The Venture Codex

Participated · Series B · Jun 2024

Buyandship runs a service that enables shoppers and merchants to engage in cross-border e-commerce more easily. By streamlining international purchasing and fulfillment, the company positions itself as a facilitator for global online shopping. The recent capital infusion underscores its intent to expand operational capacity and geographic reach. While specific revenue or user numbers were not disclosed, the company’s emphasis on scaling indicates a growth-oriented business model. The new funds will primarily be directed toward enhancing logistics, technology infrastructure, and market expansion. Overall, Buyandship aims to broaden its footprint and improve the customer experience in cross-border transactions.

Participated · Seed · Aug 2019

askporter is a London-based AI-focused property management software startup launching a digital assistant called Porter. Porter harnesses AI to solve monotonous tasks required across property management and is accessible 24/7. The assistant supports teams with arranging viewings and inspections, resolving issues, and chasing rental arrears. The company raised £1.5m in seed funding to continue expanding operations and its business reach. Backers included Plug and Play, Venture University, Pi Labs, WISAG FM and Henley Investments. The company is led by CEO Tom Shrive. AskPorter provides an AI-enabled property management software platform with multimodal (voice and chat) capabilities for tenants and property managers. Its assistant, Porter, runs over 30 chat flows for tasks such as property inspection guidance and boiler troubleshooting. The solution integrates Google Cloud AI for recommending next steps and uses Twilio for communications. AskPorter reports supporting over 500,000 properties and one million tenants. The company said it will use recent funding to hire and to prepare for a larger Series A round in 2019. The CEO and founder is Tom Shrive, and the company is based in London. AskPorter is a London-based provider of an AI-driven property and facilities management messaging platform. Co‑founded in 2016 by Tom Shrive and Sam Tassell, the platform features an AI assistant that automates tasks, reports and notifications. The product is designed to optimize property and facilities management by reducing administrative work and lowering management costs while improving customer satisfaction. AskPorter partners with Adiuvo, a call handling service for the UK property management industry. In January 2018 the company raised more than £500k and intends to use the funds to expand adoption of its platform nationally.