• AssetAvenue

  Participated · Seed · Sep 2014

  AssetAvenue operates an online peer-to-peer platform that originates bridge and transitional commercial real estate loans across property types including office, industrial, retail, multifamily and non-owner occupied residential. The platform offers bridge financing from $250,000 to $25 million per property and enables accredited and institutional investors to participate with minimum investments as low as $5,000 or via a Whole Loan Program. The company leverages a proprietary technology and lending platform to vet loans and connect borrowers with investors. Founded in December 2013 and based in Los Angeles, AssetAvenue has seen rapid growth since launch. The company plans to use its latest funding to further invest in product and technology development, expand its team with key hires across departments, and ramp up marketing and sales campaigns. AssetAvenue has been recognized by CB Insights as a top lending startup and featured in major media outlets. AssetAvenue operates an online peer-to-peer lending platform that connects accredited and institutional investors with fixed-income loans secured by commercial real estate. The platform sources loan opportunities up to $10 million and accepts individual investments as small as $5,000; it also offers a Whole Loan Program for family offices and institutional investors. AssetAvenue partners with lenders and borrowers and uses a proprietary analytics model to vet each loan opportunity before presenting it to registered members. The company emphasizes institutional-grade underwriting supported by a real estate team with deep experience. Leadership is led by founder and CEO David Manshoory and includes executives with backgrounds at Indiegogo, American Capital Realty, Colony Capital, and other real estate and investment firms. AssetAvenue plans to use its $3 million seed round to accelerate strategic partnerships with lenders, grow its institutional and accredited investor base, and further develop its proprietary lending platform.

• Klutch

  Led · Equity · Mar 2014

  Klutch is a consumer-focused group scheduling app that enables users to suggest meetings, vote on plans, and group chat about the get-together. The app debuts on iOS and aims to make group scheduling mainstream by targeting everyday, non-business use rather than traditional meeting tools. Klutch positions itself against services like Doodle but differentiates with a consumer-oriented interface and social features. The company argues there is significant upside in consumer group scheduling, citing the rapid GroupMe exit as an example of potential traction. Financially, Klutch has raised $1.5 million in fresh capital led by LaunchpadLA. Despite its consumer focus, Klutch also promotes office use, suggesting mixed priorities between social and business markets.

• Mark43

  Participated · Seed · Jul 2013

  Mark43 is a New York-based, cloud-native public safety software company that provides CAD, RMS, analytics, and property and evidence platforms along with customer care solutions. Led by Scott Crouch, its platform is used by major U.S. cities including Atlanta, Washington, D.C., San Antonio, and Seattle and by over 120 public safety agency customers across the U.S. and abroad. The company recently launched Mark43 RMS Essentials to serve agencies of 50 or fewer sworn personnel and has expanded platform compatibility to support Microsoft Azure in addition to Amazon Web Services. Mark43 intends to use new capital to develop additional products, foster dialogue between public safety agencies and communities, and continue investing in growth across the U.S. and internationally. The company signed a contract with the New South Wales Police Force and plans to establish a new office in the United Kingdom while expanding its Toronto office to support Canadian operations. As of this round the company has raised a total of $257 million to date. Mark43 provides a cloud-based public safety platform that gives first responders reliable, actionable information. The platform is used by dozens of police departments across the United States, including in California, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington State and the District of Columbia. Founded in 2012, the company now has over 150 employees. Mark43 plans to use new funding to accelerate software development, sales, and deployments. The company has raised a total of $77.8M to date, including the March 2018 Series C of $38M. Mark43 provides an information-management platform for law enforcement that enables departments to share data nationally and perform social network analysis. Its software collects intelligence to help combat violent gangs, drug dealing, and routine offenses. For the prior eight months the Massachusetts State Police Special Projects Team in Springfield, MA has used the platform operationally. The company intends to use the seed funds for product expansion. Mark43 recently won the $70,000 grand prize in the Harvard University President's Challenge. The company was founded by Harvard College graduates Scott Crouch (CEO), Florian Mayr, and Matthew Polega. It is based in Boston, MA.

