The Venture Codex

Participated · Series C · Jan 2020

Phenom provides an AI-powered Talent Experience Management (TXM) platform that personalizes and automates the talent journey for candidates, recruiters, employees and management. Its TXM offering includes Career Site, Chatbot, CRM, CMS, SMS and Email Campaigns, University Recruiting, Internal Mobility, Career Pathing, Diversity & Inclusion, Talent Marketplace, Gigs, Referrals, Hiring Manager and Analytics. The company says over 400 global enterprises — including nearly 50 Fortune 500 companies — use its system, with customers such as Southwest Airlines, Newell Brands, Land O’Lakes, AXA and Radian Group Inc. Phenom intends to use the funds from its latest raise to continue to innovate its TXM platform. Led by CEO and co-founder Mahe Bayireddi and headquartered in Greater Philadelphia, the company also has offices in India, Israel, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom. The platform focus and customer base position Phenom for continued product development and enterprise deployments. Phenom People provides an AI-powered, SaaS Talent Experience Management platform that connects candidate, recruiter, employee and management experiences, reducing the need for multiple HR tools. The platform targets the full talent lifecycle across those four stakeholder experiences. Led by CEO and co-founder Mahe Bayireddi, the company serves over 300 customers across all industries. At the time of the report the company had about 500 employees across Philadelphia, Canada, India, Israel, the U.K. and the Netherlands. Phenom intends to use new funding to continue growth and scale. The company had raised a total of $61m to date following the announced round. Phenom People offers a Talent Relationship Marketing (TRM) platform that leverages artificial intelligence to create personalized candidate experiences. The platform includes a personalized career site experience, real-time Candidate Relationship Management (CRM), Content Management System (CMS), Campaign Management, Event Management, Talent Analytics, and conversational bots. The company serves over 120 customers, including Fortune 500 companies such as Abbott Laboratories, Cognizant, Express Scripts, General Motors, Kohl’s, L’Oreal, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, and Whole Foods. Led by CEO and co-founder Mahe Bayireddi and based in Ambler, PA, Phenom plans to use new funding for strategic growth initiatives. The company aims to accelerate product innovation and expand global sales. Phenom recently raised a $22m Series B, bringing total funding to $31m. Phenom People is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based provider of a Talent Relationship Marketing platform. Led by CEO Mahe Bayireddi, the company offers a platform that automates the process of driving talent awareness, interest, engagement and acquisition. It built the Phenom Enterprise Talent Graph, an engine that collects and analyzes candidate data and combines it with predictive intelligence. The platform helps candidates, recruiters and hiring managers find matches more effectively. Phenom raised an additional $2.7M in Series A funding, bringing total Series A proceeds to $7.6M. Sigma Prime Ventures joined the round and Sigma Prime Managing Director John Simon will join Phenom People’s group of senior advisors. Phenom People provides a talent relationship marketing (TRM) platform that collects and analyzes candidate data and combines it with predictive intelligence to help candidates, recruiters, and hiring managers find matches. Led by CEO and co-founder Mahe Bayireddi and based in Philadelphia, the company delivers TRM to more than 70 customers, including Cisco, Deloitte, Safeway, Fidelity, and Hershey’s. The company raised $6M in a Series A round led by Sierra Ventures. Phenom said it will use the funds to expand its sales, marketing, and product teams and to continue innovating and expanding product capabilities. As part of the financing, Sierra Ventures managing director Tim Guleri joined Phenom People’s board, along with HR entrepreneur Rudy Karsan, co-founder of Kenexa and head of Karlani Capital. The additional capital is intended to support growth and product development as the company scales its TRM offerings to enterprise customers.

