The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Apr 2025

DIAMO is a revenue platform purpose-built for independent hotels, combining dynamic pricing, omnichannel digital marketing, and a conversion-optimized website and booking engine into a single product. The platform integrates automated dynamic pricing and digital marketing to optimize the guest booking journey and offers expert revenue managers to guide clients. DIAMO says its solution can increase revenues by up to 35% while saving time for owner-operated and small-team properties, particularly hotels with under 150 rooms. The company is leveraging AI across its stack and is preparing to launch ANDI, an AI assistant that will auto-configure revenue strategy, launch ad campaigns, and provide ongoing pricing and distribution recommendations. DIAMO serves clients globally across the USA, Canada, Central America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The company is headquartered in New York and targets smaller independents that cannot afford enterprise technology or dedicated revenue teams.

Participated · Series B · Jun 2024

Apex manufactures productized satellite buses, the core set of components that enable spacecraft movement, communications, and power. Customers attach payloads such as sensors or radios to Apex's buses to carry out missions. The company launched its first bus in March 2024 and has a growing number of customers and secured orders from prime contractors including the U.S. Department of Defense. Apex plans to use the $95m Series B to increase production to meet customer demand. The round was led by XYZ Venture Capital and co-led by CRV, with participation from a range of new and existing investors. Apex is led by CEO and founder Ian Cinnamon and is based in Los Angeles, California. Apex Space designs and manufactures a standardized 100‑kilogram satellite bus called Aries that supports up to 100 kg of payload mass. The company aims to shorten lead times from years to months by optimizing bus design for manufacturing and configurable customer payloads. Apex is preparing a first demonstration mission on SpaceX’s Transporter‑10 in the first quarter of next year and is already building that Aries unit. The startup plans to open a 50,000‑square‑foot production facility in L.A. called Factory One to support increased manufacturing cadence and intends to produce five more Aries in 2024. Apex has begun selling production slots for upcoming flights, with revenues hitting seven figures. The company was founded by Ian Cinnamon and Max Benassi roughly nine months ago and positions itself as a dual‑use firm serving commercial and defense customers. Apex manufactures spacecraft platforms (satellite buses) for commercial and government customers. Its first product, the Aries satellite bus, is a 103kg platform that can carry customer payloads up to 94kg and supports missions such as earth imaging and communications. The Aries platform is available off the shelf or can be configured to meet specific mission requirements. Apex emerged from stealth after closing an initial $7.5M financing and intends to use the proceeds to ramp up hiring and accelerate production timelines. The company is positioning itself to serve growing demand driven by lower launch costs and an increasing number of commercial and government payloads. The executive team includes CEO Ian Cinnamon, who led Synapse through growth and acquisition by Palantir, and CTO Max Benassi, who scaled aerospace manufacturing at SpaceX and served as Director of Engineering at Astra.