• Genee

  Participated · Seed · Aug 2015

  Genee provides a cloud-based artificial intelligence personal assistant that interprets natural language through a core interface which plugs into email and other communication tools. The platform pulls together calendars across multiple systems and optimizes scheduling decisions based on users' habits and priorities. The company was founded in 2014 by CEO Ben Cheung and Charles Lee and is based in San Francisco and Mountain View, CA. Genee had entered public beta and the app was available on iTunes and at www.genee.me. It raised $1.45m in its first funding round on 12/08/2015 from Uj Ventures, Streamline Ventures, Garnett Ventures and additional angel investors. The company said it will use the funds to continue to develop the platform and expand operations.

• Ortto

  Participated · Equity · Jul 2015

  Autopilot offers a multi-channel marketing automation platform positioned between basic email tools and complex enterprise systems, aiming to democratize personalized marketing. The company launched Flight School, an education platform with guides, templates and training to increase marketer adoption. Autopilot reports over 3,000 company signups and integrates with partners including GoodData, Salesforce, Segment, Slack, Twilio and Zapier. Clients named in the article include Cambium Networks, Dolby, Freshdesk, Narrative and PandaDoc. Pricing is advertised starting at $20 per month for 1,000 contacts. The company said it will use new financing to expand access to personalized customer journeys and lower barriers to entry for SMBs and larger companies alike. Bislr, founded in 2011 by Michael and Peter Sharkey, has developed an OS for marketing automation, content management and real-time analytics. The platform enables marketers to create and optimize lead-nurturing campaigns, landing pages and campaign/microsites for social and mobile without IT support. Bislr launched the latest version of its intelligent marketing OS in February 2013. Customers include Cambium Networks, DocuSign and SOL Republic. The company said it will use new funding to expand sales and marketing efforts and further develop the product. The company is based in San Francisco, CA. Bislr provides a drag-and-drop website builder that integrates with existing marketing automation (MA) and customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Its sites include "social apps" to embed social content, are automatically optimized for mobile, and collect detailed visitor profiles and activity. Bislr pulls social data when possible to surface real-time tweets and Facebook updates from visitors and exposes analytics and A/B testing that can automatically select better variations. The company was founded by CEO Michael Sharkey with his two brothers and had been testing the system with a few small businesses. It is officially launching and is opening up to serve larger customers. Financially, Bislr announced a $3.5 million Series A funding round led by Southern Cross Venture Partners with participation from Tim Draper and Terry and Katrina Garnett.

• Autopilot

  Participated · Equity · Jul 2015

  Autopilot provides marketing automation software that sends targeted emails and texts to existing customers to increase engagement and revenue. The company positions its targeting technology as affordable for small and mid-sized businesses, according to CEO Mike Sharkey. Its product also facilitates webinars and events and the company is launching a feature called Insights for tracking marketing goals. Customers pay on a subscription basis; Autopilot counts Microsoft, Atlassian, Lyft and roughly 2,300 other customers. Financially, the company has raised a total of $32 million to date. The founders relocated to San Francisco, and CEO Mike Sharkey previously built a startup that was sold to HomeAway. Autopilot is a cloud-based multi-channel marketing automation platform that helps companies connect their marketing systems, automate touchpoints, and convert customers. The platform supports email, SMS and physical mail and includes built-in integrations with partners such as Salesforce, Segment, Slack, Twilio, Zapier and GoodData. Autopilot says it will use the new financing to bring personalized marketing to the masses and to transform every business with powerful customer journeys. The company also launched Flight School, a marketing education platform that offers pre-built customer-journey templates called Guides, best-practice content, and shareable HTML, video and e-book resources to lower the barrier to entry. Since launching four months prior, Autopilot has signed up over 3,000 companies; pricing on the self-service product starts at $4 per month for 500 contacts. The company has raised $20.5M in total venture funding to date. Autopilot (formerly Bislr) provides marketers a visual marketing automation platform that consolidates campaign tools—landing pages, blogs, email campaigns—and lead database management into a single service. The platform emphasizes ease of use to reduce complexity and broaden adoption compared with traditional marketing automation tools. It integrates with CRM systems such as Salesforce and Netsuite to connect campaign activity with sales workflows. The company plans to release an SDK later this year to give developers access to its lead intelligence and automation apps. Autopilot recently raised a $10 million Series B to fund growth and product development. The funding is intended primarily to accelerate customer acquisition and further product enhancements.

