Led · Equity · Aug 2023

Tausight offers an AI-powered PHI Security Intelligence platform that automates the identification and classification of electronic protected health information to help healthcare organizations protect patient data. Earlier this year the company launched an expanded version of the platform to cover more sensitive healthcare data categories and address additional customer use cases. The firm says the expansion will allow it to serve new healthcare market segments. Tausight was founded in 2018 and is led by healthcare visionary Frank Nydam; David Ting is a founder and healthcare security pioneer. The company raised an additional $6M in financing to accelerate market presence and customer growth. Tausight plans to continue investing in its patented AI technology with the new funds. Tausight develops a healthcare-specific security solution that discovers and helps secure protected health information (PHI) by exposing hidden vulnerabilities in clinical workflows. Its product analyzes in real time how patient data is stored, used, and transmitted in clinical environments to help CIOs, CISOs, and IT teams proactively address risks. Founder and CTO David Ting — cofounder and former CTO of Imprivata and a former appointee to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force — leads the company. Tausight targets gaps created by healthcare decentralization, virtual care, and cloud-first strategies that the company says increase PHI exposure. The company will use the Series A proceeds to expand its go-to-market team and further build out its healthcare-specific solution. No operating metrics or revenue figures were disclosed in the announcement.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2018

Pony.ai develops autonomous driving systems and partners with automakers to deploy vehicle autonomy. Founded in 2016 and based in the US and China, the company works with Toyota, GAC, SAIC Group, Sany Heavy Industry and FAW Group. Pony.ai has registered with the China Securities Regulatory Commission for a US IPO and plans to issue up to 98.15 million ordinary shares on Nasdaq or the NYSE. Its most recently disclosed financing was a $100M investment from Neom in October 2023; the post‑money valuation from that round was undisclosed. The firm was valued at $8.5 billion after its March 2022 Series D. GAC's recent board approval to invest $27M in Pony.ai (part of a combined $104.8M allocation to Pony.ai and Chenzhi) indicates continued strategic interest from Chinese automakers. Pony.ai is a Chinese autonomous vehicle startup that develops autonomous driving technology. The company operates fully driverless vehicles in Beijing and Guangzhou and holds licenses to operate driverless cars in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Pony.ai plans to establish a regional R&D and manufacturing headquarters as part of a joint venture with Neom. Under the JV, Pony.ai and Neom will develop, manufacture and deploy autonomous vehicles and smart infrastructure in Neom and key markets in the Middle East and North Africa. Pony.ai received $100 million from Neom as part of the deal. The tie-up comes amid increasing cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Chinese companies around technology and scientific innovation. Pony.ai develops autonomous-driving software and a robotaxi network platform to deploy fully driverless robotaxis. The company plans to scale commercial robotaxi operations in China through a partnership with Toyota and a capital infusion. Toyota will supply an unspecified number of EVs and Pony.ai will outfit them with its autonomy stack and network technology. Pony.ai has raised more than $1 billion since its 2016 founding and claimed an $8.5 billion valuation in 2022. The company has faced regulatory and operational setbacks, including a suspended California driverless testing permit, a software recall, executive departures, and litigation over alleged trade‑secret theft. Despite those challenges, Pony.ai and Toyota intend to begin their partnership this year to accelerate production of driverless robotaxis. Pony.ai develops autonomous driving systems for robotaxis and trucking, operating tests and limited passenger pilots in both China and the U.S. The company was founded in 2016 and now has a global team of over 1,000 staff. Pony runs tests in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen as well as Fremont and Irvine, California, and its robotaxis have been allowed to charge passengers in a pilot zone in suburban Beijing. The firm has faced operational and regulatory setbacks, including a suspended driverless test permit in California and a reorganization that dissolved its U.S. trucking unit. Financially, Pony said it is well‑financed and, after a Series D-1, has close to $1 billion in balance sheet liquidity. Management says proceeds will be used to expand hiring, open new testing and operation sites, advance strategic partnerships and rapidly grow its fleet. Pony.ai develops a full-stack autonomous driving platform (PonyAlpha) that uses lidars, radars, and cameras to detect obstacles up to 200 meters for robo-taxis, trucks, and freight delivery. The company has tested its systems since April 2019 and runs test vehicles in Fremont, California and Beijing and Guangzhou in China. Pony.ai aims to deploy level 4 vehicles in predictable environments—industrial parks, college campuses, and small towns—with a tentative deployment window of several years. It has driven over 1.5 million autonomous kilometers as of year-end 2019 and delivered more than 15,000 packages in California during the COVID-19 crisis. Pony.ai holds an autonomous vehicle testing license in Beijing and a robo-taxi operations permit from the California Public Utilities Commission. It maintains partnerships and pilots with Via and Hyundai (BotRide), Bosch (fleet maintenance), FAW and GAC Group (vehicle development), and On Semiconductor (machine vision).

