Participated · Equity · Jun 2021

CubicPV develops silicon wafers and complementary perovskite technologies aimed at high-efficiency tandem solar modules. The company positions itself as an experienced North American wafer producer with proprietary silicon crystallization and materials innovations. CubicPV is executing a U.S. factory plan intended to produce 10 gigawatts of wafers and has completed conceptual design, narrowed site selection to two locations, and advanced detailed design with an industry project management partner. Leadership has been strengthened for the factory program with the appointment of David Gustafson as President of the new wafer facility to lead planning, ramp and operations. The company has offices in Bedford, Massachusetts, and Dallas. Financially, CubicPV secured firm equity commitments in excess of $100 million to support the factory and tandem roadmap, with the first $33 million tranche released immediately and a second tranche tied to project milestones. CubicPV combines 1366 Technologies' Direct Wafer® process with Hunt Perovskite Technologies' printed perovskite PV materials to develop tandem (multi-junction) solar modules. The company aims to commercialize tandem modules that layer a perovskite top cell over a silicon Direct Wafer bottom cell, boosting module power output by about 30% versus single-junction devices. HPT contributes a large patent portfolio of more than 160 patent assets and says it has addressed perovskite durability through improved chemistry and intrinsic material stability. 1366's Direct Wafer provides a cost advantage for the silicon bottom cell, which the release notes produces roughly one-third of a tandem device's energy while still carrying 100% of the production cost. The combined entity intends to pursue long-term tandem leadership and terawatt-scale solutions. CubicPV will operate immediately with offices in Bedford, Massachusetts and Dallas, Texas.

Participated · Series D · Jun 2021

SmartAsset operates a consumer-to-advisor marketplace and personal finance content platform that uses Automated Financial Modeling and its SmartAdvisor product to pair consumers with financial advisors. The company reaches over 100 million people each month through content, tools and personalized calculators, and recently made its one millionth consumer/advisor match. Since a $28 million Series C in June 2018, SmartAsset says it has grown revenue tenfold and is on the cusp of reaching $100 million in ARR; in 2020 it referred $10 billion in new, closed AUM to advisors and firms. Founded in 2012 and based in New York, SmartAsset currently has about 202 employees and plans to increase headcount by more than 75% this year. The company intends to use new capital to invest in new product offerings, technology infrastructure and data partnerships. Its founders, Michael Carvin and Philip Camilleri, launched SmartAsset to provide accurate, unbiased tools and content for decisions on retirement, taxes, savings, homeownership and insurance. SmartAsset builds consumer-facing personal finance tools, calculators and content across categories including homebuying, taxes, retirement and banking. Its revenue mix includes promoting financial products like mortgages and the SmartAdvisor platform that connects potential investors with financial advisors. SmartAdvisor is described as a digital lead-generation platform where users complete a questionnaire and work with a concierge to find a screened advisor. The company vets advisors for issues such as criminal violations and SEC complaints over the prior decade. SmartAsset reported more than 45 million unique visitors in the most recent month, nearly doubling traffic year-over-year, with 25% repeat visitors. The company says it will continue building the web’s premiere personal finance resources and leverage that audience on the advisor side. SmartAsset builds a proprietary Automated Financial Modeling (AFM) platform that simulates the financial impact of consumer decisions and delivers personalized advice across personal finance verticals. The company offers tools for home buying, retirement planning, life insurance, personal loans, student loans, credit cards, loan refinance, taxes and investing, and plans to expand into auto and health insurance. SmartAsset recently launched Captivate, which automatically embeds interactive calculators and data visualizations into publisher articles by crawling content for relevant matches. Captivate has been adopted by partners including AOL, CNN and Investopedia. The company says its platform now reaches more than 40 million people per month. SmartAsset will use the new funding to grow the team and expand the capabilities of AFM and Captivate. SmartAsset is a technology platform that applies financial modeling to deliver instant, personalized answers for home buying, refinancing, student loans, insurance, retirement and credit card decisions. Launched in 2012 by CEO Michael Carvin, the platform currently helps answer 79 questions, including life-changing financial decisions like home buying and retirement planning. The company closed a $5.2M Series A financing to support its growth. SmartAsset intends to use the funds to further expand and improve its solution, grow its team and increase marketing efforts. The product focus is on enabling consumers to make fact-based financial decisions via its modeling technology. SmartAsset provides interactive, location‑tailored calculators and tools that take users’ basic financial information and show affordability, down‑payment options, tax implications, and the long‑term cost of renting versus buying. The company is Y Combinator‑backed and was co‑founded by CEO Michael Carvin, who built the product based on his own home‑buying experience. SmartAsset raised $1.5M in new funding and has now raised a total of $2.4M. The round was led by Javelin Venture Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners, and Javelin Managing Director Jed Katz is joining the company’s board. SmartAsset reported more than 20,000 users last month. Over the next three months it plans to add new features to its home‑buying guide and then launch similar tools for college and further education. The company also published a separate tool to help entrepreneurs calculate how fundraising terms affect their outcomes.