Participated · Series B · Jan 2020

BlueConic offers a privacy-driven customer data platform that unifies first-party customer data into persistent, individual-level profiles and activates it across touchpoints. The platform is used by over 300 companies worldwide, including Hearst Newspapers, Heineken, ING, T-Mobile, UEFA, and VF Corp. BlueConic emphasizes a flexible, scalable architecture designed for privacy-first, data-driven customer engagement and audience monetization. The company positions its product for use cases such as lifecycle orchestration, modeling and analytics, digital experiences, and audience-based monetization. BlueConic says the new capital will accelerate its mission to provide business users access to unified first-party data whenever and wherever they need it. The company operates globally with offices in the US and Europe. BlueConic is a pure-play customer data platform (CDP) that liberates marketers' first-party data from disparate systems and creates persistent, person-level profiles for activation across marketing channels. The platform emphasizes speed, flexibility, and privacy compliance, adding end-to-end consent management in 2019 and an AI Workbench to amplify predictive modeling for marketing and data science users. BlueConic serves more than 300 consumer and B2B brands, including Hearst, Moen, T-Mobile, ING, and others. The company reports its annual contract value quadrupled over the past three years, annual recurring revenue grew 2x last year, and revenue has grown 3,000% since its Series A. BlueConic says it will continue building on its flexible foundation to meet marketer needs in the consumer privacy era and to expand its global footprint. The company is headquartered in Boston and maintains offices in Europe. BlueConic is a Boston, MA-based provider of a SaaS online customer engagement platform. The platform leverages a Big Data profile interaction store and machine learning to help marketers synchronize relevant communications across web, mobile and social channels in real time. Brands including Volvo, ING and Pitney Bowes use the platform to address customer engagement, channel optimization and permission marketing challenges. The company is led by CEO Bart Heilbron, CTO Martijn van Berkum and newly appointed SVP of sales David Paquette. BlueConic raised $4M in a Series A financing and has now raised $8M in total. The company intends to use the funds to expand into the U.S. market. BlueConic offers a SaaS-based online customer engagement platform that uses a big-data profile interaction store and machine learning to help marketers synchronize relevant communications across web, mobile and social channels in real time. The platform works with existing marketing and web technology to facilitate individualized dialogues across all lifecycle phases—anonymous visitors, leads and identified customers—aiming to improve customer journeys and increase customer lifetime value. BlueConic has served more than 10 billion interactions and manages more than 200 million user profiles on behalf of customers, and counts more than 70 customers including Volvo, ING and Pitney Bowes. The company closed 2013 with 300% year-over-year annual revenue growth. Founded in 2010 in the Netherlands, BlueConic moved its corporate headquarters and executive team to Boston and now has a total headcount of 20, with four executives at its U.S. headquarters. The company plans to use the new funding to aggressively expand into the U.S., rapidly grow its sales and marketing presence, and project to have 15 U.S.-based and 35 total employees by the end of 2014.