Led · Equity · Jan 2017

InsideSales builds a sales-focused AI platform called Neuralytics, described as a predictive and prescriptive self-learning engine that advises salespeople when and how to contact prospects to increase sales. The product combines predictive analytics with prescriptive guidance to prioritize outreach and improve sales outcomes. The company raised a $50 million round in the reported financing, bringing total capital raised to over $250 million, and the CEO said the round was flat or nominally up from prior rounds. During a March 2015 announcement the company’s value was described as “north of $1 billion.” InsideSales is deepening a strategic partnership with Microsoft to gain access to product, go-to-market and partner teams, and is leveraging an investment from the Irish Strategic Investment Fund to gain entree into Europe, tap Irish academic data-science talent, and build a presence there. CEO Dave Elkington said he is not focused on an immediate acquisition or IPO but wants to ensure employees and investors are ultimately rewarded. InsideSales.com provides predictive analytics for sales teams through its Neuralytics big-data sales platform, which analyzes more than 14 billion sales interactions to produce predictive and prescriptive suggestions. The platform identifies the best leads and offers actionable guidance including how and when to contact prospects and which words to use to close deals. The company has sustained very strong revenue growth, doubled headcount to 600, and grown its customer base to more than 2,000 companies including ADP, Sprint, Fidelity, Microsoft, Groupon and Marketo. Founded in Utah in 2004, InsideSales has raised just over $200 million to date and is valued "north of $1 billion" per CEO Dave Elkington. Management plans to use new capital to expand support for the Salesforce and Microsoft platforms, serve larger enterprise customers, fuel international expansion and potentially pursue strategic acquisitions. The company also intends to add another 300–400 staff this year to scale operations and deepen its enterprise focus. InsideSales.com offers SaaS products—notably PowerDialer and mCall—that integrate with Salesforce to provide sales communications, gamification, predictive analytics and visualization. The company positions itself between marketing automation and CRM vendors to act as a sales acceleration platform. InsideSales reported 107% growth in the prior year and about 1,000 customers, including Fidelity, Microsoft, Groupon, McGraw-Hill and Marketo. Leadership says the new capital will fund product expansion, moves into new markets and possible acquisitions in the sales-acceleration space. The company is founded and headquartered in Provo, Utah. To date InsideSales has raised $143 million in total funding. InsideSales.com builds a predictive-analytics platform that tells inside-sales reps who to contact, when to contact them, and how to tailor messages. The company serves small and medium-sized businesses and earlier executive comments said customers increased from about 600 to 900 in August, though the company would not disclose a current total. Previously self-funded, InsideSales.com has 177 employees and anticipates growing to 350–400 people in 2013. Its algorithms and machine-influenced approach are positioned to professionalize inside sales and change traditional enterprise sales techniques. The article frames InsideSales.com as part of a growing group of enterprise SaaS companies that appear bound for significant exits such as IPOs or acquisitions. InsideSales.com builds big-data predictive analytics and sales force automation (SFO) technology that tells inside sales professionals who to contact, when to contact them, and how to tailor messages. The company plans to use the new funding to grow its SFO product and analytics capabilities. Before taking this round it was profitable and had not previously taken outside investment. InsideSales serves small and medium-sized businesses and has recently begun expanding into the enterprise market, winning customers such as Dell and ADP. The company has grown headcount from 65 to 140 employees and expanded its customer base from 600 to 900. InsideSales.com is based in Provo, Utah.