Participated · Series B · Nov 2019

Bungalow is a San Francisco-based residential real estate marketplace focused on roommate living and whole-home rentals. The company handles roommate matching, furnishings for common areas, rent and utilities payments, and service requests to reduce rental friction. It also aims to build community among residents through its network. Founded in 2017 and led by CEO Andrew Collins and COO Justin McCarty, Bungalow currently has more than 3,000 housemates in hundreds of homes across 16 U.S. markets. The company plans to expand into five additional cities by the end of 2021 (Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, Houston and Phoenix) and will use the new proceeds to expand operations and business reach. Financially, the company has raised over $150M to date following this recent round. Bungalow operates a co‑living marketplace that renovates and redecorates existing housing stock, matches vetted roommates, and manages fully rented homes and apartments. The company targets early‑career professionals who need affordable housing in high‑cost metro areas. Since launching, Bungalow has expanded into multiple U.S. markets and now serves more than 3,200 residents across 730 homes in 10 markets. The company says it is on track to scale to more than 12,000 residents by the end of 2020 and plans to roll out new technology capabilities as it expands into three additional major metro areas in 2020. Bungalow launched in 2017 and has grown through venture funding to support its operational expansion. Its model combines property renovation, roommate matching, and full property management to address underused, outdated housing supply. Bungalow operates a co-living platform that leases homes from homeowners as the master tenant (typically three-year leases) and rents the properties on a room-by-room basis while guaranteeing occupancy to homeowners. The company furnishes common spaces and bundles utilities, Wi‑Fi and housekeeping into monthly rent, and runs member events to build community. Bungalow vets residents with credit and background checks and requires interviews with existing residents before move-in. The company says its rooms are roughly 30–40% cheaper than a studio and highlights faster move-in timelines (some same-day, average search 10–20 days). As of the article, Bungalow operated 200 properties across seven U.S. markets with about 750 residents. Over the next 6–12 months it plans to launch in up to 12 new U.S. markets and hopes to expand outside the U.S. the following year.

Participated · Seed · May 2018

Neighborhood Goods, co-founded in 2017 by Matt Alexander and Mark Masinter and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, operates experiential, rotating retail locations that showcase curated direct-to-consumer and consumer brands. Its first store opened in November 2018 at Legacy West in Plano, Texas; a second location is due at Chelsea Market in New York City and a third is slated to open on South Congress in Austin in early 2020. The company has grown its brand portfolio from 24 at launch to 42 today, and plans to add 16 new brands in Plano to bring active brands there to 58. Neighborhood Goods is preparing a web overhaul to surface events, brands, and products across locations and enable in-store pickup, and is building a digital platform to give brand partners real-time data and analytics. The Series A financing will also significantly expand Neighborhood Goods’ store and HQ teams as it executes its physical and digital expansion plans. Neighborhood Goods is a startup rethinking the department store by creating an ever-changing retail environment where roughly 15 brands run individual "activations." The physical space will include a restaurant, bar and communal areas for events and installations to emphasize social and community aspects beyond transactional shopping. The company plans to augment the in-store experience with technology, notably an iOS app that lets customers learn about brands, text staff, request products and make purchases. CEO Matt Alexander co-founded Neighborhood Goods with Mark Masinter and emphasizes combining the polish of a department store with the dynamism of a pop-up marketplace. The startup plans to open a 13,000-square-foot first location in Plano, Texas this fall as its initial launch market. Financially, Neighborhood Goods announced a $5.75M seed round led by Forerunner Ventures to fund its launch and operations.

Participated · Equity · May 2018

Neighborgoods is a Dallas-based startup looking to create a "new type of department store." The company is led by CEO Matt Alexander. In May 2018 it received $5.75M in funding. The round was led by Forerunner Ventures and included investors such as CAA Ventures, Michael Dubin, Maveron, Global Founders Capital, NextGen Venture Partners, Revolution and Alan P. Shore. CAA Ventures is described as the venture arm of the Creative Artists Agency and Michael Dubin is identified as the founder of Dollar Shave Club. The article does not disclose additional operating metrics or further financial details.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2018

