First Round is a seed-stage venture firm focused on building a vibrant community of technology entrepreneurs and companies, including Uber, Square, and Warby Parker. Through custom-built software, incredible in-person experiences, and a host of other unique services, First Round helps tiny companies get big while constantly reimagining the role of venture capital. It offers a growing number of services and products to help founders build companies from scratch. First Round has adopted the Diversity Term Sheet Rider.

First Round Capital

Before you build your team, before you write your first line of code, before you even take your first check—that’s when boldstart gets to work. We collaborate with technical founders well before company creation, lead pre-product rounds at inception, and rally our developer-first and SaaS network to help turn bold ideas into category-creating iconic companies. We’ve been in the trenches with Snyk, Blockdaemon, Kustomer, BigID, Superhuman (and so many more) from day one. The investment firm was founded in 2010 by Ed Sim and is headquartered in Miami, FL with Partners in Boston, Bay Area, and London.

boldstart ventures

Fueled is an full-service digital design, development, branding and strategy agency dedicated to entrepreneurs that offers an unparalleled suite of services for startups of all sizes.  Mobile Product Design - Fueled was founded with the single-minded vision of putting together an all-star team that could take a project from ideation through launch, with the agility and expertise of a top startup rather than the arthritic, fluff-ridden tendencies of a typical agency or dev shop.   iOS, Android, Web & Backend Development - Our software engineers are industry veterans. They leverage enterprise-class code quality with Agile and Lean methodologies to quickly and efficiently bring products to life. We emphasize scalability and extensibility so your product can grow with your users.   Growth & Marketing - Our analytics and conversion optimization experts can help you optimize your app's analytics suite, manage AB testing regimes, and manage digital marketing campaigns.   Fueled Ventures - Fueled clients go on to raise millions in funding and have been acquired in massive exits. That's why we offer select startup clients the opportunity to make their development budgets go much further through an investment from Fueled Ventures, our independent venture fund. But even better than an early infusion of cash is the fact that we vest all of our agency employees into our fund. Our team is your team.   Fueled Collective - The most valuable asset a startup can leverage is other startups. That's why we created the Fueled Collective, a one-of-a-kind coworking space that is home to more than 40 startups in addition to Fueled's New York staff. By surrounding ourselves with entrepreneurs from every industry imaginable, no business or technical challenge remains unconquered for long.

Fueled

BoxGroup is an early-stage investment fund that invests in technology companies. The fund aims to invest in the consumer, enterprise, fintech, healthcare, life science, and marketplaces industries at the earliest stage, as early as pre-seed round and as late as Series A. It supports companies based on a conviction in the team and seeks entrepreneurs working at the beginning of movements in existing markets or new markets yet to be created and with visions to create the next generation of category-defining businesses. Their typical investment ranges from $200,000 to $500,000. Adam Rothenberg and David Tisch founded BoxGroup in 2009 in New York, New York.

BoxGroup

Rubicon Venture Capital (Rubicon) is a Late Seed / Series A VC fund with a unique global community of value added investors to build lasting technology companies. Their investors are mainly successful entrepreneurs and executives located in key cities around the world. Rubicon invests in enterprise Saas, Fintech, hospitality tech, logistics, insuretech, PropTech, AI/ML and direct to consumer companies. Typically companies will have achieved at least $1m in ARR. We invest in Later Stage Seed and Series A & B venture capital financing rounds of high potential early stage disruptive technology companies.

Rubicon Venture Capital

Zelkova Ventures is a venture capital firm committed to helping entrepreneurs build companies. The firm primarily looks to invest in early stage companies, many times pre-revenue. In many instances they provide a company's first outside/institutional capital. They look to take an active role and partner with the  companies they invest in. Along with their capital, Zelkova brings expertise, insight and execution to all of their portfolio companies. Zelkova, although not exclusively, focuses on several key sectors -   Software Services, Internet Technologies, Environmental Technologies and Consumer Products.

Zelkova Ventures

S2 Capital is a micro venture capital fund that specializes in seed-stage investments. It was founded in 2014 by Samvit Ramadurgam and Sohail Prasad. S2 Capital is based in San Francisco, California.

S2 Capital

We Back Builders. Founded by @Jason  Team behind   This Week in Startups: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThisWeekIn  @twistartups    The LAUNCH Accelerator https://launchaccelerator.co/ @launchincubator    The Syndicate https://thesyndicate.com/ @thesyndicate415    Founder university: https://www.founder.university/ @founderuni    Remote Demo Day  https://remotedemoday.com/ @remotedemoday

LAUNCH

Tiny Capital is a venture capital firm seeking to invest in information technology sectors. The firm invests in private and public companies and has a base of permanent capital from a family office.

