• Farmstead

  Participated · Series A · Nov 2020

  Farmstead operates an online grocery business that runs its own warehouses and sells a Grocery OS to other grocery operators. The company emphasizes software to re-orchestrate warehouse operations and reduce the operational headaches and expenses of the warehouse model. Farmstead says it has reduced food waste by 3–4x and serves thousands of orders per day from each warehouse across roughly a 50-mile radius, offering deliveries with no fees. In its first market of San Francisco the startup says it is "marching towards profitability" and is very close. The company plans geographic expansion beginning in North Carolina (Charlotte and Raleigh‑Durham) and aims to launch 15–30 new markets in the next 12 months. Farmstead highlights that it can open a hub in four to six weeks for about $100,000 versus roughly $10 million to open a new supermarket location. Farmstead is an AI-powered digital grocer based in San Francisco that sources and delivers fresh, local food. Led by CEO and co-founder Pradeep Elankumaran, the company leverages AI-powered predictive analytics to predict demand and align supply. It delivers orders of fresh local products in less than an hour and uses its models to minimize food waste. Farmstead has operated in the Bay Area since 2016. The company recently raised an additional $2.2M, bringing total funding to $7.5M to date. It intends to use the capital for geographic expansion. Farmstead is an AI-powered digital micro-grocer based in San Francisco that curates and delivers fresh, local foods from farm-to-fridge in 60 minutes. Its core product is an AI platform that predicts what customers want to eat, when, and exactly how much to source from local farms and purveyors. The company’s self-learning models use historical sales and operations data to forecast consumer tastes, daily sell-through, and perishable inventory needs while maintaining high availability. Farmstead uses AI-optimized routes to deliver to customers in one hour. The company will use the new funds to scale operations, continue building its core AI technology, accelerate hiring, and expand its service beyond the Bay Area. Led by CEO and co-founder Pradeep Elankumaran, Farmstead had raised a total of $4.8M in seed funding after this additional $2M. Farmstead is an AI-powered digital micro-grocer based in San Francisco that sources and delivers local farm produce and grocery products to customers in about 60 minutes. The company uses proprietary software and AI to curate item selections and to predict users’ habits after a single order, enabling just-in-time ordering from local suppliers and reducing food waste. It operates a constellation of micro-warehouses across the Bay Area stocked with minimally packaged, local foods and routes delivery drivers algorithmically to optimize efficiency and reduce congestion. Founded roughly 12 months before the article, Farmstead had completed over 15,000 deliveries to thousands of Bay Area customers. The company raised $2.8M in seed funding; backers included Resolute Ventures, Social Capital, Y Combinator and Joe Montana’s Liquid 2 Ventures. CEO and co-founder Pradeep Elankumaran leads the company.

• Mindset Health

  Participated · Equity · May 2020

  Mindset Health builds app-based digital hypnotherapy programs that combine world-class health specialists and clinical research with a proprietary scalable technology platform to deliver evidence-based audio therapies. Its platform currently powers three apps addressing medically-diagnosed irritable bowel syndrome, menopause, and smoking cessation. The company reports top user markets as the US (38%), Australia (19%), and the UK (15%). With US$12 million raised in an oversubscribed Series A, Mindset plans to broaden channels-to-market and scale distribution to meet increasing global demand. It intends to launch new apps for conditions including anxiety and depression, sleep, and chronic pain, and to enhance personalization and features in existing programs. Mindset will continue clinical and real-world research with partners such as Baylor University and Monash University to strengthen evidence of health and economic outcomes. The company is also recruiting across software engineering and healthcare sales to support growth. Mindset Health builds evidence-based, hypnosis-based therapeutic mobile apps for self-management of physical and mental health conditions. Its flagship app, Nerva, delivers a gut-directed hypnotherapy program for IBS and helps more than 10,000 people a month. The company reports that 89% of people who finished the initial program said they had an improved ability to manage their symptoms. Mindset partners with health researchers and clinicians and plans to expand its platform to deliver new programs targeting menopause, depression, and chronic pain. The Y Combinator-backed startup will use its recent seed raise to scale to 100,000 users a month, grow its team from 12 to 40, and run several randomized controlled trials. Founders Chris and Alex Naoumidis aim to automate hypnosis-based approaches to offer scalable, consistent, lower-cost alternatives to in-person therapy. Mindset Health builds hypnotherapy-driven apps positioned as self-management tools rather than therapy, with a general Mindset toolkit and condition-specific products such as Nerva for irritable bowel syndrome. The company was founded by brothers Chris and Alex Naoumidis, who turned to hypnotherapy after earlier startup work and developed the apps based on those experiences. Mindset’s products were designed with clinicians — the initial app with Dr. Michael Japko and the IBS program with Dr. Simone Peters — who receive revenue share for helping develop the course content. Pricing varies by product: Nerva has a $99 upfront payment plus an $88 three-month subscription, while the Mindset subscription was priced at $11 (down from $64). The company reports that among program completers, 90% self-report reduced symptoms. Mindset plans to expand under a multi-app umbrella, delivering researcher-developed programs digitally to make them more accessible.

• OpenSponsorship

  Participated · Equity · Feb 2017

  OpenSponsorship operates a subscription-based marketplace where brands search and filter athletes, teams and events by criteria such as social media, logo placement or appearances, then create campaigns, select athletes (or receive matches), launch and measure results. The company was founded in 2016 by Ishveen Anand and Ron Nesbitt. It touts the largest marketplace of athletes with over 11,000 profiles, has facilitated over 10,000 deals across 400 brands, and works with clients including Walmart, Foot Locker and Levi’s. OpenSponsorship has 15 employees and is on target for $5 million in top-line revenue and $1.5 million in net revenue this year. The new capital will be used to continue building product and integrations and to expand into new verticals, sales and marketing, including testing music. OpenSponsorship provides a web-based marketplace that automates matchmaking between brands, agents, teams, sports athletes, and esports athletes. The platform lets brands search a database and view an athlete’s social followings, demographics, interests, fees, and contact options at a glance. Brands can post campaigns and athletes can bid to participate; OpenSponsorship also handles contracts, terms, and payments so talent is paid only when a deal is complete. The company tracks multiple media channels (recently adding Twitch) and has listed more than 2,500 athletes, teams, and events across over 40 countries. OpenSponsorship is expanding exposure among esports and says it aims to open offices in new geographies to broaden reach. The company is based in New York with a development team in London and has 10 employees.

No current team members are available.