Led · Series A · Jun 2026

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in New York, Chptr builds a distribution layer for time-sensitive, hyperlocal community stories, beginning with end-of-life memorial announcements. Its Broadcast, Social, and Video offerings convert family-provided photos and stories into professional-grade memorial videos that are reviewed by humans before broadcast. Chptr partners directly with funeral homes and media companies, including an integration with Tribute Technology (which serves more than 9,000 funeral homes), to plug into existing local workflows. The platform is live in 132 U.S. television markets and has delivered thousands of localized broadcasts, reaching a majority of American households. Chptr emphasizes a constrained, human-centered use of AI for formatting, production, and distribution and states family data is never sold or repurposed. The company recently raised $5.5 million in a Series A to fund geographic expansion, deeper broadcast and audio integrations, and additional local content categories.

Participated · Equity · Aug 2025

Welcome Tech operates a digital platform built for immigrants, offering access to healthcare, jobs, education and financial tools. The company serves both immigrant community members and enterprise partners, enabling inclusive economic participation and helping employers recruit, retain and serve a diverse workforce. It reports over 4.5 million registered members and a growing base of enterprise partners. Led by CEO Amir Hemmat, Welcome Tech plans to accelerate development of its proprietary AI infrastructure and expand its workforce engagement platform. The company raised new capital to fund product and platform growth and scale its services to employers and immigrant users. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California. Welcome Tech offers a suite of products for immigrants, including a bilingual mobile app, a debit card/digital wallet, educational content (SABEResPODER), a Rewards Center, FarmaSEP prescription savings and PODERSeguros auto insurance assistance. The company says it is approaching 4 million registered and active users, surpassed about 1 million app downloads, and has opened more than 500,000 fee-free bilingual bank accounts. From March 2021 to March 2022, wallet growth increased 2,200% and digital-wallet revenue rose 2,800%; its subscription service (launched January 2021) saw 50% quarter-over-quarter growth between Q1 2021 and Q1 2022. Welcome Tech relies on both digital and offline user acquisition channels, including partnerships with embassies and consulates, and emphasizes education-first trust building to lower acquisition costs. The company is not yet profitable and has expanded its team from 20 to 80 employees since its last raise; the board and staff report substantial ethnic diversity. Leadership says the raise will fuel steps toward building a full "operating system" for immigrants and eventual expansion beyond the U.S. Welcome Tech has built a bilingual digital platform, SABEResPODER, that provides educational resources, information and services targeted initially at the U.S. Hispanic community. The company launched a banking service (including a debit card and bilingual mobile app) six months prior to the article and in January introduced a $10/month subscription that offers discounted healthcare resources and free televisits. Welcome emphasizes earning community trust and gathering data before rolling out financial products, positioning financial services as its beachhead. Its platform is approaching 3 million active users, according to CEO Amir Hemmat. Founders Amir Hemmat and Raul Lomeli-Azoubel say the company aims to be a “digital Ellis Island” and plans to use new capital to build partnerships and increase awareness. Welcome operates out of Los Angeles with an office in San Antonio, Texas. Welcome Technologies is a Los Angeles‑based certified B‑corporation providing a platform that connects the global immigrant community to information, products, and services. The company leverages data from distribution channels that reach over 9 million immigrants a year and has built AI-powered products across affordable healthcare, micro-loans, educational resources, and more. Welcome reports a membership of nearly 2 million immigrants and uses that scale to deliver services and insights. Led by Chairman Raul Lomeli-Azoubel and CEO Amir Hemmat, the company recently strengthened its management team with hires including Joe Munoz, Christopher Gulczynski, Rene Garcia, and Gavin Hewitt. It closed an $8M Series A and intends to use the proceeds to expand its digital offerings and build an operating system for immigration. Welcome focuses on combining platform distribution, data, and AI to improve immigrant outcomes and product reach.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2024