Participated · Series C · Sep 2019

aPriori offers a cloud-based, end-to-end digital twin solution that helps manufacturers and product designers accurately estimate, manage, and optimize production costs and sustainability. The platform is designed to boost manufacturers’ digital thread investments to deliver business value at scale, increase agility, and minimize risk. aPriori’s solution is used by global manufacturers including Carrier, Boeing, Danfoss, GE Appliances, Thales, Vestas, Navistar, and Toyota. Led by CEO Stephanie Feraday, the company plans to use the new funding to support continued innovation and meet demand for its solution. The financing was described as a growth investment; the amount was not disclosed. No other financial metrics or prior rounds were reported in the article. aPriori provides digital manufacturing software that generates DFM and DTC insights and leverages digital twins and digital factories to connect product design, sourcing, and supplier teams. The company closed a $5M C Round follow-on valued at over $200M led by Gutbrain Ventures. COVID-19 and ongoing supply‑chain issues have driven significant demand for its Cost Insight Cloud Platform, which accelerated notably in the past two quarters. The new funds will be used to expedite development of a suite of cloud-based applications for engineering, sourcing, and supplier teams to provide a cohesive view of manufacturability and costs. aPriori plans to extend platform capabilities to deliver automated early design and production guidance and to integrate its Cost Insight Generate solution with customers' PLM systems to automatically examine new or modified parts. That integration is intended to help design teams focus on innovation while giving sourcing teams earlier visibility for production planning. aPriori solutions are available in the cloud or on-premise and the company is based in Concord, Mass. aPriori provides enterprise product cost management (PCM) software that delivers real-time product cost and manufacturability assessments for engineering, sourcing, and manufacturing teams. Its platform includes design-for-manufacturability (DFM) and cost (DTC) solutions and the cloud-based Cost Insight product. Customers across aerospace, automotive, industrial equipment, and high-tech use aPriori to gain early cost visibility, reduce rework, and avoid overpaying for sourced parts. The company plans to accelerate development of target applications for engineering, sourcing, and manufacturing and to extend its manufacturing cost simulations. aPriori is also focused on enhancing its Cost Insight cloud platform and expanding its global footprint, particularly in Europe and the Asia Pacific region. The company highlights integration of manufacturing cost insights into Autodesk Fusion 360 to provide costing for generative design. aPriori provides enterprise product cost management software and services that generate hard-dollar cost savings for discrete manufacturing and product innovation companies. Its real-time cost assessments help engineering, sourcing, and manufacturing teams make decisions to launch products at cost targets, maximize rework savings, and avoid overpaying for sourced parts. The company reported record revenues and customer acquisition for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2013, including 84% annual revenue growth, 367% annual international bookings growth, a 62% increase in customers, and a 90% customer renewal rate for the fifth consecutive year. Management said the new capital will be used to expand the sales and services organization and accelerate several major product development programs. aPriori plans to capitalize on growing global opportunities in key verticals such as automotive and aerospace. The company also announced Bill Godfrey, founder and former CEO of Aprimo, will join its board. aPriori is a provider of product cost management software solutions that generate hard-dollar product cost savings for discrete manufacturing and product innovation companies. Its real-time product cost assessments help engineering, sourcing and manufacturing teams make more-informed decisions to drive costs out of products pre- and post-production. The company reported record results for fiscal year 2012 ended April 30. aPriori plans to use the new funding to expand its sales and services teams in Europe and accelerate development of its sales channel in the Asia/Pacific region. It will continue investing in product costing capabilities for expert cost engineers and sourcing personnel and expand best practices within its professional services organization. The company is also funding a Supplier Network initiative aimed at helping suppliers in automotive, aerospace and industrial machinery generate faster, more accurate quotes and embed aPriori’s quote generator into customer deployments.

Participated · Series C · Feb 2019

Ceros provides a no-code platform for creating interactive "digital experiences" — graphics and websites — used by clients including NBC, United Airlines, Snap, McKinsey, IBM, Condé Nast, JP Morgan, Red Bull and Pinterest. The company recently launched MarkUp, a design collaboration tool for live websites, and says it will build more products to help brands craft experiences more rapidly. Ceros raised a $100 million investment led by Sumeru Equity Partners; the company had previously raised $33.5 million in total funding, according to Crunchbase. CEO Simon Berg said the firm avoided layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic and saw increased platform activity and returning customers. Leadership and investors plan to use the new capital for additional product development, targeted acquisitions, and continued international growth. Ceros offers a SaaS platform for creating animated, interactive content and web experiences aimed at prioritizing design and creative freedom over traditional content marketing. The product targets marketers and publishers who want richly designed graphics and pages rather than blog posts or SEO-driven white papers. The company says it now works with more than 400 customers, including brands and publishers such as United Airlines, Red Bull, Condé Nast, Vice, the Baltimore Ravens and the Detroit Lions. Ceros emphasizes capital efficiency and a focus on putting the creative and design piece first while complying with the technical constraints of the web. Management and investors have indicated the company may pursue opportunistic acquisitions to enhance the core product and deepen penetration in key markets. The articles do not disclose revenue or profitability figures. Ceros offers a cloud-based interactive design studio that allows marketers and designers to build and publish rich, interactive content without developer resources. The platform includes real-time collaboration tools and granular analytics to measure viewer interactions. It has seen increased traction across verticals, powering campaigns for brands such as General Electric, LinkedIn, Red Bull, and United Airlines, as well as publishers and sports teams. Ceros emphasizes ease of use so marketing teams can scale engaging content without high development costs. The company plans to use new funding to further product development, expand the platform’s reach, and rapidly scale sales, marketing, and client services. Founded in 2013, Ceros has offices in New York and London and is backed by multiple VC investors. Ceros offers a platform that lets designers and marketers build and publish interactive content experiences without involving developers. The product includes a collaborative digital canvas, real-time preview, push-button publishing, and real-time analytics with contextual engagement metrics. Content created with Ceros is sharable, embeddable in social sites, and designed to work across devices. Customers include ShopBazaar, Mini, Stella McCartney, Frette, Moncler, Urban Outfitters, Tourneau, Peugeot, Habitat, Monsoon and Virgin Atlantic. Launched in January 2013 and based in New York, Ceros aims to accelerate content production and optimize engagement through analytics. The company has secured venture funding to support product development and sales and marketing expansion.

