Participated · Series C · Feb 2019

Roadie operates an on-the-way delivery platform that taps unused capacity in passenger vehicles to connect people and businesses with drivers already headed the right way. The company provides scheduled, same-day and urgent delivery and has established partnerships with Delta Air Lines, The Home Depot, and Walmart. Roadie's footprint reaches 89 percent of U.S. households and it serves 224 metro areas, with deliveries to more than 11,000 cities and towns and a community of over 120,000 drivers. Since its 2015 launch, Roadie has raised $62 million in total funding to date, including an oversubscribed $37 million Series C. With this funding the company plans to continue innovating its dynamic routing and pricing models and expand use of machine learning to predict capacity and match deliveries in real time. Roadie positions itself to help large retailers bring same-day delivery to customers in both major cities and small towns that are otherwise hard to reach. Roadie operates an "on-the-way" shipping platform that matches preexisting travel routes and drivers to point-to-point delivery jobs, allowing users to ship items without traditional packaging. It targets both urban same-city deliveries and longer-distance projects that don't fit conventional boxed shipping, and the article highlights a 1,300-mile mannequin transport as an example. The company reports roughly 22,000 drivers and about 300,000 app downloads. Roadie offers features such as Homeward Bound, which aligns long-distance transportation jobs with users' planned trips, plus a driver verification system with badges, insurance collection, and ratings. Shipments include $500 standard insurance with an additional $10,000 available through UPS. The team plans to build partnerships with larger brands to increase volume and expects to double the company size over the next six months. Roadie operates a mobile app that matches shippers with nonprofessional drivers willing to carry packages for a fee. The platform has been live for only weeks and has seen over 7,500 downloads and about 50 gigs completed to date. Fees on the service range roughly from $12 to $200 depending on item size and distance, and shipments have varied from short 7-mile hops to trips of 300+ miles. The company has partnered with Waffle House to create branded "Roadie Roadhouses" across the chain’s 1,750 locations in 25 states, with drivers receiving perks like free waffles and beverages. Roadie’s service is currently available for initiating gigs in 10 U.S. Southeastern states, drivers already travel nationwide, and a national expansion is rolling out soon. The startup was founded by Marc Gorlin, previously a co-founder of Kabbage.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2018

Shape Security provides omnichannel fraud prevention for web, mobile and API interfaces, protecting large enterprises from automated attacks and other online fraud. Its platform detects and blocks up to 2 billion fraudulent or unwanted transactions daily while preserving 200 million legitimate human logins and interactions. The company’s mobile SDK is deployed on more than 200 million iOS and Android devices worldwide, and it protects more than half of online banking in North America. Led by co-founder and CEO Derek Smith, Shape plans to use new capital to scale international operations and accelerate AI development. Financially, the company has raised $51M in this growth funding round at a $1B pre-money valuation and has $183M in total funding to date. Shape Security offers an AI platform that detects and shuts down automated attacks in real time, distinguishing real users from fraudsters even when criminals use manual methods. Its solution eliminates bots, fraud and unwanted automation for more than 20% of consumer brands in the Fortune 500. The platform protects over 100 million legitimate human logins each day. Shape is led by Co-Founder and CEO Derek Smith, with Sumit Agarwal (co-founder & COO), Shuman Ghosemajumder (CTO) and Xinran Wang (Chief Security Scientist) on the leadership team. The company has offices in Mountain View, London and Sydney. It intends to use the new funding to accelerate international expansion. Shape Security, based in Mountain View, CA and led by CEO Derek Smith, develops a platform for protecting web and mobile applications from automated cybercriminal attacks. The platform is covered by 23 U.S. patents and targets threats such as credential stuffing (account takeover), application DDoS, and unauthorized aggregation. Its customers include large financial institutions, retail and travel companies, and government agencies. The company has raised $106 million in total funding to date. Following the Series D, Shape intends to use the funds to expand sales across the U.S. and internationally, primarily in the APAC region. Shape's participation in the Hewlett Packard Pathfinder program includes a strategic sales partnership with HPE to offer the Shape solution to HPE customers worldwide. Shape Security provides technology that protects web and mobile applications from automated attacks and bot-enabled account takeover. Led by CEO Derek Smith and based in Mountain View, California, the company offers the Shape Botwall Service to detect and stop malicious bot traffic. Its technology targets attacks enabled by botnets and other forms of automation, which the article notes now account for more than half of traffic to login pages of major websites. Shape's solution is positioned to bypass protections that many enterprises use today, including WAFs, DDoS and fraud controls, and IDS/IPS. The company will use proceeds to accelerate deployments of the Shape Botwall Service with customers across the globe and to expand into China with support from Beijing-based Northern Light Venture Capital. Following the Series D the company has raised $91M in total. Shape Security offers an enterprise "botwall" product that fights automated malware and bots by altering the code served to clients in real time (an approach it calls "real-time polymorphism"). Today the solution is delivered as on-premises hardware that a client installs, though the company says it may virtualize the product in the cloud in the future. The funding will be used to continue developing the technology and to build out a global salesforce as the company moves from stealth into open marketing. Shape reports early-adopter customers in financial services, healthcare, and retail and says it has been inundated with inquiries worldwide since launch. The team includes co-founders Sumit Agarwal, Derek Smith (CEO) and Justin Call (CTO), and senior staff such as Shuman Ghosemajumder, formerly Google’s "Click Fraud Czar." Financially, the company has raised a total of $66 million to date following the latest round.

