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The Venture Codex

Bullpen Capital

38 Keyes Ave Suite 100, San Francisco, CA, 94129, United States

Overview

Bullpen is a venture capital fund that invests in post-seed capital into early-stage companies. Bullpen Capital launched 10 years ago, the goal was to back overlooked entrepreneurs left behind by the latest Silicon Valley fads. The firm's portfolio spans all categories from fantasy sports to data center equipment to restaurant SaaS. Bullpen was founded in 2010 by Paul Martino and is based in San Francisco, California, United States.

Total investments
127
Lead investments
45
Investments · 12mo
6
Active investors
8

Sector focus

  • Finance
  • Financial Services
  • Venture Capital
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Investment portfolio

  • EDGE Markets

    Participated · Series A · Jun 2026

    EDGE Markets operates a banking platform focused on betting, gaming, and prediction markets, with its flagship product EDGE Boost — a Visa debit program and betting-only deposit account — offering FDIC insurance through Cross River Bank. Since launching about a year ago, EDGE Boost has processed over $2 billion in transactions and, per proprietary research, found 85% of high-value gaming users interested in tailored financial products. The company partners with ZeroHash to provide a compliant crypto-to-USD conversion path and separates gaming funds from everyday finances for users. EDGE Markets plans to roll out EDGE Pro, a high-throughput deposit and margin solution for market makers, and EDGE Connect, a payments rail engineered to lower transaction costs and eliminate chargebacks. To enable EDGE Pro functionality it is pursuing Introducing Broker and FCM registrations with the National Futures Association, and it will offer early access to EDGE Pro and EDGE Connect at no cost in 2026.

  • SpeedLabs

    Participated · Seed · Jun 2026

    SpeedLabs builds a real-time market engine for sports that creates and prices new, short-duration in-game markets called Momentum Markets using foundation models purpose-built for sports. The engine reads the flow of a live game and generates markets and prices in seconds so fans can trade on whether a game's momentum continues. SpeedLabs plans to launch Momentum Markets in summer 2026 and partners with sportsbooks, prediction markets, and platforms where fans trade on sports. The company is hiring across leadership, engineering, machine learning, trading and sports betting, and growth teams to support the launch. Financially, SpeedLabs has raised a $6.5 million seed round to fund its build-out; no revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the announcement.

  • BetHog

    Participated · Series A · Apr 2026

    Founded in 2024 by the creators of FanDuel and based in Edinburgh, BetHog operates a crypto casino and sportsbook available in 14 languages and accepting deposits in 10 cryptocurrencies. Its product mix includes classic casino games, exclusive titles, and AI-powered live dealers; the company launched its first AI blackjack dealer, Sunny, in October 2025 and reports it as one of the most played games. BetHog has introduced Sentient Studios, a B2B platform to let other operators deploy AI dealers across live casino offerings. The company plans to expand its AI dealer capabilities later in the year to include Baccarat and Roulette. BetHog is regulated, backed by investors from sports, crypto and gaming, and has raised a total of €13 million to date following the Series A.

  • Flip CX, Inc.

    Participated · Series A · Jan 2026

    Founded in 2018 and headquartered in New York City, Flip develops a proprietary voice AI platform that instantly answers and autonomously completes high-stakes customer service phone workflows. The system integrates with enterprise back-end tools and has now handled more than 300 million calls, currently processing about 20 million calls per month for roughly 250 global brands such as Under Armour, Tory Burch, and Newell Brands. Flip focuses on deep, vertical-specific integrations, achieving more than 60 % market adoption in the transportation sector and rapidly expanding in retail e-commerce and healthcare. The company positions itself as a specialized alternative to generalist AI agents, touting hundreds of out-of-the-box integrations and proven workflows. Revenue figures are not disclosed, but the scale of usage and enterprise adoption underscore strong operating traction. Proceeds from the latest raise will fund accelerated product development and the build-out of engineering and go-to-market teams in New York, Los Angeles, and the UK. Flip’s operations already span North America, the UK, and Australia/New Zealand.

  • Ciphero

    Participated · Seed · Dec 2025

    Ciphero is a New York City–based startup creating an AI verification and security layer for enterprise environments. Its platform captures, verifies, and governs every AI interaction, flagging risky behavior and guaranteeing trustworthy outputs. By addressing Shadow AI, agentic deployments, data-leak risks, and compliance standards such as SOC 2, Ciphero enables companies to integrate generative AI safely and ethically. The product is currently being tested with select design partners as the team refines enterprise-wide deployment and explores new AI investment opportunities. Leadership comprises CEO Saoud Khalifah, COO Rob Gross, and Chief AI Officer Sen Tian, all alumni of Fakespot, an AI fraud-detection company acquired by Mozilla. Having recently emerged from stealth, Ciphero has secured $2.5 million in pre-seed capital to fund product development and operational expansion.

Team