Participated · Seed · Sep 2023

MessageDesk, led by CEO Clint Vernon, provides text-messaging software that lets businesses text-enable their phone lines, send mass broadcasts, optimize delivery rates, and route, assign, and automatically manage conversations across an organization. The company is based in Reno, NV. MessageDesk plans to use its recent funding to accelerate growth and expand into new markets. It aims to surpass $1M in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in 2023 and expects to reach 1,000 SMB customers by the end of Q1 2024 while also expanding its mid-market customer base. The product and GTM focus are centered on improving business SMS delivery and conversation management for SMBs and mid-market customers. The company intends the seed proceeds to support those operational and market-expansion efforts.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2022

AlgoFace develops Face AI and computer-vision solutions centered on a Face AI Enablement Engine that supports 2D facial landmark tracking, 3D face mesh, iris tracking, head pose estimation, and hair segmentation. Its core Face Analyzer/Semantic Search technology can locate facial attributes in photos via descriptive text searches without requiring a probe photo. The company emphasizes privacy-by-default and ethical AI frameworks to avoid traditional identification workflows and reduce legal and other risks. AlgoFace targets enterprise and government customers and applications including national security, law enforcement, building safety, video search, digital asset management, spatial analytics, and programmatic media. The technology is designed to operate on the edge across mobile, desktop, embedded systems, AR/VR, and the Metaverse. AlgoFace holds two patents related to the technology and is using grant funding to advance R&D. AlgoFace develops a Face AI Enablement Engine that provides 2D facial landmark tracking, 3D face mesh, iris tracking, head pose estimation, and hair segmentation with a focus on privacy-by-default and ethical AI frameworks. The company's engine targets edge deployment and is usable across mobile, desktop, embedded systems, AR/VR, and the Metaverse. AlgoFace positions its product for enterprise and government customers seeking trusted, low-power facial AI solutions. The company has participated in multiple accelerators and competitions, including the Fuel AI/ML Accelerator and Venture Madness, and has received local recognition such as Phoenix Business Journal’s "Startups to Watch." Financially, the firm was awarded a $150,000 grant from the Arizona Commerce Authority as an Arizona Innovation Challenge Awardee. AlgoFace intends to leverage the ACA Venture Ready Accelerator milestones to unlock the grant and accelerate growth. AlgoFace's Face AI enablement engine uses advances in computer vision and edge computing to power 2D and 3D facial analysis and landmark tracking for features, expressions, eye gaze, head pose and mouth-to-eye ratio. The platform includes data labeling and annotation tools, synthetic data generation, and deepfake detection with privacy and inclusivity prioritized. Its technology is positioned for deployments across mobile, desktop, embedded systems, AR/VR, the Metaverse and Web 3.0 via enterprise, commercial, and government relationships. The company reported rapid commercial traction—selling 2.5X its entire six-figure 2021 revenue in Q1 2022—has grown headcount from 14 to 30, and counts a Fortune 50 company as a client. AlgoFace expects to expand at a compounded annual growth rate of at least 40% and describes its plan as balancing revenue-funded growth with capital efficiency. Financially, the company has raised over $1.6 million toward its seed round and is pursuing government R&D opportunities such as an NSF Phase I SBIR/STTR submission.

