The Venture Codex

Led · Seed · Nov 2017

AdvicePay is a Bozeman, Mont.-based payment-processing platform designed exclusively for financial advisors. It enables advisors to bill hourly, retainer, subscription, and other financial planning and advice fees while complying with custody regulations and keeping client data secure. Users can accept ACH and credit cards, process one-time payments, and set up recurring retainer or subscription billing within the AdvicePay system. The company was established by Michael Kitces and Alan Moore. AdvicePay raised a $2M extension seed round crowdfunded from within the advisor community to support growth. The funds will be used in part to launch a new enterprise version to meet demand from hybrid independent broker-dealer and large RIA marketplaces. AdvicePay provides a compliant payment-processing platform built specifically for financial advisors to facilitate fee-for-service financial planning billing. The platform lets advisors bill and collect fees via credit card or ACH while providing a client portal for entering and managing payment information, reviewing invoices and confirming billing changes. The product is designed to limit advisors’ access to private payment information to comply with RIA custody regulations and avoid triggering custody audits. AdvicePay is in live-beta with over 250 active users processing financial planning fees and is onboarding additional advisors from a waiting list. The company plans to use the new funding to build out development and customer support teams and expand the solution beyond XY Planning Network members. AdvicePay was co‑founded by Alan Moore and Michael Kitces and is based in Bozeman, Mont.

Participated · Series B · Mar 2016

CLEARAS Water Recovery develops chemical-free, biologically-based wastewater treatment technologies that recover nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) from wastewater using algae. Its proprietary ABNR process converts captured algae into bioplastics that can serve as raw materials for consumer products such as sneakers. The company positions its solution as zero-waste and targets municipal and industrial point-source dischargers facing stringent discharge standards. CLEARAS reports growing demand domestically and internationally and a verified pipeline of potential customers. Montcalm Capital cites the company as having solid current revenues. The investment structure allows CLEARAS to access debt at reasonable rates while maintaining control and avoiding equity dilution. Clearas Water Recovery develops biological-based water treatment technologies for municipal and industrial point source dischargers. Led by CEO Jordan Lind, the company’s core product is the patented Advanced Biological Nutrient Recovery (ABNR™) platform. ABNR leverages algae’s biologics in a controlled, continuous-flow environment to remove nitrogen, phosphorus and other harmful nutrients from wastewater effluent and industrial discharge. The company closed a $4M Series B round. Clearas intends to use the funds to accelerate growth, hire and retain talent, and continue to optimize its ABNR platform. Backers on the round included existing investors Cowles Companies, Next Frontier Capital and Goodworks Ventures.

Participated · Seed · Aug 2015

Kindara offers a fertility-tracking app that prompts users to enter basal body temperature, cervical fluid measurements, and other factors to identify ovulation windows. The app lets women record diet, exercise, and custom notes and shows correlations between those factors and fertility over time. Kindara has been downloaded roughly 750,000 times; about 60% of users are trying to get pregnant and 30% use the app to avoid pregnancy. The company was founded in 2012 by Will Sacks and Kati Bicknell. Earlier in 2015 Kindara began developing Wink, a Bluetooth-connected basal thermometer slated to ship in December 2015, which is the first of several planned connected hardware products. The startup aims to use the collected data to build prediction tools that recommend behaviors or supplements affecting fertility and to create a lifetime reproductive-health record.