The Venture Codex

Participated · Series A · Sep 2023

Pulsora (formerly pulsESG) offers a centralized platform for enterprise sustainability management, covering data collection, disclosures, audit logging, analytics, and real-time target monitoring. The company emphasizes flexibility, auditability, integration, and a user-friendly interface to help organizations measure, report, and improve ESG performance. Pulsora serves over 400 corporations worldwide, including customers such as Apax Partners, Aker ASA, Aligned Climate Capital, Clayton Dubilier & Rice, and Cornerstone Building Brands. Founded in 2021 as a public benefit corporation, Pulsora has rebranded to reflect expanded platform capabilities. With the new funding, the company plans to bolster functionality—explicitly expanding carbon accounting—and prepare customers for forthcoming regulations. Management says funds will support global expansion across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and Asia within a roughly $12 billion nascent sustainability management market. pulsESG provides an integrated, comprehensive SaaS platform for ESG compliance tracking, disclosure, and analytics. The platform offers auditable deep analytics and can integrate with customers' source and destination ESG systems, giving end-users flexibility as regulatory requirements change. pulsESG plans to integrate with Workday Financial Management and Workday Human Capital Management to translate structured and unstructured data into financial information for disclosure management and external reporting. The integration aims to let customers assign ESG goals, track performance against those goals, and report metrics to regulators, investors, customers, and other stakeholders. Built-in analytics measure performance against goals and benchmarks and enable companies to improve practices based on insights. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in San Francisco, pulsESG is positioned to serve purpose-driven enterprises seeking comprehensive, auditable ESG solutions. pulsESG is a public benefit corporation focused on enabling purpose-driven enterprises to measure, manage and improve their ESG footprint. The company offers ESG management capabilities aimed at organizations prioritizing impact. pulsESG joined Accenture Ventures' Project Spotlight, an engagement and early investment program. Accenture (NYSE: ACN) made a strategic investment in the company through Accenture Ventures. The company had previously raised $10 million in seed funding from impact-driven investors. pulsESG is reported from San Francisco, CA. pulsESG is an integrated enterprise ESG SaaS platform that provides comprehensive, auditable, model-driven analytics and integrates with both internal data sources and external investor-facing systems. The product is designed to help enterprises track, analyze, derive insights for ESG compliance and improvement, and adapt to changing regulatory and stakeholder requirements. Key features highlighted include a model-driven architecture, full integration with source and destination systems, and end-user flexibility to modify models and mappings. The company emerged from stealth and expects to make the product generally available in Q1 2022. pulsESG is structured as a public benefit corporation, was founded in 2021, and is based in San Francisco. The company announced $8.5M in seed funding to support product launch and go-to-market activities, and is led by co-founders Murat Sönmez and Inderjeet Singh.

Participated · Series A · Oct 2022

TCARE is a St. Louis-based company that provides an evidence-based family caregiver support solution designed to reduce family caregiver burnout. Its technology uses precision targeting and mapping of resources and comprises intelligent machine-learning models, data prediction models, and analytics that pull Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) data. The platform is positioned to create LTSS and LTC population health risk management solutions. TCARE spun out of research from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and reports customers across multiple segments and industries, including enterprise and Fortune 100 clients. The company recently closed an oversubscribed $17 million Series A, bringing total funding to $20 million, led by American Family Ventures with participation from new and returning investors. Management says the growth capital will be used to expand offerings with enterprise customers, grow its footprint with current customers, and enter previously untapped markets. TCARE is a St. Louis-based company offering an enterprise SaaS platform to support family caregivers. Led by CEO Ali Ahmadi, the platform uses predictive analytics to identify and prevent caregiver burnout, aiming to reduce long-term care service usage and delay nursing home placements. The company partners with health, life and long-term care insurance carriers to integrate its solution into payer programs. Its clients include top‑5 MCOs, Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) plans, Medicare health plans, the Washington State Dept. of Social & Health Services, the Alaska Dept. of Health, the Hawaii Office of Aging and 90+ Area Agencies on Aging spanning 32 states. TCARE closed a $3M financing round and intends to use the funds to expand operations and broaden its business reach.

Participated · Series B · Jul 2022

TIER IV develops open-source autonomous driving systems and platform products centered on the Autoware project. The company offers a range of autonomous driving software and hardware solutions across multiple platforms and conducts cutting-edge R&D in collaboration with global partners. It positions itself as a pioneer reimagining intelligent vehicles through open source, with an emphasis on building safe and efficient autonomous driving systems. TIER IV aims to accelerate the rollout of autonomous vehicles that benefit society and to support mobility transformations in regional areas. Mitsubishi Corporation made a strategic investment via a third-party allotment to cooperate on transforming regional mobility services, building on prior proof-of-concept tests. TIER IV develops Autoware, an open-source software stack for autonomous driving, and provides scalable platforms across software development, vehicle manufacturing, and service operations. The company emphasizes reference designs and plans to use recent funding to further enhance its software development capabilities and to advocate those reference designs. Proceeds are earmarked to launch production of Level 4 autonomous driving systems and to develop safety-assessment methods that integrate processes and tools. TIER IV was selected for the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization’s (NEDO) Green Innovation Fund Project and is participating in a US$162M (¥25.4 billion) R&D initiative to introduce scalability to autonomous driving systems. Financially, the company’s Series B now totals US$132M and its overall funding has reached US$243M. The company is based in Tokyo, Japan. TIER IV is the lead developer of Autoware, an open-source autonomous vehicle OS built on Linux and ROS, and offers extensible platforms such as Pilot.Auto and a cloud DevOps platform, Web.Auto. The company provides sensing, localization, perception, planning, control, vehicle interfaces, map data, plus data management, simulation, fleet management, web services, development kits, and training to accelerate deployment. Founded in 2015 and based in Nagoya, Japan, TIER IV says more than 30 vehicles in over 20 countries and over 500 companies participate in its software development. The company positions itself to "democratize" autonomous driving so customers can extend its reference designs to reduce cost, risk, and time to market. TIER IV has pursued commercial automated transport use cases, including a joint venture with Yamaha (eve autonomy) and plans for low-speed electric logistics vehicles and expanded domestic and international services. It has attracted government R&D support as part of Japan's Microautonomy program focused on SAE Level 4 software. Tier IV develops and maintains Autoware, an open-source software platform for self-driving technology. Founded in December 2015 and based in Tokyo, the company supplies Autoware to more than 200 companies worldwide. Use cases include the Udacity Nanodegree Program, the USDOT FHWA’s CARMA platform, automotive manufacturers, and self-driving startups. In December 2018 Tier IV and partners Apex.AI and Linaro 96Boards launched the Autoware Foundation to deploy Autoware in real products and services. The company recently raised over $100 million in a Series A and intends to use the funds to scale its self-driving business. Tier IV plans to commercialize its technology in private areas, depopulated areas, and urban areas.

