• Elliptic

  Participated · Series A · Mar 2016

  Elliptic provides digital-asset data and intelligence, continuously tracking and labeling assets and entities across more than 65 blockchains. The company offers analytics and compliance solutions used by banks, fintechs, governments and crypto firms, and reports screening over 1 billion transactions weekly for more than 700 customers. Elliptic says exchanges using its services account for two-thirds of global crypto trading, positioning it as a compliance backbone as assets move into traditional finance. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in London, Elliptic maintains offices in New York, Washington D.C., Miami, Dubai, Singapore, and Tokyo. With the $120 million Series D at a $670 million pre-money valuation, Elliptic plans to accelerate growth to meet increasing institutional adoption and the rise of tokenization and stablecoins.

• Grover

  Participated · Seed · Nov 2015

  Grover operates a subscription-based technology rental service that offers access to over 8,000 tech products, including smartphones, laptops, VR gear, wearables and smart home appliances. The company runs both consumer subscriptions and Grover Business, which handles tech procurement and management for companies. Rentals can be returned free of charge at the end of the rental period, or customers can extend the rental or exchange products. Grover’s service is available in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Spain and is distributed through its online/offline partner network, including MediaMarktSaturn. Founded in 2015 and led by CEO Linda Rubin, the company is focused on scaling its subscription and B2B offerings. The article notes Grover intends to use new funding to increase profitability and support further sustainable growth. Grover operates a consumer-tech subscription marketplace that lets users rent, switch, buy, keep, or return over 5,000 tech products on a monthly basis. The platform offers smartphones, laptops, VR gear, wearables and smart home appliances and had more than 800,000 items in circulation and over 1 million devices rented out as of July 2022. Led by CEO Michael Cassau, Grover is expanding its product inventory to grow in existing markets such as Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Austria, and into new European markets. In 2022 the company expanded in the US, is accelerating its embedded finance strategy with the Grover Card, and plans to launch a new B2B software tool in the US, the Netherlands, Spain and Austria. Grover has added several high-profile board members, including Joanna Coles, Sarah McPhee, Lara Sweet and Colleen DeCourcy. The company has substantial debt financing history in Europe and the USA and is using new funding to expand inventory and market reach. Grover operates a subscription marketplace for consumer electronics, allowing users to rent phones, monitors, scooters and other gadgets instead of buying them outright. The company provides flexible rental terms (one to 18 months) and a one-year purchase option for €1, which about 10% of customers choose; power users may spend up to €60 per month. Grover has developed embedded-finance products such as the Grover Card (built with Solaris Bank) that offers 3% cash back and correlates with higher subscription uptake. Management plans to use new funding to expand device inventory, build more personalization and financial-services tools (including loyalty schemes), and deepen its presence in large markets such as the U.S. Grover reports half a million items available in its catalog, 2 million registered users and 250,000 active customers, and it said subscriptions and business doubled in the past year. The company is positioned around the circular-economy trend and competes with secondary-market players like Back Market. Grover operates a tech rental/subscription marketplace offering monthly subscriptions to over 3,000 new and used electronic products. The company says it has grown to more than 1 million registered users in Europe. It runs an asset-light model where devices are owned centrally and rented to subscribers. Grover launched its US business in September and reports the US operation has already surpassed subscriber targets. The company is using new financing to accelerate expansion of its US business. Recent financings include a large asset-backed facility and prior debt and equity funding to support scale-up. Grover is a Berlin-based subscription platform that lets consumers rent technology on a monthly basis and refurbishes devices to recirculate them. Founded in 2015 by Michael Cassau, the company aims to reduce e-waste through its refurbishing programme. Grover is projecting circulations to grow from 475,000 to 5 million by 2024 and reports year-over-year growth of 2.5x. For the fiscal year it recorded net revenues of €37 million. The company says device recirculation saved 4,000 metric tonnes of CO2 and spared 1,400 tonnes of e-waste from landfills. Grover plans to use new financing to accelerate growth and enter new markets.

• Traity

  Participated · Series A · Jul 2014

  Traity is building a platform to become a standard for online reputation by aggregating identity, behavior, and endorsements. It verifies identity through linking and verifying social networks, mobile phone verification, and plans for passport verification and short introductory videos. The product assesses behavior via social metrics (for example, detecting fake followers) and surfaces endorsements from marketplaces like eBay and Airbnb as well as offline institutions. Traity emphasizes transparency and presents reputation information contextually rather than as a single black-box score. The company is targeting collaborative consumption marketplaces to adopt its API so third-party reputation can feed back into user profiles, while acknowledging larger incumbents may resist. Traity has amassed 4.5 million users from an early Facebook-led version and announced a $4.7M Series A to help fund that mission.

