Participated · Series A · Oct 2023

Blackbird operates a payments-meets-loyalty platform for restaurants, combining an app-based payment flow with on-chain loyalty functionality. Its Flynet payment service is described as a layer-three transaction protocol built on Coinbase’s BASE, allowing diners to pay and redeem points via the app. The company works with roughly 1,000 restaurants and says it saves restaurant customers 3–4% in payment processing fees. Blackbird plans to use new funding to launch a cross-restaurant points product called Blackbird Club and to expand beyond its Homebase in New York into additional markets, including San Francisco and Charleston, South Carolina. CEO Ben Leventhal positions the product to give consumers ownership of profiles and to make restaurant customers shareholders in the network. The startup has raised $85 million to date, including the most recent financing. Blackbird Labs provides a restaurant loyalty and membership platform that lets diners "tap in" via an NFC reader to create memberships and earn virtual, cryptocurrency-based rewards. The platform captures diner data (dining history, birthdays, addresses, seating preferences) to help restaurants personalize service, target promotions and reward returning patrons. Blackbird has integrated with Privy to offer embedded crypto wallets so users can manage balances alongside their membership. Since launching several months ago, New York City–based Blackbird has about 20 full-time employees, has signed roughly 80 restaurants and 22 are actively using the product. The company enables restaurants to sell paid memberships and has customers using membership sales as pre-opening crowdfunding; it plans a referral program and further experiments with its cryptocurrency for upgrades, activity rewards and payments. Proceeds from fundraising will be used to scale operations.

Participated · Series D · Sep 2019

Navigating Cancer offers an end-to-end oncology patient relationship management (PRM) platform adopted by more than 1,700 cancer care providers that connects providers and patients throughout the care cycle. The platform enables messaging, medication reminders, symptom reporting via a mobile app, and helps providers triage needs, manage symptoms, and streamline care coordination. Navigating Cancer’s software is used to increase patient engagement, improve patient experience, support value-based care, and help contain escalating costs. The company is on pace to grow its oncology customer base by 40% this year, reflecting accelerated adoption of its platform. Going forward, the company plans to enhance its mobile experience for oncology patients and develop AI-based population care capabilities to assess patient risk and identify proactive interventions. The PRM product roadmap emphasizes patient-reported outcomes, population care, and broader innovation to further improve outcomes and satisfaction. Navigating Cancer is a patient care and engagement company based in Seattle, Washington, led by CEO and co-founder Gena Cook. It provides a web-based hub that operates with any electronic health record vendor, enabling patients to stay informed and engaged in their care across multiple clinics, caregivers and geographies. The platform is deployed in partnership with cancer programs nationwide. In August 2015 the company closed a $10M funding round led by Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, with participation from ORIX Healthcare Capital and existing investor Rustic Canyon Partners. The company said it will use the proceeds to accelerate expansion of the business. No revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article. Navigating Cancer provides an online patient portal and interactive community aimed at helping cancer patients prepare for visits, complete paperwork, manage treatment organization, and track symptoms. The company says its platform is already used by more than 500 oncology providers and is supported by a 14-person team. Management is led by co‑founder and CEO Gena Cook, with co‑founder Michael Graff heading product/technical work; their backgrounds include McKesson, Bristol‑Myers Squibb, Ancestry.com and Microsoft. Product roadmaps cited in the article include hiring additional developers, expanding portal features, and integrating electronic access to health information by connecting with EMR vendors to make release of information seamless and useful for patients. The article frames this work against a large market opportunity—National Cancer Institute estimates cited for people with current or prior cancer and annual new cases—and notes competing patient‑focused sites such as MyHealthTeams, PatientsLikeMe, Avva Health and Onc Charts. Financially, the company has raised multiple rounds and is investing proceeds into product development and EMR integrations.