Participated · Seed · Feb 2021

Botco.ai’s core product is the GenAI Chat Cloud, a HIPAA-compliant, no-code platform for creating fine-tuned virtual chat agents that prioritize accuracy, privacy, and out-of-the-box integrations with EMRs and CRMs. The company emphasizes industry-specific models for Healthcare, Behavioral Health, Senior Living, contact centers and franchises, claiming over seven million conversations handled to date. Botco.ai reports record revenues in Q2 2023 and says it is tripling revenue in 2023, with more than 30 customer go-lives so far this year. A cited customer, Carlton Senior Living, achieved a quarterly ROI of 2500% using the platform. The team highlights enterprise security and a policy of not sharing recorded data, positioning the product for regulated verticals. Longer-term goals include accelerating development, growing revenues, and shipping additional product features and fine-tuned models via an upcoming Series A. Botco.ai offers a GenAI Chat Cloud—a suite of generative AI products designed to help enterprises transform sales, marketing, and customer relationship initiatives through conversational marketing and AI-driven insights. The platform is used across industries including healthcare, wellness, government, and franchise operations. The company plans to use recent funding to catalyze growth and accelerate development of new features and enhancements for the Botco.ai platform. Botco.ai was co-founded by CEO Rebecca Clyde in 2018 and is based in Costa Rica. The company has received industry recognition, including a TiE50 Award and the SaaS category win at Arizona Commerce Authority’s Venture Madness. The articles describe no revenue or user metrics. Botco.ai is a HIPAA-compliant, AI-powered conversational marketing platform that enables automated, personalized conversations across channels such as web and Facebook Messenger. The product includes authoring, webchat, and machine-learning capabilities alongside an Integrated Analytics Dashboard to view chat campaigns. It provides an API-based interface to transfer leads, transcripts, and data into enterprise sales and marketing products like Salesforce, HubSpot, Adobe Marketing Cloud, and Zoho. The company said it will use the new capital to develop its chatbot analytics to drive greater engagement in digital channels. Botco.ai also plans to expand integration capabilities with other CRM systems to simplify transferring leads and transcriptions to sales reps. In September 2021 Botco.ai raised $3.6M in additional seed funding led by VamosVentures. Botco.ai provides a HIPAA-compliant, AI-powered conversational marketing solution that enables multi-channel chat and automated patient interactions at scale. Its platform combines machine learning that improves through use, a live analytics dashboard, and integrations to EHR/CRM systems to personalize conversations and automate appointments. The product includes webchat, authoring tools, API connectivity to systems like Salesforce, HubSpot, Adobe Marketing Cloud and Zoho, and is positioned to reduce hold times and streamline patient intake. Botco.ai says it will use the new capital for product development, including deeper integrations with electronic health records and marketing automation platforms. Healthcare customers named in the articles include American Family Care, STChealth and La Ventana, which use the chat to manage COVID-19 inquiries and high inquiry volumes. The company highlights its mission to improve access and efficiency in healthcare communication by converting more inquiries into appointments.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2021

BioAesthetics commercializes NACgraft, a biologically‑derived collagen scaffold shaped as a nipple–areola complex (NAC) that integrates with a patient’s body to regenerate the NAC after breast reconstruction. The product is intended for breast cancer survivors undergoing mastectomy who choose autologous breast reconstruction and want NAC reconstruction as part of their final steps. Patients will be able to select NACgraft(s) based on size and shape preferences. The company announced validation of its clinical manufacturing process and planned a collaborative clinical study at Stanford Medicine expected to begin in early 2021, following 15 patients over 12 months to evaluate healing time and secondary measures such as satisfaction, body image, and sensitivity. BioAesthetics is focused on advancing biomaterials to transform patient outcomes and is a Tulane University spin‑out now located in Research Triangle Park, NC. The company closed a Series A to fund commercialization and clinical development of NACgraft. BioAesthetics is developing an acellular tissue‑engineered graft designed to regenerate the nipple‑areolar complex (NAC) for breast cancer and mastectomy patients who currently rely on prostheses, tattoos, or surgical reconstructions. Founder and CEO Nicholas Pashos, PhD, developed the graft during his doctoral work at Tulane University, and company test grafts show early signs of integration: host cells migrate into the graft within one week and blood vessels and new skin form within three weeks. The graft appears to integrate without the need for immunocompromising antibiotics or steroids used in standard organ transplants and tissue grafts. BioAesthetics closed a financing round led by Hemi Ventures with participation from IndieBio, the New Orleans BioFund, and the New Orleans Startup Fund to accelerate product development. To support growth the company is expanding lab operations to Research Triangle Park while maintaining ties to New Orleans and San Francisco. The company is working closely with reconstructive surgeons to advance development and improve aesthetic and health outcomes for patients.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2020

Virtanza provides virtual, synchronous sales training and white‑label curriculum to universities, colleges, and employer customers. Its core product is the Virtanza Professional Sales Ready Certificate, which is recommended by ACE CREDIT, along with Sales Management 1 & 2, Sales Bootcamps, and on‑demand materials. The company has expanded its reach to sixteen universities and colleges across the U.S. and serves undergraduates, adult learners, entrepreneurs, and employer partners. Virtanza is developing an Employer Portal to auto‑match program graduates to participating employers, scheduled to debut in Q1 2021. The company plans to scale its platform, curriculum, and program management services to meet higher education demand for virtual classroom solutions. It is headquartered in Orange County, California.