The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Oct 2024

Integrated Biosciences combines synthetic biology, optogenetics and AI/machine-learning to generate highly specific cellular phenotypes and discover precise small-molecule drug candidates for age-related diseases. The company has published work in journals including Nature, Nature Aging and Cell Systems and last year pioneered an AI-driven discovery of a structural class of antibiotics. It is developing a portfolio of preclinical-stage assets that target fundamental, age-related pathways at the phenotypic level. Integrated pursues a multi-asset business model, advancing programs via company-led development and co-development partnerships and maintains collaborations with private partners and Illumina Ventures Labs. The company announced it closed a $17.2 million seed financing to scale its platform, advance clinical development of its small-molecule portfolio, and accelerate commercialization efforts.

Participated · Seed · Feb 2023

Ottometric is a software company that automates and streamlines validation and training processes for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). It provides automation solutions to OEMs, Tier‑1 and Tier‑2 suppliers to improve driver safety, gain a competitive edge and ensure compliance with evolving government regulations. Led by CEO Joseph Burke and based in Boston, MA, Ottometric develops an ADAS validation platform. The company intends to use new funding to accelerate development of that platform. The business serves vehicle manufacturers and suppliers with tools to validate and train ADAS systems. Ottometric is a software company that automates and streamlines the validation and training processes for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). The company provides automation solutions to OEMs, Tier‑1 and Tier‑2 suppliers whose current development and validation methods are manual‑intensive, slow, and costly. Ottometric was founded in 2019 and is led by CEO Joseph Burke. The company is based in Waltham, MA. It intends to use the funds to accelerate growth, expand its customer base, and speed the transformation of the ADAS development and validation process. Ottometric closed a $4.9M Seed funding round to support these efforts.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2021

Honeycomb Credit is a FINRA-regulated funding portal and bank-replacement platform that provides loans to smaller businesses by leveraging the Reg CF securities exemption. The platform allows anyone to invest in those loans and supports underserved communities. Based in Pittsburgh, Honeycomb serves small firms and investors around the U.S. Since 2018 the company says it has helped more than 400 businesses across 38 states raise nearly $30 million. Honeycomb’s team cites consolidation of community banks as a driver for its tech-enabled, scalable relationship-lending model. The company plans to use new funding to boost its mobile experience for in-store investing and to expand its reach to support more small businesses nationwide. Honeycomb Credit operates a Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) platform that lets community members lend directly to small businesses by issuing securities under Reg CF. Investors may participate for as little as $100, and the platform positions itself as a bank-replacement marketplace to fill gaps left by declining community banks. Since its founding in 2017 and based in Pittsburgh, Honeycomb has run more than 100 investment crowdfunding campaigns across 18 states and reports that over 80% of businesses that crowdfunded through the platform have reached their funding goals. The platform's average loan is roughly $40,000; more than 57% of businesses in Honeycomb offerings are owned by women or minorities and 55% have been in low-to-moderate income communities. Management says the new funding will allow the company to accelerate partnerships with investment funds and financial institutions. Honeycomb frames its model as creating circular economies that build community wealth by returning loan repayments to neighbors and local supporters.

Participated · Seed · Feb 2020

Gridwise offers a mobile app for rideshare and gig drivers that aggregates real-time airport activity, local events, weather, and traffic to help drivers boost earnings. The app has evolved to let users track earnings across platforms (Uber, Lyft) and to track mileage and expenses. According to Gridwise, over 300k rideshare and delivery drivers use its free app. The company has expanded into financial products via a partnership with Kover (now Seel) to launch Gridwise Protection, an income protection and sick leave product for drivers, though that product is not accepting new customers at this time. Earlier this year Gridwise announced it will offer users benefits from Avibra’s Dollar Benefits Store. Founded in 2016, the company continues to focus on tools and benefits tailored to gig‑economy drivers. Gridwise collects and aggregates data from traffic services, social media, weather, events, local news and crowdsourced driver inputs via its mobile app to provide real-time alerts and aggregate analytics. The company says drivers using its app have produced 300 million tracked ride-hailing miles and that drivers can earn as much as 39% more per hour. Gridwise works across platforms including Uber, Lyft and Via, and already tracks food delivery starting with Uber Eats. The Pittsburgh-based startup, founded in 2016, plans to unlock ride-share and delivery insights for municipalities, mobile service platforms, insurance providers and other stakeholders. Product plans include expanding tracking to grocery and parcel deliveries to broaden its view of how people and goods move in cities. The company positions its cross-platform data as a differentiator versus single-provider programs and aims to monetize aggregate analytics for corporate and municipal customers. Gridwise aggregates third-party APIs (traffic, social media, weather, events, local news) and crowdsourced driver data to deliver real-time alerts on where and when to drive. The app notifies drivers about airport congestion, event-driven demand, and weather, and tracks mileage, time, earnings, and trips. It offers a free basic tier and a paid Gridwise Plus plan ($10/month or $96/year) with additional features like 24-hour airport graphs and real-time flight status. Gridwise says it can help drivers earn as much as 39% more per hour and reports some 40,000 drivers using the app across 18 U.S. cities, including recent launches in San Francisco and San Jose. Founded in 2016 and a Techstars alum, the company is headquartered in Pittsburgh and had seven employees at the time of the article. Management plans to invest in R&D for autonomous ride-hailing use cases and pursue international expansion after growing its U.S. driver network.