Upfront Ventures is proud to be an early investor and long-term partner to the most exciting founders and startups. Founded in 1996 in Los Angeles with investing professionals based in LA, San Francisco, and Paris, Upfront has backed standout teams across all technology sectors, including Ring (acq. by Amazon), TrueCar (NASDAQ: TRUE), Bird, Maker Studios (acq by Disney), GOAT, Apeel Sciences, thredUP, Invoca and Kyriba (acq by Bridgepoint). We invest about half of our capital in the fast-growing Southern California ecosystem, with the balance across the country as well as investments in Europe and Israel. Upfront Ventures is led by Managing Partners Yves Sisteron, Mark Suster, and Kara Nortman.

Upfront Ventures

Lewis & Clark Ventures was founded by former operators with the conviction that innovation and entrepreneurial talent are plentiful in geographies often overlooked. They invest in the highest potential B2B software, fintech, and digital health companies. Their vision is to become a trusted partner to every entrepreneur that they back and assist in their journey towards scale and significance.

Lewis & Clark Ventures

Geekdom Fund is a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage tech startups. Its partners are in the trenches with their companies. From weekly calls to biannual deep dives, Geekdom Fund looks for ways to help out its portfolio companies whether it is pitch meetings, talent referrals, or grant writings. The firm was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

Geekdom Fund

Waldo Photos

Waldo is a photo finding phenom. With Waldo, every photo of you and your family, taken by others, is delivered to your smart phone. Whether it is at a football game, concert, amusement park, wedding, tourist attraction, triathlon or your just chillin’ at a friend’s BBQ, Waldo finds your photos and delivers them back to you. Waldo uses a combination of facial recognition, GPS, time and album code matching with the convenience of a text-based interface. The Waldo platform helps professional photographers increase their sales by changing the process from an antiquated hunt and peck, wait in line, one-off commerce transaction to a push system in which the potential customer is delivered their “photo needles” out of the proverbial “album haystack” to their smart phone, in real-time, with one click purchasing. For consumers, Waldo lets you live in the moment, put down the selfie stick, put your phone back in your pocket and enjoy life’s most valued moments. The days of wishing you could have gotten that incredible photo from an amazing photographer are here and the days of constantly nagging friends and family or feeling guilty about hoarding photos of others are over. Waldo is an intelligent, predictive, cloud-based, text-enabled, AI driven platform that lets photos flow from the photographer to the photographed, as seamlessly as it should be. Put the power of Waldo in your pocket and enjoy the moment!

Waldo Photos is a photo-finding and sharing platform that uses AI-powered facial recognition technology to automatically identify, match, and deliver photos to users in real time. The platform enables organizations and photographers to streamline photo management and distribution through its end-to-end solution that includes mobile apps, a web app, and a texting bot. Waldo's core technology allows users to receive photos they appear in through automated notifications via text or app alerts after uploading a reference selfie. The platform features QR code and SMS code joining capabilities for easy photo gallery access, customizable privacy settings, and photo coverage dashboards that provide analytics on event photo coverage. Waldo also offers photo printing and merchandise services through third-party vendors, allowing users to order physical prints and photo products directly through the platform.

Facial recognition delivers incredible convenience to consumers, as well as serious risks.

Facial Recognition

Waldo Photos Issued FaceBlocker Patent; Tech Allows Professional Photographers to Copyright Protect Mobile Proofs

Waldo Photos is a photo-finding and sharing platform that uses AI-powered facial recognition technology to automatically identify, match, and deliver photos to users in real time. The platform enables organizations and photographers to streamline photo management and distribution through its end-to-end solution that includes mobile apps, a web app, and a texting bot. Waldo's core technology allows users to receive photos they appear in through automated notifications via text or app alerts after uploading a reference selfie. The platform features QR code and SMS code joining capabilities for easy photo gallery access, customizable privacy settings, and photo coverage dashboards that provide analytics on event photo coverage. Waldo also offers photo printing and merchandise services through third-party vendors, allowing users to order physical prints and photo products directly through the platform.Key customers and partnershipsShutterfly Share Sites users were transitioning to Waldo Photos following Shutterfly's discontinuation of its sharing platform. The platform serves various organizations, including schools, camps, youth sports leagues, churches, and corporates. In May 2024, WinShape Camps announced the continuation of its partnership with Waldo Photos for Summer 2025, using the platform to share over 960,000 photos uploaded since Summer 2016, averaging more than 100,000 photos per summer.

