Participated · Seed · Jul 2018

Veritonic positions itself as the independent standard for cultural and creative intelligence, combining Creative, Brand Lift, and Attribution measurement in one adaptive platform. Fueled by millions of consumer and fan insights worldwide, the software helps brands such as Pepsi, Indeed, and CBS forecast, prove, and scale ROI. The technology allows marketers to know, rather than guess, which creative executions and cultural collaborations drive measurable impact. Veritonic’s data capabilities are now being extended to the music and entertainment sector through a new partnership with Authentic Intelligence, giving brands first-look access to emerging talent and cultural IP and the ability to quantify related ROI. This collaboration aims to shift brands from mere sponsorship to ownership of cultural moments. No revenue, user, or other operating metrics were disclosed in the article. Future efforts will center on integrating Authentic Intelligence’s cultural access with Veritonic’s measurement stack to create earlier, smarter investments in cultural partnerships.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2018

Amper Music develops an artificial-intelligence music composition platform that allows users to generate custom, royalty-free tracks by selecting parameters such as mood, length and genre. Founded by film composer Drew Silverstein alongside Sam Estes and Michael Hobe, the company positions its product as a fast, affordable alternative to stock music for functional media projects with limited budgets. Users receive an initial composition within seconds and can iteratively refine it by adjusting instrumentation or other elements, emphasizing collaboration between human creativity and AI. Amper asserts that true innovation in music will come from this human–machine partnership rather than from AI alone. The company has also launched an API to let third-party software products embed Amper’s creative engine, signaling plans to scale through developer integrations. Financially, Amper has secured $4 million in venture financing to fuel product development and API expansion, on top of earlier seed funding from Brooklyn Bridge Ventures.

Participated · Series A · Oct 2017

Bespoke Post is a NYC-based multi-category e-commerce retailer that delivers curated goods and guidance through a monthly membership and an e-commerce shop. The company was founded in 2011 by Steve Szaronos and Rishi Prabhu. It serves a membership base of more than 300,000 members. Bespoke Post combines curated product boxes with an online storefront. The company intends to use new funding to seek out small brands, launch retail partnerships, and invest in its data science capabilities. The recent fundraise is intended to support those strategic initiatives. Bespoke Post curates 10–20 themed boxes each month featuring artisanal products across categories like style, travel and cocktail-making, and recommends different boxes to members based on their interests. Members receive a new box suggestion monthly with no obligation to buy; boxes cost $45 while the contained products have a retail value north of $70. The company emphasizes curated selections from brands not typically found on mainstream shelves or large marketplaces. Bespoke Post launched in 2012 and grew to a team of nearly 40 people with more than 100,000 subscribers in the U.S. and Canada before raising its Series A; about 93% of subscribers are men. The startup plans more hiring, expanded product offerings and additional partnerships. Current operating metrics disclosed in the article are subscriber count, team size and the male-dominant customer mix. Bespoke Post offers themed monthly boxes (the "Box of Awesome") for about $45/month with shipping included, each box typically retailing for over $70. Customers receive an email about the current box and can opt out as often as they want, a modification of the traditional subscription model. Past boxes have included shave kits, travel themes, cocktail sets, shoeshine kits and weekender packs; the company works with large brands (including Diageo) and smaller designers, sometimes custom-making products. The service expanded into Canada, where prices increase by $15–$25 depending on location to cover shipping, duties and taxes. Though focused on men, 10–15% of subscribers are women. The company has grown its team from two to seven and is hiring; the founder previously hinted at an approaching $1M annualized run rate, said subscriber count has more than doubled since that time, and reported consistent double-digit growth. Bespoke Post plans to introduce a higher-price box option and eventually expand from subscription into a broader e-commerce offering where customers can buy individual products or experiences.

Participated · Equity · Aug 2017

Gamer Sensei offers one-on-one personalized online lessons that match players with curated expert coaches using a patent-pending system. The platform supports competitive esports titles including League of Legends, DOTA 2, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch. Users pick their game and are matched with a coach to receive personalized advice and strategic education as they complete lessons. The company raised an additional $4m in venture capital funding to support its operations. It intends to use the funds to accelerate continued growth at its downtown Boston headquarters. Gamer Sensei was co-founded by Rohan Gopaldas, William Collis and Jiapeng Ji. Gamer Sensei operates a patent-pending mastery platform that matches competitive gamers with a large collection of certified Sensei for one-on-one, personalized in-game coaching across major eSports titles. The company currently offers coaching and skills development for Hearthstone, Overwatch, League of Legends, DOTA2, Heroes of the Storm and StarCraft II. Gamer Sensei’s core product centers on a matching algorithm and personalized curricula that produce measurable player improvements. The company announced exclusive partnerships with NRG eSports and StrifeCro from Cloud9 to develop curricula and expand its Sensei network. Future plans include adding on-demand training, personalized assessments that account for prior skills and learning styles, expanding to additional games, and establishing industry-standard credentialing for Sensei. The platform is positioned to scale its coach network and curricular offerings while leveraging partnerships to drive credibility and adoption.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2017

Narrative operates a data marketplace and software for managing data transactions and has launched the Data Streams Marketplace to simplify buying and selling data. The new product applies e-commerce and search models so buyers can discover datasets, add them to a shopping cart, subscribe or pay by credit card, accept terms, and check out. Data on the platform is sold by third-party sellers who are vetted by Narrative; buyers can learn about sellers and potentially establish direct relationships to assess compliance and quality. Narrative says it will not universally grade data quality or guarantee regulatory safety, but aims to provide transparency and is building a marketplace of third-party applications that could include data-quality scoring tools. Financially, Narrative raised $8.5 million in a Series A and had previously raised $5.3 million, according to Crunchbase. The company plans to use the new funding to hire in product, engineering, sales, and marketing and has emphasized hiring across North America and outreach to underrepresented groups. Narrative operates a data marketplace and provides software that helps companies buy, sell and manage data transactions beyond the marketplace. Its platform addresses fragmentation in formats and transaction workflows, offering reporting and monitoring tools that many firms historically built in-house. Founder and CEO Nick Jordan says customers use Narrative to perform due diligence and assess GDPR compliance on acquired data. The company saw a drop in data availability in the EU after GDPR, but also reported stronger customer response in Q2–Q3 following the regulation. Narrative positions its product to give full transparency between buyers and sellers and to grow customers’ data businesses. The company plans to use new funding to double down on sales and marketing to demonstrate product–market fit and pursue a larger round if successful. Narrative operates a marketplace where data buyers can browse sellers, bid on data, and sellers can manage transactions. Founder and CEO Nick Jordan, an adtech executive formerly at Tapad, built the company to reduce the cumbersome, one-off nature of data deals. The startup describes its approach as “data commercialization” and distinguishes itself from data management platforms. Its initial focus is adtech, though the team says the platform could be useful in other verticals (for example, commercial real estate). Narrative emphasizes privacy and compliance, performing a “pretty thorough review” of sellers to ensure legal and best-practice adherence. Financially, the company has raised $2.25 million across two seed rounds.