The Venture Codex

Participated · Series B · May 2022

Generation Esports operates a global, community-focused esports platform centered on scholastic competition, notably its High School Esports League (HSEL) and Middle School Esports League (MSEL). The company offers a one-stop solution for schools, students, educators, parents, and coaches, combining competitions, community features, content, and education. It provides an education offering with more than 80 STEM-accredited lessons and reports a 1.7 increase in overall student GPA and a 10% improvement in student attendance tied to its programs. Generation Esports will use new funding to invest in technology, competitions, communities, content, and education, and recently acquired AI-based Wizard Labs to add automated streaming, clipping, and video distribution capabilities. The company reports more than 200,000 registered users and 5,000 partnered/affiliate schools and is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Generation Esports operates a platform for staging esports leagues, tournaments and related events for students, centered on programs such as the Microsoft-backed High School Esports League (HSEL) and a Middle School Esports League. The company partners with 3,400 schools and reports more than 140,000 student members across 50 states, and has 59 employees. Its activities include the HSEL Roadshow, outfitting high schools with esports labs, the Intel Winners Circle Tournament, and a planned Parks & Recreation Esports League. Sponsors and partners named in the article include Asus, Intel, the Army National Guard, Aim Lab, Ubisoft and others. The company highlights educational outcomes from its HSEL Gaming Concepts curriculum, citing GPA improvement and strong attendance where implemented. Generation Esports recently raised $10.8 million, which it says will be used to expand scholastic programs and community student esports initiatives; the article notes the company has raised about $11 million in total to date.

Led · Series A · Dec 2021

Zesty.io is a SaaS enterprise digital experience platform (DXP) that automates architectures and business processes to create, manage, and distribute digital experiences at scale. Its platform supports marketing and eCommerce websites, mobile applications, signage, virtual games and plans for content in the metaverse. The company emphasizes developer and marketer flexibility while providing enterprise workflows, security, and scalability through proprietary technology for on-the-fly page rendering and data delivery. Customers include Epic Games and Sony, illustrating usage for high-traffic sites. In December 2021 Zesty.io closed a $3.0M pre-Series A to support growth and product development. The company has announced plans to launch an App/Integration Marketplace and expand support, operations, and partner networks in EMEA and APAC in 2022. Zesty.io is a cloud-based web content management system (WCMS) targeting marketers and developers at mid-market and enterprise organizations. Its SaaS platform includes integrated tools to quickly create digital assets such as websites, landing pages and mobile data. The platform features a scalable, secure global distribution engine that allows rapid publishing to omnichannel touchpoints simultaneously. Zesty.io operates proprietary global infrastructure hosting web services and uses a proprietary programming language for managing and organizing content. Its customers include Sony Electronics, Acorn.com, Rocket League, Astroglide and Hofbräuhaus. Founded in 2010 and led by CEO Gerry Widmer, the company recently raised $1.5M to accelerate sales, marketing and product development.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2021

Concert Health is a behavioral health medical group that delivers integrated behavioral health services to primary care, pediatrics, and women’s health practices using the evidence-based Collaborative Care model. Its core product is a turnkey service combining an expert clinical team and a technology platform that embeds behavioral health clinicians into existing care teams to improve outcomes for depression and anxiety. The company reports it has served over 27,000 patients to date, with 55% covered by Medicaid or Medicare, and partners with 54 medical groups across 11 states. Concert says its model reduces symptoms, increases medication adherence, and raises patient satisfaction, and the organization plans to expand into Arkansas, Massachusetts, and Washington this quarter while scaling nationwide. The company works with health systems, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Rural Health Clinics, and independent medical groups to reach underserved and vulnerable populations. Concert is headquartered in San Diego and emphasizes improving value-based care outcomes through integrated behavioral health. Concert Health provides turnkey behavioral health services combining expert Behavioral Care Managers, psychiatrists, and a technology platform to embed Collaborative Care Management (CoCM) into primary care and women’s health. Since 2018 the company has scaled partnerships with 44 medical groups and health systems and supports over 800 physicians across seven states. Its model delivers measurable outcomes—over 60% of patients have seen depression or anxiety symptoms reduce by half within the first 90 days. Concert’s services are reimbursed as a covered benefit for Medicare, most commercial insurers, and Medicaid programs in 18 states. The company plans to use new capital to expand its clinical, technology, and commercial teams and rapidly scale services in primary care and women’s health settings. Concert also partners with large systems including CommonSpirit Health to broaden access to its model.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2018

Tourmaline Labs is a San Diego-based artificial intelligence company led by CEO Marc Brungger that analyzes mobility data, such as speed and other sensor data, to provide smartphone-based solutions for large enterprise fleets. It delivers its product via a pure SaaS model that permits integration and management of third-party vehicles and operators. The company intends to use the funds to build its sales and account management team and to scale up its proprietary technology. Tourmaline serves large enterprise fleets through smartphone-based sensor analytics. The article does not disclose revenue, users, or other operating metrics. Tourmaline Labs builds software that collects mobility and transportation data from drivers' cellphones, eliminating the need for vehicle-installed telematics hardware. The team includes aerospace engineers, AI specialists, and advanced embedded software engineers who have instrumented more than 250,000 drivers across 150 countries. The company targets applications in insurance, fleet management, ridesharing, and workforce management. Leadership change to a commercial-focused CEO signals a push to scale sales and commercialization. Founders Sven Beerweiler and Lukas Kuhn remain involved, with Beerweiler transitioning to a business development role. The company was founded in 2015.

Participated · Series B · Jun 2017

Cloudbeds provides a cloud-based hospitality management platform that combines tools for operations, revenue management, guest experience, and marketing with a marketplace of third-party integrations. The platform is designed to help independent hoteliers and hosts grow revenue, streamline operations and enable memorable guest experiences. The company serves customers of 22,000+ independent properties across 157 countries. Led by CEO Adam Harris and COO Richard Castle, Cloudbeds raised $150M in a Series D to support growth. The round brought total venture funding to $253M and was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 with participation from Echo Street, Walleye Capital, Viking Global Investors, PeakSpan Capital and Counterpart Ventures. Cloudbeds intends to use the funds to grow its team, accelerate customer acquisition, expand product offerings, and invest in delivering technology to the industry. Cloudbeds provides a hospitality management suite that offers tools to manage properties of any type and size. Its software is used by more than 20,000 hotels, hostels, inns and alternative accommodations across 157 countries. Led by CEO Adam Harris and COO Richard Castle, the company was founded in 2012 and is based in San Diego, CA. Cloudbeds has over 400 employees with local teams in 40 countries and staff speaking over 30 languages. In November 2020 Cloudbeds raised $82M in a Series C financing. The company intends to use the funds to further invest in its technology platform. Cloudbeds develops an all-in-one hospitality software suite that includes property management, channel management, and a commission-free booking engine. The company’s channel manager, myallocator, is a popular standalone solution used by thousands of properties. Founded in late 2012 and led by CEO Adam Harris and President/COO Richard Castle, Cloudbeds employs 102 people worldwide. It has offices in San Diego, São Paulo, and Dublin and services tens of thousands of properties in 120+ countries. The company is using the recent financing to continue expanding operations globally.