• ImpactVision

  Participated · Equity · Dec 2018

  ImpactVision provides machine-learning software that interprets images from hyperspectral cameras to assess food quality non-invasively. The company bundles off-the-shelf hyperspectral cameras, installs sensors in processing lines, and charges a recurring software fee. It has run pilot projects worldwide across meat, fish, fruit, and salad and counts Beta San Miguel as its first commercial installation, where the system detects foreign objects in sugar. ImpactVision is working with avocado and berry distributors to replace destructive sample-based tests and automate processes such as counting and ripeness assessment to cut waste. The company says new funding will be used to accelerate product development and grow its sales and engineering teams. While focused on food companies for the foreseeable future, ImpactVision envisions potential consumer-facing applications such as smartphone scanning apps. ImpactVision builds software that analyzes hyperspectral images to determine characteristics like ripeness, tenderness and freshness across food products. It captures imagery using third-party hyperspectral sensors and trains computer-vision models via ground-truthing, comparing images to manual tests and measurements such as pH. The company currently works with one main hardware provider but plans to be compatible with a range of sensors as those become commoditized. For clients it can provide a full package including equipment installation and calibration alongside ongoing analytics fees, though it ultimately prefers to deliver software as a service. Use cases demonstrated include meat tenderness, avocado ripeness, fish freshness and a trial for foreign object detection. ImpactVision will use the new funding to further develop its technology, expand the business and hire new staff.

• Perkville

  Participated · Series A · Oct 2014

  Perkville is a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a SaaS loyalty and retention platform that enables businesses to create customer rewards programs. Through integrations with point-of-sale systems, the platform automatically rewards customer visits, tracks referrals, and drives social media engagement. It is free for consumers and offers monthly subscriptions for businesses of all sizes. Led by CEO and co-founder Sunil Saha, the company plans to use new funding to grow in the fitness and gym vertical. Perkville also intends to accelerate expansion into retail, salons, spas and similar categories. The company closed a $2.4m Series A to support these growth initiatives. Perkville provides a SaaS loyalty platform designed to let local businesses quickly create customized loyalty programs. The platform is free for end users and is offered to businesses via monthly subscription plans. Led by CEO Sunil Saha, the company plans to use new capital to add sales and marketing team members and to enhance platform functionality. Perkville closed a nearly $500k seed round and has raised $1.2m in total to date. The company is focused on expanding its go-to-market capabilities and improving product features to better serve local-business customers. Perkville provides an email-based loyalty platform that replaces physical cards and apps by using customers' email addresses as virtual reward cards. Merchants configure point- or visit-based reward programs and award points at the POS or via an in-store tablet; customers track points online and can refer friends for rewards. The platform is free for merchants and monetizes by taking a 30% cut of profits from highly targeted perpetual or “winback” deals. Perkville integrates with POS providers such as Mindbody and supports iPad-based POS workflows to scale adoption among local merchants. At launch the company reports 200+ active U.S. merchants and 100K+ consumers on the platform, with roughly 25% of those consumers registered. A Charm City Yoga case study showed 21% adoption among 9,000 users, participants taking 70% more classes on average, 500 social postings, 100 tweets, 77 referrals that generated 340 additional classes, and 150 reactivated customers via winback campaigns. The founders, Sunil Saha and Eric Bollman, previously held product and UX roles at LinkedIn and Yahoo! and have been partnering with POS software providers to scale the business.

• Nima

  Participated · Seed · Sep 2014

  Nima (formerly 6SensorLabs) produces a small, portable tester whose first product detects gluten. The company is finalizing beta testing of its gluten sensor, which it expects to ship later this year. Nima plans to expand the Nima platform with additional sensors that detect peanuts and milk to help consumers test for hidden allergens. The company raised a $9.2 million Series A to fund R&D and production of those sensors. Foundry Group led the round, and the funding will accelerate development and broaden the product line. CEO Shireen Yates frames the mission as equipping people with real-time data about their food. 6SensorLabs is building a low-cost, portable sensor and companion mobile app to let people quickly test meals for allergens, beginning with gluten detection. The company plans to sell the reusable sensor for under $150 and one-time disposable test units (price TBD) to perform food tests. The mobile app will pair with the sensor, allow users to share test results, and help educate users about safe restaurant items. Founders Shireen Yates and Scott Sundvor began work on the product at MIT with Jonathan Kiel later serving as an advisor; they prototyped the device at Lemnos Labs in San Francisco. The company aims to bring the sensor to market early next year. To accelerate product development and commercialization it has raised external seed funding.

• Liftopia

  Participated · Equity · Sep 2013

  Liftopia operates an online and mobile marketplace (Liftopia.com) for advance-purchase ski lift tickets and other mountain activities and offers Cloud Store, a SaaS commerce and revenue-management solution for resorts. Its platform leverages proprietary business intelligence and automated dynamic pricing to help resorts optimize revenue and improve the consumer experience. The company serves more than 250 resorts in North America. Liftopia plans to use new capital to grow its team and accelerate development of its commerce, business intelligence and mobile products. Founded in 2005 and based in San Francisco, the company has 35 employees and is hiring across engineering, design, product, partner strategy, marketing and customer support. To date the company has raised a total of $7.9M. Liftopia is a San Francisco-based online retailer that sells lift tickets and mountain resort activities through an advance-purchase marketplace. Consumers can buy tickets in advance and save up to 80% off walk-up rates, while resorts list for free and Liftopia takes a portion of each transaction. The company works with about 150 resorts across North America and says transaction volume and revenue have grown in the triple digits over the past year. Liftopia estimates the North American market at roughly $5 billion and says Europe—about four times larger—is on its future roadmap. Resorts benefit by reducing exposure to volatile weather and attendance swings, and Liftopia captures revenue through per-transaction fees. Today’s funding increases the company’s capital base as it continues to expand its resort partnerships and geographic reach. Liftopia is a website that provides a pricing and discount directory for ski lift tickets at various resorts. The site tracks prices as they rise and fall depending on time of year, time of week, resort popularity and snowfall quality so users can find the most affordable prices for locations that interest them. For the coming winter it plans to offer bargains on tickets at 120 to 140 resorts. The company plans to use the new $1 million to continue building out its website, add more partnerships with resorts (allowing daily pricing adjustments based on conditions and demand), and strengthen its marketing campaigns. Last year it attracted only 65,000 unique visitors at its peak in January, indicating it has a ways to go on user growth. Liftopia operates a niche ticket-sales site focused on discounted lift tickets for ski resorts. The company partners with resorts and enables them to make adaptive changes to ticket pricing based on weather conditions and other factors. Liftopia was founded in 2005 and is based in San Francisco, Calif. The site emphasizes dynamic, adaptive pricing to help resorts manage demand and pricing in smaller markets. Liftopia secured its first external funding from a multitude of individual investors, though the company did not disclose the round size. Investors named in the release included members of the Sand Hill Angels and North Bay Angels.

No current team members are available.