• BIMA

  Participated · Equity · Apr 2017

  Founded in 2010, MILVIK BIMA builds technology-enabled healthcare products including telemedicine, specialist care, health screening, personalized health programs, medicine delivery, laboratory testing and insurance. Its BIMA Health Wallet—integrated with the BIMA Health+ app—combines fintech tools and e-commerce features to subsidize and streamline payments for care. The company says it has provided 25 million people with primary and secondary healthcare and operates in nine countries across Asia and Africa. BIMA aims to reach 100 million people with affordable, high-quality healthcare by 2026 and is rolling the Health Wallet out in Asia as part of that plan. Partnerships such as work with Access Health International in Bangladesh are being used to explore public–private funding opportunities and increase affordability for users. BIMA provides life and health insurance policies and telemedicine via a mobile-first platform aimed at consumers in emerging markets whose primary online access is via phones. The company bundles tele-doctor consultations with health programs for illness management and partner discounts for pharmacies, and it plans to add more services to that mix. BIMA says it covers COVID and pandemics in its policies and has paid COVID-related claims. It reports 2 million tele-doctor consultations and about 35 million insurance and health policies on its books, having added roughly 11 million customers in the last two years. The startup is active in 10 countries across Africa and Asia and works with governments in Pakistan and Indonesia to provide telemedicine to relieve overburdened health systems. BIMA says telemedicine utilization nearly doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic and intends to expand its operations and product offering with the new funding. BIMA provides convenient, affordable insurance and health products to customers in emerging markets using mobile technology and partnerships with mobile operators. Its distribution model includes a dedicated 3,500-person salesforce to achieve scale and profitability. Since launching in 2010, BIMA has scaled operations in 14 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America and has 24 million registered customers. The company aims to expand its reach in emerging economies and serve the so-called “next billion customers,” and says Allianz’s expertise will help improve its product portfolio. The recent $107 million financing, which includes a $30 million growth round led by Allianz X, strengthens its financial position. BIMA has raised $193.5 million in total since inception. BIMA provides mobile-delivered insurance products that enable customers to pay via deduction of prepaid airtime credit using a proprietary mobile insurance platform. The platform integrates with mobile operators' existing technology and the company partners with microfinance institutions, banks and mobile operators to distribute products. Led by founder and CEO Gustaf Agartson, BIMA serves customers across Africa, Latin America and Asia. The company closed a $16.8M funding round and has raised US$75M since launch. The recent investment is aimed at bringing BIMA's solutions to new high-growth markets across Asia. BIMA is headquartered in Sweden. BIMA offers life, personal accident and health insurance delivered via mobile channels to customers in emerging markets. The company is led by CEO Gustaf Agartson and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. It operates across multiple countries including Ghana, Tanzania, Senegal, Uganda, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Honduras and Paraguay. BIMA employs about 3,500 people and has over 18 million registered customers. The company plans to use new capital to accelerate new market entry, scale its Pay-As-You-Go distribution model, and invest in innovation and product development.

• Altocloud

  Led · Seed · Mar 2015

  Altocloud offers a cloud-based predictive communications platform that combines machine learning with real-time communications to identify optimal online visitors and deliver tailored chat, voice, video and content at the right moment. The SaaS solution integrates with existing marketing automation and e-commerce platforms, requiring no extra infrastructure. Altocloud says the software helps companies decide when to connect prospects to sales reps or make automated recommendations to drive conversions. Beta customers include AppDynamics, ThinkHR, Moxi Works and Smyths Toys, which use the platform to increase lead generation and enhance engagement. The company announced commercial availability of the product and is exhibiting at Enterprise Connect. Altocloud was founded in 2013 and is based in Mountain View, Calif., in Silicon Valley, and has raised a total of $3 million to date.

• Samba Networks

  Participated · Equity · Jan 2015

  Samba Networks (formerly Samba Mobile) offers a B2B mobile video ad player that integrates into third‑party apps, enabling users to earn in‑app credits or mobile top‑ups in exchange for watching ads. The company pivoted last year from a consumer model that offered free 3G for ad views to a B2B insertion play. Its product is integrated into apps including Kik Messenger, Freetone and Recharge Me, and it claims a combined reach of 50 million daily active users across partners. Samba is serving ads in six markets — the U.S., U.K., Germany, Italy, Sweden and Norway — and works with mobile ad supply partners including YuMe and Millennial Media. Ads delivered via its tech gained more than two million views last month and cumulatively 10 million views post‑pivot; CEO Ben Atherton says run‑rate revenue now exceeds total pivot funding. The company plans additional app integrations (including one with 50M–100M daily actives due in Q1) and expects two more ad partners to be plugged into the network this quarter. Samba Mobile offers free 3G mobile broadband credits to desktop, laptop and tablet users who watch video ads via a personalised dashboard, delivering credits redeemable on the Three network. Users earn 3.5MB of data per completed ad view and must purchase a Samba Micro‑SIM (£5) or SIM and dongle (£25) to use connectivity; paid top‑ups are also available. The service launched in the U.K. in July and has grown to roughly 6,000 users and more than one million ad views per month, with reportedly high engagement metrics such as above‑average CTRs, shares and dwell times. Brand advertisers served via social ad aggregators and display networks have included Toyota, Levi’s, Nivea, Dove and Volvo. The company plans to use the latest funding to enhance its brand engagement platform by adding social features, ad rankings and short‑form premium content accessible via ad‑view credit. Samba says future product work will include social recommendation features that surface content and ad preferences of similar users and expand focus further into mobile.

