The Venture Codex

Participated · Series B · Aug 2017

TrackR built its business on circular Bluetooth fobs such as the TrackR Bravo and Pixel that help users locate lost items. The company has faced operational challenges including layoffs, natural disasters, and its co‑founders stepping away from executive roles. TrackR is rebranding to Adero and has filed trademarks for Adero and a brand called Activefield, signaling a move toward cloud‑based software and larger connected‑home or asset‑management offerings. Sources say the company has discussed selling a larger connected home solution to retailers, and it has been discounting existing stock. A spokesperson said TrackR will continue to support all sold products and that its battery replacement program and Crowd Locate network remain active. Financially, the startup quietly raised $10 million in July at a $40 million valuation, a substantial decline from its prior valuation when it raised $50 million. The company’s public filings and domain transfers indicate it has been working on the rebrand and strategy since at least mid‑2018. TrackR produces Bluetooth-based item trackers and companion software, including the TrackR pixel and the TrackR Crowd Locate network. The company runs a Works with TrackR program and a partner platform that lets manufacturers and app developers (for example Cross Pens) integrate TrackR technology, and it also offers a home-mapping product called TrackR Atlas. TrackR is integrated with Amazon Alexa so users can locate items via voice commands. Founded in 2009, the company has shipped more than five million devices to date. TrackR says it will expand its community features like Crowd Locate to improve personal organization and maintain its leadership in intelligent tracking. Financially, the company has raised a $50M Series B and had previously raised more than $10M from some of the same investors and angels. TrackR develops app software, cloud databases and wireless devices to help users track and manage personal items. Its hardware lineup includes the TrackR bravo thin tracking device plus sticker and Wallet products sold online and at Target. TrackR bravo leverages a crowd-sourced GPS network of active users to locate items beyond Bluetooth range. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Santa Barbara, California, with a team of 15. It recently crowdfunded $1,676,369 on Indiegogo to launch bravo. TrackR plans to use new funding to scale production and expand customer support teams.

Led · Series C · Nov 2016

Hired operates a platform that matches tech workers with companies using candidate data and algorithms to identify best fits. The solution collects information on candidates, analyzes it through algorithms, and presents matched candidates to hiring managers at customer companies. It fills roles including software and hardware engineers, engineering and DevOps managers, designers, data scientists and analysts, QA test automation engineers, DBAs, network and systems administrators, and project managers. Customers using the service include CollectiveHealth, Al Jazeera, Deliveroo, SuperAwesome, TransferWise, Groupon, GitHub, Adroll, Twitch, Mixpanel, Condé Nast, OpenTable, Zillow, Eventbrite, Sailthru and GrubHub. Led by CEO Mehul Patel, Hired will use the funds to continue expanding operations and its business reach. The company is based in San Francisco, CA. Hired operates a recruiting platform where applicants answer a few questions and receive compensation offers from top tech companies. Employers using the platform can choose to pay Hired 15% of a hire’s first-year salary as a placement fee. In November of last year the company introduced a freelancer product that works similarly to its core offering. CEO Mehul Patel framed the company’s mission around helping people find purposeful, skill‑building work. Financially, Hired announced a $30 million extension to its Series C, bringing that round to $70 million and the company’s total funding to $102 million. Hired operates a career marketplace that pairs knowledge workers with employers and provides users with a dedicated talent advocate who offers objective guidance through the interview process. The platform lets candidates compare opportunities side-by-side and gives employers access to a hand-picked pool of candidates plus transparency into competing offers. Led by CEO Mehul Patel, the company raised $40m in a Series C to support growth. Hired intends to use the funds to accelerate international expansion, pursue strategic acquisitions and advance the technology that powers the marketplace. The company has already acquired Paris-based Breaz and Melbourne-based Jobbop and is expanding into Asia, starting with Singapore. Hired is backed by Lumia Capital (which led the round), Crosslink Capital, Sierra Ventures, SoftTech VC and Sherpa Foundry. Hired operates a two-sided marketplace that connects software engineers, data scientists, designers, product managers and now sales professionals with hiring companies. The company reports a network of more than 1,600 startups, says 92% of participants receive an offer, and that participants find a new job in an average of 19 days. Hired expanded from its San Francisco base into New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston and London this year and aims to add a new city every six weeks. It recently added a sales category in response to user demand and plans to expand into additional verticals beyond engineering and sales. The company raised $15 million in a Series B and will use the capital to fuel market expansion, hire internally, and broaden its category coverage. Total funding now stands at $32.7 million. Hired, formerly DeveloperAuction, operates a marketplace aimed at making hiring and job searches more efficient, primarily for developers. The platform has over 800 approved employers and reports that more than 200 employers have hired through Hired. CEO Matt Mickiewicz says revenue grew 4x in 2013 and 40% month-over-month from January to February; profitability is not an immediate focus. The company receives over 12,000 developer and 400 company applications to the marketplace every month and currently has 31 employees. New funds will be used to expand the team and launch in Los Angeles, Boston, and Seattle this year. Management aims to expand internationally to London, Dublin, Berlin and to broaden beyond tech roles into sales, accounting, and finance within the next couple of years.

Participated · Equity · Apr 2014

AdRoll provides a retargeting platform that enables brands of all sizes to create personalized ad campaigns based on their own website data across large display inventory sources including Google AdX, Twitter and Facebook. Led by Adam Berke, Greg Fulton and Lauren Vaccarello, the company serves over 15,000 active advertisers in more than 100 countries, with clients including Zendesk, New Relic and Alex and Ani. Vaccarello recently published The Retargeting Playbook, a guide to retargeting for marketers. The company recently launched AdRoll Retargeting for Mobile and intends to deepen its cross-device offering to reach customers on mobile devices. AdRoll plans to use the newly raised funds to expand its product portfolio and accelerate its mobile and cross-device efforts. The company is based in San Francisco and had previously raised $19m. AdRoll offers an online ad retargeting platform that targets ads to consumers based on their past behavior. The company reported it quadrupled revenue and became profitable in 2011. It says it has more than 5,000 customers and is adding almost 500 new ones every month. Product plans mentioned include increasing the reach of its real-time inventory and introducing mobile, video, and social products. AdRoll was announced as an initial partner on the Facebook Exchange and is dedicating engineering resources to the exchange. The company emphasizes using customer data to push retargeting beyond simple cart-abandonment ads. AdRoll operates a SaaS retargeting platform (including LiquidAds) that enables personalized display advertising and real-time bidding via its RTBuddha technology. The company serves customers such as Microsoft, Hipmunk, BustedTees, and the Portland Trail Blazers. AdRoll has been scaling infrastructure—hiring engineers (including hires from Rivet Games), opening a new data center, and preparing a revamped SaaS dashboard UI—to handle large datasets and growing customer demands. The company recently rebranded with a new logo and color scheme as it seeks broader enterprise credibility. AdRoll reported substantial 2011 growth with a 414% increase in revenue, 400% increase in ad impressions, and a 334% rise in customers to more than 3,500. The article notes that AdRoll is now profitable.