• Crowdtap

  Participated · Series A · Jul 2011

  Crowdtap operates a consumer community and platform that helps brands locate influential fans and inspire them to post promotional content across Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other channels. The company supplies brands with tools and content to introduce new products, promotions and messaging to engaged users. Crowdtap says its community-based approach keeps users more consistently engaged than single-brand sites. The startup reported it became profitable at the end of 2013 and more than tripled its monthly recurring revenue over the course of that year. It employs about 55 people and counts clients such as Verizon, P&G, Nestle, Kraft, Clorox, AT&T and Sony. The company also published a study with Ipsos Media CT and the Social Media Advertising Consortium on media consumption by 18- to 36-year-olds. Crowdtap operates a network for "Brand Influencer Communities" that aggregates influential consumers and enables brands and agencies to mobilize them for realtime research, collaboration, and word-of-mouth campaigns. The platform lets brands poll top customers, view profiles, analyze and retarget based on answers, form panels, and start discussions, and it integrates with Facebook, Twitter, and CRM channels. For members, Crowdtap offers a gamified experience where users level up, earn perks, access new products, and can donate to charities. Since launching its beta in August 2010, Crowdtappers have completed 4.6 million brand actions and the communities average nearly 400,000 actions per week; the company reports a growing member base of 150,000 Crowdtappers and added another 100,000 U.S. members after its official launch at SXSW. Brands working with Crowdtap include Old Navy, AMEX, Pinkberry, MSN, Diageo, and Bing, and the company has partnerships with agencies such as Weber Shandwick, GolinHarris, Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal, and Mullen. The company said it will use the funding to ramp up hiring in its sales and engineering teams.

• Altruik

  Participated · Equity · Jun 2011

  Altruik is a New York, NY–based automated search engine optimization platform led by CEO Eric Gertler. The company’s platform is designed to streamline the SEO process, simplify implementation on clients’ native websites, comply with leading search engines’ terms, and integrate with all content management systems. Altruik serves many e-commerce customers, primarily in the home improvement and retail clothing sectors. The company raised nearly $3M in its second funding round. Investors in the round included existing backers DFJ Gotham Ventures, GSA Venture Partners, First Round Capital, Javelin Venture Partners, Zelkova Ventures and Hub Angels Investment Group, as well as new investors Centurion Venture Partners and New York Angels. Altruik previously closed a $4.7M Series A financing round in November 2009 and intends to use the new capital to expand sales and marketing efforts. Altruik is a New York-based provider of search engine optimization technology solutions. Its core product optimizes clients’ natural search results and is described as efficient, cost-effective, measurable and transparent. CEO Eric Gertler said completing the investment underscores the potential in this nascent area of the Internet and supports company growth. The company is targeting online retailers and content providers that are investing in SEO. Investors and partners, including Greenhill SAVP, are expected to contribute marketing-services expertise as Altruik scales.

• Lendio

  Led · Series A · Feb 2011

  Lendio operates a high-tech marketplace that matches small-business borrowers with a pool of suitable lenders via a 15-minute online application, machine learning matching, and expert loan review—often facilitating funding within 24 hours. The company also offers an online bookkeeping platform, Sunrise by Lendio, used by hundreds of small-business owners and slated for deeper integration with its loan marketplace. Lendio plans to use new capital to expand its lender services division, enhance its white-labeled SaaS application for banks and lenders, and grow bookkeeping and lender-facing offerings. Over the past two years Lendio’s year-over-year growth has averaged 75%, and it has become the largest small-business financing marketplace in the U.S. To date the company has facilitated over 100,000 loans totaling $2 billion. Lendio reports that its small-business clients have generated an estimated $6.5 billion in economic output and created nearly 45,000 jobs. Lendio is a Salt Lake City, UT-based online marketplace that helps small-business owners find short-term specialty loans and long-term low-interest traditional loans. The company offers a free online service intended to decrease the time and effort it takes to secure funding. Led by founder and CEO Brock Blake, Lendio connects borrowers with loan options via its platform. In Q3 2016 the platform facilitated over $63M in loans to more than 2,900 businesses across 46 states. The company intends to use recent funding to accelerate growth through marketing, sales and brand awareness. Lendio operates a free online marketplace that matches small business owners with a range of loan products, from short-term specialty financing to long-term low-interest loans, delivered within minutes. The company is led by founder and CEO Brock Blake. In March 2015 Lendio raised $20.5M in funding to support growth. Management says the proceeds will be used to accelerate online innovation, expand its partnership program and grow its team of trusted loan advisors. The company also announced board additions tied to the round. No operating metrics or prior financing details are provided in the article. Lendio, founded by Brock Blake and Levi King in 2011, operates a marketplace that helps Main Street small businesses find suitable loans and lenders. The platform aggregates more than 3,500 loan options across hundreds of partner lenders and asks business owners four questions to build a profile and surface appropriate products. It integrates via APIs with tech-savvy lenders to enable often same-day pre-approval and to streamline underwriting handoffs. Lendio says it has helped hundreds of thousands of small business owners connect with loans and reports roughly a 70% approval rate for applicants; the platform also offers tools to help unapproved applicants prepare. The company positions itself as a next-gen broker that reduces friction and cuts out traditional middlemen. Financially, Lendio recently closed new financing that increased its total invested capital. Lendio, formerly FundingUniverse.com, operates a marketplace that connects small-business owners with banks, credit unions, and other lending sources. The platform uses technology to identify loan categories and the specific lenders most likely to approve an application based on credit, industry, revenue, and other parameters. Less than three months after its debut, users had requested about $1 billion in business loans through the service. Lendio says it works with roughly 3,500 lenders and provides access to more than 13,000 lending options. The company has been expanding its executive team, adding hires such as Zinch co-founder Brad Hagen and Nelson James of SEO.com. It has also offered promotional pricing to early users (e.g., a TechCrunch reader discount) as it scales adoption.

