The Venture Codex

Led · Series A · Nov 2021

峰飞航空 develops electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft aimed at improving air logistics and air travel solutions. The company plans to accelerate development of a manned model, 盛世龙, and pursue airworthiness certification. Following a strategic investment from 宁德时代 (CATL), 峰飞航空 will partner with the battery maker to co-develop eVTOL aviation batteries. The collaboration focuses on raising battery energy density and performance to support longer flight range, higher payloads, and improved safety and stability. Through the partnership the company intends to speed technical development, certification, commercial deployment, and market expansion of its eVTOL products. The financing—an exclusive several-hundred-million-dollar strategic investment—provides resources to support these R&D, certification, and commercialization efforts.

Participated · Series A · Apr 2021

Manna designs, builds and operates unmanned aerial vehicles specialised for rapid delivery of takeaway food, groceries and pharmacy supplies up to 3.5kg. Its autonomous system allows a single employee to oversee multiple drones, delivering about 20 orders per hour, flying at 50–80 meters and over 60 kph. The company currently operates in sites in Ireland and has commercial partnerships with JustEat, Samsung, Ben & Jerry’s and Tesco. Manna is expanding to the US, beginning service to 10,000 residents in the Dallas–Ft. Worth area via a partnership with Hillwood at the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone. The expansion is paired with investment from Coca‑Cola HBC’s ventures arm, which the partner frames as supporting more sustainable last‑mile delivery and CO2 reductions versus car delivery. The article does not provide revenue or other financial metrics beyond the announced investment and operational performance figures. Manna designs, builds and operates unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that perform high-speed deliveries of takeaway food, groceries and pharmacy goods/supplies of up to 3 kgs (6.5 lbs) in suburban last-mile settings. Led by Bobby Healy, CEO and founder, the Dublin-based company is currently trialling its service in Galway, Ireland. Its drone hub in Galway supports over 100 takeaway deliveries a day directly to the homes of the nearly 10,000 residents of the town. Manna has signed partnerships with major brands and retailers, including JustEat, Samsung, Ben & Jerry's and Tesco plc. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations, continue to scale its fleet of drones and to begin supporting critical medical deliveries. The article does not report revenue figures or other financial metrics beyond the announced funding. Manna develops a fully autonomous, aviation‑grade drone delivery platform and modular drones built in Europe and the U.S. Its drones are designed to operate in all weathers and fly below 500 feet. The company plans to begin rolling out services in early 2020, starting in Ireland and expanding across Europe and then the U.S. Initial customers will be online meal-ordering platforms, restaurant chains and dark kitchens, and Manna promises three-minute deliveries. The drone fleet is intended to be operated from restaurant or dark kitchen premises and exposed via an API so multiple food platforms can access it channel‑agnostically. Manna has partnered with Flipdish to connect to restaurants and takeaways in Ireland.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2021

Applied XL builds an AI-driven real-time data tracking platform that leverages machine learning and editorial algorithms to monitor dozens of databases and surface proprietary events and trends. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in New York, the company's engine applies a journalistic lens, enrichment layers, entity normalization, and ML classification to track thousands of daily changes and rank events by relevance. It augments its models with a network of experts who contribute data to retrain algorithms and improve accuracy. Applied XL's current product, Trials Pulse, was developed in partnership with STAT News to help pharma, biotech, and healthcare professionals navigate clinical-trial updates and inform regulatory, clinical-development, and investment decisions. The company reports 700+ users across global pharmaceutical companies, emerging biotech firms, and life-sciences investment funds, and says a number of customers are upgrading to an annual subscription priced at $1,500. With new funding, Applied XL plans to accelerate development of Trials Pulse and expand its coverage in the healthcare and life-sciences industry. Applied XL develops machine-learning tools that it describes as a swarm of "editorial algorithms" built by computational journalists and informed by journalistic principles like transparency and bias awareness. The company emerged from the Newlab Venture Studio last year and is led by CEO Francesco Marconi and CTO Erin Riglin. Applied XL says it will initially focus on the life sciences industry and plans a broad product launch this summer. Target customers include competitive intelligence teams at pharmaceutical companies and life sciences funds that need real-time, contextualized signals rather than raw database results. The founders compare their approach to how Bloomberg and Dow Jones collect and standardize financial data and envision building industry "micro models" across other categories over time. Financially, the startup recently closed a $1.5 million seed round to support its early product and go-to-market efforts.

