Participated · Seed · Aug 2024

Myavana, led by CEO and Founder Candace Mitchell, is an Atlanta, GA-based beauty tech company specializing in AI-driven personalized hair care. Its HairAI technology uses microscopic hair analysis and advanced algorithms to decode hair texture, type, and condition and provide instant product recommendations tailored to specific needs. The company’s real-time data analytics platform and Hair RI solution enable partners like Ulta and Amazon to drive purchases. Myavana has collaborated with the National Black-Owned Beauty Supply Association and Braintrust Founders Studio and has facilitated distribution to over 1,000 retailers and salons. The company raised $5.9M in Seed funding and intends to use the proceeds to expand operations and consolidate its position. Backers include a mix of venture firms and strategic investors that support its retail and distribution strategy.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2024

Bump is a creator-focused platform that helps creators track income, market value, and manage business finances to negotiate better deals and see owed payments. The company was launched in 2020 by James Jones and Anton Kovalyov, who serves as CTO. In 2022 Bump launched the Bump Creator credit card in partnership with Mastercard, marketed with no monthly or hidden fees and available without a credit check. Bump also works with a banking institution to offer direct deposit accounts that let creators earn interest on cash placed in a money market account. The company says it will use the latest fundraise to expand and refine its infrastructure. To date Bump has raised $3.5 million, including the newly announced seed round.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2022

inCitu builds mobile augmented-reality (AR) visualizations that let anyone see and explore proposed and upcoming development projects in situ, at real scale, with no headsets or special devices required. The company turns large datasets into accurate, informative visualizations of future skylines, individual buildings, affordable housing, mixed-use developments, parks, bridges, neighborhood rezoning and regional infrastructure. Its customers across the U.S. include cities, real estate developers, technology companies and other urban-development stakeholders. Led by Founder & CEO Dana Chermesh-Reshef, inCitu also licenses its data to technology partners. In 2022 the company signed partnerships with Snap Inc. and Esri after concluding a two-year program. The company plans to use the newly raised capital to accelerate growth and expand operations.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2022

Sunscoop produces allergen-friendly, refined-sugar-free plant-based ice cream free of the top nine allergens. Flavours incorporate superfoods such as moringa and maca. The brand retails at over 700 U.S. stores, including Whole Foods and Erewhon, and has seen 142% year-on-year sales growth in the Natural & Specialty Grocery sector. Sunscoop plans to launch two new flavours this month alongside a relaunch of its online store, and will introduce five additional products later this year, including two shelf-stable SKUs. The company intends to use new funding to hire team members and expand through both retail and direct-to-consumer channels.

Participated · Equity · Jan 2021

Solstice develops customer acquisition, enrollment, and subscriber management solutions for the community solar industry, including financing innovations to expand access for underserved communities. The company created EnergyScore, a machine learning–based qualification metric that combines utility payment history and customer data to better predict subscriber bill payment behavior. Solstice says EnergyScore outperforms FICO in early analysis of nearly 875,000 customer records, reducing default rates by 1.9 percentage points and increasing qualification of LMI households by 14%. The company plans to design dynamic monitoring and evaluation frameworks to mitigate bias in the model and to recruit pilot partners with residential solar financiers or developers later this year. Solstice offers a frictionless subscriber management software platform and aims to bring community solar to households that cannot support rooftop systems. Founded by women of color in 2016 and originally based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Solstice positions itself as an advocate for energy equity. Solstice Power Technologies is a Cambridge, MA-based software and customer management company that connects households and community organizations to community solar. Its platform lets local residents enroll in portions of centralized shared solar farms for free without home installations and offers guaranteed savings on monthly utility bills. Solstice’s software manages the end-to-end customer experience for the life of 20-year renewable energy projects on behalf of developers and financiers, from customer enrollment to billing/crediting and ongoing engagement. The company has generated demand for 111 MW of clean energy across 25 community renewable projects, representing the environmental equivalent of not burning 31 million pounds of coal. Solstice closed a $3.1M funding round and intends to use the funds to expand operations to additional states in 2021. Led by Co-Founder and CEO Steph Speirs, the company is initially focusing on Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Maine, and New Jersey.