• Ignighter

  Participated · Series A · Feb 2011

  Ignighter operates an online group-dating platform that lets groups of friends build shared profiles with photos and interests, then matches them with other groups and helps arrange in-person meetups. The product’s core differentiator is facilitating social, group-based introductions to reduce awkward one-on-one situations. The company is part of the TechStars class of 2008. Ignighter reports growth of “hundreds of thousands” of new users each month and a registered user base in the millions. Financially, the company has raised a total of $4.2 million to date, including the latest financing described below. Ignighter is a group-dating site that lets small groups of friends collaborate on a shared profile with photos and stated interests. The service matches groups with other groups and helps them arrange real-world get-togethers to avoid awkward one-on-one situations. Ignighter debuted at the TechStars demo day as part of TechStars' 2008 class. The site launched with an estimated 10,000 users and has grown to 15,000 registered members. The company closed a $1.2 million angel funding round and plans to use the money to expand its team—particularly development staff—and to run a marketing push to increase awareness. The article notes the dating space is crowded but that popularity is shifting toward alternative formats, which Ignighter aims to capitalize on.

• Truveris

  Led · Equity · Feb 2011

  Truveris operates a proprietary technology platform that replaces traditional PBM contracting and renewal models by creating a transparent, dynamic competitive marketplace. The platform drives savings on pharmacy pricing and improved contract terms while providing ongoing analysis of 100% of claims to ensure contract compliance and program optimization. Truveris serves self-insured employers nationwide with comparative procurement, deep insights, and member engagement solutions. The company plans to continue evolving its platform to further transform and reduce pharmacy spend for employers and plan members. The recent financing is intended to support Truveris’ next stage of corporate development and operational growth. Truveris emphasizes its independent, data-led approach to delivering PBM pricing transparency. Truveris offers a cloud-based analytics platform that aggregates data across the pharmacy ecosystem to deliver cost savings, patient access, and affordability solutions for employers, unions, government entities, manufacturers, retail pharmacies, and consumers. Its TruBid® solution enables clients to understand and shop PBM contracts, perform continuous bill review, and has driven an average cost reduction of 11% for customers. The company works with more than 350 customers, including nearly 30 labor unions, and supports over 25 pharmaceutical brands on patient access strategies. Truveris also operates the OneRx consumer app that helps insured and uninsured users research drug and pharmacy pricing. The platform was credited with saving the State of New Jersey $1.6 billion on prescription drug benefits. The company says the new funding will accelerate growth and expand availability of its platform across the prescription benefits market, a $450 billion industry. Truveris provides prescription-payments auditing software that uses an index of drug costs to check billed prices against pharmacy charges. The company launched its first product in 2009 and later introduced TrueBid, a marketplace for buyers and sellers of pharmaceutical payment plans. TrueBid is described as an “eBay for prescription benefits” and is aimed at improving bidding workflows and transparency for pharmacy benefits managers. Truveris is rolling out a reporting service for benefits managers that combines data warehousing and customized reports, planned for launch in the fourth quarter. The company serves about 200 customers representing 30 million members and its software processes 300 million claims annually, covering roughly 10% of U.S. drug spend. The recent financing was raised to support the rollout of these new products. Truveris builds cloud-based software (notably TruBid and TruGuard) to help payers, brokers and employers negotiate with PBMs and verify prescription-claims billing in real time. Its TruBid product automates RFPs and reverse auctions to PBMs, helping payers drive up to 12% savings annually, while TruGuard catches billing errors prior to payment. The company reports serving 11 million participants and has reviewed more than 100 million claims through its platform. Truveris says its solutions enforce standard contract terms, ensure pricing definitions and support CMS guidelines for Medicare-eligible pharmacy benefits. Founded in 2009 and based in New York City, Truveris plans to use new capital to expand its development and operations teams and to reach government entities, health insurers, self-insured corporations and unions across the U.S. The company has recruited industry veterans with prior executive roles at major health-plan and PBM organizations to support growth and product deployment. Truveris operates a scalable, automated claims-analysis engine that audits prescription claims for cost accuracy, member cost share, eligibility, fraud, SOX and RDS compliance, and other health analytics. Its service allows payers to verify and pay Pharmacy Benefit Managers only for correctly priced and adjudicated claims prior to payment. Since being founded in 2009, Truveris has reviewed more than 100 million prescription claims and attracted 30 customers. The company will use new funding to expand product development and field operations targeting government entities, health insurers, self-insured corporations, and unions across the United States. Management highlights a large market opportunity: every two weeks invoices for over $12 billion in prescription claims are paid without review, and roughly 5% are inaccurately billed. The team includes talent from University Health Plans, Hewitt, Fairview Pharmacy Services, and Bioscrip.

No current team members are available.