Tiny Capital

Precursor Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on pre-seed and seed investments in North America. The firm focuses on investments in B2B and B2C software applications and hardware. Precursor Ventures has adopted the Diversity Term Sheet Rider.

Precursor Ventures

Coughdrop Capital is an early-stage venture firm based in San Francisco and Los Angeles.Typically, we write checks into pre-seed or seed stage startups. Regardless of sector, industry, or stage, we like to fund smart founders with ambitious plans. We love warm intros, but don't require them.  Say hello!

Coughdrop Capital

Founders backing Founders. Swift Ventures is the fund that we wish existed when we were starting out -- a low-ego, sincerely helpful firm led by former founders who get it. With decades of company-building experience, Swift provides relevant and practical “garage-to-IPO” building and scaling expertise.We invest in AI and Automation companies with B2B business models.  Typically, we are looking for companies that have an early compelling product with positive revenue and retention signals.

Swift Ventures

Impact: 80+ startups. 31 exits. $150+ bn in value.

Chang Corporation

Andreessen Horowitz is a venture capital firm specializing in investing in seed, start-ups, early, mid-stage, growth, and late-stage. It prefers to invest in the social media business and technology sector with a focus on software, back-end infrastructure, the infrastructure of the Internet, cloud computing, enterprise software and services, consumer, business Internet, mobile-Internet, consumer Internet, cloud computing, data storage, social network browsers data-storage, consumer electronics, networking functions, software related biology, biotech, and medicine companies at the intersection of computer science and life sciences with a focus on digital therapeutics, cloud technology in biology, and computational medicine.

Andreessen Horowitz

Knollwood Investment Advisory is focused on financing companies in the internet security sector.

Knollwood Investment Advisory

Hydrazine Capital is a venture capital firm started by Sam Altman and Ryan Cohen.

Hydrazine Capital

The House Fund is a pre-seed and early stage venture capital fund focused on the boldest Berkeley startups.  UC Berkeley has some of the most brilliant minds and daring businesses in the world, like Tesla, Apple, and Intel. It has never had a place to unite its entrepreneurs, until now. Started in 2016, with 50+ investments, $2B in follow-on funding, and 10 exits later, The House Fund has become a thriving ecosystem for the boldest Berkeley startups to grow.

The House Fund

We invest in great companies in the pre-seed and seed stages.

Yes VC

Karman Ventures (fka Moving Capital) is a venture capital firm backed by early employees of Uber and other decacorn startups.

Karman Ventures (fka Moving Capital)

Aurum Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in all asset classes across the capital structure in the public and private markets. The firm is committed to fostering the development of innovative startups, investing in groundbreaking ideas, and offering valuable support to entrepreneurs.

Aurum Partners

Founded in 2015, CSC Upshot Ventures is an early-stage venture fund focusing on providing seed capital to technology companies at scale. The firm seeks to invest in companies operating in the enterprise, artificial intelligence, healthcare, Fintech, and the marketplace. In close partnership with AngelList, CSC Upshot Ventures built a new model of venture investing based on the needs of founders, investors, and startup communities.

CSC Upshot

IVP turns breakout companies into enduring market leaders. With a 40-year record of driving growth and 130+ IPOs, we’ve partnered with over 400 companies including Amplitude, Brex, Coinbase, Crowdstrike, Datadog, Discord, Klarna, Slack, Snap, and Twitter. As trusted allies, IVP helps founders and CEOs meet the challenge of leading a rapidly growing company. Its proven system bolsters functions including those that are sometimes overlooked and partners serve as trusted allies to companies seeking to realize their full potential.

Founded in 2001, Tiger Global Management, LLC (“Tiger Global”) is a New York-based investment firm pursuing a long-term approach to investing in leading, global public and private companies that leverage technological innovation. Tiger Global’s public equity business includes fundamentally oriented long/short, long-focused and crossover strategies, targeting investments in high-quality, public growth companies. The private equity business invests in early through late stage companies that pursue innovative approaches to new and existing industries, building on over 20 years of experience investing in hundreds of businesses in more than 30 countries with more than 90 portfolio company IPOs. With a strong track record investing across sectors and stages, Tiger Global aims to be a thought partner to companies and their management teams across their lifecycle in public and private markets. The Firm’s mission is to generate world-class returns for its investors and to do so in a way that makes its employees, partners and portfolio companies proud.

