Led · Seed · Sep 2025

Lapee makes pink urinals designed for women and gender non-conforming people who squat to pee, aimed at improving public sanitation and gender inclusion. Founded in 2019 in Copenhagen, its product has been deployed at hundreds of music festivals, sporting events and public spaces and achieved viral exposure (over 90 million TikTok views in the past year). The company has built a community of users and customers that it says champion its mission and has turned to that community for ownership via crowdfunding. Lapee recently closed a Seed round and launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on Republic Europe to invite global supporters to become co-owners. Immediate plans include European expansion and further deployments into under-served environments such as stadiums, urban public parks and construction sites; one installation is already planned at a Danish worksite. The team cites strategic industry support—notably a largest cheque from Best Nights VC (Jägermeister’s investment arm)—to help scale operations.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2023

Soundboks designs large, high-volume Bluetooth speakers built for festivals, parties, and outdoor events, with features like removable grills, XLR input, wireless party mode, and a claimed 40-hour battery life. The fourth-generation unit uses three 72W RMS Class D amplifiers, two 10-inch woofers, a compression tweeter, and a new DSP to improve bass and fidelity, and the company claims a maximum volume of 126 dB. Founded in 2014 and emerging from YC Winter 2016 and a successful Kickstarter ($600,000 in preorders), Soundboks has strong product-market fit in Denmark (claimed 1% household penetration) and Sweden (0.6%). CEO Jesper Thomsen says the company is shifting to run more like a hardware business focused on healthy, profitable growth rather than growth at all costs. Soundboks is targeting incremental expansion outside its home market, specifically Germany and the U.S., and emphasizes hiring trusted local partners for new markets. The company has raised modest outside capital and says any future funding would need to be dedicated to specific uses.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2023

Lex is a text-first social app inspired by vintage lesbian personals that operates as a community hub for LGBTQIA+ people. The product emphasizes text-only posts and local, community-oriented uses such as dating, finding roommates, selling tickets, venting, and other neighborhood exchanges. A February redesign codified a broader community focus and prompted debate as some users lamented a deemphasis on dating and hookups. The company has about 11 employees, is three years old, and ranks around No. 350 on Apple’s U.S. social networking charts, with concentrated usage in cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Leadership recently shifted: co-founder Jennifer Lewis moved from COO to CEO, founding CEO Kel Rakowski became chief creative officer, and former Hinge product boss Michelle Parsons joined as chief product officer. Lex plans to use new funding to expand while prioritizing community-sensitive monetization rather than an ad-based growth model. It is already testing paid features, including charging users who want to post more frequently than the app typically allows. Lex is an MVP social app that lets users create profiles and post text-based personal ads (personals) and browse or like others’ personals without requiring mutual matches. The app launched on the App Store in November 2019 and intentionally omits in-feed photos, though users can link to Instagram and messaging is available without a match. Founder Kell Rakowski built the product from an audience that responded to curated historic personal ads, and the current team is five people with 80% cis women, 20% cis men, 80% identifying as LGBTQ and three team members of color. With the new funding, Lex plans to hire underrepresented talent in product and engineering as a hiring priority. Product roadmap items include adding clickable profile photos (not in the feed), group chat for community building, and eventually a freemium subscription model to unlock extended functionality. For now the focus is on growth and building out the app.

Participated · Equity · Jun 2023

Togather, formerly Feast It, is a UK-based marketplace that connects event planners to a range of suppliers including venues, bars, photographers and florists. The company rebranded after six years to reflect a broader offering beyond its street-food origins. Togather says it will use the extra runway from its fundraising to include a wider spectrum of services for planners on its platform. The business is led by CEO and co‑founder Digby Vollrath, who framed the rebrand around "the coming together of people." The company completed an $8.5 million fundraising, which it plans to deploy to expand its platform and extend runway.

Participated · Seed · Jun 2021

Thursday is a single-day matching dating app that opens at 00:01 each Thursday and closes at midnight, with matches and conversations disappearing after 24 hours. Profiles are basic (up to five photos, a few topline details and short prompts) and there is a Stories-style feature that also deletes after 24 hours. Matching uses a "rough location" so users can find convenient nearby meeting spots while exact location is not shared. The app limits likes (x10 per day) to discourage indiscriminate swiping and offers a VIP paid tier that increases visibility, unlimited likes and limited extra-day access. Since launching in May in London and New York the app has recorded over 52,000 downloads and, on one day, 110,000 likes leading to 7,500 matches. The team plans to hire growth, marketing and tech roles, run a six-figure marketing strategy and expand to other cosmopolitan cities.