Sealed is a residential energy efficiency startup based in New York that provides software and solutions to contractors to accelerate home weatherization and electrification projects. The company recently launched Sealed Pro, a software platform focused on accelerating home energy improvement and electrification projects and initially focused on securing rebates for contractors. Its product suite includes a one-stop rebate solution, investment-grade energy savings predictions, customer qualification and education tools, and data and analytics for contractors. Sealed also acts as an aggregator for utility and government incentives, handling rebate processing and payments on behalf of contractors and enabling participation in measured savings and Virtual Power Plant (VPP) programs. The company raised $30M in funding and is using the proceeds to expand operations and development efforts. Sealed is led by co-founder and CEO Lauren Salz. Sealed provides end-to-end design, management, and financing of home weatherization and electrification upgrades, including insulation, air sealing, smart thermostats, lighting, and heat pump HVAC. After a remote home assessment Sealed prescribes the right combination of improvements and covers upfront costs, with a payment program based on actual energy reductions so the company is accountable for impact. The company says resulting efficiencies can cut energy use by as much as 50% and enable taking homes completely off fossil fuels. Sealed grew 350% from 2020 to 2021 and has expanded beyond New York State into Connecticut, New Jersey, the Philadelphia metro area and recently the Chicago metro area as it pursues national expansion. Management says surging homeowner interest positions the company to scale to millions of American homes. Sealed was founded in 2012 and is based in New York City. Sealed is an NYC-based home wellness company that empowers home heating and cooling with upgrades such as insulation and HVAC technology. The service matches homeowners with the right contractor, covers upfront costs, and gets paid if a house saves energy. Its performance-based financing is built on a patent-pending machine learning algorithm that uses real usage and consumption data to predict energy use and savings. Founded in 2012 by Lauren Salz (CEO) and Andy Frank (president), Sealed has partnerships with all major New York utilities, including Con Edison, Orange and Rockland Utilities, National Fuel Gas, Central Hudson Utilities, NYSEG and RG&E. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate nationwide expansion, beginning with launches in New Jersey and Connecticut and additional market entries over the next year focused on areas with older homes and extreme weather. Greg Smithies of Fifth Wall joined Sealed's board as part of the financing.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2023

Loupe offers art streaming services that display contemporary artworks—including fine art, photography, street art, digital, NFT and motion art—across customizable channels and algorithmic playlists. The platform uses patented software to ingest digital assets and user preferences to create ambient entertainment experiences, and currently represents more than 700 artists and 50+ channels. Loupe maintains over a dozen streaming relationships with platforms such as Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Comcast Xfinity, Google TV, LG Channels, Samsung TV Plus, Sling TV, Xumo, ViX, FreeCast and Vizio WatchFree+. The company recently launched Loupe for Business, a solution for out-of-home markets (hospitality, healthcare) to schedule and tailor branded art experiences by location and time. Led by Founder and CEO Dot Bustelo, Loupe plans to use new funding to drive lead generation around branded content, build consumer awareness, and expand streaming partnerships with major media and hospitality companies in 2023. The company raised $3M in a Seed+ round to support these strategic priorities.

Participated · Equity · Feb 2023

Loliware develops seaweed-derived resins and materials intended to replace conventional plastics across a wide array of products. Its resins are fully compatible with existing plastic extrusion equipment, enabling manufacturers to swap seaweed pellets for plastic pellets. The materials compost easily and enrich soil once broken down. The company has commercially launched single-use drinking straws, cups, utensils and films. Loliware raised $6 million in its latest financing, bringing total pre-Series A funding to $15.4 million; the company says the funds will be used to grow the market for seaweed materials, launch new products and seaweed resins, and expand R&D. Founded in 2016 and based in San Francisco, Loliware has secured both institutional and strategic backers. Loliware develops kelp-based, plastic-like disposable straws (and planned cups and utensils) using a proprietary material and manufacturing process that preserves performance while enabling biodegradability. Founder and CEO Chelsea "Sea" Briganti led the company through extensive R&D and more than a thousand prototypes to create scalable material technology and new manufacturing practices. Demand has grown rapidly: the company says it has gone from a few million to a hundred million in recent years and projected a billion straws shipping in 2020. Loliware plans to license its automated manufacturing technology to strategic plastic or paper manufacturers rather than producing billions of straws in-house. The company is building supply-chain governance via an Algae Sustainability Council and a “Zero Waste Circular Extraction Methodology” to ensure sustainable, equitable seaweed processing. The recent seed funding will be used to accelerate scaling and further R&D for additional straw types, a cup and a utensil.