Participated · Series B · Feb 2023

Trust & Will offers an online, attorney-approved estate-planning platform that helps users create wills, trusts, healthcare directives and other state-specific documents through a guided experience. The company serves more than one million individuals and families, supports 17,000+ financial advisors, 150+ enterprise partners, and reports $100+ billion in self-reported estate assets. Founded in 2017 and based in San Diego, Trust & Will emphasizes simple, secure integration with financial institutions. The business has expanded its credit union work from a single partnership in 2018 to more than 200 credit unions today and is forming a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) to deepen that integration. It has joined the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations (NACUSO) as a Platinum Partner to accelerate industry partnerships and insights. The company announced a $4.5M investment from Curql as part of its Series C, which will support broader credit-union-focused distribution and enterprise integrations. Trust & Will provides a SaaS platform for accessible, attorney-approved estate planning, enabling users to create wills, trusts, and related documents tailored to state requirements. The company emphasizes integrations with financial advisors, attorneys, real estate professionals, member organizations, NPOs, and businesses to support multi-generational planning. It reports over one million Americans have started legacy planning on the platform. Trust & Will is investing in AI and data infrastructure to deliver personalized recommendations, analyze existing plans, and provide real-time updates. The platform maintains bank-level encryption and compliance with SOC 2 and HIPAA standards, is a certified B Corporation, and serves as the official estate planning provider for AARP members and other financial institutions. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Diego, the company aims to expand partnerships and embed estate planning into major life milestones like home or car purchases. Trust & Will provides an online platform for creating customizable estate plans and settling estates, with legal documents tailored to state and county guidelines. The company offers transactional purchases plus an annual membership for ongoing updates, and in October launched Trust & Will Probate to streamline probate and estate settlement. It partners with banks, credit unions, fintechs, insurtechs and nonprofits to educate members and offer discounts. Trust & Will reported that revenue more than doubled year‑over‑year and that its business has doubled annually since 2020, though specific revenue figures were not disclosed. The company crossed over 478,000 cumulative members at the end of January and is on track to exceed 500,000 this quarter. Leadership says the new capital will be used to scale operations, further integrate with financial institutions, and provide runway to achieve profitability with strong cash reserves. Trust & Will offers three primary products: a trust-based estate plan, a will-based estate plan, and "Guardian," a simpler setup for parents. Customers pay an upfront setup fee by product and a smaller recurring annual subscription. Since launching in mid-2018 the company says 160,000 users have signed up, and the team has grown to 24 employees. The company originally operated only in Nevada due to state digital-will laws but has expanded attorney support to multiple states and completed the first electronic will in Florida. Trust & Will has built partnerships with institutions including Fifth Third Bank, AARP, and Acorns. The startup has raised more than $23 million to date and has positioned itself to grow as more states put digital-will and estate-planning laws in place. Trust & Will offers a digital estate-planning platform that lets customers draft wills and trust-based plans, including tools to avoid probate and manage beneficiary instructions. The company sells tiered subscription plans priced roughly $399–$499 (plus annual fees) for trust-based plans, $69–$129 for beneficiary/asset-distribution plans, and $39–$49 for parents with minor children. Since launching in April, Trust & Will has enrolled 60,000 members representing $15.1 billion in total assets, $2.7 billion in reported life insurance policies, $137 million in charitable commitments, and with 88% of members holding real estate assets. The startup has formed partnerships to enable electronic closings (it closed its first electronic will in January with Notarize). With a team of 11 people, the company plans to use new capital to expand sales and marketing, advance product development, and grow partnerships. The product is positioned to capture demand as younger cohorts begin estate planning and to compete with legacy solutions like Quicken’s WillMaker and other startups.

Participated · Equity · Dec 2019

Riipen develops a platform that enables postsecondary students to connect with real-world projects from companies, embedding collaborations directly into coursework. Led by founder and CEO Dana Stephenson, the Toronto-based company helps employers collaborate with students on research, talent pipelines, and brand-building. The platform is used by employers ranging from IBM to the YMCA of South Hampton Roads. Riipen serves more than 5,000 employers and 40,000 students at 150 colleges and universities globally. The company raised $3.75M in funding and intends to use the proceeds to continue expanding operations. Backers included Reach Capital, Strada Education Network, SEI Ventures, EduLab Capital Partners, Entangled Group, Atrium and ASU ScaleU.

