest in continued product innovation to support that expansion. The company raised $8M in Series A funding to finance these growth and development plans. Sailthru is a New York City–based behavioral marketing email service founded in 2008. It offers Triggermail to monitor emails and inbox events, Horizon to track browsing habits and format/send customized newsletters, and GetConnect to aggregate multiple email services. The product suite is designed to help companies optimize outbound email marketing campaigns and manage service providers. Sailthru says it has no direct competition, though providers like Constant Contact and ExactTarget also enable and track outbound email marketing. Customers include Business Insider, Tumblr, Bit.ly, OMGPOP, WeGame.com and MusicNation.com. The company recently secured funding to support growth initiatives.

No current team members are available.