Participated · Equity · Feb 2019

Nasuni offers a scalable enterprise data platform that simplifies file data management and delivers scale in hybrid cloud environments. The platform increases storage access and performance, enables control at the network edge, and prepares data to be insight- and AI-ready. Its file recovery capabilities protect customers from cyber threats, remove the need for specialised backup and disaster recovery, and can cut infrastructure costs by up to 65%. Nasuni is used by over 850 companies across 70 countries, including large enterprises in manufacturing, consumer goods, and energy. Led by CEO Paul Flanagan and based in Boston, the company recently received a majority investment led by Vista Equity Partners that valued it at approximately $1.2 billion; the deal amount was not disclosed. Nasuni plans to use the funds to accelerate product innovation and commercial expansion in the global hybrid cloud market. Nasuni delivers cloud file services that serve as a replacement for traditional network attached storage (NAS) and legacy file backup and disaster-recovery systems, simplifying IT administration. The company enables global file access and sharing for users in the office, at home, or on the road. Nasuni serves customers across manufacturing, construction, creative services, technology, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, oil and gas, financial services, and public sector agencies. It delivers services in over 70 countries worldwide. Under CEO Paul Flanagan, the company is investing to expand and modernize its File Data Services offering. The firm plans continued innovation, international expansion, and potential strategic acquisitions funded by the new raise. Nasuni is a cloud-based file storage company that consolidates network attached storage (NAS) and file server silos into cloud storage, offering infinite scale, built-in backup, global file sharing and local file server performance. Its software platform is deployed in more than 70 countries and serves sectors including manufacturing, construction, creative services, technology, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, oil and gas, financial services and public sector agencies. Companies use Nasuni to share and collaborate on files across multiple sites, enhance workforce productivity, reduce IT cost and complexity, and maximize the business value of their file data. The company is led by president and CEO Paul Flanagan and is based in Boston, MA. Nasuni said it will use the newly raised capital to continue to expand operations and its business reach. Financially, the company completed a $40M financing and has raised more than $100M in the past three years. Nasuni offers a cloud-scale software platform that merges on-premise network-attached file storage (NAS) with public cloud object storage providers such as AWS, Microsoft and Google. The platform also integrates with high-performance on-premise solutions from IBM, Dell EMC and Hitachi to provide multi-cloud optionality. Nasuni packages NAS, backup, archive, remote-office replication and disaster recovery into a single platform for global file sharing and collaboration. Customers named in the article include AECOM, Cushman & Wakefield, Jabil, TBWA and Ulta Beauty. Led by president and CEO Paul Flanagan, the company recently opened a new office in Durham, N.C. It intends to use the new funding to accelerate its go-to-market strategy and expand into new markets. Nasuni provides a cloud-native global file system and on-premises caching appliances that enable enterprises to store, protect, share, and manage unstructured file data. Its solutions are delivered as a subscription-based cloud service and integrated with cloud object storage. The company is led by founder and CEO Andres Rodriguez and President Paul Flanagan. Nasuni will use the funds from the recent financing to expand research and development, customer success, and go-to-market efforts. The company has now raised approximately $120M in total. The investment strengthened its balance sheet to support continued product and commercial expansion.