Led · Series C · Oct 2021

ApplePie Capital operates a franchise loan marketplace that enables franchisees to obtain financing to start or expand their businesses and allows investors to earn fixed-income returns tied to franchise loans. The company offers a proprietary Core loan product and has formed partnerships with 60 franchise brands since it began lending in January 2015. ApplePie emphasizes credit quality—borrowers have an average 770 FICO score and a $2M median net worth—and its Core portfolio showed strong credit performance through the COVID-19 pandemic. ApplePie recently surpassed $1.25 billion in loans originated to franchise businesses. Future plans discussed in the articles include expanding distribution through a commercial relationship with Bankers Healthcare Group (BHG), including potential purchase of its Core product and future securitizations. The company is positioned to capture what it estimates is roughly $105 billion in annual debt capital demand within franchising as the sector rebounds. ApplePie Capital operates a franchise loan marketplace that connects franchisees seeking startup or expansion capital with investors seeking fixed-income returns. The firm focuses on channel-first lending by partnering directly with franchise brands and structuring products tailored to franchisees. Since it began lending in January 2015, ApplePie has formed partnerships with 40 franchise brands, funded over $50 million in loans, and returned over $7 million in principal and interest to investors. Borrower profiles cited include 750+ FICO scores and a $2M median net worth, and the company highlights strong credit performance to date. Recent capital and financing arrangements are intended to scale originations and broaden distribution to accelerate growth. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and added a seasoned franchise finance executive as a strategic advisor to support underwriting and risk management. ApplePie Capital operates a marketplace lending platform focused solely on the franchise industry, originating loans to franchise entrepreneurs and offering those loans to investors whole or fractionally. The firm uses a proprietary multi-factor underwriting model that analyzes historical brand performance, borrower experience, credit quality, and financials to curate high-quality investment opportunities. ApplePie streamlines funding for franchisees by pre-qualifying brands in 2 business days, providing firm commitments within 5 business days, and delivering funds in under 30 days through an automated online application. The company has eleven brands on its marketplace and reported more than $40 million in borrower capital demand to date. Financially, ApplePie closed a $6 million Series A and has secured over $28 million in debt capital commitments to fund loans, and has raised nearly $10 million in equity to date. Management says the Series A plus debt commitments will accelerate growth and increase lending capacity as loan demand scales. ApplePie Capital operates a loan marketplace that connects franchise brands and their entrepreneurs with investors seeking fixed-income returns. Founded in 2013 and led by CEO Denise Thomas and COO Steve Pelletier, the company is based in San Francisco. The marketplace is designed to offer loans of $100K to $1M to qualified borrowers. ApplePie planned to launch the marketplace in the first quarter of 2015 and to serve qualified borrowers across all 50 states. The company raised funding to support the planned launch and early operations.

