Participated · Seed · Nov 2023

EarlyBird operates a community-focused app that lets parents create custodial UGMA accounts to invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other securities on behalf of their children. The platform emphasizes social features: every investment can include a video memory to contextualize the gift. EarlyBird currently focuses on the 0–7 demographic but plans to serve the full 0–18+ lifecycle and to transition teens to take ownership at 18. Product roadmap includes multiple customized portfolios, the ability for parents and children to pick individual stocks together, and exploration of integrating 529 college-savings plans. The company reported total funding of $10.9M and will use the new capital to scale its community-based investing features and expand its investment services. EarlyBird positions itself as both a savings vehicle and a time-capsule for family milestones. EarlyBird is a Chicago-based gifting platform that enables parents, family, and friends to collectively invest in a child’s financial future. In minutes, parents can set up an investment account, choose from a range of diversified portfolio options, and start investing on behalf of their child. The platform also lets a child’s broader network send gifted capital accompanied by video and photo memories for birthdays, holidays, and other occasions. EarlyBird plans to expand its community-first approach to childhood investing and to broaden the types of assets users can gift and invest in, including cryptocurrencies. The company intends to use new funding to grow its engineering, product, marketing, and operations teams. The product and roadmap details reflect the company’s current focus rather than disclosed financial metrics or user counts. EarlyBird offers a mobile app that simplifies creation and management of custodial UGMA accounts, enabling parents to invite family and friends to contribute investments and attach short video “memories” to gifts. The product includes fixed and customizable ETF-based portfolios from conservative (bond) to aggressive (equity), a rebalancing engine, and age-based financial literacy features that progressively expose children to their accounts. Accounts are held with Apex Clearing Corporation, a registered broker-dealer and SIPC member, which protects investments up to $500,000; EarlyBird plans to transition to its own broker-dealer in time. The company charges a $3 per month management fee (and $1 per month for each additional child) and is currently a very early-stage startup only weeks old. EarlyBird says it will expand into 529 plans within a year and may add brokerage lending and other revenue programs once it has a sizable user base and assets under management. The app is free to download on iOS. The company was founded by CEO Jordan Wexler and COO Caleb Frankel.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2022

Wove builds a technology-driven engagement ring business that speeds custom production using 3D printing to create replicas and finished rings for at-home try-on. Founded in 2021 by West Point classmates and former Army Rangers Andrew Wolgemuth and Brian Elliott, the company offers a two-week design experience with an average order price of $10,000. Wove says it can create pieces six times faster than traditional jewelry making and can 3D print up to 300 different rings at once within three hours. Its jewelry is made 100% in the United States using ethically sourced diamonds and sustainable materials, and the company employs its own in-house jewelry designers. Wove has just over 20 employees, has produced thousands of rings since launch, and reports revenue grew fivefold. The company plans to expand its e-commerce line, launch a customer design portal with live chat and order tracking, and add earrings, pendants, necklaces and bracelets by the end of the year.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2022

DNABLOCK develops REPLIKANT, a flagship technology that lets distributed teams produce bespoke, high-quality digital 3D avatars, videos, games and even cinema-quality productions. The company focuses on tooling for creator communities in the decentralized Web3 medium. With this funding DNABLOCK plans to further scale and deploy REPLIKANT and empower key partners and creator communities to bring characters to life. The company will also establish an LA-based creator studio to launch new NFT talent and hire several key leadership roles. Leadership is led by co-founder and CEO Anthony Kelani and co-founder and CTO Luc Shurgers, with Scott Broock joining as Chief Strategy Officer following the round. Financially, DNABLOCK closed a second seed round of $7M to support these initiatives. DNABlock provides a virtual production platform called Replikant that uses a photo-to-avatar AI pipeline to turn a selfie into a customizable 3D avatar in about 40 seconds. Creators can fully customize characters from a library of clothing and props, render cinematic animated videos, and create multiplayer venues for live events that can be streamed. The platform also supports distribution of original content and avatar assets as NFTs and includes a private Discord community for creators. DNABlock has produced projects for clients including Fox, Apple TV+, video games, music labels, fashion designers, and award shows. The company was bootstrapped by cofounders Anthony Kelani and Luc Schurgers, who began work on the tech in 2017 and incorporated in 2019; it currently has 11 employees. DNABlock plans to use the new funding to bring the technology to a broader community of individual creators and companies on its waitlist later this year.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2021

Jefa is a fintech startup building digital accounts specifically for women in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its mobile app will let users open a free digital account without visiting a branch and receive a Visa debit card a few days later. The product includes a built-in savings feature and a rewards program, designed to address product decisions that have historically been unfriendly to women. Jefa has attracted 115,000 women on its waitlist and raised $2 million in a seed round to develop the product. The company also signed a multi-year strategic partnership with Visa to leverage Visa’s resources and products for its payment offerings. Jefa plans to launch first in Mexico, then expand to Colombia and Central America.

Participated · Seed · Sep 2021

Verdi raised CAD$6.5M in seed funding to expand its irrigation automation offerings. The company, led by CEO Arthur Chen and based in Vancouver, provides modern automation tools and patented retrofit devices that automate irrigation and maintenance on existing farm infrastructure. Verdi says its technology helps farmers save labor, reduce inputs and increase yields and is used by the largest food producers. The company plans to use the funds to expand into new regions, advance its AI-powered platform and deepen relationships with major agribusinesses. Management frames these initiatives as driving automation at scale and building infrastructure for a more climate-resilient food system. The seed brings Verdi's total funding to CAD$9.5M. Verdi builds a scalable platform for farm automation and personalized plant healthcare, using intelligent devices that transform existing irrigation equipment into AI-powered systems. Its technology enables automated operations that boost crop and workforce productivity while reducing technology adoption costs. Verdi counts customers among the world’s largest food brands and in 2023 saved its customers over 30 million liters of water. Founded in 2020 by Canadian entrepreneurs Arthur Chen and Roman Kozak, the company is focused on scaling internationally. Verdi plans to enhance its AI capabilities and expand geographic reach through a strategic collaboration with NEC X and integration with NEC’s CropScope initiative. Entry into NEC X’s Elev X! Boost program is intended to provide capital, strategic partnerships and integrations with NEC’s tech ecosystem to accelerate growth.