The Venture Codex

Participated · Equity · Sep 2022

Tegus operates a research platform offering institutional investors real-time access to over 50,000 expert interviews, 4,000+ downloadable financial models, workflows to surface and analyze data from SEC filings, and expert interview services. The product streamlines how investment firms, corporations, and consultancies conduct primary and model-driven research. Tegus serves more than 2,500 customers worldwide. Founded in 2017 by twin brothers Michael and Thomas Elnick, the company recently expanded its core solution by acquiring Canalyst to add accurate, customized, downloadable models on companies and industries. Financially, Tegus announced a $20M investment from Positive Sum and existing investors. As part of the financing, Patrick O’Shaughnessy will join the Tegus board as an observer. Tegus conducts primary research and aggregates business and market data into a primary information platform for decision makers. The company says its platform enables clients to discover answers to challenging questions faster and more efficiently than elsewhere. Tegus serves more than 1,000 customers worldwide, including investment firms, corporations, and consultancies, and has a headcount of over 300 employees. The company plans to hire more than 400 new employees next year as it scales sales, product, and engineering teams to meet customer demand. Tegus intends to use its Series B proceeds to continue rapid expansion, broaden its data offering, and accelerate development of its product suite. Founded in 2017 by twin brothers Michael and Thomas Elnick and based in Chicago, the team also added CPO Tim Anderson, CTO Ryan Aylward, and GC/CCO Jason Howard.

Led · Series B · Feb 2022

Founded in 2019, Scalapay has grown into one of Southern Europe’s leading buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) providers. Its platform allows more than 10.2 million users to purchase items online or in-store and pay in three or four fee-free installments, driving higher conversion and average order value for over 10,000 merchant partners such as Mango, Backmarket, Eminza and Lastminute. Having achieved unicorn status, the company is now focused on enriching its payment products and simplifying the customer journey. The newly secured funding will enable Scalapay to accelerate product development and consolidate its European position in smart financial services. Management stresses technological innovation, security and service quality as core differentiators. By using non-dilutive growth debt, Scalapay can scale without reducing founders’ or existing investors’ equity stakes. The company ultimately aims to expand both its geographic reach and its portfolio of interactive payment solutions.

Participated · Convertible Note · Feb 2022

Cazoo operates an online used-car marketplace that lists thousands of cars, stores inventory centrally in the Midlands, and offers home delivery across the UK or collection from customer centres within 72 hours. Every car comes with a 7-day money-back guarantee and a 90-day warranty; the company has also added service plans and a direct-from-consumer buying channel. Since launch in 2018 the business has scaled infrastructure and reconditioning, growing UK in-house reconditioning from one site to 11 sites with a potential output capacity of around 250,000 units per year. Cazoo expanded into France and Germany in 2021 and acquired Swipcar (Spain) and brumbrum (Italy) to accelerate launches in those markets. Financially, Cazoo reported record 2021 revenues of over £665M, employs over 4,000 people, and says its brand is recognised by over 75% of the UK population. The company expects to sell over 100,000 retail units in 2022 and generate revenues in excess of £2B, and holds a pro forma cash balance of about $900M following the recent financing. Cazoo is an app-based marketplace for buying and selling used cars in the UK, modeled on US peers like Vroom. It offers an online, virtual car-buying experience with home delivery and says it sells and delivers “thousands” of cars every month. Since launching less than a year ago it has generated £100 million in revenue. The company does not disclose whether it is profitable. Cazoo says it will use new capital to accelerate the shift from offline to online car buying and to improve the consumer car-buying experience. It was founded by Alex Chesterman, who previously founded LoveFilm and Zoopla. Cazoo is a UK-based online car retailer that enables consumers to purchase used cars entirely online. Customers can have vehicles delivered within 72 hours with free delivery, a 7-day money-back guarantee and two-hour delivery slots. The company owns and fully reconditions all cars before offering them for sale and supports fully online transactions including instant financing and instant part-exchange offers. Founded 18 months ago by serial entrepreneur Alex Chesterman and launched six months ago, Cazoo has already delivered thousands of cars across the UK. The additional £25m funding round valued the company at over $1 billion and brought total capital raised to over £200m. Investors in this round include new investor Draper Esprit alongside existing backers such as DMG Ventures and General Catalyst. Cazoo operates an online used-car marketplace that buys pre-owned vehicles, fully reconditions them, sells them online and delivers them to customers' doors. The company emphasizes contact-minimized handovers, requires Delivery Specialists to wear personal protective equipment, and pauses deliveries to customers who are self-isolating. Cazoo reported £20 million in sales in its first three months of commercial operations. It plans to use the new funding to continue expanding the business and is exploring use of its fleet of car transporters to move essential supplies during the coronavirus pandemic. The business was founded by serial entrepreneur Alex Chesterman, and the company has raised £180 million since launching roughly 18 months ago. Cazoo did not disclose a post-money valuation; PitchBook noted a roughly $220 million valuation as of September 2019 and suggested a simple interpolation could imply a valuation near $336 million. Cazoo operates an online marketplace that lets customers buy used cars entirely online and have them delivered within 48 hours. Founded in 2018 by CEO Alex Chesterman, OBE, the company has grown rapidly in its first nine months. Cazoo has expanded to over 100 employees and signed multiple strategic partnerships covering vehicle purchasing, financing and logistics. The platform is focused on scaling operations and customer acquisition. The company intends to use new funding to further grow the team and invest in marketing and operations.