• Panna

  Participated · Equity · May 2013

  Panna is a curated video cooking magazine that publishes digital issues for iPhone and iPad featuring seasonal video recipes from master chefs. Each issue contains 13 seasonal video recipes and the app includes a Panna TV feature that lets readers watch an entire issue like a TV program with a scrubber to fast-forward and rewind. The company showcases work from chefs such as Jonathan Waxman, Rick Bayless, Sean Brock and Nancy Silverton and has partnerships with brands like Sur La Table and Whole Foods to include chef segments on equipment and vegan-friendly meals. Created by entertainment industry veteran David Ellner, Panna focuses on high-production culinary video content distributed as a digital magazine. The company raised $1.35M in its first funding round and plans to use the proceeds to expand the team, produce new content and ramp up sales and marketing efforts. These moves are aimed at broadening the app's content offerings and commercial partnerships.

• Tuition.io

  Participated · Seed · Feb 2013

  Tuition.io is a New York City–based provider of an education assistance benefits platform for employers. Its platform offers student loan repayment, Secure 2.0 retirement match, loan forgiveness support, tuition assistance, expert coaching and financial wellness tools. The company serves employers across industries, counting ADP, Carhartt, Emory Healthcare, Ford and Universal Music Group among its customers. Tuition.io received debt financing from ORIX Corporation USA’s Growth Capital business; the amount was not disclosed. The company said it intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts. ORIX USA’s Growth Capital business has provided $2.7 billion in funding to 200 companies since inception. Tuition.io provides an enterprise-grade platform that enables employers to offer student loan repayment assistance as an employee benefit. The company serves clients across industries including entertainment, medical, banking, and retail, with customers such as Live Nation, Staples, Fidelity Investments and others. Tuition.io plans to use new funding to scale its sales and customer success teams, expand and deepen product offerings, and drive market expansion. The company has raised a total of $15.2M to date. Leadership includes CEO Scott Thompson; the company also added Scott Simmons as COO and CFO and Danica Bracy as Senior Director of Partner Success, who will be based in a new San Mateo, CA office. The product is positioned for enterprise clients and public entities, reflecting its focus on employer-centered benefits. Tuition.io provides a student loan management platform that enables global companies to offer student loan payments as an employee benefit. The company is led by founder and CEO Brendon McQueen and is based in Santa Monica, California. Launched in April, the platform is used by clients across industries including legal, tech and financial services. Tuition.io raised $5M in a Series A to accelerate enterprise customer acquisition and to grow its sales, customer success and engineering teams. Management says the funds will be used to further strengthen the company’s market position. The raise brought the company’s total funding to $8.2M. Tuition.io offers a Mint.com–style service that monitors and helps users manage their student loan payments. The company grew quickly after launch and now manages over $1 billion in aggregate student loans. Tuition.io was founded by CEO Brendon McQueen after he confronted his own $120,000 in student debt spread across multiple lenders. The startup has begun to generate early revenue from advertising driven by high blog traffic and is exploring additional monetization strategies. Its product targets a large market of U.S. borrowers—outstanding student debt exceeds $1 trillion—where many users lack clarity about what they owe. Venture investors have shown interest in the space as other startups raise large funding rounds for student lending and management solutions. Tuition.io provides a single interface for student borrowers to access and manage all their loans, visualize balances with charts and calendars, and receive personalized action plans to lower payments and accelerate payoff. The company launched a public beta six weeks prior to the article and is a member of Launchpad LA’s fourth accelerator class. Tuition.io does not currently originate or consolidate loans; its service is free for the foreseeable future. Since launch it has surpassed $250 million in aggregate user debt under management, covering over 40,000 loans from borrowers at 130 universities. Founder Brendon McQueen built the product to simplify onboarding and loan visibility, and the company has partnered with student-focused organizations like Student Veterans of America and OurTime.org. Future monetization could include fees or leveraging student financial profiles to offer refinancing or other loan services when appropriate.

No current team members are available.