Participated · Preferred · Jan 2022

PosiGen installs and finances solar and energy-efficiency upgrades for homeowners in underserved communities, operating as a certified Public Benefits Corporation. The company has installed nearly 30,000 solar systems and generated over 645,000,000 kWh from solar panels since founding. PosiGen reports it has saved homeowners more than $65.9 million through its solar and energy-efficiency programs. With additional capital from Brookfield, PosiGen plans to scale its business and extend its savings-guarantee model to more households without regard to FICO score or income thresholds. The new funding is positioned as working capital to expand deployment and support continued growth of its Solar for All efforts. PosiGen offers residential solar and energy efficiency through a unique solar leasing model that removes barriers for low- and moderate-income homeowners by operating without restrictive income requirements or credit score minimums. The company pairs solar installations with energy efficiency upgrades and has completed more than 25,000 solar energy systems and 20,000 energy efficiency upgrades for nearly 22,000 families as of March 2023. PosiGen customers have produced nearly 570,000 MWh of electricity and saved an estimated $66 million on their utility bills to date. The company operates in multiple states and Washington D.C., and the PosiGen family includes more than 600 direct employees. With recent financing, PosiGen plans to deploy thousands more systems and upgrades in underserved communities to reduce energy burdens and scale decarbonization. A $12 million bridge loan is intended to boost cash flow immediately, help unlock federal Investment Tax Credit adders, and position the company to attract additional private capital. PosiGen delivers residential solar and energy-efficiency solutions aimed at low- and moderate-income homeowners through lease products and a partner program. The company says it has served more than 25,000 customers across California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. PosiGen employs more than 600 direct employees and supports over 150 contract workers. Its Partner Program has helped 2,000+ homeowners go solar since launching in 2021. Headquartered in Louisiana and founded in 2011, PosiGen frames its work under a "Solar for All" mission to close the clean energy affordability gap. The company plans to deploy recent financing to expand into additional states and prioritize Energy Communities and Low-Income Communities identified under the Inflation Reduction Act. The new capital commitment is intended to support continued asset growth and broader access to clean energy for households with high energy burdens. PosiGen provides solar PV installations and energy-efficiency upgrades targeted at low-to-moderate-income (LMI) households, often packaged as solar-plus-efficiency offerings. The company says it has served over 19,000 customers to date, about 50% of whom are in communities of color. PosiGen has worked with partners such as the Connecticut Green Bank to offer no‑upfront‑cost solar leases with no credit requirements; a recent case study found higher delinquencies but a reasonable return on investment from that program. The company also deploys rapid‑response solar power stations for disaster relief, installing 12 stations after Hurricane Ida using 30‑panel (11,400 W) systems with batteries providing 27,000 watt‑hours. PosiGen plans to use new financing to grow the business and close the affordability gap for solar, storage, and energy‑efficiency upgrades for LMI customers. Headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, the company combines product deployment and financing solutions aimed at increasing access to clean energy among underserved communities. PosiGen provides rooftop solar and energy efficiency solutions to low-to-moderate income (LMI) households. Its core product is low-cost rooftop solar panel leases combined with energy efficiency upgrades, aimed at delivering lower utility bills and environmental benefits. The company has served over 17,000 customers to date, approximately 50% in communities of color, and reports more than 270 direct employees plus over 120 contractor-supported staff across Louisiana, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Florida. Customers can see dramatic savings well in excess of 20% of their annual energy spend. PosiGen intends to use proceeds from its Series D to expand into select markets nationwide to scale its model. Marathon Capital is advising on raising tax equity to support the company's accelerated growth plan.

