The Venture Codex

Participated · Equity · Feb 2020

Scenes by Avalon is a Bengaluru-based platform that hosts voice and chat communities and offers mobile apps on iOS and Android. The product provides voice (and chat) rooms aimed at creators and learners and the team plans to evolve Scenes into a full‑fledged community engagement suite. Avalon built Scenes after growing an educational community since its 2018 launch. Scenes has surpassed 5 million voice minutes since its March 2021 launch and reports about 30,000 users and 1,000+ live communities. DAUs and MAUs have been expanding 70–80% month‑over‑month since launch. The company says it will use new funding toward further product development and platform growth. Avalon Meta combines higher education and competitive gaming to create full-fledged gamified learning experiences rather than simply gamifying existing courses. The product is powered by the Peerplays blockchain, which the lead investor and strategic partner supplies. Avalon Meta is run by digital services parent Avalon Labs, which was founded in 2017 by Varun Mayya, Shashank Udupa, and Abhinav Arora. The founders say the company aims to address low course retention by turning higher education into a game and offering gamified education as the future of learning. The team plans to focus on acquiring users this year. The company recently completed a funding round and has parent-company backing for initial investment and growth.

Participated · Equity · Jan 2018

AdvantageClub.ai offers a global AI-powered platform for employee engagement, combining rewards & recognition, flexible benefits, surveys, moments that matter, and communities in a single product. The company leverages AI, data mining, and analytics and is developing AI-driven solutions such as Adva to enhance employee experience. It serves over 5 million users across 100+ countries, supports 1,000+ clients, and provides 10,000+ redemption options. Clients mentioned include BCG, Rakbank, Havelock One, Tabreed, and SGM. AdvantageClub.ai plans to expand its product suite with new tools and features and to strengthen its presence in the US and Asia. The company has raised a total of $11 million to date. Advantage Club provides a single app that combines rewards and recognition, perks, financial wellness, and employee engagement initiatives. Founded in 2016 by Sourabh Deorah and Smiti Deorah and incorporated in Delaware, the company is operational in more than 60 countries. It counts customers including Concentrix, Hexaware, EY and Target and is growing at about 20% month-on-month. The company plans to bolster its international presence and hire talent to expand operations globally, targeting Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa markets. Advantage Club recently announced plans to increase headcount to 170 from 70. CEO Sourabh Deorah and COO Smiti Deorah say the company aims to build global products for HR teams to drive higher retention and productivity. Advantage Club is an HRtech startup that helps corporates improve employee engagement by providing perks and recognition. It provides perks and recognition services to employees and employers to boost engagement. The company raised $1 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by GrowX Ventures, with Sprout Venture Partners also participating. Existing investors Axilor Ventures and Mumbai Angels took part in the new round. Advantage Club previously raised $300,000 in 2018 in a round led by Axilor Ventures. Advantage Club operates a tech platform that provides curated employee perks and a recently launched rewards & recognition offering, with premium brands providing exclusive privileges across essential and luxury segments. The company says its platform effectively increases an employee's spending/saving power by 10% and enables brands to target niche corporate clientele without brand dilution. Its app includes features such as wish lists, a 365-day customer helpline and a usage dashboard, and it offers redemption options beyond gift cards and internal portals. Advantage Club claims 6,000+ brands across 12 categories and 200+ corporate customers, including Samsung, Accenture, Fidelity, Tech Mahindra and others. The founders, Sourabh and Smiti Deorah, are UCLA alumni who previously worked at Amazon and Microsoft. The company plans to enhance its rewards and recognition program, build distinguished features and redemption options, and expand its presence across India including stronger focus on tier-2 cities.