The Venture Codex

Participated · Series B · Apr 2026

Lucra Sports operates a B2B platform that transforms corporate loyalty programs into interactive, eSports-style events such as tournaments where customers can play each other and potentially bet or win cash and company giveaways. The company sells this gamified loyalty product to businesses and counts customers such as Five Iron Golf, Chess Kings, and Dave & Busters. Lucra positions itself as a provider of interactive, gamified loyalty experiences rather than a consumer-facing game operator. Founder and CEO Dylan Robbins engaged directly with lead investor ARK during multiple diligence conversations ahead of the Series B. ARK described Lucra's financials as promising and highlighted the company's B2B model as a key differentiator from prior players in the space. The articles do not disclose specific revenue, user metrics, founding year, location, or detailed plans for the new capital.

Led · Series A · Apr 2024

Quintar provides technology and platforms for content owners to build multilayered spatial worlds, beginning with sports entertainment. Its core product, Q.reality, is a device-agnostic platform designed to deliver relevant, data-driven interactive spatial XR experiences to fans wherever they are. The platform combines patented Spatial VPS and True Spatial Video technology to create accurate, dynamic AR content. Quintar gives content creators and rights holders the ability to deliver personalized, interactive experiences on mobile phones, TVs, and AR wearables at venues or in users' homes. In February, Quintar enabled PGA TOUR Vision for the Apple Vision Pro, described as spatial computing’s first professional golf application. The company plans to use the newly raised funds to expand operations and broaden its business reach under CEO Dr. Sankar (Jay) Jayaram.

Participated · Seed · Jan 2024

Boomerang operates a lost & found platform that centralizes found inventory from businesses to reduce fragmentation and improve recovery for consumers. The company was launched in November 2021 by Skyler Logsdon, Philip Inghelbrecht, and Augustine Diep-Tran. Boomerang serves a roster of customers on the Boomerang Network including Universal Studios, Cleveland Browns Stadium, Nissan Stadium, State Farm Arena, Margaritaville Resort, Encore Resort at the Reunion, The Dalmar, Savannah / Hilton Head International Airport, and Syracuse Hancock International Airport. The article notes U.S. consumers spend $5B annually replacing lost items and that the overwhelming majority of these items are lost at businesses, indicating a large addressable market. Boomerang recently raised new funding and will use the proceeds to fuel growth and invest in its team and platform to scale to demand. Leadership and investors emphasize the company’s technology and timing to address the pervasive problem of lost items. Boomerang offers a lost-and-found technology platform that includes a self-serve lost-and-found management software for businesses and an end-to-end, fully managed service for institutions with high volumes of lost items. The company targets hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs, universities, stadiums, casinos, theatres, gyms, airports, airlines and other businesses that collect lost items. Boomerang emerged from stealth after six months of development and currently has a nine-person team, mostly engineers distributed around the U.S. The co-founders—Skyler Logsdon, Philip Inghelbrecht and Augustine Diep-tran—bring prior experience at Shazam, TrueCar, Tatari and YourMechanic. The startup has been building its product, team and first batch of partners to launch its services. Financially, Boomerang announced a $2.8M pre-seed round to support its launch and growth.

Led · Seed · Feb 2022

CollectID develops product-authentication technology that combines encrypted, smartphone-ready NFC tags with secure, immutable NFTs on blockchain to create a digital twin of physical products. The system enables brands and consumers to verify authenticity with a few taps and, according to the article, guarantees a product’s authenticity 100%. CollectID has been adopted by sports clubs and brands, including a contract with Brazil’s Atlético Mineiro to authenticate over 120,000 football jerseys, plus deployments with SCL Tigers, FC Zurich, FC St. Gallen, Young Boys x Sneakerness, ZSC Lions and clients such as vinID, Sneakerness.Market, Ruirosa and Sonra. The St. Gallen-based startup plans to use new capital to accelerate growth in Europe and North America and to expand its presence. CollectID has also signed a long-term agreement with Atlético Mineiro to allow fans to verify and register jerseys in their names and use the garments as a communication channel. The company says it aims to become a leader in linking physical products with the digital world and bringing them into the metaverse.

Participated · Series B · Mar 2021

Maestro is a Los Angeles-based startup offering a suite of interactive commerce, community and engagement tools for livestreams. It began in the gaming community with in-stream interactive features and expanded to serve entertainers, brands, businesses and streaming platforms. The company slashed prices to about $500 per month and has worked with clients including the Golden State Warriors, Dallas Cowboys, The Wave, and artists such as Billie Eilish, Katy Perry and Post Malone. Since launching monetization tools in May of last year, Maestro says it has paid out at least $5 million to entertainers. The team of about 55 employees plans to build a developer ecosystem so third-party software designers can build and sell tools through the platform, and it is adding membership, community management and ticketing features. Maestro does not offer discovery or search services, focusing instead on helping creators monetize and control their audience relationships. Maestro provides brands a toolkit for capturing data, analytics, and viewer engagement within live streams, enabling companies to create branded streaming destinations. Its tools include polling, micro-games, and other communication features, and importantly, fan data remains with the brand rather than platform owners. The company initially focused on gaming and esports and has created branded destinations for partners including Sony PlayStation, Microsoft, Pokemon, Warner Bros. Games, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Wargaming, ESL, Dreamhack, and ELEAGUE. Maestro has also signed non-gaming partners such as The Grammys and Coachella and positions its product as applicable to any live stream. The company plans to use new funding to boost sales and marketing and to target new industries. Ari Evans is founder and CEO.