Participated · Series C · Dec 2021

Paradox is a conversational recruiting software platform led by founder and CEO Aaron Matos, built to give recruiters, hiring managers, and talent professionals an assistant to get work done. Its core product, Olivia, is a conversational AI assistant that automates candidate screening, interview scheduling, onboarding, and other recruiting tasks through mobile-first experiences. Olivia serves high-volume hourly and high-skilled professional roles and is used by 500+ global clients, including Unilever, Nestle, McDonald’s, CVS Health, General Motors, Lowe’s, and Shaker Recruitment Marketing. In five years the assistant has helped clients save millions of hours of manual work. Paradox acquired Traitify, a personality assessment company, in August 2021. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company also has offices in Chicago, Baltimore, Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Vietnam and is actively hiring across client success, sales, product, engineering, and other teams. The company’s latest financing valued it at $1.5 billion. Paradox’s core product is Olivia, a conversational AI assistant that automates recruiting and HR tasks such as screening, scheduling, onboarding, employee Q&A, collecting feedback, and hosting virtual events. Olivia engages across web, SMS, major messaging apps and voice assistants, speaks more than 100 languages, and integrates with leading HR and ATS systems like Workday, ADP, Cornerstone, iCims and others. The company serves 200+ global enterprise clients, including McDonald’s, CVS Health, and Unilever, and has grown to more than 140 employees since its 2016 founding. Paradox has received industry recognition, including awards from Human Resource Executive, Recruiting Trends & Talent Tech, the American Business Awards, and placement on Forbes’ startup employer list. The business says it will use the new funding to expedite its vision of AI as a liberating force for work, continue product and partner roadmap execution, and expand across the U.S. and internationally while remaining based in Arizona. Brighton Park Capital’s involvement is positioned to support further partnerships with HCM providers and accelerate the company’s growth. Paradox is the leading Assistive Intelligence platform transforming talent acquisition and candidate experience with its flagship AI recruiting assistant, Olivia. Olivia supports talent in more than 60 countries, communicates in over 36 languages, and assists over 150 talent-centric organizations including Compass Group, Alorica, Staples, and CVS Health. In 2018 Paradox tripled revenue, doubled its team, and tripled its client base. The company announced plans to double staffing again in 2019, hiring primarily for product, sales, and client success and opening regional offices in Dallas and Chicago to grow its U.S. footprint. Paradox says its product portfolio has broadened through client partnerships to better support candidates throughout the hiring process and their careers. The company received the Talent Solution Impact Award from Recruiting Trends & Talent Tech and was accepted into the SAP.io Foundry program.

Participated · Series C · Dec 2021

100 Thieves operates championship esports teams, a content and entertainment business, and a direct-to-consumer apparel line. The company reported record growth in 2021, with revenue more than doubling year-over-year and 111% top-line growth. It has built a community of over 100 million fans and has expanded its roster of creators and competitors. The business is using new capital to scale its core esports, entertainment, and apparel businesses while launching new businesses and pursuing strategic acquisitions. The company recently made its first acquisition of Higround, a gaming hardware company, and has pursued high-profile apparel collaborations such as with Gucci. Founded in November 2017 and based in Los Angeles, 100 Thieves positions itself as a diversified gaming culture brand. 100 Thieves operates across three revenue channels: competitive esports teams, creator-driven content, and a consumer apparel line. The org fields teams in Call of Duty (its team has won the last two tournaments), League of Legends and Fortnite (sending six players to the Fortnite World Cup). Its creator roster includes high-profile streamers such as Jack “Courage” Dunlop (nearly 1.9 million Twitch followers) and Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter (more than 800,000 Twitch followers). The apparel business has produced limited-edition drops that have sold out and the company runs an online 100 Thieves Shop. Founded in 2017 and led by CEO Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag, the company is expanding into additional esports titles under consideration and plans to build a 15,000-square-foot Los Angeles HQ that will house streaming stations, a content production sound stage, and a retail storefront. Post-fundraise the company’s valuation increased to $160 million. 100 Thieves is a Los Angeles-based lifestyle, apparel and esports organization that fields teams in League of Legends, Fortnite, Call of Duty and Clash Royale. The company operates a fast-growing esports channel on YouTube and sells branded apparel. It has collaborated with Drake on custom gaming stations that traveled with his Scorpion tour, and additional apparel collaborations are underway. 100 Thieves completed an undisclosed Series A funding round. As part of the round, recording artist Drake and Scooter Braun became co-owners and will act as strategic advisors; Braun also joined the board. The company has raised over $25 million in funding to date.