• Azimo

  Participated · Series A · Mar 2014

  Azimo is a money-transfer fintech headquartered in London with the majority of its staff based in Kraków, Poland (130 of 160 employees). It offers low-cost international payments to 200+ countries and territories and claims 2 million registered customers. The company has raised $50 million of equity to date from investors including Rakuten, eVentures, Greycroft and Frog Capital and reported it was profitable in August. Azimo plans to use new capital to accelerate R&D and scale its proprietary payments platform, including hiring engineering and product talent. Management also intends to increase marketing spend to scale faster across Europe. In response to Brexit it has secured an e-money licence in the Netherlands to continue trading in Europe. Azimo offers mobile- and web-based money transfer services that focus on speed, low fees and emerging-market corridors. The company launched Azimo Business to serve SMEs across the U.K. and Europe, enabling payments to 189 countries. Azimo says its business pricing undercuts banks by 50% or more and aims to deliver faster transfers and a smoother UX via its apps and web platform. Business users must pass KYC and KYB checks to meet anti-money‑laundering regulatory requirements; Azimo has built technology and processes to scale those checks while minimizing false positives. While running in beta, Azimo Business customers on average sent six times more money than Azimo’s consumer customers. Popular sending countries include the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and France; top receiving countries include Poland, China, Singapore, Pakistan, Hong Kong and South Africa. Azimo provides digital remittance services focused on migrant workers sending money home, supporting endpoints in 190 countries and 80 currencies. The company says roughly 500 million people have transferred money through its app since its 2012 founding. It has been an early mover in social and messaging integrations and plans to expand further into Asia, building on existing services to the Philippines and Thailand. Azimo aims to undercut offline rivals by offering transaction fees below 2%, versus typical offline fees of 5–8%. The business is popular in Europe and is experimenting with integrations into messaging platforms to drive growth. CEO and co-founder Michael Kent said the company’s valuation has increased since its prior round and that it is likely to raise a larger round next year. Azimo is a London-based mobile-first remittance service that provides all-digital money transfers across roughly 200 countries and supports about 80 currencies. Founded in 2012, the company focuses on migrant customers in Europe and emerging markets, with popular corridors including Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. Its product targets smaller remittances—the average transaction size is about $700, typically representing 25–50% of a customer’s take-home pay—and Facebook-based transfers account for roughly 25% of transactions. The company reports a five-fold growth rate (specific values not disclosed) and emphasizes lower costs and economies of scale from its digital network. Azimo has raised $31M to date and was valued at just under $100M according to sources. Management plans to use new funding to build out operations across Europe and deepen engagement with migrant communities. Azimo offers an online and mobile remittance service that lets users transfer money internationally to bank accounts, local cash pickup points, or as mobile-wallet top-up credit. Launched in August 2012 and headquartered in the UK, the company supports transfers from numerous European countries to 192 destinations worldwide. It charges between 1% and 2% per transaction, positioning itself as significantly cheaper than incumbents like Western Union, PayPal, and banks. Azimo reports fastest recipient growth in Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia. The company plans to use new funding to accelerate European expansion and to target key markets in North America and Asia. Its distribution channels include the web, native mobile apps, and Facebook integration.

• Reelio

  Participated · Seed · Mar 2014

  Reelio operates a data-driven, self-service influencer marketing platform combined with dedicated account specialists to help brands, agencies, and publishers build and manage branded content partnerships. The company uses a patent-pending matching algorithm and an integrated CRM to connect brands with appropriate influencer partners and streamline campaign workflows. Reelio reports a user base of more than 10,000 influencers (represented by dozens of networks and agencies) and serves hundreds of premium brands, including Clinique, Unilever, and Visa. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in New York, Reelio emphasizes measurable ROI for brands and brand-safe, scalable content partnerships. Management says the new funding will be used to continue investing in the technology platform, expand the executive team, and enter key markets. The company has won recognition at SXSW and Cannes Lions for its approach and tooling. Reelio describes itself as “the Match.com of brands and creators on YouTube” and provides a data-driven marketplace to help brands identify and contract creators beyond the most popular channels. The platform collects creator data across YouTube to surface creators who post consistently and can collectively reach engaged audiences, then asks creators to opt in to sponsorship offers. Brands can be highly involved in creative direction, completely hands-off, or somewhere in between, according to the company. Reelio is currently in private beta and has already run a campaign with Zazzle, producing a playlist of sponsored videos. The founding team includes co-founder and CEO Pete Borum and co-founders Benjamin Williams and Mark Borum, who developed the idea after experimenting with creator-focused education programs.

No current team members are available.