Participated · Equity · Aug 2021

Vouched provides an AI-powered identity and agent verification platform, with its Know Your Agent (KYA) suite and KnowThat.ai Agent Reputation Directory for onboarding, monitoring, and compliance. The KYA suite includes modules for credentials, risk, and continuous compliance, and offers developer-friendly APIs plus a turnkey MCP-Identity server supporting the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Its platform enables real-time monitoring and anomalous-agent detection to help enterprises maintain transparent, secure, and compliant agent interactions. Vouched serves industries with critical verification needs—such as healthcare, finance, and automotive—and has traction in e-commerce, digital marketplaces, and regulated sectors. The company says it verifies millions of human and AI agent identities annually and is used by organizations around the world. With the new funding it plans to advance product development, expand industry partnerships, and scale the KYA platform. Vouched provides an AI-based identity verification platform that delivers multi-dimensional, dynamic verification of individuals. Its core product is used by regulated and commercial businesses to quickly and accurately verify individuals while minimizing fraud risk. The company serves more than 300 banks, fintechs and healthcare providers, including Alloy and Hims Health. Vouched intends to use the new funds to enhance its platform, recruit talent, and extend support for financial services and healthtech businesses. Founded in 2018 and led by John Baird, the company is based in Seattle, WA. To date the company has raised more than $18m. Vouched offers an AI and computer vision–driven, end-to-end visual identity verification service that performs real-time fraud detection across government-issued IDs. The platform is expert on more than 550 government-issued identity documents in 70+ countries and supports touchless verification. Vouched has verified nearly 3 million individuals worldwide and serves more than 150 companies across banking, fintech, healthcare, telemedicine, legal, travel/hotel, car rentals, ecommerce, art purchasing, wire transfers, and employment screening. The company emphasizes fast, rigorous, accurate, and compliant online verification to enable digital access to services like banking, healthcare, and government aid. Management says the business will accelerate growth and expand its worldwide identity platform through strategic partnerships, particularly with banking and legal services. Vouched positions its product as a competitive advantage for businesses migrating interactions online and expects continued enterprise adoption. Vouched builds proprietary artificial intelligence and computer-vision systems that power end-to-end visual identity verification and fraud detection in real time. The platform is an expert on more than 450 government-issued identity documents across 50+ countries and serves banks, fintechs, hospitals, e-commerce, and gig and sharing businesses. Vouched’s technology verifies identities in challenging, real-world image conditions and quickly learns new IDs, adapting to diverse business use cases. The company announced a $3M funding round to accelerate growth across banking, fintech, and healthcare verticals. Vouched intends to use the funding to expand into the European market to address PSD2 and new AML compliance demand. Bankers Healthcare Group will also help bring Vouched’s services to nearly 1,200 members of its BHG Bank Network and healthcare partners.

Led · Equity · Jan 2021

Apiture delivers API-first digital banking solutions that serve more than 300 banks and credit unions across the United States. Its platform supports institutions’ needs from leveling the playing field with larger banks to enabling growth through data intelligence and embedded banking strategies. The company plans to use recent funding to accelerate product development initiatives and to expand sales and marketing to meet demand for the Apiture Digital Banking Platform. Apiture is led by CEO Chris Babcock and maintains offices in Wilmington, North Carolina and Austin, Texas. Financially, the company completed a new funding round that brought its total raised to $79M. Apiture provides digital banking solutions to banks and credit unions across the United States. Its platform offers flexible, highly configurable products designed to help a range of financial institutions, from leveling the playing field with larger banks to enabling digital-only brands. Apiture emphasizes an API-first strategy that allows clients to maximize platform capabilities while preserving a seamless user experience. The company is based in Wilmington, N.C., and has been operational since 2017. Apiture has raised $69 million in total funding to date, including a recently closed $29 million financing round. Its solutions are described as award-winning and are targeted at enabling banks and credit unions to deliver competitive digital experiences. Apiture provides two digital experience platforms, Apiture Xpress and Apiture Open, that can be used by financial institutions of any size. Its products currently serve over 400 financial institutions within the United States market. The company is led by CEO Chris Babcock and is based in Wilmington, North Carolina, with an additional office in Austin, Texas. In January 2021 Apiture raised $10M in funding from Bankers Healthcare Group. The company said it intends to use the funds to accelerate key features on its 2021 product roadmap. The funding is positioned to support continued product development efforts. Apiture is a digital banking experience company headquartered in Wilmington, N.C., with a secondary office in Austin, Texas. Led by CEO Chris Babcock, the company offers digital banking products Xpress and Open. Its platforms serve over 400 financial institutions within the United States. The company aims to accelerate development of its digital banking technologies. Apiture recently closed a $20M funding round. The investment is intended to support product development and growth of its digital banking offerings.

Participated · Equity · Dec 2016

Tralongo specializes in dental practice acquisitions and partners with entrepreneurial dentists to expand their businesses by acquiring existing offices. The firm handles deal sourcing, due diligence, financing and the acquisition process, and provides management support including finance, human resources, marketing and ongoing education. Tralongo positions dentists to move from clinical work into management and ownership roles. Since its founding in 2013 the team has cited more than 90 years of combined experience in dental management and transitions, and the company said it entered the first quarter of 2017 with positive momentum. The new capital will be used to finance continued growth throughout the United States and to acquire additional dental practices. Leadership has stated the goal of becoming the fastest growing and most successful DSO and DPMO in the U.S.