The Venture Codex

Led · Equity · Apr 2022

CAIS offers a technology platform that manages the full lifecycle of alternative investments for independent wealth advisors, including product evaluation, execution and post-trade administration. The company has integrated AI into its advisor workflow, including an AI research assistant called CAISey that leverages Anthropic’s Claude model. CAIS serves more than 2,500 wealth management firms representing over 65,000 financial advisors who collectively oversee approximately $8.5 trillion in client assets. Operational momentum includes a three-year organic revenue compound annual growth rate of 37%, and in the first half of 2026 transaction volume rose 53% year over year while total platform assets increased 55%. Since 2025 the company added over 425 registered investment advisers and independent broker-dealers representing more than $1.8 trillion in assets. CAIS has been actively expanding integrations with custodians and partners and invested heavily in product development, releasing more than 150 technology enhancements in the first half of 2026. The firm also runs advisor education initiatives such as CAIS Live and the CAIS IQ digital platform, which has generated over 400,000 digital engagements.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2015

Kabbage operates an AI-based lending platform for small and medium businesses that uses broad web-sourced data — including 2 million live data connections — to underwrite and price loans. The platform can deliver decisions in minutes and issues loans of up to $250,000 per deal. Kabbage has to date loaned roughly $7 billion to 185,000 businesses and has seen accelerating origination, with nearly $700 million loaned in Q2 after $600 million in Q1. The company is on track to originate between $2.4 billion and $3 billion in the year. Kabbage has funded originations through securitizations and credit facilities, most recently a $700 million securitization three months before this transaction. On the equity side the company was last valued at $1.2 billion in 2017 after financing from SoftBank’s Vision Fund and has raised about $500 million in equity to date from investors including BlueRun Ventures and Mohr Davidow Ventures. Management has indicated there are no current plans for an equity raise. Kabbage is an Atlanta, GA-based financial services and cash-flow technology and data platform that provides access to automated funding to small businesses in minutes. The company leverages accounting data, online sales, shipping and dozens of other data sources to power automated underwriting and deliver flexible funding in real time. All Kabbage U.S.-based loans are issued by Celtic Bank, a Utah-chartered industrial bank, Member FDIC. To date the company has helped more than 170,000 small businesses access over $6.5 billion in funding via its automated underwriting models. Kabbage is backed by the SoftBank Vision Fund, BlueRun Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures and others. In August 2019 the company closed a $700M asset-backed securitization, part of its broader financing and debt strategy. Kabbage is a lending platform that uses algorithms and machine learning (with no humans) to evaluate applicants and make small-business loans. Its core product is an automated loans business and a platform launched in 2015 that powers other lenders. The company has served 125,000 customers and has made over $3.5 billion in loans, evaluating roughly 1.5 million data points per decision. Kabbage also sells its platform to partners, including ING, Santander and Scotiabank, and operates a Karrot consumer loans business. Management says the new funding will let Kabbage increase loan size to larger US companies, with average loans growing to north of $200,000. Kabbage is profitable in its loans business but remains unprofitable in its newer platform operation. Kabbage is an Atlanta-based financial services, technology and data platform that provides automated access to funding directly to small businesses and powers lending for large global banks. Led by co-founder and CEO Rob Frohwein, the company operates in North America and Europe and plans to expand to Asia. Since launching six years ago, Kabbage has provided nearly $3.5 billion in funding to more than 100,000 small businesses and has powered automated lending for ING, Santander and Scotiabank. All Kabbage U.S.-based loans are issued by Celtic Bank, a Utah-chartered industrial bank, Member FDIC. The company offers a fully automated lending platform and is commercializing a SaaS product to enable online SMB lending for global banks. Kabbage intends to use the new funding to expand its lending products, explore non-lending products and services, and accelerate its SaaS platform business. Kabbage uses machine-learning algorithms and data from public profiles to rate small businesses and extend short-term loans. Since its 2009 founding, the company has loaned over $2.7 billion to SMBs. It historically focused on six-month payback loans but plans to expand loan sizes, payback terms, and total lending over the next three years using new financing. Kabbage reported its direct lending business turned profitable in Q4 and said the whole business was expected to be profitable in the second half of the year. The company claims a loss rate lower than the rest of the online-lending industry, though it has not disclosed the exact rate. Kabbage is not actively seeking equity funding right now, though it would consider attractive inbound offers.

Led · Equity · Jan 2014

Festival Transaction Services (FTS) offers integrated financial services to the fair and festival industry, including card processing, cashless event services and a prepaid Card-as-Ticket product. The company also operates Festivals.com, an events directory with more than 40,000 events in 80+ countries. FTS positions its services to reduce event operating expenses, provide real-time visibility and reconciliation of consumer and vendor transactions, and generate new revenue streams for events and sponsors. FTS has leveraged partnerships, including one with Visa, to bring regulated financial-services infrastructure to events while avoiding escheatment issues associated with closed-loop solutions. Management and investors have highlighted the company’s potential to deliver operational savings, increased sales and recurring sponsor revenue. The company is based in Seattle, WA and has stated the financing will help deliver sustainable growth for shareholders.