• Flint

  Participated · Series C · Oct 2014

  Flint Mobile provides a mobile point-of-sale payments solution that lets merchants accept on-the-spot payments by photographing customers' credit cards rather than using dongles or extra hardware. The company has expanded its product beyond in-person payments to include Sell Online, which embeds a payment option directly into merchants' websites. Flint has integrated with services such as Intuit QuickBooks and added loyalty/couponing through Apple’s Passbook; the team is also looking at Apple Pay. Sell Online is priced at the same rates as Flint’s mobile payments (1.95% for debit, 2.95% for credit). Flint serves merchants and business customers in the “high tens of thousands,” with average transactions around $120. The company has raised capital to support product expansion and broader internet payments capability, bringing total funding to just over $20 million. Flint Mobile offers an iOS and Android mobile-payments app that uses the phone’s camera to ‘scan’ cards rather than requiring a dongle, targeting service‑oriented merchants who need on-the-go payments, invoicing and receipts. The app supports invoicing (customers can pay online or via mobile), tracking overdue invoices and reminders; it also added Passbook coupon creation and redemption (with QR fallback) and can handle multiple items, custom amounts and discounts. The company recently enabled cash and check handling and includes social marketing tools that drive Facebook referrals via emailed receipts. Fees are competitive: 1.95% for Visa and MasterCard debit and 2.95% for credit cards, while AmEx and Discover are not currently supported. Flint reports about 200,000 installs (majority on iOS), Android launched in October, transaction volume has grown roughly 14x since Q1 2013, and the average transaction is about $100. Management says additional funding will be used for continued product development and customer acquisition, and remaining Android feature rollouts are planned. Flint provides a mobile payments app that lets merchants scan customers’ credit cards with a phone camera, encrypts the data, and routes transactions to a backend processor with a touchscreen signature to complete sales. The company requires no additional hardware and positions its pricing as competitive with debit swipes at 1.95% and credit card transactions at 2.95%. Flint recently added Android support to widen its reach in addition to its existing iOS app. The team is roughly 16 people and plans to expand headcount as it develops backend tools focused on driving repeat business and referrals for small-business customers. The company reported about 150,000 iOS app installs since launching in May 2012 and a 10x surge in transaction volume, which it described as strong engagement. Flint Mobile is a free iPhone app that enables small-business merchants to process payments by photographing the front of a payment card and capturing a customer signature on-screen. The app digitizes the card number from the photo, sends receipts, and can feed transactions into social marketing (for example, posting to Facebook with customer opt-in). Flint positions itself against Square by avoiding a hardware dongle and by claiming funds transfer immediately rather than next-day. The company charges 1.95% plus $0.20 for debit and 2.95% plus $0.20 for credit transactions. Flint is currently in beta on iPhone and says it will offer integration and customization for a select set of distribution partners. The company plans to use the newly raised capital to further product development, hire more people, and market the app; Greg Goldfarb is listed as co-founder and CEO.

• Boom Financial

  Led · Equity · Jul 2012

  Founded in 2008, Boom Financial (formerly m-Via) offers a mobile service that lets users load a prepaid card with cash and then send funds domestically or internationally via text message. U.S. customers can purchase a Boom kit at roughly 15,000 retail locations, register by phone, and add money at participating stores or ATMs; withdrawals are made with the same card at any of 100,000 supported ATMs across more than 150 countries. The company also operates Axon, an enterprise mobile money network tailored for banks, wireless carriers, and other partners. Current coverage allows U.S. users to remit money to destinations such as Mexico and Haiti, with plans to expand aggressively throughout the Caribbean and Central America through a new partnership with Digicel. Boom’s headquarters are in Palo Alto, with additional offices in Pasadena and Mexico City. The 30-person team is expected to double within the year. To date, the company has raised more than $30 million in venture funding.

No current team members are available.