Participated · Seed · Mar 2023

Autio offers a location-based audio storytelling app that uses a user’s GPS location to deliver narrated stories about nearby landmarks, cities, and towns. The company was founded by Woody Sears, Bill Werlin, and Kevin Costner and is based in Santa Barbara. It originally launched in August 2020 under the name HearHere. On March 29, 2023, Autio announced it had raised $5.9 million in a funding round. The round was led by iHeartMedia. The article does not disclose additional operating metrics, valuation, or other participating investors. HearHere is a GPS-powered audio entertainment app that delivers immersive, location-based storytelling to road-trip travelers. Launched in August 2020 and based in Santa Barbara, the app pushes three- to five-minute stories to users as they drive, surfacing history, natural landscape, sports, music and local insights. HearHere currently has more than 100,000 registered users and offers over 8,880 stories across the continental United States; free accounts include five stories while paid subscriptions cost $36 per year for unlimited access. The company maintains a 26-person content team of researchers, writers, editors and narrators (primarily contractors), and actor Kevin Costner joined in 2020 as a co-founder, narrator and investor. HearHere plans to expand its content library, add offline listening, launch an Android app, and extend availability to Alaska and Hawaii later this year. The new funding will also be used to grow the team and expand functionality. HearHere produces short (three- to five-minute) narrated audio stories that trigger with users’ permission while they drive, surfacing local history, sports, music and lesser-known points of interest. The company has banked 5,500 stories across 22 states and plans to be nationwide by summer. It operates a content team of 22 researchers, writers, editors and narrators and currently has a five-person core team. HearHere offers five free stories per month and unlimited streaming for $35.99 per year. The roadmap includes opening to third-party contributors and incorporating AI and machine learning for language support and better personalization. HearHere has formed distribution and promotion partnerships with AAA, Camping World, Outdoorsy, RVshare and Cruise America.

Participated · Series A · Dec 2022

Buckzy Payments operates a proprietary real-time cross-border payment settlement network and embedded finance platform that offers multi-currency bank accounts, local settlement accounts, and real-time FX quoting and booking. The platform targets financial institutions, neobanks and fintechs and emphasizes no hidden fees or unnecessary overhead costs. Led by founder and CEO Abdul Naushad and based in Toronto, the company has been live since 2020 and has added over 140 customers. Buckzy's payment network currently disburses funds to over 80 countries, including the UK, India, the EU, the Philippines and the UAE, and it recently expanded its network in Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Uruguay). The company raised USD$14.5M in a Series A and intends to use the funds to enter new geographies and expand its product offerings. Buckzy Payments is a Toronto-based fintech that operates a real-time global payments network for international B2B, B2C and P2P transfers. Led by CEO and founder Abdul Naushad, the platform moves funds between banks and third-party wallets. Funds reach recipients in under five minutes and the service is available 24×7, 365 days a year. The network charges zero transaction fees. The company intends to use the seed proceeds to scale its real-time global payments network and expand its cross-border remittance, bill-pay and B2B commerce capabilities.

Participated · Series A · Nov 2020

Lunewave develops 3D-printed Luneburg-lens radar sensors designed for autonomous and industrial vehicles, touting broad bandwidth, high gain and multi-beam capability. The company says its sensors provide a 180-degree horizontal field of view, up to six times the resolution of current systems, long-range detection and reliable performance in poor weather; it claims two Lunewave sensors could replace 20 conventional radar units. Product development operates on two tracks: a pure a-dash system and a platform aimed at level 3–5 autonomy. Lunewave has completed several pre-development projects with OEMs and ride-hailing companies and is working with Tier 1 suppliers on strategic partnerships and joint manufacturing. The company plans to use the latest funding to staff up product development and sales as it nears commercial rollout and expects to announce a strategic partnership with a global Tier 1 supplier by the end of the first quarter. As part of the financing, former BMW director Peter Schwarzenbacher and former Delphi executive James Zizelman will be joining the company's board to support commercialization efforts. Lunewave designs and manufactures specialized Luneburg lens antennae and radar sensors that provide 360-degree field of view and high-resolution, long-range detection even in poor weather. The company positions its spherical sensors as an alternative to conventional multi-sensor systems used in self-driving cars. Lunewave says its technology can accelerate deployment of autonomous vehicles and has applications across 5G wireless networks and aerospace. Led by co-founder and CEO John Xin and based in Tucson, Arizona, the startup intends to use recently raised capital to accelerate development of its radar and antenna technology. The company raised a $5M seed round to fund that development.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2020

Covered by SAGE is a modern, tech-enabled property and casualty (P&C) insurance brokerage that provides a plug-and-play agency platform to lower the financial, operational, and technical burden of building and managing an insurance book of business. The platform offers a refined product marketplace and leverages insurance APIs to give agents a more complete view of customers' unique exposures, enabling more sophisticated advisory. Covered by SAGE aims to turn agents into "super-agents," reducing reliance on years of apprenticeship and allowing agents to write policies from anywhere. The company has launched in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and is currently accepting applications from top P&C agents. Covered by SAGE closed a $6 million seed round to build its tech-powered brokerage and expand its virtual agency model. The company was founded by Rashik Adhikari while at Harvard Business School alongside Doug Rowe; Adhikari previously worked as an investor at Soros Fund Management and the company raised a pre-seed in 2018 led by Tectonic Capital.