• Swiftly

  Participated · Seed · Sep 2019

  Swiftly builds shopping technology that taps online shopping experiences to make brick-and-mortar stores more engaging and easy, and it provides analytics and advertising for retailers. Earlier reporting said Swiftly was used by hundreds of consumer brands across nearly 10,000 store locations, accounting for more than $30 billion in gross merchandise volume. The company is targeting roughly 200,000 brick-and-mortar food retailers in the U.S. and aims to democratize tools deployed by the largest retailers. Company leadership said the new capital will enable retailers to have the digital platforms necessary to service and gain customers and to capture retail media revenues. Swiftly has raised two $100 million rounds in the past six months and entered unicorn territory with a $1 billion valuation. Swiftly builds technology tools — mobile capabilities, analytics and advertising — that help brick-and-mortar retailers engage shoppers digitally and compete with e-commerce. The company has focused on grocery but plans to expand into verticals such as beauty, home improvement and sporting goods. Since its seed round in 2018 Swiftly has more than doubled in size and added senior leadership including a CRO, CFO and several VPs. Its platform is used by hundreds of consumer brands across nearly 10,000 store locations and accounts for more than $30 billion in gross merchandise volume. Prior to its latest raise the company had raised $15 million; Swiftly will invest new capital in engineering, sales and marketing, and technology infrastructure as it scales. CEO Henry Kim said the company aims to deploy across the next million retail stores worldwide. Swiftly builds a supermarket operating system that helps grocery stores and retailers compete with major players like Amazon and Walmart. The product includes an app with fast checkout, shopping lists, coupons, and provides grocery stores with insights around loyalty and customer preferences. The operating system is already running in grocery stores in Georgia and California, and the company plans to roll the product out nationwide. One of Swiftly’s largest customers is Zion Market. The company’s founders include Henry Kim, Sean Turner, Karen Ho, and Daniel Kim, who previously worked at Symphony Commerce. Swiftly relocated from Palo Alto to Seattle to hire engineers from large tech companies and to build a scalable product; it recently raised $15.6 million in funding to support its growth.

• Placemakr

  Participated · Series A · Dec 2018

  Placemakr is a Washington, D.C.-based flexible-use multifamily and hospitality operator and real estate investor. The company leverages a platform that helps multifamily developers and owners convert existing properties into commingled spaces combining multifamily and hospitality uses. Recent launches include Placemakr Wedgewood Houston and Whyhotel by Placemakr, Columbia, and it has a partnership with Bernstein Management Corporation and Urban Atlantic to convert a K Street office building into a hotel-apartment hybrid. Placemakr raised $65M in new funding, bringing total capital raised to more than $350M. The company intends to use the proceeds to double down on property acquisitions and developer partnerships across the U.S. to meet demand for apartment-style hotels, short-term rentals, and flexible-living accommodations. Leadership includes CEO Jason Fudin and the recent appointment of Timothy G. Franzen as Chief Development Officer to expand inventory under management. Placemakr, formerly WhyHotel, operates a hybrid “hospitality living” model that combines pop-up hotels, flexible long‑stay properties, turnkey serviced apartments, and unfurnished rentals with optional hospitality services. The company sources apartment‑style inventory and manages or owns buildings, furnishing a portion for short‑ and mid‑term stays while leasing other units as traditional rentals. Its customers are largely business travelers needing stays longer than hotels but shorter than typical apartment leases; Placemakr also offers corporate housing and turnkey homes. The company emphasizes on-site staff alongside tech‑enabled services and says over 60% of first‑time bookings are direct. Placemakr has begun acquiring assets—buying a 313‑unit building in Nashville and planning a mix of furnished and unfurnished units—and aims to be involved in unit construction in the future. It is Washington, D.C.‑based and positions its blended inventory mix as a way to drive higher average occupancy and operational efficiency. WhyHotel operates 100- to 250-room pop-up hotels with 24/7 on-site staff in newly built, luxury apartment buildings, providing developers a way to utilize units during lease-up and guests an alternative travel stay. Led by CEO and co-founder Jason Fudin, the company runs a hospitality model that integrates short-term stays into residential developments. WhyHotel plans to use new funding to enhance its team, expand its presence nationwide and add products and services for guests. The company has created a new business arm, Hospitality Living, targeted to launch in 2022 to deliver flexible-use development offerings. Financially, WhyHotel has raised over $35M since its 2017 inception and recently closed a Series B round of more than $20M. The company is based in Washington, DC. WhyHotel operates temporary "pop-up" hotels of roughly 100–250 rooms with 24/7 on-site hospitality, security and cleaning staff inside newly built, luxury apartment buildings. The company partners with developers and property owners to monetize units during lease-up while offering guests furnished apartments with building amenities and discounted temporary rates. After several 2018 pop-up launches in D.C. and Baltimore, WhyHotel is expanding to Northern Virginia (Ballston Quarter, Centro Arlington and The Boro) and plans nationwide growth in 2019 with ambitions to move beyond the East Coast. The company raised capital to fund new site launches and to hire across technology, brand, sales and human capital. WhyHotel also says it will pursue additional pop-ups in existing cities to create a more permanent presence despite the temporary nature of individual programs. The company is Washington, D.C.-based. WhyHotel is an alternative lodging service that operates 100–250 room pop-up hotels with round-the-clock on-site staff in newly built, luxury apartment buildings. The company offers long-term renters in those buildings the benefit of an on-site hotel to host friends and family at rates about half the price of traditional hotels. WhyHotel supports the hotel experience with 24/7 hospitality staff and has run successful pop-ups such as The Bartlett in Washington, D.C. After that success, it launched a new pop-up in Baltimore’s Downtown/Inner Harbor area in partnership with Monument Realty at 225 North Calvert Street (150+ units). Led by President and Co‑founder Bao Vuong, the company plans to use recent funding to launch hotels in its pipeline and to source talent for upcoming projects across major U.S. cities. Operations focus on integrating temporary hotel units into existing luxury residential buildings to capture both transient guests and building residents’ needs.

• Commonwealth Joe (CWJ)

  Led · Seed · Aug 2017

  Commonwealth Joe is a coffee roasting company that provides premium coffee programs and Nitro Cold Brew to offices across the DC Metro Area. It supplies technology firms, marketing agencies, architecture firms, investment banks, law firms, newsrooms and other companies. The company offers eight to twelve specialty small-batch roasts at any given time, sold online and at regional grocers including Whole Foods Market, and through coffee shops such as The Java Shack and its Pentagon City flagship. Founded in 2012 and led by Co-Founder & CEO Robert Peck and COO Chase Damiano, Commonwealth Joe also owns Arlington’s Java Shack (purchased in 2015). The company plans to use new funding to increase production, improve product quality, recruit top talent and enhance capabilities. To date it has raised more than $4.0m in total since inception.

No current team members are available.