Participated · Series B · Feb 2021

AdmitHub builds a no-code chatbot builder and trainer for higher-education institutions that deploys bots to email, text, and online chat. Its system draws on a knowledge base of more than four million questions across about 6,000 topics and escalates unanswered queries to human teams whose responses are fed back to improve the AI. AdmitHub says its bots answered more than 80% of student questions and helped reduce Georgia State University’s summer melt by over 30%. The company has had more than three million student interactions since its 2014 founding. The startup is rebranding to Mainstay and plans to use new funding to expand the chatbot platform as schools return to normal operations. COVID-19 accelerated institutional interest in virtual agents, which AdmitHub cites as a factor in demand. AdmitHub builds a conversational AI platform for higher education that provides on-demand student assistance via text message, web chat, and social media. The company blends AI chatbot technology with research-backed conversational strategy to answer questions in real time and connect students to advisors and resources. AdmitHub says its platform is used by more than 90 institutions and has served over 1.5 million students across hundreds of institutions, reaching more than one million students via its mobile messaging platform. A randomized controlled trial at Georgia State University showed the chatbot reduced summer melt by more than 20%. The company emphasizes partnerships with colleges to boost enrollment and retention and to disproportionately benefit underserved students. AdmitHub recently secured new financing to support continued scaling of its personalized, proactive student-guidance tools. AdmitHub is a Boston-based company that develops AI software to guide students to and through college. Its product is aimed particularly at helping at-risk students navigate postsecondary education. On January 25, 2018, the Los Angeles-based Michelson 20MM Foundation made an investment in AdmitHub; financial terms were not announced. The Michelson 20MM Foundation says it invests in entrepreneurs, technologies, and initiatives with the potential to improve postsecondary access, affordability, and efficacy. The foundation's portfolio includes ReUp Education, Motimatic, Pragya Systems, Lrnr, and PackBack. No operating metrics or additional financial details were disclosed in the article. AdmitHub has developed a conversational AI platform used by colleges to provide 24/7 engagement and expert advising. Its virtual assistants reach students via chat, text message, and Facebook Messenger to deliver reminders, guidance, and answers to questions. The platform is deployed across the student lifecycle for recruiting prospects, yielding admits, and retaining enrolled students. AdmitHub works with a diverse group of college partners, including Georgia State University, West Texas A&M University, Bowling Green State University, Allegheny College, and The Cooper Union. The company plans to use the new funding to grow its team of AI engineers and build out its sales team to expand the technology platform. It aims to scale its reach to more colleges in the US and abroad.

Participated · Series B · May 2017

Echodyne produces high-performance compact, solid-state radars based on the company’s patented metamaterials electronically scanned array (ESA) technology. Its commercial radars are positioned for defense, security, machine perception, and autonomy applications, including counter-UAS, border and perimeter security, and autonomous vehicles. The company says it has demonstrated performance leadership in all markets since introducing its first radar in 2017 and serves customers across defense, national and critical infrastructure security, UAS, and autonomous ground vehicle markets worldwide. Echodyne is experiencing significant customer demand and recent selection in multiple programs, and it will use new investment to increase production and distribution and to expand its product lines for defense, security, and autonomous machine applications. The company is privately held and based in Kirkland, Washington, and is backed by investors including Bill Gates, NEA, Madrona Venture Group, Baillie Gifford, and Northrop Grumman. Management emphasizes the company’s goal of becoming the world’s leading radar solutions company while supporting deployments that enhance intelligence and safety of autonomous systems. Echodyne develops compact, software-defined, solid-state electronically scanned array (ESA) radar sensors built on its patented MESA technology. Its products include the EchoGuard™ 3D surveillance radar and airborne radars for commercial UAS detect-and-avoid, with a radar for autonomous vehicles slated for unveiling later this year. The company targets perimeter security, airspace management, airports, borders, critical infrastructure, and autonomous systems such as drones and vehicles. Echodyne is privately held and backed by a group of venture and strategic investors. The recent financing will support commercial production, expanded distribution channels, and continued investment in breakthrough radar sensors. The company is based in Kirkland, Washington. Echodyne develops compact, lightweight radar sensors that generate point clouds and images for machine perception. Its hardware functions like a phased-array radar and is intended to work where LiDAR and cameras struggle, such as in fog, dust, or at long range. The company has focused initially on drones — selling all of its production-unit radars built for drone use for commercial tasks like power-line inspection and farmland surveying — and is still developing systems for cars. Echodyne plans to use new funding to ramp production from hundreds of units per year to thousands and to continue research and development. Much of the funding will also go toward building radar-vision software that uses neural nets and AI to classify and recognize objects in the environment, forming a platform around its hardware. The company has raised a total of $44 million to date. Echodyne develops radar systems that leverage metamaterials technology to control and manipulate electromagnetic radiation. The company plans to use its recent funding to bring these radar products to market. Echodyne raised $15m in the reported financing. It was co‑founded by Eben Frankenberg (CEO) and Tom Driscoll (CTO). The company is the fourth spin‑out from Intellectual Ventures. The metamaterials technology was invented by Intellectual Ventures in collaboration with Duke University and the University of California at San Diego.