Led · Equity · Apr 2021

Founded in 2016 in Stockholm, X Shore has become a world leader in electric boats whose vessels use no fossil fuels and aim to minimize impact on marine wildlife. The company launched its third model, the X Shore PRO, in September 2023. Management says proceeds from recent funding will go to product R&D, improved sales and marketing, and designing and scoping future X Shore models. X Shore has faced recent operational challenges, including a 10% staff layoff in early 2023 and parts shortages that drastically reduced production capacity. Its last two funding rounds were at lower valuations than a €50 million raise in 2022, though total funding has now topped €100 million after the new round. Leadership highlights a revised timetable to achieve profitability, and founder Konrad Bergström has returned to operational involvement while CEO René Hansen reiterated the company’s commitment to sustainable performance. X Shore builds all-electric watercraft and is focused on scaling in-house production. Its flagship product, the X Shore 1, was launched in September 2022 and the company says it has a significantly lower price point than competing electric boats. X Shore completed a pilot production phase in autumn 2021 and rolled its first all-electric watercraft off a new production house at the end of March 2022. The company plans to use new financing to ramp up production and accelerate growth in the US market. X Shore projects it will reach EBITDA profitability during 2024. CEO Jenny Keisu frames the mission as leading the transition to electric vessels to help decarbonize the industry. X Shore designs and builds fully electric, silent boats and has moved from pilot production into factory output. It completed a pilot production phase last autumn and rolled its first all-electric watercraft off the assembly line at the end of last month. The company has opened the Nyköping-based X Shore Industries 1 facility, which it says can complete two vessels per day. Founder and chairman Konrad Bergström leads the company; Jenny Keisu has served as CEO since March 2020. X Shore plans to use new funding to accelerate production, reduce lead times, invest in research and development, and build out global sales channels. The company recently raised $50 million in an oversubscribed funding round, attracting notable investor interest. X Shore is a Stockholm-based electric, connected and sustainable boating brand that officially launched its Eelex 8000 electric boat in the United States. The Eelex 8000 is designed to be entirely connected, featuring a proprietary mobile and smartwatch app that unlocks and turns on the boat, smart overboard detection, geo-fencing software and autopilot. The company emphasises sustainability in materials, using cork instead of teak, recycled plastics and optional Flax fibre in place of fibreglass or carbon fibre. Technology and software development are priorities, with planned features such as auto-docking as a first step toward autonomous driving. X Shore plans to increase production and industrialise its manufacturing, including opening a second factory in the Stockholm region and establishing a U.S. assembly line. The €15M financing will also fund a local U.S. team to support distribution as the company expands in the United States. X Shore designs and builds fully electric, silent high-speed boats, including 5.8-metre and 8-metre models. The company plans to scale production, grow its team and bolster facilities in Stockholm before expanding to the UK and other parts of Europe. It raised new capital to continue product development and ramp manufacturing. X Shore reports a strong order book and growing demand for its boats. Founder Konrad Bergström, who started the company in 2016, remains heavily involved in design, brand building and marketing. The company has also strengthened its leadership with Jenny Keisu as CEO and Oscar Fors as COO.

Participated · Series A · Apr 2021

Mercato is a platform-as-a-service that helps smaller grocers and specialty food stores go online quickly, offering an e-commerce storefront, white-label options, and a centralized product catalog of over one million items. Its solution includes a data analytics platform, integrations with more than 30 POS systems, and machine-learning-driven stock inference that maps roughly 95% of a store's products in minutes. Merchants can maintain the customer relationship by handling orders themselves while Mercato contracts with national and regional couriers for delivery. The company generates revenue from a consumer membership program (plans range from $96/year to $228/year) and from merchants via a single-digit percentage transaction fee. Mercato scaled to more than 1,000 merchants across 45 U.S. states, reported more than 1 million customers, and grew merchant sales 1,300% in 2020. Future plans include adding a supply platform, expanding its data analytics and consumer subscription benefits, and growing its remotely distributed team (now about 80 employees). Mercato builds an e-commerce platform that lets independent grocers offer online ordering, deliver within a 15-mile radius, and communicate directly with customers. The platform also provides merchants with analytics on products and pricing. Mercato reports a network of 750 independent grocers and plans to add more with the recent funding. The company intends to use the capital to expand into new markets, build out its sales and marketing team, and further develop its analytics. Founder and CEO Bobby Brannigan started Mercato in 2015 and relocated the company to downtown San Diego earlier this year, operating from coworking space Downtown Works. Brannigan previously founded ValoreBooks, which grew to $85 million in revenue before being sold to SimpleTuition. Mercato operates a mobile-focused e-commerce and marketing platform that enables independent and specialty grocers to sell locally sourced food to consumers. The platform offers marketing, e-commerce, and service tools for local butchers, seafood and produce markets, bakers, and small grocers to connect seamlessly with consumers. Since launching in 2015, Mercato has built networks of local retailers across seven U.S. markets and is operating in New York (Brooklyn, Manhattan & Queens), Chicago, San Francisco, Alameda, Washington, D.C., and Princeton, NJ. The company has been rapidly adding merchants—22 specialty and small grocery stores in April and 35 in the first week of June—and retailers report hundreds of transactions per week. A recent capital infusion from Michael Loeb’s private investment platform will be used to increase marketing and sales efforts and to expand Mercato’s roster of team members during this period of significant growth. Founder and CEO Bobby Brannigan created Mercato drawing on his experience in his family’s butcher shop and grocery store to bring independent grocers into the future. Mercato is an online marketplace for specialty food stores that helps merchants sell online and offers local and national delivery. The company positions itself as the only online marketplace focused on specialty grocers. CEO Bobby Brannigan says the idea was inspired by his family’s Italian grocery in Brooklyn, which his family has operated for over 40 years. Mercato’s business model is commission-based, earning a fee on each sale paid by the store. The startup raised a $1M seed round via a convertible note from several angel investors. The team raised capital before the product launched and said the fundraising process involved meetings with many angel and VC investors, including Richard Branson. Near-term plans include proving the concept in Brooklyn, integrating 50 merchants in NYC over the next six months, and expanding to additional territories thereafter.