Participated · Seed · Nov 2025

Self is a San Francisco–based identity-solution provider that uses zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography to verify characteristics such as personhood, age, and country of residence while keeping underlying data private. The platform supports privacy-preserving identity checks for users in more than 174 countries and is already integrated by Web2 and Web3 partners including Google Cloud, Aave, and Velodrome. It was created by Celo contributors Rene Reinsberg, Marek Olszewski, and CEO Eric Nakagawa after acquiring the OpenPassport project. By combining ZK proofs with a user-friendly experience, the company aims to foster a more secure, human-first internet. Fresh capital is earmarked for expanding engineering and operational capacity to accelerate product development and global reach. No revenue or user counts were disclosed, but the breadth of geographic coverage underscores early traction. The firm positions itself as critical infrastructure for compliance, onboarding, and reputation in decentralized and traditional applications alike.

Participated · Series A · Nov 2022

Glow operates a digital insurance platform that automates matching small businesses with carriers and keeps coverage up to date using data and technology. The platform starts with workers’ compensation and expands coverage to other commercial lines, syncing with payroll and providing a dedicated licensed account manager. Glow emphasizes data-driven underwriting (e.g., job codes) to reduce overpaying and to reexamine coverage at renewal rather than a sell-and-forget model. Thousands of small businesses currently use Glow, and the company began by offering workers’ comp to California businesses. Glow said it will use new financing to fund innovation on its platform and to expand into more states and vertical industries. The company is privately funded and based in San Francisco.

Participated · Seed · May 2021

Breinify provides predictive personalization powered by data science, designed to be accessible to nontechnical marketing teams so they can create individualized customer experiences. The platform hides algorithmic complexity and automatically personalizes website messaging, email, SMS and other channels based on what the AI determines a customer should see at a given time. Co‑founders Diane Keng (CEO) and Philipp Meisen (CTO) started the company to help consumer brands and retailers activate machine learning at scale without requiring in‑house data scientists. Breinify launched in 2016 and tested its approach on the stage of TechCrunch Disrupt, where it also walked away with a funding deal. The startup is growing quickly and has 24 employees, up from 10 last year, and emphasizes diversity in hiring.

Participated · Equity · Feb 2021

HYAS, based in Victoria, British Columbia, is a leader in threat intelligence, adversary infrastructure, and network defense. Its flagship HYAS Protect combines infrastructure expertise and multi-variant communication pattern analysis to preemptively detect and block phishing, ransomware, and other attacks at the network layer. HYAS Insight helps SOC and fraud teams speed investigations and reduce threat and fraud costs, and the company also provides intelligence services to accelerate cyber investigations. The company has built what it describes as arguably the world’s largest data lake of attacker infrastructure, including extensive domain-based intelligence. HYAS reports multiple Fortune 100 companies among its customers and plans to use new funding to accelerate product development and global market expansion. HYAS develops the Comox attribution intelligence engine and related online detection, analysis and investigation tools for cybersecurity teams. Its proprietary database contains billions of cybercrime indicators, with millions of new data points added every day, and serves Fortune 100 companies. HYAS plans to expand Comox into a holistic platform and to launch Saltspring, a cloud-based tool that delivers real-time early warnings of global attacks. The company emphasizes pinpointing perpetrators and collaborates with clients and international law enforcement. HYAS recently entered a financing agreement to support aggressive product development and platform expansion. The company previously raised a $6.7 million Series A led by M12, Microsoft’s venture fund, with additional funding from Susa Ventures. HYAS develops attribution intelligence tools and its flagship Comox platform to give analysts real-time visibility and attribution into cyber attacks. The Comox platform provides access to billions of exclusive threat indicators and cross-references a broad array of proprietary data. Its proprietary database contains billions of cybercrime indicators, with millions of new points added every day. Comox is used by Fortune 100 companies, governments, law enforcement and intelligence agencies. HYAS raised $6.2 million in a Series A and will use the funds to build out current products and introduce next-generation technology for improved visibility and attribution. The company is led by founder and CEO Chris Davis, an industry-recognized information security expert honored by the FBI and Microsoft for his role in the Mariposa botnet takedown. HYAS focuses on pinpointing perpetrators of digital attacks and works closely with clients and international law enforcement to pursue cybercriminals. HYAS Infosec provides cloud-based cyber-threat intelligence and protection services to OEMs, enterprises, SMBs and consumers. Founded in 2014 by chief technologist Chris Davis and based in Victoria, BC, the company offers two core services: Saturna DNS for OEM and enterprise protection and Borderless Internet for consumer and SMB online threat protection. Both products are powered by Comox, a deep-analysis threat-intelligence platform built on HYAS’s proprietary historical database containing billions of Internet domains, addresses and malware samples. Customers include large information-security firms and Fortune 500 companies. Following a seed financing led by Wesley Clover International, the company intends to use the funds to increase R&D investment and expand market-development activities. The funding amount was not disclosed in the announcement.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2020

Proppos develops artificial-intelligence software to recognize food and enable self-checkout, aiming to speed queues and improve purchase experience during peak hours. Its first product, Proppos Fastpay, has been piloted in leading food service locations such as cafeterias and fast-food restaurants. The company uses big data to help restaurants increase productivity and optimize operations. Proppos plans to consolidate its position in Spain and take initial steps toward international expansion. The startup is headquartered in Barcelona and targets leadership in Europe for food-recognition self-checkout solutions. The recent financing is intended to accelerate technology development with partners in the food service sector.