Participated · Series B · Mar 2017

Fluxx is a San Francisco-based vertical-cloud software company that provides a mobile and cloud-based grants management solution integrating grants data with the people and organizations that matter. The platform offers automated workflow management and personalized dashboards to enable departments to access data and make informed decisions. Open APIs support multiple third-party applications, including financial management solutions, analytics and reporting tools. Fluxx is used by hundreds of family foundations, community funds, corporate philanthropy arms, and government agencies; customers include Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and Knight Foundation. Led by co-founder and CEO Jason Ricci, the company closed a $16M Series B and intends to use the proceeds to accelerate growth and develop new products for the philanthropic community. Fluxx builds a cloud-based grants-management SaaS platform used by grantmakers and grantseekers to visualize, track and analyze funds and their impact. Its products include Fluxx Grantmaker Enterprise, Grantmaker Streamline, Fluxx Grantseeker Enterprise, Fluxx Grantseeker Streamline and Fluxx Impact Intelligence. The platform is accessible on any device and emphasizes transparency, collaboration and data-driven grantmaking. Fluxx reports more than $75 billion in assets managed through its platform and counts five of the top 10 U.S. foundations among its customers, including Packard, MacArthur, Knight and Kresge. Founded in 2010 and based in San Francisco, the company recently launched 20 new implementations in one quarter and aims to accelerate development and rapid deployment of its platform. Fluxx is led by founder and CEO Jason Ricci and is backed by both Silicon Valley investors and foundation customers.

Participated · Series D · Jan 2016

Kymeta produces metamaterial-based flat-panel satellite antennas, terminals, and bundled services designed for mobile high-throughput connectivity with no moving parts. Its low-power, high-bandwidth terminals support multi-orbit connectivity from LEO to GEO and are used by military, government, enterprise, and maritime customers. The company offers a complete product family and says its solutions enable hybrid satellite-cellular communications on vehicles, vessels, aircraft, and fixed platforms. Kymeta is focused on evolving its u8 product family (Ku-band) and plans to bring the product family into the Ka-band in the future, while developing second- and third-generation technologies to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The company reports strong market momentum, global partnerships, and demonstrated interoperability with LEO and GEO constellations. Kymeta is privately held and based in Redmond, Washington. Kymeta develops flat-panel, metamaterial-based satellite antennas and hybrid satellite-cellular connectivity services (Kymeta Connect) aimed at providing seamless communications on the move. Its flat-panel terminal is described as the first of its kind: lightweight, slim, high-throughput, and without mechanical components to steer toward a satellite. The company commercialized its next-generation antenna, terminal, and services on November 30, 2020, and offers solutions for vehicles, vessels, and fixed platforms. Kymeta targets both commercial and government markets and positions its LEO-upgradeable solutions for latency-sensitive and highly mobile applications. The company is privately held and based in Redmond, Washington. Kymeta announced a $30 million equity investment from Hanwha Systems to back development of its next-generation products and accelerate production and market expansion. Kymeta develops smart, powered, flat-panel antennas designed to improve satellite and cellular connection strength. Its antennas are electronically steered and require no moving parts, making them suitable for aircraft, ships, and other transportation use cases where traditional dishes are impractical. The dynamic panels can track and adjust to low Earth orbit satellite constellations, offering advantages over legacy geostationary systems. Since its debut in 2015, Kymeta has productized its technology and added a significant number of customers, particularly in defense, mobility, and public safety. The company raised $85.2 million in a new funding round led by Bill Gates. The proceeds are intended to speed product development and commercialization of its technology. Kymeta is a Redmond, WA developer of metamaterials-based, software-steered satellite antennas and terminal systems. Its core products include flat, electronically steerable Ku-band mTenna antenna subsystem modules (ASMs) and fully integrated KyWay Terminals that eliminate bulky mechanical steering. The mTenna technology provides electronic RF beam-steering with polarization selection and angle control, low power requirements, and a weather-facing flat radome. Kymeta has partnered with Intelsat since 2015 to optimize its mTenna ASMs for the Intelsat EpicNG high-throughput satellite platform. Intelsat plans to use Kymeta hardware in a separate KALO satellite service offered by-the-gigabyte and designed to move between EpicNG satellites. Commercial trials of Kymeta mTenna were slated for May. Financially, the company has received substantial venture funding, including a recent equity infusion reported in an SEC filing. Kymeta develops software-enabled metamaterials-based electronic beamforming antennas for satellite communications, commercializing its ultra-thin mTenna™ suite. The mTenna products use a holographic approach to electronically acquire, steer and lock a beam to any satellite. The company is led by CEO Dr. Nathan Kundtz and is Redmond, Wash.-based. Kymeta closed a $62m Series D financing to support product build and commercialization. The company intends to use the funds to build its smart antennas for high-volume markets. No operating metrics were disclosed in the article.