The Venture Codex

Participated · Series A · Dec 2023

Founded in 2019 by Larry Haertel Jr. and Aaron Telch, Jiant is a Los Angeles-based ready-to-drink alcohol maker focused on hard tea, kombucha, and cocktail-inspired beverages crafted with fresh-brewed tea, real fruit, and botanicals. Its products are distributed across the U.S. through a network of top-tier distributors and retail partners including Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Target, Kroger, Albertsons, Total Wine & More, HEB, Erewhon and Sprouts. The company recently completed a capital raise to support growth initiatives. Management intends to use the proceeds to bolster production capabilities, drive deeper distribution, support new sales channels, and accelerate expansion of its hard tea line. No operating revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article.

Participated · Series A · Nov 2023

Hang is an NYC-based provider of a direct-to-consumer sports platform that builds fan-celebrity community experiences. The company's product powers virtual watch parties around major sports events, letting fans interact with athletes, performers, and influencers while watching on their own devices. Hang reports driving 800,000 views of each virtual watch party and has connected more than 22 million young sports fans since its founding in September 2021. Led by CEO Jon Klein and CTO Lorne Greene, the company plans to use its new funding to accelerate product development and audience growth. Hang aims to expand its position in the sports media category. The business recently raised $9.2M in Series A financing. Hang produces interactive live virtual watch parties that gather current and former star athletes and celebrities to watch events while facilitating audience interaction — the company emphasizes streaming the "chatter" around games rather than the game feed itself. Its production combines social-media style engagement with professional remote live video production and sometimes a physical gathering (for example, renting a house in LA for players). Hang leans on experienced media and virtual-event operators, including founder Jon Klein and partner Lorne Greene, and uses talent wranglers like Teresa Villano to assemble players who know and enjoy each other. In only four months of operation the company has booked $750,000 in sponsorship revenue and has raised $3.5 million in funding. Hang is currently seeking an additional $10 million to accelerate growth. The team plans to expand the format beyond sports into other live-event verticals (politics, award shows) and pursue branded sponsorship and localized corporate events.

Participated · Series A · Feb 2023

Nalu Bio is a biotech company creating chemistry-based cannabinoids for the consumer and pharmaceutical markets. Its platform generates molecularly identical versions of naturally occurring cannabinoids (CBD, THCV, CBN, CBC, CBG) that are sustainable and free from contaminants found in hemp-extracted cannabinoids. The company intends to use recent funding to accelerate growth and scale production of cannabinoids for consumer products and therapeutics. Nalu Bio was founded in 2019 and is led by CEO Caitlyn Krebs. It is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. The company's technology targets both consumer product and therapeutic applications. Nalu Bio develops next-generation cannabinoid ingredients via a chemistry-based proprietary synthesis platform that produces ultra-pure, consistently performing cannabinoids without contamination risks associated with hemp extraction. The platform is scalable and designed to meet anticipated market expansion, supplying global retail and pharmaceutical markets. The company emphasizes research- and evidence-based cannabinoids and operates with a team of chemists and scientists focused on transparency and quality. Nalu Bio positions its products as free from THC, heavy metals, and pesticides, aiming for wide accessibility and high quality. Leadership highlights a commitment to rigorous standards when partnering with investors and scaling operations.

Participated · Series C · Dec 2022

Plant Prefab's core product is the patented Plant Building System, which combines advanced digital modeling with customizable Plant Panels and Plant Modules to enable modular, panelized, and hybrid building solutions. The company uses a proprietary engineering platform to drive automated manufacturing and provide installation instructions to project partners. Plant Prefab says its system can deliver projects 20–50% faster than site-based methods while producing 30% less construction waste, and it has operated with carbon-neutral operations since 2020. The firm currently operates factories in Rialto and Ontario, California, and is completing the Arvin Hub, a fully automated hybrid panel/module production hub opening in 2023. At scale the Arvin Hub is expected to produce over 900,000 square feet of housing (over 800 units) per year and expand the company's service area across the Western U.S. As of August 2022 Plant Prefab reported a contractual backlog of more than $85M and prospective business totaling more than $660M. Plant Prefab designs and manufactures prefabricated, customizable homes in factory settings with an emphasis on sustainability and energy efficiency. The company says its homes are priced lower than traditional new construction and claims they perform about 30% better than the average California home built in 2020 under Title 24 standards. Plant Prefab recently opened a second factory in Ontario and announced funding for a third highly automated plant to increase volume. The firm says the third factory will enable up to 30% waste reduction, 10–25% cost savings, and 20–50% faster construction versus traditional building methods. As demand has risen, the 94-person company is approaching its 100th building and is focusing on urban projects where customization is especially valuable. Founder and CEO Steve Glenn cites his tech and design background and a lean startup approach as influences on the company’s processes and product development. Plant Prefab designs and manufactures custom single- and multi-family prefabricated homes in a 62,000 square foot facility. Its core product is factory-built sustainable housing that emphasizes materials, processes and operations to reduce energy and water use, resource impact and improve indoor air quality. The company was spun out of LivingHomes in 2016 and is led by Founder and CEO Steve Glenn. In recent months it has installed 26 units in California and Utah and completed a multifamily project in Berkeley. Plant Prefab plans to use new funding to hire senior staff, build its marketing and sales teams, and further develop its patented Plant Building System. The company raised $6.7M in a Series A to support these initiatives. Plant Prefab, a spin-off of LivingHomes founded by Steve Glenn, designs and manufactures sustainable, customized modular homes intended to be durable and healthy. The company aims to deliver lower-cost homes in roughly half the time and with less waste than traditional on-site general contractors. It targets urban infill projects and constrained lots within urbanized areas, offering developers an alternative to local "mom and pop" contractors. Plant Prefab builds modules on an assembly-line in a 61,000-square-foot factory in Rialto, Calif., reducing backlog and improving quality control. The company reports a book of business north of $12 million and has done work in cities such as Los Angeles, with homes built in California. Management plans to scale operations, hire talent, and improve its proprietary building system to reduce manual labor.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2021

DynamiCare Health offers an evidence-based digital platform to reinforce recovery from addiction through smartphone-delivered breath and saliva tests, GPS-verified treatment attendance check-ins, telehealth recovery coaching, and rewards deposited on a smart debit card that blocks cash withdrawals and spending at bars and liquor stores. The company says three published clinical trials validate its effectiveness, showing 2–3x improvements in quit rates across drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Its digital care program is already being used by major health plans, health systems, and research universities. DynamiCare was founded in 2016 by Eric Gastfriend and David R. Gastfriend. The company raised an additional $1.5M in seed funding, bringing total equity funding to $5.6M, and has won over $3M in awards and grants, including three NIH grants. It plans to use the new funds to roll out its program across health plans, employers, government agencies, and the direct-to-consumer market. DynamiCare Health, founded in 2016 and based in Boston, offers an evidence-based digital platform to support addiction recovery. Its core product is a behavioral intervention app that automates Contingency Management by delivering random breath and saliva tests via phone, GPS-verified treatment attendance check-ins, and supportive telehealth recovery coaching. The platform issues rewards for healthy progress via deposits onto a smart debit card that blocks cash withdrawals and spending at bars and liquor stores. The company planned to roll the app directly to consumers later this spring and to advance its telehealth recovery coaching service. DynamiCare’s incentive-driven approach is grounded in research—Contingency Management has been shown effective in over 100 randomized controlled trials—and the technology was already being used at seven addiction treatment programs across the country. Founders are Eric Gastfriend, a Harvard MBA tech executive, and his father David R. Gastfriend, MD, an international expert in addiction psychiatry. The company raised seed funding to support these product rollouts and service expansion.