Participated · Series C · Jun 2024

Vecna Robotics develops autonomous pallet movers, forklifts, and accompanying software to manage material-handling operations. The company targets automotive, general manufacturing, and high-volume warehousing customers. It plans to use new funding to accelerate its automation technology and improve its products. Vecna recently hired Karl Iagnemma, the former Motional CEO, as its new chief executive; Iagnemma was an angel investor in Vecna in 2020 and brings deep autonomy experience. Financially, Vecna raised $14.5 million in new funding from existing investors and has a history of sizable financings, including $50 million in 2020 and a $65 million Series C that was later extended. The firm is backed by investors such as Tiger Global Management, Proficio Capital Partners, Blackhorn Ventures, and Highland Capital Partners. Vecna Robotics develops flexible material-handling automation solutions—self-driving forklifts, pallet jacks, tuggers—powered by its Pivotal orchestration software and a 24/7 Command Center. The company sells into distribution, warehousing, and manufacturing and cites customers including GEODIS, FedEx, Caterpillar, and Shape. Over the past year it reported triple-digit revenue growth, more than a 100% increase in deployments, and claims customers have seen upwards of 70% performance improvements in ground-to-ground workflows. Vecna plans to use recent financing to fund workflow-specific innovations, release next-generation platforms, and continue investing in cloud/software updates to its Pivotal Command Center. The company also announced the appointment of Michael Helmbrecht as COO to oversee operations, manufacturing, IT, product, and customer success as it scales. Massachusetts-based Vecna Robotics develops autonomy for pallet moving and forklift-centric warehouse activities, aiming to replace manual forklifts with robotic systems. The company focuses on both hardware and software for automated material handling and plans to accelerate its product roadmap. Vecna says it will use new funding for R&D on software and hardware, fulfilling orders, and expanding operations. The firm highlights the large market opportunity, noting over 5 billion pallets moved by more than 5 million forklifts and nearly 5 million manual operators. After hiring a new CEO, Craig Malloy, and CMO Josh Kivenko following its prior round, Vecna is positioning to scale deployments and meet demand for increased throughput in factories and warehouses. The company has seen increased investor interest amid pandemic-driven labor shortages in logistics. Vecna Robotics delivers autonomous material-handling solutions via self-driving vehicles powered by its proprietary Pivotal™ software and supported by a 24/7 customer service team. Its systems automate cross-docking, line-side delivery, replenishment, case-picking, kitting, goods-to-person and person-to-good workflows, including oversized and non-standard SKUs. The company’s solutions are used by customers in distribution, warehousing, and manufacturing, with deployments at FedEx Ground, Milton CAT, DHL Supply Chain, GEODIS and Medline. Led by founder and CEO Daniel Theobald, Vecna emphasizes continuously improving software and workflow orchestration. The company intends to use new funds to expand its presence and accelerate development of new product offerings.

Participated · Series C · Dec 2023

Tamara is Saudi Arabia’s first homegrown fintech unicorn, providing buy now pay later (BNPL) services and other payment solutions. Founded in 2020 by Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah, and Abdulmohsen Albabtain, the company enables consumers to split purchases while merchants receive immediate payment. The platform has amassed more than 20 million customers and is integrated with over 87,000 merchants across the region. Management intends to leverage this scale to build a "customer-centric financial super-app," adding new credit and payment products in alignment with Saudi Vision 2030. Tamara finances its lending through large asset-backed facilities and earns revenue from merchant fees and consumer charges. In December 2023, it closed a $340 million Series C round at a valuation above $1 billion. The newly announced $2.4 billion facility materially increases the company’s lending capacity and supports its regional expansion plans.

Participated · Seed · Aug 2020

iFarm develops an adaptive vertical-farm management platform that combines computer vision, machine learning and data from a distributed network of farms to automate and optimize crop growth. Its iFarm Growtune platform can determine plant weight, detect growth deviations or pathologies, provide recommendations to staff and adjust microclimate settings autonomously. The company sells technologies that enable customers to start growing produce in empty warehouses, factory shops, basements and distribution centers. iFarm plans to use new funding to further develop the Growtune platform, quadruple the number of plants supported by its technology and optimize automated production lines to reduce labor costs. It is also completing experiments to grow strawberries, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, radish and other crops. Led by co-founder and CEO Alex Lyskovsky, iFarm had over 50 ongoing projects with clients in Europe and the Middle East for 2020 and an industrial vertical farm based on its tech due to launch in Finland by the end of the year. iFarm Project develops an integrated vertical farming system combining proprietary multi‑layered horizontal shelving hardware and a cloud‑based software platform that controls microclimates and delivers downloadable "growing recipes." The company’s closed‑ecosystem approach and internal sterile contour technology aim to eliminate the need for pesticides and washing of produce. Their platform supports multiple crops today, including basil, arugula, spinach, cilantro and strawberries, and is designed to be modular and scalable to fit basements, roofs or spare rooms. iFarm has built five vertical farms and urban greenhouses in Moscow and Novosibirsk and employs a team of over 30 people. Near‑term plans include applying the technology to floriculture and piloting the system in the European market, with an EU showroom planned in 2019. The company was founded in 2017 and emphasizes both hardware and software development to expand cultivation solutions and automation.

