Led · Series A · May 2019

Vamp.io builds a release-management solution, Vamp Enterprise, that simplifies container-based software delivery and accelerates cloud-native releases. The product adds simplicity, controls and validation for pushing new software into production and integrates with technologies such as service meshes and serverless platforms. Partners include Microsoft, Mesosphere and Docker, and the company says its solution is deployed by globally active enterprises. Founded in 2014 and formerly known as Magnetic.io, Vamp.io is a StartupBootcamp alumnus with its head office in Amsterdam. The company plans to use the new funding to accelerate development of features around Istio service-meshes, serverless, machine-learning/AI, and to improve onboarding and support an international launch. It raised €2.5M in a Series A to fund product development and expansion. Magnetic.io develops VAMP, an open source test and release solution for containers that supports A/B testing, deployment and autoscaling of (micro)service-oriented architectures. VAMP can run standalone or integrate with container systems such as Docker, Mesosphere DC/OS, Azure Container Service, Rancher and Kubernetes. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Olaf Molenveld and is based in Amsterdam. Magnetic.io raised seed funding of €500k to support its growth. The funds are intended to develop enterprise-grade features, grow the open source community and partner network, and expand internationally. Frank Maene of Volta Ventures will join Magnetic.io’s board as part of the financing.

Led · Convertible Note · Sep 2017

PastBook provides an Intelligent Instant Photo Book platform that automatically selects a user’s best photos (with captions and dates) and arranges them into a photo book within 60 seconds with minimal user interaction. Its algorithmic approach drives a high share of instant sales: 95% of books sold are instant (not edited by customers) and for 50% of users it is their first photo book. The company reports exponential growth—10x year‑over‑year revenue growth for the past three years—and 80% of its customers are in the USA. PastBook will use new funding to introduce new products and ramp marketing to support international expansion into several European countries while maintaining presence in the USA, Australia and Canada. It recently partnered with RPI to expand printing capacity, reduce shipping times across the USA, Europe and Oceania, and broaden its global footprint. The service is available on web and iOS, with an Android version planned by year‑end. Founded in 2012 in Amsterdam as part of the RockStart Accelerator, PastBook’s mission is to make one‑click photo book creation frictionless for users who previously never made a photo book. PastBook is a social media memory preservation platform that converts users' Facebook and Instagram photos into digital and printed photo books. The company recently released My Year in 2015, a mobile-focused app that collects a full year’s worth of photos to create a photo book. The app is available in the Apple App Store and online, with Android access scheduled for late January 2016. PastBook has raised an additional $380K in seed funding, bringing total funding to $870K to date. Backers for the recent seed included various angel investors and Vortex Capital Partners, and the company is currently in the process of raising a Series A. Founded in 2012 by CEO Stefano Cutello and based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, PastBook emphasizes mobile-first product development and print fulfillment. PastBook is a web-based service that helps users create photo books—digital or professionally printed—by importing photos from social networks or direct upload. It recently launched collaborative photo books allowing multiple authors to co-create stories that can be browsed online, downloaded as PDFs or printed. The product is responsive across PCs, tablets and smartphones; native iOS and Android apps are described as “coming soon.” PastBook also introduced a white-label solution for publishers, wedding and funeral companies, and a RESTful API so third-party apps can create and print books on demand. Financially, the company has raised just over $500,000 to date (including earlier seed and accelerator funding) and recently closed a bridge round to add further capital. PastBook offers a service that turns users' social-media photos—starting with Instagram—into an online book that can be browsed on the web, downloaded as a PDF, or ordered as a professionally printed book. The app can include Instagram comments and likes alongside photos and ties into a user's social graph to make it easy to create and gift PastBooks to friends. PastBook is launching first for Instagram with Facebook integration planned next, and the company aims to support all major photo-sharing networks eventually. The product emphasizes preservation rather than creating another online timeline and blends cloud access with on-demand printing. The startup is part of the RockStart Accelerator and is currently based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founders Stefano Cutello and Giuseppe Prioriello have made personal commitments to the venture, including putting their houses up for sale, and left prior careers (Cutello at eBay; Prioriello at a leading Italian printing company).

Participated · Equity · Jun 2016

Media Distillery is an Amsterdam-based startup developing AI that analyzes video content to generate monetizable metadata. Its patented 'Deep Content Understanding' technology screens video for relevant subject matter, events and timestamps to produce searchable metadata. The platform analyzed over 7.5 million hours of content last year and is used by video providers such as Telenet, YouSee, Eutelsat, Proximus and VTR. The company plans to use the new funding to expand internationally and build additional video discovery products. CEO Roland Sars says the technology can create a personalized, 'sticky' video environment to boost viewer engagement and discovery. Media Distillery is an Amsterdam-based developer of a technology platform that analyzes audio and video content in real time. The platform applies data-mining techniques such as speech, logo and face recognition to filter relevant information from radio and television. The company was co-founded by Joost de Wit and Geert Vos and lists customers including Lexis Nexis, Buzzcapture, Coosto, Meltwater, Clipit and Media Info Groep. In June 2016 Media Distillery raised €600K in funding from Peak Capital, Vortex Capital Partners and new CEO Roland Sars. The company intends to use the funds to further develop its platform and to grow internationally. The raise supports product development and international expansion plans.