Participated · Series B · Sep 2018

Cortera provides a commercial data analytics platform that helps customers predict opportunity and risk from point of client acquisition through payment. The platform leverages a contributory network to deliver insights into the purchase and payment behavior of private and public companies, using behavioral modeling, predictive risk scores and proactive monitoring. Its Cortera Credit Exchange is fueled by over $1.3 trillion in annual B2B transactions across more than 20 million U.S. business locations and delivers risk views across 45 industry segments. Product features include interactive infographics, self-service batch appends, robust APIs and real-time scorecard wizards to present data-driven insights in intuitive formats. Led by CEO Jim Swift, the company raised $10m in a Series B round. As part of the investment, Shea Wallon of Fitch Group Financial Venture Fund will join Cortera’s board of directors. Cortera specializes in affordable business and corporate intelligence solutions. It offers Quicklook, a service that provides information relevant to credit analysis, and TREE, a navigational tool that visually represents a company’s organization. The company has built a comprehensive database covering nearly every company in the United States, with related analytics for each record. Cortera’s products target credit analysis and corporate data needs. Financially, Cortera raised $8 million in a funding round led by CIBC Capital Partners with participation from Fidelity Ventures and Battery Ventures. Fidelity Ventures acquired Cortera in 2006 and, together with Battery Ventures, has provided $11 million in growth capital.

