• Kitchen United

  Participated · Series C · Jul 2022

  Kitchen United operates a platform combining commercial kitchen space, restaurant-hub technology and streamlined logistics to help foodservice operators enter new markets, grow off-premises revenue and expand delivery areas. Its technology enables customers to order from multiple prepared food and consumer goods brands on the same ticket and with the same delivery driver, synchronized to maximize quality and payload while minimizing time and expense. The company also develops Kitchen United OS, a multi-concept ordering technology platform used by national restaurant brands. Led by CEO Michael Montagano, Kitchen United currently powers approximately 200 operational kitchens across 20 regions. The company plans to increase both its technological and physical presence, with continued focus on Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Texas and other U.S. trade areas. Management intends to use the recent funding to accelerate growth and expand operations. Kitchen United operates commercial kitchen centers that house 10–15 restaurant brands each, providing operators a value-driven, low-risk way to enter new markets and expand delivery areas by removing capital and technology barriers. Launched in 2017 and headquartered in Pasadena, Calif., the company positions itself as a strategic real estate partner for restaurant chains as consumer preference shifts to off-premise dining. Kitchen United handles operations so restaurant brands can focus on food while scaling via shared kitchen infrastructure. The company cites a large addressable market—William Blair estimated U.S. off-premise restaurant sales at $279B in 2018, growing to an expected $402B in 2022. Current locations include Pasadena and Chicago, with upcoming openings in Scottsdale and Austin and additional sites under construction in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other major markets. As part of its growth strategy, Kitchen United plans to enter New York City through a relationship with RXR Realty to open kitchen centers in RXR and other Tri-State properties. The company recently closed a financing round to support expansion into its primary growth markets, including New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston. Kitchen United is a virtual-restaurant concept that operates "Kitchen Centers" — converted warehouse, big-box or light-industrial facilities that can house 10–20 restaurants and centralize delivery production. The company aggregates demographic and cuisine-specific demand data to select locations and provide restaurant partners opt-in consumer and operational intelligence to tailor menus, staffing and operations. Kitchen United positions its offering as a lower-cost, lower-risk way for national, regional and local chains and food entrepreneurs to enter new markets and expand off-premise dining. Launched in 2017 and headquartered in Los Angeles, the company says its centers create operational efficiencies and reduce delivery costs while expanding partners' addressable delivery markets. Kitchen United plans to use recent funding to accelerate national growth and to build its real estate, marketing, engineering and operations teams. Leadership brings experience from chains and hospitality companies including Taco Bell, McDonald’s, SBE Entertainment and Wolfgang Puck.

• Soho House

  Participated · Equity · Oct 2019

  Soho House operates a global network of private members' clubs, hotels, food and beverage venues and related services for creative-industry members. Over the year its turnover rose 20% to $556 million, with membership subscription income up 30% to $135 million and food and beverage sales up 20% to $245 million. The group reported around 89,000 members with another 36,000 on a global waiting list. It recorded a pre-tax loss of £65 million in 2018 (up from £60 million in 2017) and has an estimated $500 million debt pile. Soho House has been expanding rapidly—opening five Houses and two Townhouses in the last year—and plans to double the size of its chain worldwide. Future openings planned for 2020–21 include Paris, Austin, Mykonos, Rome, London, Tel Aviv, Nashville and Brighton, and the company is preparing to launch a North American workspace chain called Soho Works.

• Verishop

  Participated · Series B · Oct 2019

  Verishop is a premium lifestyle e-commerce site that sells curated luxury fashion, beauty, and home products from verified brands. The platform offers one-day shipping and free returns, and its top brands are hand-picked by fashion and beauty experts. The company reports more than 160 brand partners and partnerships with social media influencers who post and curate collections. It also runs a podcast, "Finding Inspo with Alex Barinka," and earlier this year hired Paul Cazers as VP of Partnerships. Verishop was founded and is led by CEO Imran Khan and CSO Cate Khan. Financially, Verishop has raised $30 million in funding in under six months, including $12.5 million of a pre-Series B tranche, and is valued at more than $100 million.