Participated · Series C · Oct 2017

UrbanSitter is an online and mobile (iOS and Android) service that enables parents and childcare providers to connect through the people they know and other trusted sources. The platform lets parents search, book and review sitters within minutes. Led by CEO and co-founder Lynn Perkins and launched in 2011, the company is based in San Francisco. UrbanSitter has expanded to serve more than 500,000 members in 65 cities and has facilitated over 450,000 babysitting jobs. The company has raised $40m in total financing to date, including a $17m Series C. It plans to use the new capital to expand into additional U.S. cities — including Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Portland and Sacramento — and to introduce features for finding, screening and booking recurring caregivers such as nannies. UrbanSitter operates an online and mobile marketplace that helps parents find and book trusted babysitters by leveraging social connections. The platform uses Facebook Connect to show how parents and sitters are connected and displays sitter reviews, skills, certifications, experience, photos, video, availability, hourly rates and response times. UrbanSitter facilitates real-time booking and payment through its service. The company emphasizes social trust and convenience as its core differentiators. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company is led by CEO Lynn Perkins and was founded by a group of internet veterans. Financially, the company has raised multiple rounds and recently reported a $15M Series B prior to the latest investment, bringing total funding to $22.95M. UrbanSitter is an online parent-sitter marketplace that leverages social recommendations to help parents find trusted childcare. The platform uses Facebook Connect so parents can see sitters known and recommended by friends and by affiliations such as schools and parent groups. Profiles display reviews, skills, certifications, education, response times, number of repeat families, photos and video, hourly rates and availability. Parents can search by date and time and book sitters or interviews in real time, and the platform manages payments and post-job reviews. UrbanSitter offers mobile apps and is available in a dozen U.S. cities. The company has raised $15 million in a Series B round to continue scaling in its market, where competitors such as Care.com indicate a large opportunity. UrbanSitter operates an online marketplace that lets parents find, book and pay sitters, using Facebook Connect so parents can see sitters recommended by friends and affiliations. The platform supports search by availability and filters (part-time, full-time, etc.), enables real-time booking or interviews, and collects reviews, ratings and Facebook Likes on sitter profiles. UrbanSitter launched in San Francisco in September 2011 and has expanded to about a dozen cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Seattle and Denver. The company also released an iOS app to allow parents and sitters to connect and book jobs on the go. Since launch, sitter bookings have grown at an average rate of 35% per month. The company plans to use new funding for product development, to advance mobile efforts and to expand into new markets. UrbanSitter operates a time-specific babysitter-booking marketplace that requires users to sign in via Facebook and surfaces sitter connections through the Facebook social graph. The product is built around searching and booking sitters by availability, analogous to booking a restaurant reservation. The company was founded in 2010, is headquartered in San Francisco, and launched officially in August 2011. As of the article, UrbanSitter had about 2,000 sitters and roughly 3,000 parents on the platform. The team is targeting sitters—especially in college towns—and encourages sitters to solicit recommendations that then alert parents to the service. The company planned to begin charging parents in about six weeks, though the fee amount was not yet decided.

Participated · Series C · Sep 2014

KIN operates KIN Community, the number-one female-focused lifestyle network on YouTube, producing original lifestyle video across food, health, beauty, parenting, home and entertainment. The company attracts more than 25 million unique viewers each month and has over 4 billion lifetime video views; since 2011 its network has grown to more than 20 million subscribers. KIN incubates online video talent, produces custom branded content for advertisers, and offers award-winning scripted series. The company plans to use new funding for talent acquisition and support, expansion of its advertising sales team, original programming, and new business development. KIN will also partner with Corus to launch KIN Canada, bringing its multichannel network, creators and advertising opportunities to the Canadian market.

Participated · Series C · Sep 2014

Founded in 2007 by CEO Michael Wayne and based in Santa Monica, California, Kin Community is a digital media company that produces home-focused video content and manages a creator network. Kin Studios creates video content in food, home, and DIY categories, while the Kin Community multi-platform network features more than 120 lifestyle content creators including Rosanna Pansino, Hannah Hart, Jenn Im, Lauren Riihimaki and Rachel and Byron Talbott. The company has more than 170 million social followers and generates more than 600 million video views monthly. Kin Community raised $13.5m in a Series D financing and intends to use the proceeds to increase original content production and distribution across social, OTT and traditional media platforms. It also plans to continue global expansion into new markets including Australia and the UK and to invest in global sales, marketing and partner-management infrastructure. KIN operates KIN Community, a premium lifestyle network and creator platform producing female-focused video content across food, health, beauty, parenting, home and entertainment verticals. The company incubates online video talent, produces custom branded content and original programming including Emmy-winning series. KIN says its network attracts more than 25 million unique viewers each month, has over 4 billion lifetime video views and has drawn more than 20 million network subscribers since 2011. The company plans to use new funding to expand talent acquisition and support, grow its advertising sales team, develop original programming and pursue new business development opportunities. As part of its growth, KIN will partner with Corus to launch KIN Canada, leveraging Corus’s platforms to bring KIN’s creators and advertising opportunities to the Canadian market. KIN’s offerings include direct brand integrations and custom content programs for advertisers.