Participated · Series C · Jul 2016

EverFi is a SaaS education-technology provider that delivers subscription-based digital coursework across topics such as financial literacy, sexual assault and harassment prevention, alcohol responsibility, social and emotional learning, STEM, and career readiness. Its platform can be white‑labeled for customers and powers more than 4,200 partner initiatives across all 50 states and Canada. EverFi reports having certified over 16 million learners through its digital programs. The company operates a subscription model and positions its content for schools, higher-education institutions, corporations, sports teams, and NGOs. EverFi and its leadership frame growth in terms of both commercial scale and measurable education impact, and the recent financing is presented as a way to accelerate that trajectory. The company has notable backers and partners from the private sector that support distribution and product reach. EverFi offers a SaaS-based critical skills learning platform called Foundry that delivers digital learning experiences and assesses learners on topics such as financial education, STEM career readiness, entrepreneurship, alcohol responsibility, sexual assault prevention, social and emotional learning, and employee compliance. The platform serves K-12, higher education, and adult learners and is used across a broad partner network. The EverFi Education Network includes over 3,300 financial institutions, technology companies, sports leagues, foundations, and higher education partners across all 50 states and Canada. The company annually reaches over 6 million learners. EverFi recently acquired compliance education provider LawRoom, growing its higher education customer count to 1,300 institutions and adding over 1,500 enterprise compliance customers. The company was founded in 2008 by CEO Tom Davidson and is based in Washington, D.C. EverFi offers a SaaS application for schools to teach financial literacy, student loan default prevention, filing taxes, credit card debt and other critical life skills. Its curriculum incorporates virtual worlds, gaming, social media, and videos to engage learners; the Buttonwood platform includes a Second Life-like virtual world for teaching loan-related concepts. The company has expanded its offerings to cover cyberbullying awareness, online safety, alcohol abuse prevention, sexual assault awareness, and other issues. Last year EverFi acquired Outside The Classroom, the provider of the AlcoholEdu course. EverFi says it has certified more than 4 million students in financial literacy skills and that 750 corporations, foundations, and university partners have paid to license its programs for public schools. Corporate sponsors named in the article include Burger King, BBVA Compass, Capital One, Genworth Financial, Neustar, and PepsiCo. EverFi offers a SaaS application that teaches financial literacy and related life skills, including student loan default prevention, filing taxes, and managing credit card debt, using virtual worlds, gaming, social media, and videos. Its Buttonwood platform includes a Second Life–like virtual world where users learn and apply concepts such as credit worthiness, the loan application process, and interest rates. The company is used in over 2,000 public schools across 47 states, and its reach was expected to more than double in 2011. EverFi’s technology is not free to use, but use in public schools is fully funded by outside corporations and foundations that license its programs. Partners licensing programs include the United Negro College Fund, Capital One, Genworth, U.S. Bank, PayPal, and BB&T. The company plans to use the new funding for product development and additional hires.

Participated · Series A · Feb 2016

ThirdLove is a San Francisco-based women’s lifestyle brand offering elevated essentials including bras, underwear, activewear and more, designed by women for women. The company is co-founded by Heidi Zak and Ra’el Cohen. ThirdLove markets its Fitting Room technology; to date over 20 million people have found their fit using it. It is backed by consumer-brand focused firm L. Catterton and several prominent women angel investors, including Katie Couric and Susan and Anne Wojcicki. The company received a $12M revolving credit facility from Second Avenue Capital Partners. ThirdLove intends to use the funds to accelerate growth and further enhance its customer experience. ThirdLove sells bras, underwear and other lingerie direct to consumers, using a Fit Finder questionnaire and data-driven design to offer individualized fits across an expanded size set. The company leverages big-data analytics and computer-vision-informed sizing to inform product design and to target customers via digital advertising. ThirdLove executes designs through precise manufacturing techniques to achieve individualized products at scale. Co-founded and led by Heidi Zak and David Spector (both ex-Google execs), the company plans to add sizes beyond the 78 currently offered and expand into retail, international markets, and categories such as swim and athletic wear. It is already generating over $100 million in annual revenue, and about 12 million women have used its Fit Finder tool to date. The company was founded in 2013 and has built brand momentum through both product and publicity. ThirdLove builds smartphone-based fitting technology and sells its own-brand bras online. Using a series of selfies processed on-device, its app converts two-dimensional images into three-dimensional shapes to match customers to products. The company uses the aggregated size data to work with bra manufacturers on inventory and to pioneer half-cup measurements, expanding its size range by about 30%. Revenues grew 400% between 2014 and 2015, and product return rates average about 8%. The founders, Heidi Zak (CEO) and David Spector, say they have rebuffed acquisition offers and are not pursuing a B2B licensing model at this time. Longer term, ThirdLove plans to apply the same fitting technology to adjacent categories such as swimwear. ThirdLove combines a retail business that designs, sources, and manufactures bras and panties in-house with a technology product that uses a mobile app and computer-vision algorithms to assess individual sizing. The app guides users through front- and side-view photos (while wearing a bra or form-fitting shirt) to calculate measurements and recommend sizes. Users are then taken to ThirdLove’s store to choose from three bra styles, customize features like straps and color, and purchase matching panties. The founders say the company offers roughly double the number of sizes of the average brand and uses sizing data to inform product construction and personalization. ThirdLove positions itself as a next-generation direct-to-consumer apparel platform aimed at reducing returns due to poor fit. It is the first brand from parent company MeCommerce, which plans to launch additional brands in the future.