Led · Seed · Mar 2026

Founded in 2018 by Bernard Caffé and Fernando Costa, Jovens Gênios offers a gamified, AI-driven platform that adapts educational content across 14 curricular and extracurricular subjects. Students progress through themed "planets" such as music, sports and arts, while teachers and administrators receive engagement incentives and pedagogical analytics. The service currently reaches almost 2 million learners in more than 5,000 schools across every Brazilian state, with 83 % of users in the public-school system. After entering the public sector in 2021, the company now derives roughly 90 % of its business from govtech contracts, including the state of São Paulo and over 50 municipalities. Revenue figures were not disclosed, but the firm employs nearly 100 people and provides additional services like teacher training, pedagogical consulting and on-site events. With fresh capital, Jovens Gênios plans to scale commercial operations, migrate its database infrastructure for higher performance and continue expanding toward a goal of serving 10 million students by 2030. Part of the new funds will also finance a shareholder restructuring that enables the exit of some early backers.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2024

ForceMetrics builds a decision-assist public safety platform and smartphone app that consolidates critical information for first responders and surfaces real-time "Safety Signals" to guide in-the-moment decisions. The product integrates data from existing public service agency databases—including criminal records, behavioral health, social services, CAD and RMS—recognizes victimization patterns, identifies physical markers, and can include images and Axon video. Designed to be intuitive and require minimal training, the app is accessible to personnel across agencies from dispatchers and patrol officers to records clerks, command staff, investigators and specialty teams. ForceMetrics is currently used by 30 police departments across 11 states, including Aurora, CO, Greensboro, NC and Waco, TX. The company raised $22 million to accelerate growth and plans to use the funds to scale the platform to more cities and law enforcement agencies. Launched by veteran FBI agents and law enforcement officers, ForceMetrics aims to expedite workflows—reducing time spent on 911 call data searches, FOIA requests and investigations—to improve safety and case outcomes.

Participated · Series A · Feb 2023

Therma provides a cooling intelligence platform that uses artificial intelligence, IoT sensors, and equipment controls to reduce energy usage, prevent food waste, and lower carbon emissions. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, and is led by CEO and founder Manik Suri. Therma is deployed with over a thousand customers across restaurants, hospitality, education, and food manufacturing, including McDonald’s, Domino’s, Marriott Hotels and NOW Foods. The company raised $19M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Zero Infinity Partners with participation from Deciens Capital, CityRock Venture Partners, Homecoming Capital, Ananta Capital, Kindergarten Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and Govtech Fund. Therma intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach. Therma builds IoT-powered temperature monitoring and analytics solutions designed to prevent food, product, and energy waste. The company serves the food, restaurant, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing industries and has partnered with national restaurant brands and supply chain leaders in food and healthcare. Led by founder and CEO Manik Suri, Therma emphasizes linking sustainability and profitability through its technology and community efforts. Therma is the creator of Point 01, a climate-oriented community-building initiative that brings together entrepreneurs, investors, scientists, and engineers. The company closed a $10.2M funding round and intends to use the proceeds to continue expanding operations and its business reach.

Participated · Series A · Aug 2022

Column provides software and ADA-compliant statewide databases that streamline placement, search and management of public notices; its core product is live in all 50 U.S. states, Canada and the U.K. The company offers its software free to newspaper publishers and charges a small processing fee to governments, law firms and other entities placing notices. Column has about 50 employees across five continents and was launched in 2020 after incubation at Harvard's Shorenstein Center. The startup reports average growth of 20% month-over-month since launch and said gross transaction volume tripled in Q1; the CEO would not disclose revenues. Column is publicly deploying its Column API (already in use in 18 states) and plans to scale its public-notice product while expanding to digitize other outdated public information systems such as government procurement, sheriff sale auctions, and Notices to Creditors. The company is positioning its platform to serve local media organizations, governments and legal-service professionals with more efficient digital workflows.

Participated · Series B · Jan 2022

Merit, originally founded as Sigma, has built a software platform that connects directly to government licensing databases and converts paper or plastic credentials—such as driver’s or professional licenses—into secure, digital records that can be instantly verified by third parties. Over the past five years the company has developed custom connectors for multiple state and local agencies, enabling automatic updates so credentials stay current without manual checks. A prominent showcase was its rapid deployment after the Miami building collapse, where Merit verified access permissions for more than 16,000 responders and vendors in a single month. The fully remote startup currently employs around 70 people and expects headcount to reach roughly 100 by year-end, using its distributed model to improve diversity in hiring. While specific revenue figures are not disclosed, Merit’s business model centers on selling its verification services to government entities and the private organizations that rely on those credentials. The fresh capital will help expand integrations with additional government agencies and accelerate product enhancements for broader adoption.