Participated · Seed · Jul 2024

Roga is a Los Angeles-based neurotech and mental-health company focused on relieving severe stress and burnout. Founded by Dr. Alison Smith and Ami Lebendiker, the company develops a paired wearable/app device that combines peripheral nerve stimulation with personalized guided meditation. It launched its first device in 2023. Roga raised $1.2M in a Pre-Seed round and intends to use the funds to support the launch of its wearable device to reduce chronic stress and burnout. The company positions the product as a safe, effective, convenient and cost-effective solution. Roga is supported by LBAN at Stanford University and Velocity at the University of Waterloo.

Participated · Equity · Feb 2024

Shader offers a no-code AR creation platform and a real-time AI camera app that generates personalized AR effects, masks and lenses in minutes using text prompts and an engine built on the open-source Stable Diffusion model. Its flagship beta launched on iOS in December 2023 and lets users scan faces, apply generated effects, record videos, upload photos, and choose from premade templates. The product supports cross-platform sharing (Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat), provides an API and plug-in for third-party integration, and recently added a web version that scans faces via webcam. Shader is optimizing its iOS app for Apple Vision Pro and plans an Android build, an in-app social feed, and premium subscription features. Future feature roadmaps include speech-to-text prompt creation, live integrations with Twitch/Discord/Zoom, voice-to-AR effects, and 3D background replacements. Since launch the app has garnered approximately 3,000 downloads and the company plans to use funding to develop features and grow its marketing team.

Participated · Seed · Sep 2022

Scout offers a guided mobile investing experience that lets users build personalized portfolios by choosing from themed funds called “Scout Themes,” which are blended with U.S. equities and U.S. municipal bonds in a “Scout Starter Pack.” The app asks users for investment goals and risk tolerance, then recommends themes aligned with their interests (gaming, food & beverage, EVs, fashion, etc.) and provides a Scout Report explaining each fund. Scout launched from private beta in August, onboarded thousands of students across more than 17 college campuses, and is available in the Apple App Store. The company charges $1/month for users with under $1,000 in AUM and takes 1% of AUM for accounts above $1,000. Scout provides daily monitoring and monthly rebalancing to keep allocations aligned with users’ risk profiles. Founders Michael Haddix Jr. and CTO Cindy Zeng built the product to make investing less intimidating and to encourage recurring investing habits among Gen Z.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2022

Uprise embeds itself into financial service products SMBs already use (for example Rippling and Carry) to provide tailored recommendations about benefits and other financial decisions. Its recommendations are generated by an AI algorithm that leverages company-specific data plus data from the partner financial services, and every recommendation is reviewed by a human financial advisor before reaching the customer. The company began as a direct-to-consumer product in private beta in 2022 but pivoted to focus on small businesses after noticing higher engagement from entrepreneurs and freelancers. Uprise has been operating in beta since 2023 with five customers and is now fully launching with additional partnerships in the works. The team plans to integrate across multiple financial apps so it can provide contextual, cross-app advice to small business owners. Financially, Uprise recently closed a $3.3 million seed round to fund the product launch and business development. Uprise combines algorithmic analysis and human expert review to provide personalized financial recommendations based on a user’s full financial picture, including employer benefits. The product offers actionable guidance—examples include reallocating checking balances and increasing 401(k) contributions to capture employer matches. Founders Jessica Chen Riolfi and Chris Goodmacher launched Uprise in March 2021 and the company is currently in private beta. It has a waitlist of about 7,000 people and has tracked $50 million in assets to date; the company is pre-revenue but will always have a free component. Uprise plans to monetize via a premium tier (such as Zoom access to financial advisors) and by earning from some financial products recommended by advisors. The new funding will be used to hire talent to reduce the waitlist and to build one-click integrations to help users implement recommendations.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2021

Fractional helps people co-own investment properties by matching co-owners or onboarding friend groups and handling underwriting, legal and financial facilitation for purchases. The platform also partners with property managers to manage co-owned homes and reduce owners' time commitment. Fractional participated in Y Combinator’s Winter 2021 batch and has a beta of over 400 users who have co-invested across 95 properties. The company has raised $5.5 million in total funding at a $30 million valuation. Founders Stella Han and Carlos Treviño, who previously worked at Affirm, conducted hands-on real estate work (including buying land in Mexico) to better understand the process. The product aims to lower financial and logistical barriers to home ownership while addressing the social and governance challenges of co-ownership.