Participated · Seed · Dec 2019

Motivo Health operates an online marketplace connecting licensed mental health therapists with clinical supervisors in a fully virtual environment. The company partners with community mental health organizations, treatment centers, and digital health companies to provide access to vetted supervisors and has helped over 2,500 therapists obtain licensure. Founded in 2018 by licensed therapist Rachel McCrickard, Motivo has grown to 23 full-time employees and made key executive hires including Michael Chen (CTO/Co‑founder) and Sarah Louragh (COO) in 2020; Dr. Carla Smith joined as Chief Clinical Officer earlier in the year. With the new financing, Motivo plans to grow its sales and engineering teams, pursue additional contracts with behavioral health organizations, digital health companies, and health plans, and sign channel partnerships with graduate universities. It also plans to expand into continuing education for therapist re-certification and build products for clinical staff augmentation and direct service delivery. The company has raised a total of $16.3 million to date. Motivo operates a tele-supervision platform that connects recent graduates to clinical supervisors so they can complete required in-person consultation hours via secure video conferencing where state rules allow. The company is led by CEO and founder Rachel McCrickard and is based in Atlanta, GA. Motivo recruits supervisors and recent graduates across therapy, counseling, social work and psychology disciplines to help fulfill licensure requirements analogous to a medical residency. After graduating from the 2018 Techstars Atlanta accelerator program, Motivo added Tim Howe of Cox Enterprises to its board. The company intends to use recent funding to grow its team, acquire contracts with mental health agencies and clinics, and sign channel partnerships with therapist associations and universities. Its business model centers on enabling remote clinical supervision to meet state regulatory allowances driven by the rise of telehealth.

Participated · Equity · Aug 2019

NextStep is a Seattle, WA-based health care education and job placement company that trains and places workers displaced by automation and artificial intelligence with long-term care providers. Its core product is a blended-learning certified nursing assistant (CNA) program offered at no up-front cost that prepares learners for CNA roles and places graduates with employer partners. The company already trains and places CNAs at over 70 facilities of employer partners in Colorado. NextStep intends to use the $2.5M funding to accelerate growth in Colorado and to expand into other states. Led by CEO Chris Hedrick, the company focuses on reaching job seekers underserved by traditional education models. The recent raise provides capital to scale operations and employer placements. NextStep is a Seattle-based, mobile-first skills training and job placement company focused on expanding the supply of Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). It delivers courses on mobile devices in 10–15 minute modules designed for displaced service and hospitality workers to retrain for higher-paying healthcare roles. Through a Colorado pilot approved by the state Board of Nursing, NextStep has enrolled more than 2,000 learners and places graduates with employer partners. The company launched a National COVID-Ready Caregiver Certificate to train CNAs, home health aides and other frontline caregivers on infection-reduction and safe-caregiving practices. In the first week after the certificate’s launch, more than 200 healthcare employers signed up, extending access to over 10,000 caregivers. NextStep raised $3.6M in funding to support its efforts and expansion. NextStep Interactive delivers mobile, 10–15 minute training modules to help displaced workers retrain for careers in the health care industry. Its platform enables employers to screen talent based on demonstrated competencies and soft skills indicative of fit for health-care professions. Workers receive training, certification and automatic job placement services aimed at shifting employees from low-wage service and hospitality roles into higher-earning health-care jobs with promotion potential. The company is a spinout of Pioneer Square Labs and is led by CEO Chris Hedrick, operating out of Seattle, WA and Bozeman, MT. Financially, NextStep announced a $3m funding round and had previously disclosed a $3.275m round in fall 2018 led by JAZZ Venture Partners. Recent backers include SEI Ventures, JAZZ Venture Partners, Learn Capital’s LearnStart fund, Springrock Ventures, City Light Capital, Frontier Angels and three managing directors of Pioneer Square Labs.