Participated · Series C · Jul 2024

Gradient AI is an enterprise software provider that delivers artificial intelligence tools tailored to the insurance industry. Its SaaS platform taps a vast industry data lake containing tens of millions of policies and claims, as well as economic, health, geographic, and demographic variables, to forecast underwriting and claims risk with heightened accuracy. By automating risk assessment and claims processing, carriers can lower quote turnaround times, cut claim expenses, and boost profitability. Customers include leading insurance carriers, managing general agents/underwriters, third-party administrators, risk pools, professional employer organizations, and large self-insured employers across all major lines. The company plans to use newly secured growth capital to enhance its platform and expand its market footprint, aiming to further address evolving challenges in risk assessment and claims management. Gradient AI is backed by venture investors Centana Growth Partners, MassMutual Ventures, Sandbox Insurtech Ventures, and Forte Ventures.

Led · Series B · Feb 2023

CarIQ, founded in 2016 and based in San Francisco, builds machine identity verification and a vehicle-native payments platform that lets vehicles connect directly with banks and service providers to pay for services without a physical credit card. Its flagship product, Car IQ Pay, enables commercial fleets to autonomously initiate, validate, and complete payments for fuel, tolls, parking and other services, and is accepted at over 21,500 fuel stations nationwide including Shell and Sunoco. The platform replaces incumbent fuel cards, reduces back-office reconciliation time, and leverages vehicle data to automate payments, manage spending, generate insights, and reduce fraud. The company positions itself in the roughly $600 billion connected-vehicle payments market. Financially, CarIQ has raised $42 million to date, including a recent $15 million Series B, and reports increasing demand from fleets and merchants. The company plans to use the new funds to accelerate expansion of its payment platform and add commerce categories such as electric vehicle charging, repairs, registration, and insurance. Car IQ builds an autonomous payment platform that lets vehicles validate services and pay for them without human intervention or credit cards. Its core technology creates a digital vehicle fingerprint from complex sensor data to enable vehicle-level identity management and data governance. That fingerprint allows cars to connect directly to physical infrastructure, mobility platforms, and financial institutions to schedule appointments and complete transactions autonomously. The platform is positioned to serve OEMs, fleet managers, car-sharing and ride-sharing services, and commercial fleets, with partnerships across OEMs, financial institutions, and third-party service providers. Founded in 2016 by Sterling Pratz, Car IQ is developing a payment gateway to connect vehicles directly to banks' payment networks. The company recently closed a $5 million Series A to accelerate growth, grow its team, and scale operations.

Led · Series B · Feb 2023

Car IQ is a San Francisco-based vehicle payments company whose flagship product, Car IQ Pay, uses machine identity verification to allow vehicles to connect directly with banks and service providers and make purchases without a physical credit card. Car IQ Pay automates payments for commercial fleets for fuel, tolls, and parking by leveraging vehicle data to help manage spending, generate insights, and reduce fraud. The service is accepted at over 21,500 fuel stations nationwide, including Shell and Sunoco. The company raised an additional $15M in Series B funding, bringing total capital raised to $42M. Car IQ plans to use the funds to accelerate expansion of its payment platform and to add new commerce categories such as electric vehicle charging, repairs, registration, and insurance. The company is led by CEO Sterling Pratz. Car IQ is the first payment solution developed specifically for vehicles and fleets, enabling vehicles to transact directly, securely, and autonomously with merchants. Its contactless payment network allows connected cars and trucks to pay for services including fueling, tolling, parking, and more without adding extra hardware or requiring a human credit card. The company’s patent-pending “Know Your Machine℠” technology uniquely authenticates vehicles and embeds security elements into the payment stream to enable banks and merchants to authorize vehicle-initiated purchases. Car IQ positions its offering as a replacement for incumbent fleet card products, aiming to reduce fraud risk and eliminate tedious back-office reconciliation for fleets and merchants. Leadership describes machine banking as the future and says the technology can expand beyond vehicles to enable IoT devices to pay autonomously. The company recently closed a $15 million Series B to broaden relationships, expand into new markets, and add features to its offering. Car IQ builds a vehicle payment gateway to enable cars to autonomously connect to banking networks and pay for services, removing the need for credit cards in vehicle service and payment workflows. The platform targets automotive OEMs, financial institutions, and third-party service providers, with a focus on fleet managers, car-sharing services, ride-sharing platforms, and commercial fleets. Car IQ’s dynamic identity management leverages vehicle sensor data to create a unique digital vehicle fingerprint, enabling direct connections to payment networks and improving data governance at the vehicle level. This approach aims to reduce fraud risk, add transaction transparency, and streamline operations for fleet managers. The company says it will grow its team, scale operations, and focus on powering full machine commerce as it executes its roadmap. Sterling Pratz, founder and CEO, launched Car IQ after previously founding Autonet Mobile, which was acquired by Lear Corp.

Participated · Seed · Dec 2022

Suplyd provides an end-to-end digital procurement solution for small and medium-sized restaurants, replacing fragmented daily orders with a single streamlined platform. The product connects operators with hundreds of quality products, offers real-time analytics, and delivers procurement insights to simplify restaurant supply procurement. The company intends to expand operations and its development efforts and to enter untapped areas across Egypt while accelerating the development of new service verticals. Suplyd has shown strong operational growth since its 2022 pre-seed, growing nearly 20x in restaurants served and value of goods delivered. Today it serves over 5,000 restaurant customers and continues to roll out new operational tools and services. Suplyd operates a B2B procurement platform for HoReCa businesses that digitizes order procurement, payment and fulfillment, giving restaurants on-demand access to a wide range of SKUs at competitive prices. The platform aims to bring an e-commerce experience to restaurant supply chains, reduce waste, optimize assets and save time by replacing offline sourcing and manual supplier follow-ups. Suplyd also runs a network of tech-enabled fulfillment centers that provide real-time analytics and demand-pattern insights to inform stocking and guarantee fulfillment. The company was founded in January this year and is currently serving 500 customers in greater Cairo, reporting nearly 50% month-over-month growth since launch. Suplyd plans to use the new funding to scale its technology, expand within and beyond Cairo and explore additional growth opportunities across the MENA region.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2022

RapidSOS builds mission-critical artificial-intelligence tools for emergency response, connecting data from more than 600 million devices, sensors and cameras to 22,000+ federal, state, local and defense agencies. Its flagship product, RapidSOS HARMONY, automatically detects emergencies, unifies real-time data and video feeds, and helps coordinate faster, more effective responses. The company’s safety network is used by one million first-responder professionals and has supported over one billion emergencies across a dozen countries. RapidSOS collaborates with more than 200 global enterprises, including half of the U.S. Fortune 10, to modernize 911 and field-response workflows. With the new capital, the team plans to deepen AI-driven interoperability, scale its safety network, and expand internationally while targeting the prevention of one million emergencies by 2030. Having now raised more than $450 million in total, RapidSOS is currently the highest-funded emergency-response AI company.