Tiger Global Management

The Chainsmokers is an electronic DJ and production company where indie artists release their remixes songs.

The Chainsmokers

Superhuman

Superhuman is a software platform that weaves social insights into a workflow. The platform supports Gmail shortcuts and more allowing its users to snooze a conversation at any time so they focus on what matters, and enjoy a more productive inbox.

Superhuman is an email client app designed to boost productivity for teams and individuals. The app uses advanced AI technology to automate various tasks, such as email composition, organization, and management. Key features include the ability to write emails effortlessly using natural language processing, automatic email triage and organization, and the ability to communicate with the app using voice commands. Users can tailor the app's settings and features to their specific needs and preferences. The app is currently available only for macOS and iOS users.&nbsp;

The tools that power remote work are define the next generation of enterprise software.

Remote Work Tools

Superhuman 2 "Rebirth" Introducing Nikki

Superhuman is an email client app designed to boost productivity for teams and individuals. The app uses advanced AI technology to automate various tasks, such as email composition, organization, and management. Key features include the ability to write emails effortlessly using natural language processing, automatic email triage and organization, and the ability to communicate with the app using voice commands. Users can tailor the app's settings and features to their specific needs and preferences. The app is currently available only for macOS and iOS users.&nbsp;In May 2022 it expanded its product integration to include Microsoft Outlook in addition to Gmail It also planned to integrate with third-party tools such as Grammarly, Hubspot, and Salesforce.In February 2024, Superhuman introduced AI-powered drafts for instant email replies, further enhancing its productivity features.Superhuman claims to save teams more than 10 million hours annually through its efficient email management capabilities.Funding and financialsSuperhuman raised USD 75 million in a Series C funding round led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4699">August 2021</a>. The funds were used for product development and bringing the software to Outlook and Android users. It also planned to ramp up hiring across the team to reach a headcount of more than 200 (currently 85) by the end of 2022.&nbsp;

Hive is a productivity platform for project management and collaboration. The platform provides automated workflows, project planning layouts, and action templates to assign and keep track of project tasks. Hive focuses on improving task execution with instant feedback cycles for editing and approvals. Additional features include note taking (Hive Note), instant messaging, online meetings, and file sharing.Hive offers a variety of ways for teams to organize their projects, including Gantt charts, Kanban boards, tables, and calendars, with updates made in one view automatically reflected in all others. The platform allows team members to create action cards with files, sub-actions, dependencies, and comments to stay on top of their objectives, and have access to a personal to-do list that compiles all assigned tasks from all projects. Managers can use Hive to assign approvals, share proofs, provide feedback, and collect project forms from clients and customers. Hive also uses AI and machine learning to provide insights on team productivity and identify potential risks, and to optimize resource allocation and client billing.Key customers and partnershipsThe company’s customer base includes Google, Toyota, Comcast, and Starbucks. Hive offers integrations with over 1,000 SaaS platforms, including Asana, Trello, Basecamp, and Smartsheet, allowing users to import tasks from these platforms.Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5208">August 2021</a>, Hive raised USD 10 million in a funding round led by Rembrandt Venture Partners with participation from Zoom, and existing investors Tribeca Venture Partners and Angelpad. Hive is one of the first startups to receive an investment from Zoom’s “Zoom Apps Fund” (a USD 100 million global venture fund). The fresh funds were allocated toward platform development.&nbsp;

Hive

Grain’s software allows users to record, highlight, transcribe, and share online meeting content from tools such as Zoom in an effective manner. It automatically records and transcribes meetings, allowing users to create shareable video clips from highlighted transcript sections. Grain leverages AI to generate customizable meeting notes and answer questions about the transcript. It supports coaching and collaboration through comments and training content creation. The platform offers deal analytics and insights, tracking key account activities and integrating with tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, and Slack. &nbsp;The company’s products focus on distributed teams, sales, product and user research, and hiring teams.In April 2022, the company acquired Ping Pong, a video messaging platform.Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9759">April 2022</a>, Grain raised USD 16 million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global Management. The funds were raised to expand operations and develop its ​​video meeting system of record for content, which allows employees to collaborate around insights, topics, relationships, or teams.