• Gobstopper

  Participated · Seed · Oct 2013

  Gobstopper provides a digital reading platform that enables teachers to place questions, explanations, quizzes and rich media directly into reading materials. The solution is free for all teachers and students and is available on any browser‑enabled device, with access to hundreds of free public‑domain titles. The company says it is being used by teachers in over 2,200 schools. Led by founder and CEO Jason Singer, Gobstopper aims to expand its product offering and app presence. Financially, the company completed a $1.8M seed funding round to support those plans. Management intends to use the proceeds to accelerate new product and app development. Gobstopper is an e-reading platform that lets teachers layer texts with questions, quizzes, and rich media while automatically grading online assessments. Founded by Jason Singer and Mauricio Alvarez, the product enables teachers to insert assessments directly into assigned readings and attach instructional video within the text. The platform supports public domain titles (Huck Finn, The Scarlet Letter, Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, The Prince, Walden, etc.), offers student badges for mastery, and works on any device via the cloud. Gobstopper built a beta product, organized pilots in six non-KIPP schools, and will roll out a Common Core–aligned high school ELA curriculum this fall. At launch the platform is free to use, and the company plans to explore an enterprise-grade premium product for schools and districts and potential white-label integrations with publishers. The company raised convertible debt to fund product development and pilots.

• Punchh

  Participated · Equity · Aug 2013

  Punchh is a marketing platform designed to drive same-store sales for the physical retail experience and is led by CEO Shyam Rao. The platform integrates with existing point-of-sale and eCommerce systems to collect in-store and online customer data in real time, generating a 360-degree view of customers across the lifecycle. Punchh applies proprietary AI to that customer data to create and deliver personalized journeys and tailored offers that drive customer lifetime value. Nearly 200 global enterprise brands use Punchh’s solutions in more than 93,000 retail locations worldwide, including Yum! Brands, Denny’s and Casey’s. The company plans to use the new funding to further augment its AI capabilities and expand into new verticals such as convenience stores and other physical retail segments. Punchh is headquartered in San Mateo, California, with a second US office in Austin and additional offices in Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. Punchh provides a cloud marketing platform that digitizes loyalty programs and powers targeted campaigns across email, SMS, social, Apple Pay and eClub. Its product set includes tools like Punchh Acquire and algorithms that combine purchase history, event calendars, weather and local demographics to execute "micro-moment marketing." The company says its technology increases customer spending at clients’ restaurants by 10%–20%. Punchh serves more than 115 restaurant chains with roughly 34,000 locations and has 145 employees. Founded in 2010 and based in San Mateo with offices in Austin and Delhi, Punchh competes with other digital loyalty platforms such as Stamp Me, LoyalZoo and Stocard. The company plans to expand beyond restaurants into convenience stores, gas stations and health and beauty brands and to increase use of AI and machine learning in its software. Punchh provides branded mobile apps for restaurants that support games, gift cards, loyalty programs, online ordering, payments, referrals, surveys and marketing campaigns. Its platform incentivizes word-of-mouth through measurable referrals, social interaction campaigns and restaurant reviews. Punchh integrates with online ordering, payments, reservations and wait-list management solutions to support restaurant operations. The company’s technology has been used by customers including Earl of Sandwich, Hungry Howie’s, Mama Fu’s, Max’s Restaurant, Rita’s Italian Ice, Vino Volo and Voodoo BBQ and Grill. Led by founder and CEO Jitendra Gupta, Punchh is based in Sunnyvale, California. The company raised $3m in venture capital funding and intends to use the proceeds to further expand its market position.

No current team members are available.