Participated · Series A · Jul 2025

Datavations, founded in 2020 by Philip Odelfelt and Jacob Lucas, builds AI- and machine-learning-powered intelligence for the building materials and home improvement sectors. Its product suite offers assortment, pricing, and inventory optimization tools to help manufacturers and retailers improve retail execution. The company is New York–based and targets data-driven decision-making for manufacturers selling through retail channels. Datavations will use new funding to scale its team, advance product development, expand across North America, and strengthen client relationships. Financially, the company has raised $17.0M in this Series A, bringing total funding to $27.0M to date. Datavations builds the Commerce Alert Hub, a market intelligence platform that uses proprietary datasets, data analytics, and machine learning to help consumer durables manufacturers make informed decisions. The platform targets manufacturers seeking to gain and maintain market share and boost margins. Customers named in the article include Saint Gobain, Masco, Spectrum Brands, Bosch, and Masonite. The company is led by CEO Philip Odelfelt and recently added JR Becko as Chief Revenue Officer to lead growth initiatives. Datavations plans to use the new capital to further develop Commerce Alert Hub functionality and to execute its go-to-market strategy through sales and marketing efforts.

Led · Seed · Feb 2024

EQ Tickets operates a secondary ticket marketplace that undercuts some competitors by placing a transparent, fair markup that can make tickets 20–30% cheaper. The company added social features—bookmarking and the ability to follow and connect with other fans—to make discovering and attending live events more social. EQ has also launched a primary ticketing platform for events, side parties and afterparties, initially without fees and now operating with a small markup and standard rev-share models. The startup reports six figures in gross ticket sales to date, including $30,000 in ticket sales for a single event night, and a 30% repeat buyer rate among early adopters. EQ is available via web and mobile web and plans to launch a native mobile app later this year. The team is roughly 10 people (including consultants) based out of LA with developers and engineers in Denver and Boston; founder Aaron lives in Huntsville, Alabama.

Participated · Series A · Dec 2023

Founded in 2019 by Larry Haertel Jr. and Aaron Telch, Jiant is a Los Angeles-based ready-to-drink alcohol maker focused on hard tea, kombucha, and cocktail-inspired beverages crafted with fresh-brewed tea, real fruit, and botanicals. Its products are distributed across the U.S. through a network of top-tier distributors and retail partners including Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Target, Kroger, Albertsons, Total Wine & More, HEB, Erewhon and Sprouts. The company recently completed a capital raise to support growth initiatives. Management intends to use the proceeds to bolster production capabilities, drive deeper distribution, support new sales channels, and accelerate expansion of its hard tea line. No operating revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article.

Participated · Series A · Jun 2022

FinTron provides an investment and personal finance application and financial literacy programs to thousands of high school and college students. The company has built a national digital footprint, serving clients in 52 states and territories. FinTron acquired nearly 12,000 new users in 2021 alone. It intends to use the new capital to expand its organization, hire new talent, and upgrade its technology and product offerings. Planned product upgrades include a rewards engine, crypto trading capabilities, enhanced education, and a Neo-Bank offering. FinTron is led by CEO Wilder Rumpf and is based in Stamford, Conn. The company has raised nearly $10M in total capital after the latest round.

Participated · Seed · Jan 2022

NLX provides an end-to-end enterprise AI platform to create, manage, deploy and analyze chat, voice, and multimodal conversational applications, leveraging generative AI and cloud software. The platform offers modularity and access to AI models from providers including Amazon, Google, Microsoft and the open-source community. NLX serves large and enterprise brands, with customers such as Red Bull and Copa Airlines and engagements with Comcast following participation in the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs accelerator. Its largest deployment is rolled out in 90 countries and supports over 65 languages and locales. Led by CEO Andrei Papancea, the company plans to use new funding to expand operations and accelerate development efforts. The company is based in New York City. NLX provides a unified, no-code SaaS platform to build, manage, and analyze AI-powered voice, chat, and multimodal conversational applications at scale. The platform combines conversational AI with human support workflows to enable personalized self-service for customers. In January 2023 the company raised $4.6M in additional funding to fuel marketplace expansion and product improvements, bringing total financing to $9.6M to date. IAG Capital Partners led the new investment, with previous backers JetBlue Ventures and Flying Fish Ventures participating. Since the prior raise NLX launched Showroom, a live, personalized multimodal conversational experience developed with Amazon Web Services. The company serves enterprise, Fortune 200, and midsized clients, including Compañía Panameña de Aviación S.A., Red Bull GmbH, LifeMiles Ltd., and Mon Cheri Bridals LLC. NLX is a New York-based provider of an automated, personalized customer self-service software platform. Its Voice Compass product is a voice-driven self-service platform that automates customer support by guiding customers through an onscreen journey to complete tasks. The company’s conversational self-service automation combines AI and human support experience to enable travel and hospitality customers to resolve issues faster and more cost-effectively. In January 2022 NLX raised $5M in seed funding led by Aquila Capital Partners with participation from Flying Fish Partners, Sage Venture Partners, and JetBlue Technology Ventures. The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations and its business reach. Andrei Papancea is CEO and cofounder.