Led · Series A · Jun 2019

GuestReady operates a tech-driven property management platform and a white‑label PMS that powers its short- and mid-term rental operations and is sold to other managers as a SaaS product. The company sources properties from owners, handles guest bookings and coordinates services such as cleaning, linen and key handovers, automating many manual tasks from centralized support offices. Since becoming operational in 2016, GuestReady has grown to a portfolio of 2,600 properties valued at over €1bn across more than 30 cities including Paris, London, Lisbon and Dubai. The platform has sold over 1.6 million guest nights and generated €60m in rental income this year, reporting a 5.1% EBITDA margin and a 4.8/5 customer rating. Growth has been rapid, with guest-night sales up 740% compared to July 2020. The company intends to use the recent crowdfunding proceeds to support growth in existing markets and expansion into new ones. GuestReady is a Switzerland-based short- and mid-term rental management company that manages homes listed on Airbnb across cities including London, Paris, Dubai, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Porto, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Cannes. It sources properties from owners and rents them to guests while coordinating cleaning, linen services, and key handovers. GuestReady has developed a property management system (PMS) that automates many previously manual services and enables remote delivery from centralized support offices. The company operates a software-only business model and also offers Online Property Management services such as guest communications and revenue management, enabling it to capture around a 6% commission share. Since 2019 it has offered a white-labelled version of its PMS to vacation rental management companies and traditional property managers at roughly a 2% commission on partners' gross rental revenues. Funds from the current Seedrs round will be used to continue development of the GuestReady platform. GuestReady’s platform handles the operational tasks of short-term rentals—cleaning, laundry, and check-in/out services—while integrating with major booking channels. The company says it manages over 2,000 properties across six countries: the UK, France, Portugal, UAE, Malaysia and Hong Kong. It reports annualized booking volume close to $50 million. CEO Alexander Limpert said take‑home revenue has tripled over the last year and burn has fallen, though he declined to provide specific figures. Growth has been driven in part by M&A; GuestReady completed its fourth acquisition with France-based BnbLord, its largest deal to date. The company is pursuing additional acquisitions and plans to focus on current markets with the possibility of adding one or two new cities later. GuestReady provides end-to-end management services for Airbnb hosts, including cleaning, laundry, and check-in/out support across five cities. The company currently manages over 600 properties and has supported more than 20,000 stays. It is roughly one year old and reports apparent profitability in two cities. GuestReady recently acquired Easy Rental to bolster its presence in London and Paris and has exited Amsterdam after limited traction. The company plans to use new funding to grow its tech team, double down on existing markets, and expand into additional cities, targeting Southern Europe and more developed urban areas in Asia. GuestReady is a global short-term rental management company based in London that provides professional services to property investors, homeowners and Airbnb hosts. Its services include listing creation, guest communication, housekeeping, laundry and key management. The company is led by CEO Alexander Limpert and CFO Patrick Degen. At the time of the article it was operating in six cities: London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris, Kuala Lumpur and Amsterdam. GuestReady plans to roll into new countries soon and intends to use recent funding for product development and hiring essential staff. The company closed a USD750k angel funding round to support these plans.

Participated · Series A · Dec 2018

Buzzoole provides an influencer marketing platform and services that automate, manage and measure brands' investments with creators. Its core product suite includes GAIA, an AI-driven platform that matches brands and creators, and True Reach, a reach-measurement tool based on a proprietary algorithm designed by Nielsen. The company supports a network of more than 270,000 creators and serves around 850 international companies, including Rakuten, Ralph Lauren, Starbucks, Pandora, Unilever and P&G, and works with agencies such as Mindshare, Havas, GroupM, Omnicom, IPG and Publicis Group. Buzzoole plans to use new funding to expand its market presence globally, specifically in the U.S. and UK, and to accelerate R&D and platform development. The company has close to 70 employees across London, Milan, Rome, Naples and New York. Financially, the Series A brought $8.9M in new capital and raised total funding to date to over $10M. Buzzoole is a Naples-based, big data-powered marketing platform that connects brands to influencers. Founded in 2013, it has offices in Rome and Milan and opened a London location in 2016. The company reports more than 200,000 influencers on its platform and counts partnerships with Unilever, MasterCard, and Toyota. It raised $830,000 via a convertible note and intends to further funding to about $1.6 million within the next 18 months with possibly more investors. Buzzoole plans to use the new funds for overseas expansion into France, Spain, Russia, and India, and for further product development and partnership growth. Management describes the raise as a bridge to a Series A expected in the next 12–18 months after rapid growth in users, countries and revenue. Buzzoole is an influence-engine optimization platform that allows enterprises to identify social network influencers based on their quality and generate word-of-mouth activity. The company recently launched Finder, a search engine that allows users to find influencers. It is incubated within venture incubator Digital Magics and was founded in September 2013. Buzzoole closed the first semester of 2015 with a turnover of approximately €500k and has raised over €770k to date. The company plans to use the new funds to extend R&D to create a Real Time Bidding system, expand abroad with aims to open London and UK offices by 2016, and increase its sales staff. Buzzoole has developed an influence engine optimization platform and an algorithm that helps social media users optimize their online presence and discover the topics where they are most influential. The platform enables brands to identify trendsetters in niche markets, engage them, and generate word-of-mouth by awarding brand ambassadors with offers such as discounts, product tests and exclusive invitations. The company intends to use funds to continue developing and launching the platform; a beta version will be released soon. It plans to target large enterprises and SMBs as customers. Buzzoole is led by founder and CEO Fabrizio Perrone alongside Gennaro Varriale, Luca Pignataro and Luca Camillo. The company is based in Naples, Italy.