Led · Equity · Mar 2026

Chalkie offers an AI-driven lesson plan builder that lets teachers input a topic, select a curriculum, and generate curriculum-aligned lessons with teaching materials and differentiated activity sheets in seconds. Since launching in 2025, Chalkie says it is used by more than 500,000 teachers and serves over 10 million students worldwide. The company reports teachers using the product save an average of five hours per week and that 90% strongly agree it contributes to their professional well-being. Chalkie provides three plans: a Forever Free plan (five free resources per week), a Pro plan at $80/year (up to 200 resources per month), and a Max plan (up to 400 resources per month with advanced features). Founders include CEO and co-founder Phillip Daneshyar, CTO and co-founder Mark Hughes, and CPO and co-founder Peter Sanderson. The company highlights rapid global adoption as schools and teachers increasingly use AI tools.

Participated · Debt Financing · Feb 2026

Founded in 2022, Seattle-based Overland AI builds full-stack autonomous land systems designed to remove warfighters from harm by executing high-risk ground missions. Its flagship product, ULTRA, is an autonomous ground vehicle capable of navigating off-road, in GPS-denied environments, and without direct operator control. The company combines engineers from the self-driving industry with U.S. military veterans to ensure rigorous field testing and operational relevance. Overland AI’s technology spans autonomy software, perception sensors, control systems, and in-house manufacturing, enabling rapid scaling for military deployments. The newly secured capital will be directed toward meeting accelerating demand for ULTRA as armed forces integrate ground autonomy into active units. Although no revenue or user figures were disclosed, the company emphasizes speed and scale in fulfilling defense contracts and delivering multiple attritable vehicles with modular payloads.

Participated · Series A · Dec 2025

Valar Atomics is developing advanced nuclear reactors intended for scalable deployment and is pursuing clusters of small reactors—sometimes called "gigasites"—to serve high-demand users such as data centers and manufacturing. Founded in 2023 and based in California, the company is also exploring applications beyond grid electricity, including producing synthetic fuels and supplying industrial heat. Its technology and commercial approach target energy-intensive industries and the growing electricity needs driven by AI infrastructure. Financially, Valar recently raised approximately $450 million (about $340 million equity and $110 million debt) at a reported $2 billion valuation, following a prior $130 million raise in 2025. The company is backed by defense-tech investors including Palmer Luckey and Shyam Sankar.

Led · Seed · Nov 2025

FALKIN is a London-based digital-safety company that uses artificial intelligence to spot manipulation and deception across messages, sales listings, payment requests, and investment offers before funds move. Its platform analyses behavioural and digital risk signals and can be embedded directly into mobile-banking apps, customer-service portals, and other familiar touchpoints, allowing financial institutions to proactively protect users and cut fraud losses. The tools have already been deployed by bank innovation teams and tens of thousands of consumers in the US and UK; in user feedback, 78 percent reported greater online confidence and more than half valued prevention over reimbursement. By addressing scams at the manipulation stage rather than the payment stage, FALKIN aims to lower incident costs that can exceed four times the amount stolen when remediation is required. The company plans to use its new capital to hire, speed product development, and deepen integrations with financial institutions. It will also launch Safety Labs to give community banks and credit unions an easy way to trial customer-facing scam-prevention tools. FALKIN positions itself as a proactive fraud-risk partner at a time when AI-powered voice cloning, deepfakes, and advanced text generation are driving a surge in sophisticated scams.

Participated · Debt Financing · May 2025

Bestow builds enterprise SaaS and underwriting software to help life insurers become more digital and more efficiently serve customers. Founded in 2017 and based in Dallas, the company originally operated as a direct-to-consumer insurer and processed over a million applications before pivoting in 2024. In 2024 Bestow sold its insurance carrier and consumer business to Sammons Financial Group and shifted focus to providing software and services to other life insurers. Its revenue model is enterprise SaaS and performance-based, with the bulk of revenue coming from usage fees; Bestow reported ARR grew 3x in 2024 and 10x over the past two years. The company has 167 employees and is considering international expansion while planning to launch new products and underwriting capabilities with proceeds from its recent financing. Bestow's customers include Nationwide, Transamerica, USAA, Sammons Financial Group, and Equitable. Bestow operates a full-stack digital life insurance platform that allows consumers to obtain coverage in minutes rather than months. The company has launched platform products including Protect API™ and sells through insurtech, carrier, fintech and partner channels. Leadership includes co-founders Melbourne O’Banion (CEO) and Jonathan Abelmann (President). Operating momentum cited by the company includes sales rising more than 450% year-over-year and the acquisition of a nationally-licensed carrier. Bestow has invested in growth initiatives and expanded distribution by moving into fintech and independent agent channels and hiring over 70 new team members. Senior hires added during the year include Chief Distribution Officer Steve Robinson, CFO Claire Martin, CTO Chris Copeland, Chief Underwriter Jennifer Richards, Head of People Lizette Fleher and Head of Product Adam Boender. The company intends to use new capital to launch innovative products, scale platform services, and accelerate growth into new distribution channels and partnerships in 2021. Bestow is a Dallas- and Austin-based fully digital life insurance platform that builds products and software to make life insurance more accessible. The company operates a direct-to-consumer arm and provides APIs that enable partners to offer bespoke life insurance coverage to their customers. Bestow closed a $50M Series B financing led by Valar Ventures, with participation from current investors NEA, Morpheus Ventures and Core Innovation Capital, and new investor Sammons Financial. The company intends to use the funds to expand nationally. Led by co-founders Melbourne O’Banion (CEO) and Jonathan Abelmann (President), Bestow also launched the Bestow Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created to assist those most in need during a crisis or disaster. The foundation's first project is to help combat COVID-19 by donating to the CDC Foundation on behalf of current and new Bestow policyholders. Bestow is a Dallas, TX-based consumer life insurance company that leverages a proprietary algorithmic underwriting engine to instantly determine risk. Its platform gives consumers immediate access to comprehensive life insurance without working with an agent, lengthy applications, or medical exams. Led by CEO Melbourne O’Banion, Bestow is currently live in Texas and Utah. The company closed a $15M Series A, bringing total financing to more than $18M to date. The round was led by Valar Ventures with participation from existing investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Core Innovation Capital, 8VC and Morpheus Ventures. Bestow plans to use the funds to expand operations, development and business growth and aims to be available nationwide this year. Bestow is a tech-driven startup building an on-demand life-insurance service that streamlines underwriting using algorithms so customers can get policies without physicals or lengthy paperwork. The company replaces individualized physical exams with algorithmic probability matching and lets users complete the process over the phone. Bestow has not yet launched and plans to roll out its first product in the coming months. The startup raised $2.5M in seed funding, bringing its total cash to $3.1M. Founded by Melbourne O’Banion and Jonathan Abelmann, Bestow is targeting Americans who believe they need life insurance but haven’t purchased it (the article cites 44% in that segment; industry trackers note ~85% say they should have a policy while ~41% actually do). The company enters a competitive field that includes Mira Financial, Alan, Fabric, and Quilt.