Led · Series A · Jun 2022

Imverse has developed a proprietary voxel graphics engine capable of live capture, rendering and streaming of multiple holograms in real time for telepresence and volumetric content. Its technology creates full‑body volumetric humans at a fraction of the cost, without industrial cameras or powerful computing equipment, and with low latency, enabling delivery at rates comparable to mainstream video conferencing. Imverse Holo lets creators and businesses set up multi‑camera systems for live volumetric video capture with no green screens or cloud services, and enables producers and consumers to edit, interact and manipulate content in real time. The platform targets use cases including virtual teleconferencing, immersive education, healthcare, gaming and the Metaverse. Over the past year the company has secured partnerships with several large technology companies and expanded operations to France. Imverse is currently focusing on enterprise solutions and has raised funding to accelerate software development, team growth and global product rollout. Imverse is a Swiss VR start-up whose graphics software makes the creation of photorealistic 3D content 10 times faster and cheaper than current solutions. Its product lineup includes IMVERSE LiveMaker, which creates 3D universes from a single 360° picture, and a real-time hologram solution called “Elastic Time” that captures visitors and renders life-size photorealistic bodies in VR immediately. The company showcased these technologies at SIGGRAPH, holding the first-ever VR workshop in VR. Proceeds from its recent CHF1.5 million financing will be used to double the team and expand engineering, sales and business development, and to produce VR content for marketing. Imverse also plans to open an office in Los Angeles to be closer to customers, partners and investors. CEO and co-founder Javier Bello Ruiz said there is a clear market fit for both the holograms and the reconstruction software and that users are enthusiastic. Imverse builds a real-time mixed-reality engine that composites users’ actual bodies and other real-world objects into VR, aiming to increase presence and ease headset adoption. The team spent five years developing the technology at EPFL and debuted public demos at Sundance Film Festival, including the Elastic Time experience. Imverse is also developing LiveMaker, described as a “Photoshop for VR,” to let creators edit and build VR experiences from inside a headset. The company has a four-person core team; CTO Robin Mange brings roughly 12 years of specialization in volumetric rendering. Imverse has worked with content studios such as Emblematic Group and is planning a Los Angeles presence to accelerate commercial partnerships. Financially, the startup has raised $400,000 to date and is pursuing a multi-million-dollar Series A to fund expansion. Observers in the article suggested VR platform companies would likely be interested in acquiring the technology if commercialization falters.

Participated · Seed · Jun 2021

Threatray, a 2018 spin-off of the Bern University of Applied Sciences, offers a SaaS malware intelligence platform that provides deep, data-driven correlation analysis to detect and analyze threats missed by traditional technologies. Its product uses novel search algorithms to find relations between ongoing and historical attacks, enabling faster detection and contextualized investigation. The platform lets users collect and ingest threat data from their infrastructure and apply advanced analytics to pinpoint and contextualize malware activity. The SaaS product entered the market in late 2020 and has seen quick adoption by major customers. Threatray is pursuing a rapid growth strategy and plans to expand its team using the new funding. The startup emphasizes strengthening its analytic depth and intelligence-based capabilities to improve defence and response to cyber-attacks.

Participated · Series B · Sep 2019

Beekeeper provides a suite of tools to engage the deskless frontline workforce across hospitality, retail, manufacturing, logistics and healthcare. Its platform includes messaging, surveys, video and voice chats, FAQ chatbots, workflow automation (for onboarding), shift scheduling, documents, forms and analytics for managers. Founded out of Switzerland in 2011 and based in Zurich, Beekeeper has enterprise customers including Hilton and Cargill. The company says revenue has risen 100% since the start of the pandemic. Beekeeper competes with the likes of Connecteam, WorkStep, WorkJam and Skedulo. It plans to double down on product development and build on recent growth with the new funding. Beekeeper is a mobile communication and operations platform designed specifically for frontline workers and is led by CEO Cristian Grossmann. The platform connects millions of global users across customers such as Panera Bread and Mandarin Oriental to improve productivity, agility, and safety. Beekeeper provides mobile-first features including chat, surveys, digital forms, workflows, and integrations to surface relevant information and processes for every frontline worker. The company announced Beekeeper 2.0, which adds a new app entry point, automated translations into 100+ languages, custom FAQ chatbots, digital forms and workflows, and out-of-the-box integrations with SharePoint and popular shift scheduling software. Beekeeper intends to use the funds to expand its cloud marketplace for apps, solutions, and integrations. Financially, Beekeeper completed a $10M Series B extension that brought the round’s total to $60M. Beekeeper offers a mobile-first communications platform designed to connect non-desk and service-oriented workers in industries such as hospitality, manufacturing and retail. The product is pitched as a “Slack for non-desk employees” and aims to replace pen-and-paper workflows and consumer messaging apps like WhatsApp. The company targets a large addressable market — it cites that more than 80% of the world’s workers are non-desk and estimates 1.7 billion are unconnected or poorly connected. Beekeeper counts customers including Hyatt Hotels, Dollar General, Domino’s Pizza, Heathrow Airport and SeaBoard Foods. Financially, the company has just completed a $45M Series B. On the product roadmap Beekeeper plans new features and integrations, including a marketplace for custom apps and integrations with systems such as Workday to bridge gaps between knowledge workers and non-desk staff. Beekeeper offers a secure communication and operations platform designed for non-desk and on-demand workers, enabling companies to track messages and replace email with secure messaging. The app includes machine translation to enable cross-language and cross-geography communication and emphasizes security, compliance, and integrations. Customers span hospitality, manufacturing, retail, construction, transport and logistics, food production, NGOs and healthcare, and the product is used by organizations such as Heathrow Airport and Marriott Hotels. Beekeeper is available in 130 countries and is described in the article as a global market leader serving a large addressable market of roughly 2 billion non-desk workers. Financially, the company has raised roughly $26m to date following the latest $13m round. Management has stated a long-term ambition of pursuing a public listing as an exit option. Beekeeper is a mobile-first communications platform that connects companies with non-desk, hourly and service-oriented employees. The platform is designed to replace pen-and-paper and consumer messaging apps and offers password-less onboarding via QR codes so workers without corporate email can join. Beekeeper has found a market in retail, hospitality, manufacturing and transportation and says a number of Fortune 500 companies have adopted the service. Recent customer wins include Mandarin Oriental, Dollar General, Seaboard Foods, Heathrow Airport, Gate Group and Dnata. The company is Switzerland- and U.S.-based and plans to use new funding to fund aggressive U.S. and EMEA market expansion and to expand into new industries. CEO Cristian Grossmann said Beekeeper saw significant momentum in 2016 after investments in customer success and new features, and the product intentionally targets shift-based hourly workers rather than office-based productivity tools.