Participated · Series A · Apr 2022

Kard offers a rewards-as-a-service API that lets issuers mix-and-match merchant partnerships to create customized credit card rewards experiences and embed them into their own user interfaces. The company was founded in 2016 and pivoted from a consumer rewards-comparison product to an issuer-facing API at the end of 2019, launching the API in 2020. Kard serves traditional banks, neobanks and BaaS fintechs, with early customers including Varo and Marqeta, and today works with roughly 30 issuers representing about 10 million consumers. It processes roughly 60 million transactions per month and says revenue grew 10x over the past year, though it declined to disclose absolute revenue figures. Kard operates a two-sided marketplace, charging merchants on a performance (revenue-share) basis and helping merchants drive customer acquisition; a majority of the cardholders on its issuer clients are millennials or Gen Z. The product differentiates on customization and unique merchant rewards (crypto, fractional shares, lottery tickets, local small-business incentives). Kard builds mobile and web applications that surface merchant-specific and categorical credit card rewards so consumers know which card to use at the point of purchase. The product sends simple notifications to help users take advantage of targeted offers that issuers now provide, including merchant-specific deals that can yield much higher returns than broad category multipliers. Kard says incorporating these offers can save users an average 7–8% annually or the potential to earn over $1,000 a year in rewards and cash back. The service is free for consumers; Kard generates revenue via commissions on purchases it drives for merchants and is exploring direct partnerships and revenue channels with credit card issuers and banks. The company highlights a large market opportunity—card networks and banks distribute about $16 billion in rewards annually in the U.S.—and aims to increase conversions and wallet share for issuers. Kard plans to launch its beta on web and mobile in the spring, grow its user base to prove product–market fit, continue developing merchant and issuer partnerships, and raise another round to accelerate growth.

Participated · Series B · Dec 2021

Shiftsmart operates a marketplace and workforce-management platform that matches hourly workers to open shifts across retail, logistics, audits and other verticals. Since forming in 2015 the company has built a network of over 500,000 workers in more than 50 countries and serves customers including Circle K, Humana, Deloitte, Airbnb and the Small Business Administration. The platform gives workers flexibility and control over where and when they work and how quickly they can get paid, while employers can staff at the shift level to reduce turnover. The company reports rapid revenue growth — revenue continued to double or triple each year — and has grown headcount to about 60 employees from roughly 30 a year ago. Shiftsmart plans to scale its existing verticals (audits and contracts, retail, global logistics), launch new verticals such as healthcare, and hire additional staff to absorb demand and improve worker experiences.

Participated · Equity · Jun 2021

UtilizeCore offers an end-to-end automated service supply chain platform that centralizes service management for companies sourcing subcontractors and field technicians for commercial property maintenance and repair. Key product features include client and subcontractor logins, weather-automated dispatch, service tracking, alert notifications, auto routing, auto pay and auto invoicing, messaging, service company ratings, real-time status updates, GPS functionality and 25 integrations with accounting, payment and CRM systems. The platform hosts more than 50,000 companies, has processed over 2 million work orders, and has routed north of a billion dollars of managed services through its system. UtilizeCore is based in New York City and was co-founded by Ryan Gottfried (CEO), Jason Kwait (President) and Johnny Zhu (COO). The company is backed by boldstart ventures, S12F, Mantis VC and other strategic investors with leadership backgrounds at Uber, GitHub, Snowflake, Spotify, Superhuman, WorkMarket, Corrigo and ServiceChannel. With the new funding, UtilizeCore plans to further scale to meet accelerating demand and drive adoption across the service management market.