Dapper Labs is the maker of NBA Top Shot, a fantasy basketball NFT game where users buy, sell and trade digital cards representing NBA players and moments. The company developed Flow, a blockchain built for scalability and practical use cases, which it positions as an infrastructure play beyond fantasy sports. NBA Top Shot has 1.1 million registered users who have traded more than $780 million on the platform. Dapper Labs recently signed a partnership with LaLiga and expects to launch its LaLiga experience in June 2022. The company faces competition from other NFT sports platforms such as Sorare, which is also expanding into additional professional sports. Dapper is betting heavily on Flow to power additional experiences beyond NBA Top Shot. Dapper Labs builds NFT-based digital collectibles and the Flow blockchain protocol, best known for NBA Top Shot. The company reported that Top Shot has generated over $500 million in sales for its animated trading cards. Dapper will use new financing to continue building NBA Top Shot and expand the platform to other sports and a broader creator community. Flow is designed to handle mainstream consumer applications at scale, enable fiat and credit-card transactions, and reduce high gas fees and environmental concerns. Major partners and users of Flow include Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, Warner Media, the UFC and thousands of third-party developers and creators. The round values the company at about $2.6 billion, according to multiple media reports, and CEO Roham Gharegozlou framed NFTs as a new monetization model for fans and creators. Dapper Labs builds NFT products and its own high-throughput Flow blockchain. Its flagship collectibles game NBA Top Shot launched in full after a private beta that generated over $2 million in revenue. The company completed work on Flow earlier this year; the FLOW token is the native asset used by validators, developers and users to participate in the network and earn rewards. Dapper recently closed an $18 million token sale on CoinList, with 13,000 participants between Sept. 21 and Oct. 2. Earlier it raised $12 million in a prior funding round that included Coinbase Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and several NBA stars. The firm's activity combines collectible gaming, token economics and blockchain infrastructure. Dapper Labs develops the Flow blockchain and is the company behind CryptoKitties and upcoming titles such as NBA Top Shot. The company uses blockchain technology to create new forms of digital engagement for fans, giving people a stake in communities and new ways for consumers to become creators. Flow is designed to provide the stability and scalability necessary for blockchain products to support mass-market adoption, and it also provides payment rails for credit cards and cryptocurrency. Dapper has announced partnerships with the NBA and NBPA, Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, UFC, and Dr. Seuss Entertainment to build gaming and entertainment experiences on Flow. The company intends to use the funds raised to scale the Flow project. Roham Gharegozlou is founder and CEO; Dapper Labs was founded in 2018 and is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Dapper Labs is best known for CryptoKitties and is developing consumer-facing projects such as NBA Top Shot. The company unveiled Flow, a blockchain built to support high-performance ecosystems of apps and games without compromising decentralization. Flow is aimed at enabling music, gaming, and sports experiences that use crypto tokens, interoperable game assets, and verified digital memorabilia. Dapper Labs announced partnerships and advisory support from entertainment and game companies, including Ubisoft and Animoca Brands, and a strategic investment from Warner Music Group. Flow is scheduled to launch in 2020 to support the company’s large-scale consumer projects. Financially, Dapper Labs raised $11 million in the reported round and has raised $40 million to date.

Participated · Equity · Dec 2017

Genies provides a software development kit and an application programming interface that developers can use to integrate avatar technology into apps, plus user-facing tools for creators without extensive coding know-how. The company enables creation of avatars, avatar fashion lines, accessories and other virtual creations, and allows users to turn creations into NFTs which can be traded on its marketplace, The Warehouse. Genies is testing consumer avatar creator tools through an invitation-only beta program and has formed partnerships with Warner Bros. Entertainment and Universal Music Group to enable artist avatars and avatar wearables. The company claims a 99% celebrity avatar market share. Genies will use the new funding to hire more engineers and to continue enhancing the core technology powering its avatar tools and surrounding ecosystem. Financially, the company announced the new round at a $1 billion valuation after raising $150 million. Genies builds customizable digital avatars and an SDK to integrate those avatars across apps and platforms, focusing on giving entertainers and users a digital presence. The company has secured partnerships with high-profile musicians such as Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes and Cardi B, and brand deals including Gucci. It has rolled out avatar creation to all users through beta mobile apps and emphasizes that it is an avatar company first — not an NFT startup — even as it explores crypto-backed digital goods. Genies is launching an NFT/crypto marketplace and accessories storefront on Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain in partnership with Dapper; the marketplace is expected to launch in the coming months, potentially as early as this summer. The startup says pandemic-era trends accelerated demand for wholly digital social spaces and that these dynamics helped drive recent investor interest. Genies began by creating cartoon-like 2D avatars for celebrities and has since rolled out more realistic 3D avatars plus a software development kit that partners like Giphy and Gucci can integrate. The company enables celebrities and everyday users to create avatars that can wear branded merchandise and appear across apps. Genies works with thousands of celebrities, including Shawn Mendes, J.Lo, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Cardi B, and others. The company says it plans to expand its SDK partnerships to form a digital identity ecosystem that lets avatars move between platforms, framing that effort as a mini‑version of the metaverse. As part of an Asia push, Genies is opening an office in Tokyo and expanding its presence in the region. Financially, the company announced a $3 million investment from Bandai Namco to support that expansion; no revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article. Genies creates lifelike cartoon avatars that users can style and export for use across iMessage, Instagram and other apps. The company pursues a three-pronged strategy: a consumer app that sells branded clothing and accessories for avatars, a digital talent agency that connects celebrities with brand partnerships, and a software kit for third-party apps to integrate Genies avatars. Brands including Gucci, Bird and New Balance have paid to style avatars or to have celebrities promote products via their Genies; celebrity accounts such as Scooter Braun’s and DJ Khaled’s have featured the avatars. Genies launched out of stealth in 2017 and relaunched its app in November 2018; the article describes it as a three-year-old startup. The company has attracted celebrity investors and backers including Carmelo Anthony, Kyrie Irving and 50 Cent and has leveraged that network to drive promotional deals. Financially, Genies raised a new $15 million round that brought total funding to $40 million and a valuation north of $100 million, but the CEO would not disclose revenue and the company is not yet profitable. Genies creates lifelike, personalized avatars that users can customize from millions of permutations and use to chat, share stickers, games, animations and AR across other apps. Its mobile apps let you chat through your avatar—which detects actions, places, things and emotions and offers corresponding animations—and support conversations with up to six friends. Genies is shifting away from scripted content toward algorithmic animation suggestions and is positioning itself as an avatar services company via a developer SDK. The SDK lets partners license deep avatar features (keyboards, stickers, games, AR) and includes brand integrations such as a Gucci wheel in the creator. Financially, Genies raised a $10 million party round to fund these strategies after previously raising $15 million in stealth at launch a year earlier. The product has attracted more than one million people who have customized avatars, and users spend an average of 19 minutes creating their Genie.