The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Mar 2022

Popchew operates a creator-focused platform that turns creators' food ideas into deliverable, digitally native local brands by tapping restaurants' unused capacity. Creators pick menus and Popchew builds the digital ordering experiences, handles orders, and splits proceeds with creators and restaurants. The company launched two brands in its first six months — Bitcoin Pizza and Wing SZN — and has partnerships with more than 100 restaurants. A May pilot for Bitcoin Pizza Day ran in 10 cities and generated $100,000 in gross merchandise volume in the first seven days; Popchew has since processed tens of thousands of orders. The startup says it is poised to generate several million dollars in revenue by the end of the year and plans to launch new brands every month. Product features include social ordering, loyalty points per dollar spent, and creator rewards such as appearances or merchandise redemptions.

Participated · Series B · Jun 2021

Snackpass is a social commerce food-ordering platform that lets users see friends' orders, gift items, and group-order with most transactions fulfilled as pickup. The company was conceived by Kevin Tan (CEO) and Jamie Marshall while Tan was a student at Yale and has grown around college markets. Snackpass reports 500,000 users across 13 college towns and 7x year-over-year growth, with 80% penetration in its launched markets. Ninety percent of orders on the platform are pickup; the average customer orders 4.5 times per month and some users order daily. Its product suite includes online ordering, self-service kiosks, digital menus, marketing services and a customer referral program; commissions start at 7%. Snackpass is already profitable in certain markets and plans to use new funding to expand to more U.S. markets and potentially broader demographics. The company integrates with delivery partners like UberEats for users who want delivery and has a stated vision of eliminating registers within five years. Snackpass is an order-ahead food app that lets users pay in-app, skip lines, earn loyalty points redeemable for free items, and send points as gifts to contacts. The product emphasizes a social feed that surfaces purchases and gifts, driving viral growth and campus engagement. It integrates with campus meal plans and student groups, and provides restaurants tools like batch-ordering controls, analytics, and push notifications. Snackpass operates on 11 college campuses and often reaches roughly 75% student penetration within six months at new campuses; it takes a cut of each order and keeps margins high by focusing on pickup rather than delivery. The team has recruited talent from Uber Eats and added an advisor from Yelp to help with SMB sales. The company plans to hire and expand from colleges into dense cities, and is considering charging restaurants for promotional push notifications. Management aims to reach 100 campuses in two years using the new capital.

Participated · Seed · May 2021

Subject provides an AI-enabled instructional platform that offers accredited original-credit and credit-recovery courses for middle and high school students. Its product suite includes Teacher of Record AI, Multilingual AI, bite-sized video lessons, homework help, progress-monitoring dashboards, and analytics designed to boost graduation rates. The company partners with roughly 360 school districts and organizations, reaching nearly 1,000 schools nationwide. Subject’s content carries key accreditations such as Cognia and WASC and approvals from UC-AG, NCAA, and the College Board, giving districts confidence in course quality. Future plans include accelerating development of its AI capabilities, expanding the catalog of accredited courses, and deepening automation tools that save educators time. The firm also intends to ramp up go-to-market efforts in priority U.S. regions while strengthening relationships with existing district customers.

Participated · Seed · Jun 2019

MainVest operates a Regulation Crowdfunding intermediary that connects local entrepreneurs seeking growth capital with investors in their communities. Led by CEO Nick Mathews and based in Salem, MA, the company launched in late fall 2018. It focuses on brick-and-mortar, cash-flow generating Main Street businesses across industries including restaurants, breweries, hair salons and escape rooms. MainVest is regulated by FINRA and targets diverse small businesses that need growth capital. The company intends to use its recent financing to grow its local investment marketplace for small businesses.