• Bump

  Participated · Seed · Apr 2024

  Bump is a creator-focused platform that helps creators track income, market value, and manage business finances to negotiate better deals and see owed payments. The company was launched in 2020 by James Jones and Anton Kovalyov, who serves as CTO. In 2022 Bump launched the Bump Creator credit card in partnership with Mastercard, marketed with no monthly or hidden fees and available without a credit check. Bump also works with a banking institution to offer direct deposit accounts that let creators earn interest on cash placed in a money market account. The company says it will use the latest fundraise to expand and refine its infrastructure. To date Bump has raised $3.5 million, including the newly announced seed round.

• Newond

  Participated · Equity · Dec 2023

  Newond offers an end-to-end platform that handles back-office tasks for layoffs, including ToDo lists, scheduling, state- and country-specific contract creation, and reemployment support. The service is designed to reduce cost, time, and personnel/legal risk versus manual in-house handling or expensive outsourcing. The company says it will use the funds raised to pursue customer development in the United States, focusing on the technology sector where layoff volumes are high. Newond was established in May 2023 and is led by CEO 小磯 純奈. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, the company develops and operates HR systems. Its stated long-term aim is to reduce or reframe layoffs by lowering operational and psychological burdens on affected workers.

• Givingli

  Participated · Seed · Jul 2021

  Givingli is an online gifting service founded in 2019 that lets users customize digital greetings and send e-gifts, with messaging features including group chats, reactions and birthday reminders. Cards and gifts can be shared via email, text or social media and include designs from independent artists and brand partners such as Starbucks, Nike and Target; users can add photos, videos and text. The company launched a Snap integration in 2020 and is expanding beyond iOS toward a desktop app that will enter early access soon. Givingli charges a monthly subscription fee and levies additional fees for premium cards; the CEO declined to disclose revenue but said "millions" of people have used the service. The team is 13 people and is based in Los Angeles. Givingli provides a gifting app where users choose from hundreds of virtual greeting cards created by independent artists around the world. Users can customize virtual greetings with video, text, photos, stickers and paint, and select a virtual envelope. Greetings can be sent via text message with an optional digital gift card from over 150 brands, including Uber, Nike, Sephora, AirBnB, and Amazon. Since its launch in 2019, Givingli has been used by over 5 Million people and the platform licenses work from more than 40 independent artists. The company was founded by Nicole Emrani Green (CEO & Co‑Founder) and Ben Green (COO & Co‑Founder). Givingli intends to use its recent funding to expand its gift offerings and grow creative partnerships with its community of independent artists.

• ShareChat

  Participated · Series F · Apr 2021

  Mohalla Tech is the parent entity of the vernacular social media platform ShareChat and the short-video entertainment app Moj. The company raised an additional $16 million in debt financing from Singapore-based EDBI. That injection brings the total amount raised in its ongoing financing round to $65 million. The financing reported in the article is structured as debt. The report also states the company laid off approximately 5% of its staff. ShareChat is an Indian social media startup focused on live-streaming and has grown in part through acquiring rival MxTakaTak. The company recently secured $49 million in debt financing from existing investors to fund bonus ESOP grants and boost employee morale. Its valuation plunged from nearly $5 billion to below $2 billion after a new funding round. Management has implemented aggressive cost-cutting measures even as the company reports revenue growth. ShareChat faces challenges monetizing a user base with limited purchasing power and carries a high expense-to-revenue ratio. The firm's ability to adapt—particularly around live-streaming—will be pivotal to its competitive prospects in the Indian market. ShareChat, under parent Mohalla Tech, operates social and short-video platforms and includes apps Moj and the recently acquired MX TakaTak. The company reported 180 million monthly active users for ShareChat and a combined user base of 300 million across Moj and MX TakaTak. It has previously raised capital, including a $266 million funding round that valued it at $3.7 billion and included investors such as Alkeon Capital and Temasek. In the current deal Mohalla Tech secured nearly $300 million in fresh funding from Alphabet's Google, the Times Group and Temasek, valuing the firm at nearly $5 billion. The investment is set to be announced soon and marks Google's second major bet in India's short-video space after backing Josh. ShareChat also counts Twitter and Snap among its investors. ShareChat is a Bangalore-based social network that offers its app in 15 Indian languages and runs Moj, a short-video app launched shortly after India banned TikTok. The company claims more than 160 million users and a 50 million+ creator community; Moj reportedly logs 4.5 billion views per day and average user sessions of about 34 minutes. Moj is described by management as the firm's fastest-growing product and is expected to potentially become bigger than ShareChat. ShareChat has raised over $911 million to date and recently closed an additional $145 million tranche as part of its Series F, bringing its valuation to nearly $3 billion (TechCrunch headline lists $2.88 billion). The business competes in short-form video with players such as MX TakaTak, Glance’s Roposo and DailyHunt’s Josh. Management says it will continue to invest in AI capabilities, scale its global AI organization, build advanced editing tools and help creators monetize on the platform. ShareChat is a Bangalore-based social network that offers apps in 15 Indian languages and targets users in smaller cities and towns across India. The company claims more than 160 million users and has expanded its product suite to include Moj, a short-form video app with over 80 million monthly active users. Moj was built rapidly after TikTok’s exit and integrates Snap’s Camera Kit to strengthen its short‑video offering. ShareChat is experimenting with monetization through commerce interactions in audio chat rooms and launched a fantasy sports app called Jeet. The company says it aims to grow its ecosystem of products toward 1 billion+ cumulative MAUs as internet penetration deepens in India. To date ShareChat has raised about $765 million in funding.

• Autio

  Participated · Seed · Apr 2021

  Autio offers a location-based audio storytelling app that uses a user’s GPS location to deliver narrated stories about nearby landmarks, cities, and towns. The company was founded by Woody Sears, Bill Werlin, and Kevin Costner and is based in Santa Barbara. It originally launched in August 2020 under the name HearHere. On March 29, 2023, Autio announced it had raised $5.9 million in a funding round. The round was led by iHeartMedia. The article does not disclose additional operating metrics, valuation, or other participating investors. HearHere is a GPS-powered audio entertainment app that delivers immersive, location-based storytelling to road-trip travelers. Launched in August 2020 and based in Santa Barbara, the app pushes three- to five-minute stories to users as they drive, surfacing history, natural landscape, sports, music and local insights. HearHere currently has more than 100,000 registered users and offers over 8,880 stories across the continental United States; free accounts include five stories while paid subscriptions cost $36 per year for unlimited access. The company maintains a 26-person content team of researchers, writers, editors and narrators (primarily contractors), and actor Kevin Costner joined in 2020 as a co-founder, narrator and investor. HearHere plans to expand its content library, add offline listening, launch an Android app, and extend availability to Alaska and Hawaii later this year. The new funding will also be used to grow the team and expand functionality. HearHere produces short (three- to five-minute) narrated audio stories that trigger with users’ permission while they drive, surfacing local history, sports, music and lesser-known points of interest. The company has banked 5,500 stories across 22 states and plans to be nationwide by summer. It operates a content team of 22 researchers, writers, editors and narrators and currently has a five-person core team. HearHere offers five free stories per month and unlimited streaming for $35.99 per year. The roadmap includes opening to third-party contributors and incorporating AI and machine learning for language support and better personalization. HearHere has formed distribution and promotion partnerships with AAA, Camping World, Outdoorsy, RVshare and Cruise America.

No current team members are available.