Participated · Equity · Sep 2021

Together is a Los Angeles-based rental platform that helps people live in community by connecting Point of Contacts, community members, and properties. The platform enables Point of Contacts to directly acquire community members and a property for a community to live in, while allowing homeowners to find tenants with little to no acquisition cost. Members pay community membership fees in exchange for housing, supportive housemates, and access to community activities, events, and retreats. Together handles setting up each Casa and manages bookings, payments, and payouts. The company closed a $2M funding round in September 2021 and plans to use the funds to expand engineering, design, and operational teams, refine the product, and expand its business reach.

Participated · Seed · Jun 2021

Simplified is a San Francisco-based AI-powered content creation and marketing platform that enables teams to design, write marketing copy, create videos, collaborate, and publish to social channels in one place. The company is led by CEO and co-founder KD Deshpande and COO and co-founder Ajay Yadav and operates a global, remote-first team of ten people across the US, Mexico, Bangladesh, India, and Armenia. Simplified raised $8.5M in seed funding to expand operations, amplify its machine learning models, enhance the AI copywriting experience, and broaden support for Spanish, German, Japanese, Korean, French, and Malay. In five months the product attracted more than 150,000 new users and generated 300 million words through its AI copywriting tool. Investors in the round include Craft Ventures (lead), Khosla Ventures, Wing Venture Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, 8-Bit Capital, Mads Johnsen (CPO, Calm), Manik Gupta (Corporate Vice President, Microsoft), and Ankur Nagpal (Founder of Teachable, Vibe Capital). The company intends to use the funding to scale operations and improve its machine-learning capabilities while continuing to grow its user base. Simplified is a San Francisco, CA–based provider of marketing-focused design software led by KD Deshpande. Its platform leverages machine learning to automate content creation, including copy, imagery, format and sizing, and offers collaborative tools for teams to share work and assets across an organization. The system also integrates with stock photo and video services. The company raised $2.2M in funding and said it will use the proceeds to expand operations and broaden its business reach. Investors include a mix of venture firms and angels who participated in the round. No revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2021

Toucan builds a Chrome extension that scans webpage text and replaces select words with translations in users' target language to create passive, contextual vocabulary learning. The product supports seven languages (Spanish, Korean, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese) and blends human translators with machine learning and natural language processing to ensure contextual, progressively personalized translations. The company reports about 60,000 monthly active users acquired organically. Toucan operates a freemium model with a Toucan Premium subscription starting at $4.99 per month that increases translation density and offers ad opt-out and sponsorship (“own a word”) features. The startup has a small team (about 12 employees) and plans to grow headcount and expand browser support. Future product plans include internationalizing translations (e.g., Spanish↔English), launching a Safari extension, supporting more browsers and integrating the layer into mobile apps and physical-world experiences. Toucan’s Chrome extension teaches users languages by translating a subset of words on English-language websites into the learner’s target language, with the original English revealed on hover. It currently supports Spanish, French, Italian, German and Portuguese. The product combines natural language processing with teams of translators, including college professors and students, and allows users to report incorrect translations. Toucan is experimenting with engagement and monetization features such as paid "word ownership" sponsorships and a premium subscription that unlocks additional vocabulary while keeping a large portion of the offering free. The company plans to add new languages, launch Firefox and Safari extensions, and explore applying the same approach to other subjects like history or science. Financially, the startup announced a $3 million seed round led by GSV Ventures with participation from several venture firms and strategic angel investors.

Participated · Seed · Jan 2021

Gowalla is a resurrected AR social app originally founded in 2009. The relaunched product aims to let users "unlock" the world around them through augmented reality, blending social features inspired by TikTok with platform-style elements like Roblox. The team is recruiting a beta "Street Team" of early testers to find points of interest and help shape the product. Co-founder Josh Williams returned to relaunch the app alongside new co-founder Patrick Piemonte. The company plans to share more about the launch experience in the coming months and hopes to open beta in early summer. Financially, Gowalla has raised a new $4 million seed round and previously raised just over $10 million before being acquihired by Facebook for $3 million. GoWalla is an Austin, Texas mobile social network that launched just months before the reported financing and centers on location-based check-ins. The service had about 50,000 users at the time of the report and its PackRat Facebook application brought in “single digit millions” in revenue. Investors in the recent round were reportedly focused on GoWalla’s mobile strategy. The product lets users check in to places they visit and share locations with friends, positioning it alongside competitors such as foursquare. The article describes location-based check-ins as a winning model with rapid user expansion and strong engagement. Financially, the company completed a financing with a $20 million pre-money valuation, raised $8.4 million in the round, and had a $28.4 million post-money valuation.

Participated · Seed · Feb 2020

Supercast is a Vancouver, B.C.-based startup that enables podcasters to offer premium subscription options such as ad-free episodes and exclusive content. The company emerged from a beta period and says it has delivered "seven-figures in revenue" to customers over the last four months while doubling the number of subscribers served. It raised a $2 million seed round to hire what it called a "world-class remote team" and currently lists four open positions, including a CTO/tech lead. Investors helped fund early operations and the seed to support growth and hiring. Supercast aims to serve podcasters who cannot rely on large-scale ad revenue by providing a subscription monetization platform. The company sits alongside other monetization players like Glow, Anchor.fm and Slate’s Supporting Cast.