Participated · Seed · May 2019

FintechOS offers a low-code platform designed to let legacy banks and insurance companies deliver features more typical of neobanks by working alongside existing core infrastructure. The platform spans multiple product lines including deposits, lending, mortgages, insurance and wealth, which the company says enables broader transformation than some competitors. FintechOS cites customers such as Société Générale, Admiral, Benenden Health, Avant Money and Vibrant Credit Union across the U.S., U.K., continental Europe and APAC. The company plans to use the new funding to scale up internationally. CEO Teo Blidarus highlighted the platform’s ability to achieve “95% of the transformation” without replacing core systems, allowing consultants and business teams to create new products themselves. FintechOS competes with firms like nCino, MeridianLink, Abrigo and Backbase. FintechOS offers a low-code platform that enables large banks and insurance companies to build new services and analytics on top of existing infrastructure. The product supports digital onboarding, credit cards, loans, savings, mortgages, insurance quotes, customer management and claims automation by stitching legacy data to modern tooling. It works with integrators and partners such as Microsoft, Deloitte, CapGemini and KPMG to deploy solutions at enterprise scale. The company says it is active in the U.K. and Europe, growing at a CAGR of 200% and touching “millions” of people, with customers including Societe Generale, IdeaBank and Howden. FintechOS plans to continue investing in those markets, expand internationally and add more services across banking and insurance. The founders cite the platform’s role in enabling faster digitization and more tailored products for underserved segments of the market. FintechOS offers a technology platform that lets traditional banks and insurance companies adapt to changing customer expectations and launch personalized products and services in weeks rather than months or years. The platform provides plug-and-play products and supports multi-cloud SaaS deployments as well as on-premises deployments alongside existing infrastructure. FintechOS has partnerships with Microsoft, EY, Deloitte, Publicis Sapient, and CapGemini to enable deployment in multiple markets. Founded in 2017 by Teodor Blidarus and Sergiu Negut, the company is led by CEO Teo Blidarus and serves customers in more than 20 countries across three continents. The company plans to use new capital to continue growth and expansion across Europe and to expand into Southeast Asia and the U.S. It positions itself to help incumbents match the speed and flexibility of fintech startups by enabling faster product launches and personalization. FintechOS develops a low-code, plug-and-play platform (a low-code Robo-designer and middleware) that integrates with core banking and insurance systems to launch digital products with minimal coding. The company says customers can launch new digital products ten times faster and with minimal involvement from IT. It already serves clients including TBIBank, Erste and Vienna Insurance Group and reports customers manage roughly €5B in assets on the platform, with operations on three continents. Management expects 400% year-over-year growth in annual recurring revenue from licenses. With the new capital FintechOS plans to expand in the UK, Benelux and the DACH region and to further integrate AI into the product; the CEO said a technological "revolution" will be announced by Q3.

Participated · Seed · Jan 2019

TypingDNA builds AI-driven typing biometrics that authenticate people based on the timing of key presses and releases on laptops and mobile devices. Its API is open to developers, and the company combines pattern recognition, anomaly detection and one-shot learning techniques to identify users from very short text samples and mobile sensor data. TypingDNA says its technology achieves between 99% and 99.9% accuracy. Customers include banks, financial and payment apps, online education platforms, enterprise apps and government apps focused on identity and fraud prevention. The company plans to focus on developers, create typing-biometrics products for easy integration, and help banks and fintechs meet biometric second-factor requirements. TypingDNA is a four-year-old, 18-person startup founded in Bucharest that has moved its headquarters to Brooklyn, New York. TypingDNA offers AI-based typing biometrics that recognize people by the way they type on desktop and mobile devices, providing passive authentication and frictionless two-factor authentication. Its commercialized SaaS product is used by clients in the U.S. and Europe and is integrated via partnerships with identity and access management (IAM) providers, security companies, banks and financial service providers. The company says its technology uses proprietary pattern recognition, anomaly detection and one-shot learning algorithms. TypingDNA has won multiple awards and launched a Chrome extension alternative to Google Authenticator that won ProductHunt Product of the Day. The company plans to use the new funding to improve the technology, expand its presence in the financial and enterprise sectors, build new partnerships, and increase awareness of its passive online fraud prevention capabilities. TypingDNA was started in 2016 and is backed by Techstars NYC alumni and mentors.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2016

Gluru is a UK-based startup building an AI-powered smart to-do list that automatically converts communications into actionable tasks. Its first product is available on web and Android, with an iOS version in beta, and currently syncs with Gmail and Google Calendar to identify daily tasks and suggest actions. The company says it uses a multi-patented combination of natural language processing, deep learning, and ontology to parse 'conversational data sources.' Gluru learns from user interactions to automate repetitive tasks and flag items requiring attention, with a vision to predict complementary actions and answers. Planned integrations include Outlook, Slack, Alexa, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Salesforce, and the product is intended to live inside those ecosystems to power productivity. Financially, Gluru raised a $2 million seed round from Sussex Place Ventures, SaatchInvest, Gecad and Playfair Capital, bringing total funding to $3.5 million. Gluru applies advanced machine-learning and natural-language-processing to multiple file-based data sources to learn how a person lives and works. Its algorithms organize files and predict when a user will need specific content, then surface relevant information automatically in context such as calls, emails and appointments. Led by founder and CEO Tim Porter, the company plans to release its first app, Gluru Assistant, in Q1 2015. The company intends to use new funding to expand the team, accelerate product development and cross-platform offerings, and bolster infrastructure across sales, marketing and communications. The product strategy centers on triggering intelligent, instant content delivery to users' devices based on contextual cues. Gluru is headquartered in London, UK.

Led · Equity · Nov 2015

Vector Watch develops Luna and Meridian smartwatches that run on a proprietary low-power operating system, enabling up to a 30-day battery life. Its models are manufactured from stainless steel. Led by CEO Joe Santana, the company focuses on low-power wearable software and hardware integration. Vector plans to use the recently raised funds for research and development. The company maintains offices in London, Silicon Valley, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Bucharest. Financially, the firm announced a $5M funding round to support its product and R&D efforts.