Participated · Series E · May 2021

24M delivers battery innovations by reinventing battery technologies and manufacturing methods through its SemiSolid™ and Unit Cell manufacturing platform. Its chemistry-agnostic design, process, and platform aim to reduce manufacturing costs while improving safety, range, performance, and recyclability. The company says its technology set addresses long-standing industry challenges in preferred energy storage products. 24M plans to accelerate commercialization and mass production of its offerings, including acquiring and opening a new R&D and pilot manufacturing plant in Rayong, Thailand. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. The recent financing brings total funding to over $500 million, supporting its push toward scaled production and market rollout. 24M develops a chemistry-agnostic SemiSolid™ manufacturing platform intended to lower the cost and improve performance of energy storage. The company has commercially demonstrated its ultra-thick SemiSolid electrode architecture with high energy density using lithium‑ion chemistry. 24M plans to adapt that platform to sodium metal batteries aimed at low‑cost, fast‑charging and wide‑temperature EV applications. It will partner with MIT and Carnegie Mellon University to apply a cell design that includes an ultra‑thick cobalt‑ and nickel‑free sodium cathode, an advanced wide‑temperature fast‑charging electrolyte developed with machine learning and high‑throughput screening, and a sodium super ionic conductor. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. Company leadership includes president and CEO Naoki Ota and Dr. JunZheng Chen, director of advanced R&D. 24M Technologies builds SemiSolid lithium‑ion cells and a redesigned manufacturing approach intended to reduce battery cost while improving performance. The company is advancing next‑generation high energy density lithium metal anode cells using its SemiSolid platform. 24M plans to combine a lithium metal anode with a SemiSolid cathode to deliver lower cost, superior power and improved energy density for electric aviation applications. The team is developing and scaling a commercial, modular pilot line for customer validation with a clear path to gigascale production capacity. A recent $9 million ARPA‑E award is intended to accelerate commercialization and rapid market entry. 24M is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., and is founded and led by industry inventors and scientists including co‑founder Dr. Yet‑Ming Chiang and President & CEO Naoki Ota. 24M commercializes its SemiSolid™ lithium‑ion manufacturing platform that mixes electrolyte with active materials to form a binder‑free, clay‑like slurry. The process eliminates significant inactive materials and capital‑intensive steps such as drying and electrolyte filling, aiming to dramatically reduce manufacturing cost. 24M says the platform delivers market‑leading price‑performance and that it has improved cell performance and safety. The company is working with licensee partners, including Kyocera and GPSC, which have expanded commercial operations. Proceeds from the financing will be used to commercialize the SemiSolid manufacturing process and expand technology development programs for grid storage and electric vehicle applications. 24M is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., and is led by industry inventors, scientists and entrepreneurs. 24M commercializes a SemiSolid lithium-ion battery design and a novel, capital-efficient manufacturing process that uses electrolyte as the processing solvent. The process eliminates steps such as drying, solvent recovery, calendaring and electrolyte filling, and reduces the need for inactive materials like copper, aluminum and separator. 24M says this approach yields a structural bill-of-materials advantage and lower manufacturing cost while enabling high energy density cell designs not previously possible. The company has used a semi-automated pilot facility to advance cell design and production readiness. 24M is targeting both the low-cost grid market and the high energy density requirements of the EV market and says it is ready to scale globally. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass.

Participated · Equity · Jul 2020

Nasuni offers a scalable enterprise data platform that simplifies file data management and delivers scale in hybrid cloud environments. The platform increases storage access and performance, enables control at the network edge, and prepares data to be insight- and AI-ready. Its file recovery capabilities protect customers from cyber threats, remove the need for specialised backup and disaster recovery, and can cut infrastructure costs by up to 65%. Nasuni is used by over 850 companies across 70 countries, including large enterprises in manufacturing, consumer goods, and energy. Led by CEO Paul Flanagan and based in Boston, the company recently received a majority investment led by Vista Equity Partners that valued it at approximately $1.2 billion; the deal amount was not disclosed. Nasuni plans to use the funds to accelerate product innovation and commercial expansion in the global hybrid cloud market. Nasuni delivers cloud file services that serve as a replacement for traditional network attached storage (NAS) and legacy file backup and disaster-recovery systems, simplifying IT administration. The company enables global file access and sharing for users in the office, at home, or on the road. Nasuni serves customers across manufacturing, construction, creative services, technology, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, oil and gas, financial services, and public sector agencies. It delivers services in over 70 countries worldwide. Under CEO Paul Flanagan, the company is investing to expand and modernize its File Data Services offering. The firm plans continued innovation, international expansion, and potential strategic acquisitions funded by the new raise. Nasuni is a cloud-based file storage company that consolidates network attached storage (NAS) and file server silos into cloud storage, offering infinite scale, built-in backup, global file sharing and local file server performance. Its software platform is deployed in more than 70 countries and serves sectors including manufacturing, construction, creative services, technology, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, oil and gas, financial services and public sector agencies. Companies use Nasuni to share and collaborate on files across multiple sites, enhance workforce productivity, reduce IT cost and complexity, and maximize the business value of their file data. The company is led by president and CEO Paul Flanagan and is based in Boston, MA. Nasuni said it will use the newly raised capital to continue to expand operations and its business reach. Financially, the company completed a $40M financing and has raised more than $100M in the past three years. Nasuni offers a cloud-scale software platform that merges on-premise network-attached file storage (NAS) with public cloud object storage providers such as AWS, Microsoft and Google. The platform also integrates with high-performance on-premise solutions from IBM, Dell EMC and Hitachi to provide multi-cloud optionality. Nasuni packages NAS, backup, archive, remote-office replication and disaster recovery into a single platform for global file sharing and collaboration. Customers named in the article include AECOM, Cushman & Wakefield, Jabil, TBWA and Ulta Beauty. Led by president and CEO Paul Flanagan, the company recently opened a new office in Durham, N.C. It intends to use the new funding to accelerate its go-to-market strategy and expand into new markets. Nasuni provides a cloud-native global file system and on-premises caching appliances that enable enterprises to store, protect, share, and manage unstructured file data. Its solutions are delivered as a subscription-based cloud service and integrated with cloud object storage. The company is led by founder and CEO Andres Rodriguez and President Paul Flanagan. Nasuni will use the funds from the recent financing to expand research and development, customer success, and go-to-market efforts. The company has now raised approximately $120M in total. The investment strengthened its balance sheet to support continued product and commercial expansion.