Grain

Air is a creative operations platform designed for creative teams to streamline their workflows and collaborate more effectively. It offers a comprehensive solution that goes beyond basic cloud storage systems, catering specifically to the needs of the creative process. Air allows users to collect content, approve assets, share versions for feedback, and organize their work seamlessly, eliminating the need for additional organizational efforts.Air provides a centralized hub for content collaboration, approval, and versioning. Air's technology streamlines various aspects of the creative workflow, including content collection, asset approval, version control, and feedback sharing. Unlike traditional cloud storage solutions, Air's platform is tailored to the specific requirements of creative teams, enabling them to work more efficiently and effectively.Key customers and PartnershipsThe company’s customer base includes notable firms such as Native, Together, Spindrift, and Univision.&nbsp;Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8139">January 2022</a>, Air raised USD 10 million in an “Operator Round” led by Headline with participation from Tiger Global, Lere Hippeau, and 50+ strategic founders and marketing executives including Peter Rahal (Co-Founder, RXBAR), Kipp Bodnar (CMO, HubSpot), and Joe Thomas (CEO, Loom), valuing the company at USD 110 million. The funds were used to accelerate Air’s go-to-market activities and growth.

Acapela was co-founded by Roland Grenke, founder of Dubsmash, a video sharing social media app. Acapela facilitates online meetings without real-time interaction between participants; instead, members contribute to meetings over time.Acapela provides voice and video messages integrated with popular productivity tools such as Asana, Google Workspace, Notion, and Atlassian. Additionally, meetings will generate tasks and meeting summaries automatically. The company identified distributed tech teams as its initial target segment and plans to shift focus toward small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and larger enterprises eventually. The product is currently in invite-only beta.In October 2020, the company exited stealth mode with a USD 3 million seed funding round led by Visionaries Club. The round included Entrepreneur First and other notable individual investors, such as Christian Reber (founder of presentation software Pitch) and Taavet Hinrikus (founder of online money transfer service TransferWise).

Acapela

iObeya is a cloud-based enterprise visual management platform that enables organizations to digitize their Lean, Agile, and Industry 4.0 practices. The platform provides virtual "Oobeyas" (Japanese for "big room"), which are digital collaborative workspaces where teams can align, synchronize, and visualize their work using digital boards, sticky notes, and other visual tools. iObeya's platform allows teams to recreate the in-person experience of paper-based visual management practices with real-time collaboration, enhancing team efficiency, creativity, and problem-solving.iObeya's technology supports a wide range of enterprise use cases, including industrial product lifecycle management, manufacturing operational excellence, product development, and continuous improvement for business performance and agility. It integrates with various systems like ERP, MES, BI, and Application lifecycle Management (ALM) tools such as Atlassian Jira and Microsoft Azure DevOps Server.Key customers and partnershipsiObeya's customer base includes global enterprises such as Airbus, Thales, Volvo, Philips, Cartier, Axa, Eli Lilly and Company, Western Digital, General Electric, Kimberly-Clark, Danaher, and Sanofi.Funding and FinancialsIn July 2020, iObeya raised USD 17 million in a series A funding round led by Red River West with participation from Atlantic Bridge Capital and Fortino Capital Partners. The funds were allocated to develop its platform further and accelerate the company’s expansion in the US.

iObeya

Platforms that provide virtual workspaces using spatial technology to combine a variety of productivity and collaboration tools in a single space.

Platforms that provide standalone presentation software, prototyping and web development software, templates, and design workspaces.

Platforms that facilitate task delegation and tracking with board, timeline, and kanban style views.

Platforms that provide standalone video communication tools and complementary products such as interactive interfaces, presentation features, and transcription software.

Platforms that offer chat and email-based collaborative tools.

Solutions in this industry hub are predominantly offered under a B2B SaaS model

Some solutions in the virtual office and video conferencing segments are based on AR/VR

Facilitates hybrid workforces by offering tools for employees to collaborate regardless of location

Meeting transcription and note-taking apps, design, and project management tools use AI/ML for product development

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 An email startup, Superhuman, has launched AI-powered instant replies for its email service, which costs USD 30 per month. The instant replies provide three contextual responses to expedite email replies.
 Like Gmail's smart replies, users get three suggested responses to quickly answer emails, but these are more tailored. The main features include generating full-sentence replies with the sender's name, navigating between replies using the "tab" key, and sending quickly with the "enter" key.
 Superhuman intends to further develop AI capabilities aiming to blend them smoothly into daily operations. The startup aims to better team collaboration and is contemplating creating specialized editions for specific professional roles, for example, sales.
</div>

Superhuman

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