• Avalanche Technology

  Participated · Equity · Feb 2016

  Avalanche Technology, based in Fremont, CA, develops Perpendicular STT‑MRAM technology and P‑SRAM™ memory devices. The company aims to replace Flash and SRAM for unified memory architectures in future SoC systems, targeting GPUs, MCUs, DSPs, ASSPs and ASICs. Its technology is designed to deliver high performance and low power at 55, 40 and 28 nm with scalability to 22 and 14 nm. Avalanche reports a proven STT‑MRAM portfolio at multiple geometry nodes and an intellectual property portfolio of over 280 patents and applications. The company plans to use the new funding to accelerate development of its P‑SRAM devices for the Internet of Things, aerospace and defense markets and to pursue higher densities of persistent DRAM required for next‑generation machine learning architectures. Avalanche Technology develops patent-backed discrete and embedded STT-MRAM memory products. The company offers discrete STT-MRAM for OEMs and embedded licenses for strategic customers and partners. Its STT-MRAM is being positioned as a replacement for DRAM and SRAM across enterprise storage, consumer wearables, IoT, computing/networking, automotive and other industries. Avalanche is led by founder and CEO Petro Estakhri and is based in Fremont, CA. The company intends to use the new financing to transition from R&D to commercialization and production in 2016. Avalanche Technology is a mid-stage developer of high-performance, scalable non-volatile magnetic memory products built on its proprietary Spin Programmable Memory (SPMEM) platform. The company says its platform is protected by a comprehensive patent portfolio and is designed for a wide variety of telecommunication, networking, storage, computing and handheld applications. Avalanche licenses its technology for those markets and is led by serial entrepreneurs and veterans from the semiconductor, memory and storage industries. Headquartered in Fremont, CA, the company is focused on advancing its SPMEM products toward commercial production. Recently announced financing is intended to support continued development efforts at this key stage. Avalanche Technology is developing Spin Programmable Memory (SPMEM), a non-volatile memory class that the company says enables lower write current, smaller cell size, and scalability beyond 10nm using proprietary spin current and voltage switching. The firm claims SPMEM provides non-volatility, low power dissipation, unlimited write endurance, high density, and high performance while requiring fewer manufacturing steps and integrating with standard CMOS processes. Avalanche is targeting high-volume embedded and stand-alone applications across telecommunications, computing, mobile, and networking, and cites a global total addressable market above $30 billion. The company says its technology could blur the gap between memory and storage and enable changes in system architectures and performance. Avalanche was founded in 2006 and is based in Fremont, California. Financially, the startup has completed three institutional funding rounds, most recently raising $11.5M, after a prior $7.5M round in February 2010.

• Webinar.ru

  Participated · Series A · Sep 2014

  Webinar.ru provides web- and video-conferencing software that can be used online or on-premises, works on any device, and requires no software installation. The service has over one million users in Russia and serves corporate clients including Sberbank, Microsoft Russia and Rostelecom. The company merged with competitor COMDI just under a year ago, helping it beat rivals such as Cisco's Webex and Citrix in the Russian-speaking market. Webinar.ru raised $7.3 million in a Series A round led by Intel Capital and the EBRD, with Flint Capital and previous investor VTB Capital participating. The article notes the EBRD investment is its last in a Russian company because of sanctions; no additional financial metrics or detailed future plans were disclosed.

• Fab

  Led · Series C · Nov 2012

  Fab operates a design-focused online lifestyle shop offering unique home, wearable and gift products and says it has millions of customers worldwide. The company has shifted away from a flash-sales model and centralized operations at its New York headquarters to become a comprehensive global online lifestyle retailer. Fab recently debuted a new design store and is experimenting with brick-and-mortar locations as part of its international expansion strategy. Management acknowledged recent layoffs while describing momentum, growth, and a solid team. Fab is targeting Asia for growth and is pursuing partnerships and acquisitions to accelerate that expansion. Fab operates a design-focused e-commerce marketplace that emphasizes home and lifestyle products, with roughly 14 million users and sales in 27 countries. The company reported $120M in revenue last year and projected about $250M in 2013 sales, achieving 43% gross margins. About two-thirds of sales now come from non–flash-sale commerce, with 50% of revenue in home categories and one-third of orders placed via mobile. Fab is expanding its own product lines and exclusive designer partnerships, experimenting with brick-and-mortar (first store in Hamburg) and investing in mobile and social. International growth is a priority—1M members in the U.K. generate nearly 40% of European sales, and the company intends to expand in Asia with partners. Operational investments include faster fulfillment (75% of orders ship within 24 hours), a Netherlands warehouse to serve Europe, and a planned Las Vegas–area warehouse in 2014. Management expects U.S. and European operations to be profitable by Q4 2014 or Q1 2015. Fab is a design-focused e-commerce site that sells curated home and lifestyle products online. The company launched in June 2011 and was founded by Jason Goldberg and Bradford Shellhammer. Fab has expanded to 26 countries and reaches more than 10 million people. Since launch it has raised over $150 million in financing. The company reported strong recent sales, selling more than $6.5 million of product in the last week of November, up from $1.7 million in the same period the prior year (≈300% growth). Fab is targeting further international expansion, specifically looking at South America and Asia, and is pursuing an India market strategy. Fab began as social site Fabulis in 2010 and pivoted to a design-focused e-commerce marketplace, officially launching Fab on June 9, 2011. The site curates handpicked products and emphasizes merchandising, social sharing and mobile shopping; roughly 90% of items aren’t available on Amazon. Fab grew rapidly (title notes 9 million users; the article reports 8 million members a year after launch), with strong engagement metrics: four products sold per minute, 67% of daily purchases from repeat buyers, and mobile driving roughly 40% of revenue (Fab cited $50M in revenue this year and projected $150M in sales). The company has been focusing on logistics (building warehouses in New Jersey and on the West Coast) and moving from drop-ship to in-house/3PL fulfillment. Fab plans to expand internationally, scale private-label/Fab-branded basics (targeting 10–20% of sales), continue mobile and social investments, and explore brick-and-mortar and new categories. Fab operates a design-focused flash-sales e-commerce site that curates and sells design products. The company confirmed $105 million in new funding in a Series C led by London-based VC Atomico. Atomico’s participation is intended to help Fab scale its international presence, according to CEO Jason Goldberg’s blog post. The new round reportedly values Fab at about $600 million. This Series C brings Fab’s total outside investment to nearly $160 million, up from a $40 million Series B closed the prior December. Goldberg emphasized a grounded approach to growth and responsibility alongside the large financing.

