Participated · Equity · Feb 2019

Staytuned Digital builds a software suite for e-commerce brands focused on the Shopify ecosystem, aiming to be the "Salesforce suite for e-commerce stores." The company acquires and develops e-commerce applications and has purchased seven apps to date. It works with more than 28,000 customers and reported being EBITDA positive in the fourth quarter. Staytuned pivoted from a video-focused product early in its history and subsequently brought on new investors and team members, including Lauralynn Drury joining the founding team. Future plans include acquiring additional apps from a long pipeline, hiring more engineers, and scaling the product suite and go-to-market efforts. The company emphasizes high-margin software growth as the rationale for building a large hub of merchant-facing tools. StayTuned Digital offers a platform that optimizes video for each destination, pushes content to multiple platforms, and measures performance to inform further optimization. The company is officially unveiling its product while targeting publishers, digital-native companies, e-commerce retailers, brands, and eventually small businesses. StayTuned was founded by CEO Serge Kassardjian (formerly global head of media app business development for Google Play) and Randy Jimenez (previously CTO at SinglePlatform). The founders built the product to address fragmentation and frequent format changes across platforms so publishers needn’t manage each one individually. StayTuned positions itself as providing ubiquity to where audiences are rather than forcing publishers to abandon major platforms. Financially, the company has raised $2.5 million in funding and is part of the current GCT Startup-in-Residence program.

Participated · Series A · Apr 2014

SOLS makes custom 3D-printed shoe insoles created from a mobile-app foot scan and processing algorithms that factor in height, weight, lifestyle and intended use. The company has focused on doctor-prescribed orthotics and has grown from dozens of prescribing doctors to over 300 medical professionals offering its products. SOLS has planned consumer-facing distribution and aims to address athletes’ needs with its custom inserts. The product pricing for resold insoles was cited in the $300–$700 range. The company added Dallas Mavericks president and CEO Terdema Ussery to its board and counts Carmelo Anthony as an investor. With the new round, SOLS has raised a total of $19.3 million to date. SOLS Systems produces 3D-printed dynamic orthotics using a proprietary computer vision system that converts images or brief videos into precise 3D models of the foot. The model, combined with patient body, lifestyle and medical-need data, is used to generate fully custom, precision-engineered orthotics. The company is preparing custom mass-manufacturing platforms to support a direct-to-consumer launch planned for 2015. It intends to use its new funding to accelerate team growth (the team is now 12 people) and product development. SOLS Systems was founded and is led by CEO Kegan Schouwenburg. The company previously closed a $1.75m seed round in December 2013. SOLS produces custom 3D-printed antimicrobial nylon insoles that are polished and coated for a soft, rubbery feel and offered in multiple colors and leather. Customers scan their feet with an iOS or Android app; SOLS combines that 3D scan with weight, lifestyle and use-case data to generate a bespoke insole. The company is initially targeting the medical market with a beta program of fifteen doctors and plans a consumer launch afterward. Patient pricing for the medical program is expected to be around $300–$500, with a goal to reduce consumer pricing to about $100 upon broader launch. SOLS plans partnerships with shoe manufacturers and retailers for in-store scanning and fit-to-shoe options, and expects to expand city-by-city after launching in New York. The company has raised seed funding to support product development and rollout, and ALM is a strategic partner on materials and production.

Participated · Seed · Sep 2013

Keaton Row operates an online social commerce marketplace connecting personal stylists, clients, and retailers, offering curated styles from hundreds of brands via retail partners such as Shopbop, ASOS and Les Nouvelles. Launched in January 2013 by Cheryl Han and Elenor Mak, the platform has assembled over 2,000 active stylists and more than 40,000 registered clients. Stylists use Keaton Row’s tools and partnerships to deliver personalized shopping recommendations and to run entrepreneurial styling businesses. The company says it will use the new funding to optimize the mobile, on-the-go customer experience, streamline client-stylist conversations, and refine merchandise selection to address key shopping pain points. Keaton Row will also expand stylist training and service enhancements to help stylists build modern wardrobes for clients’ unique lifestyles. Keaton Row connects customers to human personal shoppers via a style quiz that captures taste, needs and body type; stylists draw from partner retail sites to create suggestions and look books. The site targets professionally oriented women who have money but limited time or knowledge to navigate online retail, offering curated, personalized service. Stylists are paid on commission and apply to the platform at an acceptance rate of about 60–70%; the network also serves as a channel to recruit new customers. Keaton Row partners with retailers such as ShopBop and Les Nouvelles, giving shoppers access to over 10,000 products. The company says many customers form trusting, repeat relationships with their stylists, and it is building reviews and portfolios so stylists can establish credibility and grow businesses. With the new funding the company plans to build out user platforms for stylists and customers, expand retail partnerships, and grow its national presence (stylists currently focused in metropolitan areas like New York and Los Angeles).

Participated · Series B · Sep 2011

LiveIntent enables the buying and selling of advertising inside emails publishers already send, rather than sending emails itself. The platform works with more than 400 brands and 750 publishers and reaches more than 90 million users every month. Over time it has integrated with marketing tools such as Acxiom and Salesforce.com, evolving into a broader advertising platform. LiveIntent positions email as a cross-device channel and a persistent identifier that remains valuable as cookie-based targeting declines. The company raised $32.5 million in new funding, which effectively doubled the amount it had previously raised. The funding will be used to build out the platform and to expand globally. LiveIntent operates an ad exchange that enables real-time programmatic buying and selling of ads inside email newsletters and alerts. The platform reaches more than 55 million consumers each month and works with brands such as La Quinta, Kraft, and Chrysler and publishers including The Weather Channel, Hearst, and AOL. The company says it has tripled revenue and doubled its workforce in the past year. LiveIntent says it is leveraging big data and artificial intelligence to deliver timely, targeted ads and plans to continue that focus in 2014. CEO Matt Keiser has positioned the company as changing the landscape of email marketing through real-time programmatic capabilities. The company launched at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference in 2010 and now concentrates on email advertising rather than its original social-network goals. LiveIntent is a NYC-based company, founded in 2009, that delivers display advertising to an email the moment the email is opened on any device. It provides ad serving, DSP/trading desk and exchange capabilities. The platform enables advertisers and marketers to employ advanced targeting techniques at scale without executing multiple buys on individual publishers. Clients include MediaNews Group, Daily Beast/Newsweek, Grandparents.com, InteractiveOne/BlackPlanet, Acxiom and NY Daily News. The company is led by CEO Matt Keiser. It intends to use new funding for sales expansion, staff augmentation and technology development.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2011

FanBridge provides fan relationship management tools—opt-in email marketing, analytics, and subscription plans—to bands, artists, sports teams and small brands. The company manages 90 million fans via email alone and offers tiered subscriptions from $9 to $250 per month. FanBridge recently acquired Facebook fan-management startup Damntheradio (still in private beta) to expand into social channels and beef up Facebook campaign capabilities. The acquisition added a three-person team and expands FanBridge’s presence to both coasts; FanBridge is based in New York City and Damntheradio is in San Francisco, and together the companies employ about 20 people. FanBridge was cash-flow positive before it began hiring and making acquisitions to accelerate growth. Damntheradio plans a $30/month premium tier; both companies use subscription pricing for premium accounts.