Participated · Series G · May 2020

Couchbase offers an enterprise-grade NoSQL database platform delivered as a self-managed server, a mobile platform (Couchbase Mobile), and a fully managed Couchbase Cloud DBaaS. The company has emphasized cloud-native capabilities and Kubernetes support (including an Autonomous Operator for Kubernetes 2.0) and allows customers to run the managed service within their own VPC on public clouds like AWS and Azure. Couchbase says 30% of the Fortune 100 use its database and reported strong commercial momentum: 70% total contract value growth, more than 50% new business growth, and over 35% growth in average subscription deal size over the last fiscal year. The company is currently seeing almost $100 million in committed annual recurring revenue. Product plans include continued feature development across the NoSQL server, mobile platform, and Couchbase Cloud. Couchbase also plans geographic expansion to better serve global customer operations. Couchbase delivers a NoSQL operational database platform for the digital economy used to build enterprise web, mobile, and IoT applications. The platform includes Couchbase, Couchbase Lite (the article describes it as the first mobile NoSQL database) and Couchbase Sync Gateway; all products are open source. The company emphasizes data-model flexibility, elastic scalability, high performance and 24x365 availability with configurable cross–data-center replication. Customers cited in the article include AT&T, Walmart, Dixons, Nike and many other large enterprises. In 2015 Couchbase nearly doubled sales and reported enterprise renewal rates above 90 percent. The company plans to deploy new capital to accelerate sales, expand technical support and enhance engineering to extend its market leadership. Couchbase builds Couchbase Server and Couchbase Mobile (including Couchbase Sync Gateway and Couchbase Lite), a NoSQL platform that combines key-value simplicity, document flexibility and in-memory read performance. The product emphasizes scale and performance for enterprise operational data management and mobile edge computing. Couchbase markets an end-to-end operational big data solution that supports cloud and device-local storage and sync for mobile applications. The company reports rapid commercial traction: sales grew 400% over the past year, it doubled headcount, added eight offices and signed large enterprise deals. Couchbase plans to use the new financing to fund product investment, expand regional technical support, and scale marketing and sales — including targeted APAC growth supported by investor WestSummit. The company’s software is open source and it highlights many large-brand customers across industries. Couchbase raised a $25M Series D to build new enterprise features and expand primarily into India, China and South America. The round was led by Adams Street Partners and joined by Accel Partners, Mayfield Fund, North Bridge Venture Partners and Ignition Partners, bringing total funding to $56M to date. Couchbase is an independent open-source project influenced by Apache CouchDB and memcached and is offered in community and enterprise editions. Recent releases added cross‑data‑center replication and new security features. The company emphasizes minimal latency and throughput by embedding memcached and combining caching and database layers into one. CEO Bob Wiederhold said the technology avoids locking (unlike MongoDB), scales on a peer‑to‑peer network, and offers automated setup compared with Cassandra and MongoDB. Couchbase is a NoSQL database company created earlier this year through the merger of CouchOne and Membase. It provides database solutions for building web and mobile applications and recently released Couchbase Server 2.0, a distributed, document‑oriented DBMS and the company’s first integrated product after the merger. The company’s product focus is on delivering NoSQL database technologies for distributed applications. Couchbase said it will use new funding to accelerate product delivery, grow in the enterprise market, and expand internationally. The Series C round totaled $14 million, and the company also reserved an additional $1 million for investment from strategic customers and partners. The financing brings Couchbase’s total capital raised to $30 million.