• Oktogo

  Participated · Equity · Mar 2012

  Oktogo is a Russian online travel company that operates hotel booking service Oktogo.ru and the travel portal Travel.ru. Oktogo.ru lists more than 8,000 hotels in Russia and 350,000 hotels worldwide. Travel.ru was purchased in 2013 to provide editorial and user-generated travel content to Russian travelers. Led by CEO Marina Kolesnik, the company intends to use the new funding to increase sales and marketing efforts in Russia and CIS countries. The company raised more than $5m in the reported funding round and had previously raised $30m in venture capital from Mangrove Capital Partners, Ventech, VTB Capital and others. Backers in the recent raise included MCI Management and Mangrove Capital Partners. Oktogo operates a hotel-booking website and recently acquired travel information site Travel.ru. The company is rebranding itself under the Travel.ru name following that acquisition. It received a $5 million investment to fund marketing expansion and a revision of its business strategy. The financing is intended to support the rebrand and strategic overhaul. Oktogo is targeting Russia's growing online travel market, noting about 66 million Internet users in the country. The company is based in St. Petersburg, Russia. Oktogo.ru is an online hotel reservations agency designed for Russian travelers, led by founder and CEO Marina Kolesnik. The service lists over 5,000 hotels in Russia and more than 250,000 hotels worldwide. The company is based in St. Petersburg, Russia. In March 2013 it raised $11M in venture capital to support brand building and development in Russia. Backers included Mangrove Capital Partners, Ventech and Victor Sazhin Group, and Victor Sazhin joined the board. The company previously raised $10M in 2012 and $5M in 2011. Oktogo.ru is an online hotel booking and travel company based in St. Petersburg, Russia, led by Founder and CEO Marina Kolesnik. The company operates a database of over 2,500 hotels across Russia and the CIS. It raised $10M in the reported financing to expand its presence in the Russian online travel market. Oktogo.ru intends to provide most of Russia’s roughly 10,000 hotels with an online presence. The company previously raised $5M in April 2011, bringing total equity capital to date to $15M. Philip Wolf, founder and chairman of PhoCusWright, was added to the board as an independent director. Oktogo.ru operates an online hotel-aggregation service offering contracted hotel inventory and travel-related services. The company says it currently reaches 2,000 contracted hotels and claims the largest contracted hotels database in Russia and the former Soviet republics. It also markets what it calls the largest and most relevant hotel offering for Russians traveling abroad, including offline payment methods and visa support services. The new funding is intended to help Oktogo.ru sign up more Russian hotels as customers (7,000 mentioned in reporting), accelerate growth and build the company’s brand awareness. Management emphasizes experience in international online travel and IT with sector knowledge of Russia and the CIS. A partner at Mangrove Capital framed the investment as backing the current and potential growth of the Russian travel market.

• Eccentex Corporation

  Led · Equity · Feb 2012

  Eccentex offers the iJourney Platform, a cloud-native SaaS designed to engage customers, automate work, and optimize end-to-end customer journeys for businesses and government agencies. The platform integrates omni-channel interactions, a knowledge base, a service desk, and a Customer360 file, and it connects with third-party AI and RPA solutions. It provides pre-built journeys, machine-learning sets, and low-code/no-code configuration so business users can modify flows, forms, and steps without heavy IT involvement. Eccentex says these capabilities shorten case resolution times, improve customer satisfaction, reduce churn, and lower per-event service costs. The company plans to use new funding to bolster partnerships, sales and marketing initiatives, and accelerate international expansion. Eccentex was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Culver City, Calif. Eccentex offers AppBase, a Platform-as-a-Service dynamic case management (DCM) solution for organizations in banking, insurance, healthcare and government. Its DCM product integrates technologies and practices from BPM, enterprise content management, business intelligence, rules engines and collaboration, including social media. The company was founded in 2006 and is led by CEO Glen Schrank. Eccentex serves regulated and service-oriented use cases such as service requests, incidents and investigations. The company says it will use new funding to continue expanding adoption of its cloud solutions. No operating metrics were disclosed in the article.

No current team members are available.