• MyVillage

  Participated · Seed · Apr 2019

  MyVillage is a Bozeman, Mont.-based in-home childcare startup that connects families with child care providers and provides a mentoring environment to train and support educators. Educators receive front- and back-office tools such as accounting, marketing and scheduling to make it easier to launch and run an in-home child care program. The service is available in Colorado and Montana and the company actively partners with the public sector to complement existing programs and standards. MyVillage intends to use new funding to expand childcare locations in Colorado and Montana and to expand into more states. The company is led by CEO Erica Mackey and Elizabeth Szymanski. It closed a $5.95M seed funding round to support those expansion plans.

• Watsi

  Participated · Equity · Nov 2015

  Watsi operates a crowdfunding platform that channels 100% of patient donations to pay for medical procedures and maintains a structured electronic medical record system for partner hospitals. The platform profiles patients and hospitals to enable ongoing due diligence and outcome tracking, including metrics like 30‑day readmission. Watsi has supported over 5,000 patients in 20 countries and aims to reach 1 million patients by 2020. The organization plans to hire engineers to improve donor experience and build a social giving product and a licensable platform. Revenues from licensing the donation platform are intended to cover future operational costs and reduce the need for philanthropic operational rounds. The current $3.5M donation is explicitly intended to fund operations and platform development so Watsi can focus future fundraising on patient donations. Watsi is a San Francisco, CA-based global crowdfunding platform for healthcare that enables users to donate as little as $5 to directly fund life-changing medical care for people in need. The company raised $1.2M in funding. Backers included Paul Graham, Tencent, Y Combinator, Ron Conway, Vinod Khosla, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Joe Greenstein, Eric Wu, Geoff Ralston, Uprising, Jasmine Social Investments, InnoSpring/TEEC Angel Fund and Michael Sidgmore. The company intends to use the funds to support operations. It is Y Combinator-backed. The team leadership cited in the article includes Chase Adam (Vision), Jesse Cooke (Tech), Grace Garey (Marketing) and Howard Glenn (Partnerships). Watsi is a nonprofit crowdfunding platform that lets donors directly fund low-cost, high-impact medical treatments using a Kickstarter-like model. Donors can give as little as $5 and connect personally with beneficiaries via individual profiles that describe each person’s condition and needs. The organization works with doctors, providers and payors to secure donated time, materials and equipment to reduce overhead and leverage lower procedure costs abroad. Watsi.org funds operational costs separately and the site pays credit-card processing fees so that 100% of crowd donations go to patient treatments. Early traction includes 75 treatments funded, about $60,000 raised for patients from 1,300 donations, operations in eight countries, 20% of donors returning for a second gift, 30% of giving from outside the U.S., and roughly 28% average week-over-week growth. Y Combinator’s backing and public endorsements from figures like Paul Graham and a philanthropic contribution from Ron Conway provide validation and support for scaling.

• Zola Electric

  Participated · Equity · Mar 2014

  Zola Electric develops integrated renewable energy hardware and software, including the Infinity system that powers homes and offices and the Vision SaaS platform that provides data, analytics and control. The company began in 2011 offering solar-home solutions in Tanzania and has since expanded product lines to address off-grid, on-grid, rural, urban, residential and commercial needs. Zola positions Infinity as a primary power solution that integrates with grids, solar and batteries while digitally controlling and storing energy. The firm reports more than 1.5 million users and over 300,000 homes and businesses across multiple African countries and additional presence in the U.S., Brazil, Pakistan and the Philippines. Management says the new capital will be used for product development (next-generation digital renewable energy) and commercial expansion to fill out its "energy ladder." The company aims to expand further into Northern Africa, Asia and South America while continuing to build out on-the-ground personnel, developers, integrators and distributors. ZOLA Electric (formerly Off Grid Electric) designs and delivers solar, battery and power-electronics systems that can be purchased over time using PAYGo micro-finance and mobile money. The company powers more than 180,000 homes and businesses across Tanzania, Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Its product offering is positioned to replace kerosene and enable lighting, small-business power, connectivity and expanded work and study opportunities. ZOLA has a roster of strategic and capital partners including Tesla, Total, EDF, DBL Partners, Helios Investment Partners and GE Ventures. The company is pursuing continued expansion across Africa and is using new financing to scale customer additions and product development. ZOLA has received industry recognition such as the UN Momentum for Change Award and the Zayed Future Energy Prize. Off Grid Electric develops rooftop solar and battery systems and leases pay-as-you-go home solar kits in Africa. Its leased systems include solar panels, batteries, lights, mobile phone chargers and televisions, with customers able to make payments via mobile phones. The company powers more than 150,000 homes and businesses across Tanzania, Rwanda and Ivory Coast and is expanding into Ghana as part of a partnership with Electricite de France SA. Off Grid’s model leverages declining panel prices to offer leasing options that compete with kerosene lamps and diesel generators. The company raised $55 million in a Series D round to support its expansion, and investors also include Tesla Inc., Total SA and DBL Partners. CEO Xavier Helgesen highlighted the cost advantage of solar electrons in explaining the company’s economics. Off Grid Electric is a Tanzania-headquartered company that develops and markets distributed solar home systems and batteries with a focus on African markets. Its products allow customers to power LED lights, mobile phone chargers and other small electronics. The article does not report revenue, user counts, or other operating metrics. It describes the company as a solar installer active in African markets. The piece focuses on the company's product offering and a recent financing, and does not detail future plans. No additional financial or operational details were provided in the article. Off Grid Electric delivers stand-alone solar systems to last-mile customers using mobile technology and an integrated approach to product design, distribution, sales, financing and service. The company offers basic systems that include LED lights, a radio, a USB charger and a TV, and larger systems that provide extra energy for charging multiple phones and powering appliances and televisions. It markets these systems at costs lower than traditional kerosene lighting. Leadership is led by CEO Xavier Helgesen, COO Erica Mackey and CTO Joshua Pierce. The company is based in San Francisco, Boulder and in Tanzania. Recent funding will be used to enter new African countries and to scale a partnership with the Tanzanian government to power 1 million homes by 2017.

No current team members are available.