• Appear Here

  Participated · Series B · May 2017

  Appear Here operates an online marketplace to connect brands, retailers, designers and entrepreneurs with short-term retail space, originally launched to serve the pop-up shop market. Founded in London in 2013 by Ross Bailey, the company launched first in the U.K. and has since expanded to France and New York. It operates offices in London, Paris and New York and aims to make booking temporary brick-and-mortar space as frictionless as possible. The platform says more than 80,000 brands have used its marketplace and over 4,000 exclusive spaces have been listed. The startup raised $12 million in a Series B led by Octopus Ventures, bringing total funding to $21.4 million according to CrunchBase. Management says it will continue to scale internationally, launch more tools and open new locations for its growing community. Appear Here is a marketplace for retail space that connects brands with short-term 'pop-up' shops across the UK. Founded in 2012 by Ross Bailey after he launched his own pop-up on Carnaby Street in London, the platform lists over 600 properties available to hire in the UK. In the last 18 months the company says it has transacted over 500 short-term lets and that some 10,000 brands regularly search its database. It has signed eight of the UK's ten biggest retail landlords, including British Land, Land Securities and Hammerson, and has a deal with Transport for London to market space in Underground stations. The new $7.5M funding will be used to expand customer service and a concierge offering, and to develop online contracts and payments. The company previously raised £1M in November 2013. Appear Here operates an online marketplace that lets commercial landlords list short-term retail spaces and enables brands and entrepreneurs to book pop-up shops, product launches and brand showcases. Founded last year by 21-year-old Ross Bailey out of Forward Labs, the startup aims to make renting short-term retail space as easy as booking a hotel room. The company says it has signed up over 3,000 brands and retailers and offers access to a database of 250 spaces nationwide. Appear Here works with property firms such as British Land, Legal & General and Capital & Regional, and tenant customers including Google, Microsoft, American Apparel and Diageo. It currently employs 12 people and competes in the UK with We Are Pop Up and in the U.S. with Storefront. The company says it will use the new capital to scale operations and continue strengthening its technology team to meet increasing demand.

• SmarterHQ

  Participated · Equity · Jan 2017

  SmarterHQ is an Indianapolis-based customer personalization platform led by CEO Michael Osborne. It empowers B2C marketers to respond to customer interactions in real time by leveraging both behavioral and transactional data from online and in-store sources. The solution powers real-time individualized campaigns for brands such as Dillard’s, White House Black Market, GNC, Bloomingdale’s, Kate Spade, Eddie Bauer, eBags, Chico’s, and Finish Line. The company has also begun working with financial services company Santander Bank, N.A. and auto company CarRentals.com. SmarterHQ closed a $13m funding round and has raised a total of $33.6m to date. The company will use the funds to expand sales and marketing efforts and pursue growth into new vertical markets including financial services and travel and hospitality. SmarterHQ is an Indianapolis-based multi-channel marketing platform that enables retailers to create personalized experiences by tracking and measuring shopper engagement across channels. The platform integrates with companies’ existing technologies to deliver predictive, personalized marketing across channels. Clients named in the article include Eddie Bauer, Finish Line and eBags. Led by CEO and president Michael Osborne, the company intends to use the new funds to accelerate growth and expand its predictive marketing platform. SmarterHQ raised $8m in the most recent round, bringing its total venture financing to $20m. Smarter Remarketer provides a customer-centric behavioral automation and Big Data platform (SR2) that enables retailers to build advanced, precisely targeted segments and send intelligence-driven, triggered communications across multiple channels. Its vendor-independent solution uses behavioral through transactional data to personalize the shopping experience and optimize customer lifetime value. The company counts national retail brands such as Eddie Bauer, Finish Line and eBags among its customers. In 2013 Smarter Remarketer posted its best-ever annual performance, with revenue growth three times higher than the prior year. Headquartered in Indianapolis and founded four years prior to the announcement, the company plans to use new financing to expand sales and marketing and accelerate growth through 2014. Smarter Remarketer also intends to continue developing and expanding its SR2 Big Data customer intelligence platform. Smarter Remarketer provides a customer-intelligence driven marketing automation platform (SR2) that enables retailers to deliver highly targeted, triggered communications across email, on-site messaging, social and display. Its SR2 Big Data platform can engage individual website visitors in real time using several years of behavioral and transactional data. The hub-based, vendor-inclusive solution unifies existing vendors to enable consistent messaging across channels and boost customer lifetime value. In just four years since its founding the company has grown rapidly and serves large retail brands including Eddie Bauer, SkyMall, Finish Line and Hugo Boss. Smarter Remarketer posted its best-ever annual performance in 2013, with revenue growth three times higher than the prior year. The company plans to use new capital to accelerate growth and expand its SR2 platform.

No current team members are available.