Participated · Equity · Jun 2021

Wejo collects and organizes data from connected vehicles, aggregating information from almost 11 million internet-connected cars for clients including GM, Hyundai Motor Co and Daimler. The company is Manchester-based and is backed by General Motors. Wejo is preparing to go public later this year through a reverse merger with blank-check company Virtuoso Acquisition Corp. The reverse-merger deal announced last month valued the startup at $800 million including debt. As part of the public-listing process, Wejo has secured a private investment in public equity (PIPE) that now stands at $125 million. Microsoft Corp and insurer Sompo Holdings Inc will invest $25 million as part of that PIPE, joining existing participants including GM and Palantir Technologies. Wejo operates a connected vehicle data platform that standardizes, enriches, and monetizes historic and real-time vehicle telemetry. The company processes data from over 10.6 million vehicles, handles around 400,000 data points per second, and organizes more than 42.3 billion journeys across multiple brands, makes, and models. Processed data is made available on Wejo’s data marketplace and delivered as tailored products and services to transportation and municipal organizations, road authorities, and navigation service providers. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Manchester with an office in Detroit, Wejo employs more than 150 people. Through a newly announced collaboration with HELLA, Wejo aims to deepen its understanding of sensor data, develop new data-driven business models, and begin joint pilot projects. The company says the strategic investment from HELLA will help it further develop products and solutions for public and private sector customers. Wejo operates a data platform that aggregates telematics from nearly 15 million cars and licenses that data to mobility businesses such as traffic analysts, parking app developers, city planners and governments. The company positions itself around the "digitalisation of mobility" and says it is focused on harnessing data for social good, citing potential benefits like safer roads, more efficient public transport and reduced emissions. Wejo plans to use new funding to bring new products to market and to expand through partnerships with automakers. The business is marketing its dataset to a range of end users across the transport ecosystem. CEO Richard Barlow emphasises delivering better journeys, while a white paper on the company website outlines claimed positive social impacts. The company previously completed a €91 million Series B led by General Motors in February 2019. Wejo is a connected car startup that delivers intelligent insights for car manufacturers, insurers, and service providers through an automotive data exchange platform. The company currently tracks over 7 million vehicles in more than 180 countries and has curated over 78 billion miles of data; it anticipated 28 million cars on its platform by 2020. Wejo plans to continue data-sharing agreements with other automakers and to enable new products and services such as real-time parking availability and local fuel-price comparisons to improve driver experience and safety. It also collaborates with partners including local governments to share data that can improve traffic signalling, reduce congestion, and lower emissions. Founded in 2014, Wejo has offices in Chester, Manchester, and San Jose and employs about 150 people. The new funding is intended to allow the company to scale rapidly.

Led · Equity · Jun 2021

One Concern provides a software platform that models and simulates community resilience and emergency response for earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters. The company plans to scale its platform across Japan under a strategic tie-up with SOMPO, including sales to six or more Japanese cities. It hired Hitoshi Akimoto as country manager for Japan in late 2019 and formally expanded to Japan in February 2020. One Concern announced a strategic partnership with SOMPO in August 2020 and the insurer’s holding company previously invested $15 million. The company was founded in 2015. Its current funding arrangement includes a $45 million investment from SOMPO Holdings as part of a broader $100 million multi-year deal to plug the platform into the Japanese market. One Concern provides AI-enabled resilience solutions that combine disaster science with machine learning to help organizations measure, mitigate, and monetize risk. The company’s platform includes award-winning seismic and flood technology and operates in the US and Japan. One Concern and SOMPO piloted solutions in Kumamoto City and plan to expand into additional local geographies and to private customers beyond local government. The companies announced a multi-year partnership that envisions licensing fee revenue and the potential for future additional investment. As part of that agreement SOMPO made a $15 million investment in One Concern in addition to a prior Series B investment. One Concern has raised almost $75 million to date and continues to work with strategic partners and investors to scale its resilience offerings. One Concern develops predictive AI, branded Seismic Concern, that models earthquake impacts to support preparedness and response. Its models incorporate building structural integrity, seismic activity, and demographic data to help cities prioritize emergency dispatch and assess affected populations. The company partners with municipalities including Los Angeles and San Francisco. One Concern plans to expand its machine learning to predict and mitigate other disasters such as fires, floods, and hurricanes, and aims to assign a unique, verified digital fingerprint to natural and manmade elements. The company said the new funding will be used for research and development. One Concern was founded in 2015, is based in Palo Alto, California, and has 35 employees; advisors and contributors to its human intelligence include David Petraeus, Nate Levine, and Judith Rodin, and former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate joined the company as an employee.