Participated · Seed · Oct 2021

Big Whale Labs is building an open-source protocol to power privacy and security in crypto transactions. The protocol focuses on enabling pseudonymity within Web3 transactions. The company raised $3.8M, according to the article. The publicly visible post on Vancouver Tech Journal contains only a brief headline and short description. Further operational metrics, investor identities, financing instruments, and specific future plans were not provided in the visible content. Additional details appear to be behind the publisher's subscription paywall. Big Whale Labs is developing a web3 social product that lets people build and interact as pseudonymous NFT identities with verified credentials and reputations, built on Ethereum. The company aims to enhance how web3 communities interact on web2 platforms like Discord and Telegram while introducing web3-native mechanisms such as owning fractional identities and one’s social graph. Its mission is to make online social interactions safer, more secure, and more fun. The founding team is led by CEO Jason Kim and CTO Nikita Kolmogorov. Nikita previously scaled a Telegram bot to 20 million users and says his products are used by over 60 million people globally. The startup plans to use new funding to accelerate product development and to launch its first product and toolset.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2021

Pipeline provides an educational platform of expert-advice videos, tools, and programs to help aspiring livestreamers and video creators build sustainable careers. Founded by former pro gamer and Facebook product lead Stephen "Snoopeh" Ellis and streamer David "StoneMountain64" Steinberg, the company offers subscriptions, scholarships, and creator-focused tooling. It serves more than 50,000 streamers, including 3,000 paying subscribers, and charges $34 per month or $340 per year. Pipeline has nine employees and was previously funded by its two founders. The product has expanded from livestreaming support to video-on-demand and recently launched Verticlip, a tool to convert 16:9 videos into 9:16 clips for short-form platforms. Partners include Supercell, Corsair, Facebook, Razer, Elgato, Voicemod, and Intel. The company aims to build infrastructure and educational support for the long tail of creators so they can grow multi-platform audiences and monetize their work.