FacePhi offers a range of facial recognition identity authentication solutions for transaction approval and digital onboarding. FacePhi’s Selphi software allows the user to perform ID authentication via a selfie. The selfie is encrypted and sent to the bank’s database to be used for payee authentication. The encryptions ensures the user's privacy, as the full image is not sent to the bank.&nbsp;In 2023, FacePhi recorded an annual revenue of EUR 25.15 million (USD 26.4 million).Key customers and partnershipsIn May 2021, FacePhi partnered with Revelock, a Spanish fraud detection company, to provide comprehensive identity verification and fraud prevention solutions for financial institutions. In February 2022, the company partnered with software company Oracle Cloud Marketplace to act as a distributor for FacePhi's digital onboarding and facial recognition solutions.&nbsp;In November 2021, the company also partnered with airport operator Aena to offer identity verification for passengers and employees at a price of USD 1.7 million for four years. Aiming to expand its presence in the LATAM region, FacePhi established a regional office in Uruguay in March 2022, followed by an agreement with Hites, a Chilean department store, to use remote selfie onboarding technology to allow<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates?industryIds=16"> Hites’</a> customers to apply for credit cards online.&nbsp;In May 2024, the company entered a strategic partnership with Hancom Group, making it the exclusive distributor of FacePhi's products in the Asia-Pacific region.As of November 2024, FacePhi served over 300 clients across more than 25 countries, with a client retention rate exceeding 95%. The company's technology was being used by several Spanish airlines including Air Europa, Binter, Iberia, and Vueling. Samsung Securities became a technology client in 2024, strengthening FacePhi's presence in the Asia-Pacific market.&nbsp;

FacePhi

Headquartered in the Netherlands, Sightcorp is an AI spin-off from the University of Amsterdam that develops patented proprietary AI Software solutions for mobile apps which includes face detection (detect multiple faces in an image), emotion analysis, crowd demographics, and attention analytics. Main target markets of the company include retail, advertising, hospitality, and digital signage.&nbsp;In January 2022, Sightcorp was acquired by&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7828?industryIds=16">Raydiant</a>, a provider of an in-location experience management platform, to jointly develop solutions for personalized on-screen, in-location experiences targeting retailers, restaurants, etc. Sightcorp expects to open offices in Lithuania and London in 2022 and to grow its European team from 20 to 100. Raydiant is also hiring across the US and internationally to accompany Sightcorp’s new offices.Key customers and partnershipsThe company’s clients include Toyota, Wahlburgers, T-Mobile, Red Bull, and Baskin Robbins.

Sightcorp

Okaya offers a mobile app that aims to understand the users’ wellbeing by using a combination of facial recognition technology, biometrics analysis (such as heart rate, weight etc.) and machine learning. Okaya’s facial recognition algorithm developed in-house, analyses facial features obtained from a 15 second video recording where up to 30 frames are captured in a second. This data is evaluated along with other biometrics to determine the level of fatigue of a person. The product is claimed to help create strong work teams and a strong work environment as it allows to identify areas where improvement is required.Key customers and partnershipsOkaya targets industries such as healthcare, corporate wellness, and human resources. The platform is designed to serve both clinical providers and employers aiming to improve workforce mental health. Okaya also supports businesses with dedicated integration assistance via channels like Discord.

Okaya

Facetec offers a 3D&nbsp;facial authentication software called ZoOm, which is capable of high-performance liveness detection (verifying that the captured facial features belong to a living person). The software can be used on smart mobile devices and webcams. The company also has patented technology to generate a 3D face map using a video selfie recorded even with a 2D camera. While most other 3D face mapping requires dedicated hardware components, FaceTec's technology eliminates this requirement. As a result, app developers do not need to rely on device manufacturers to incorporate additional hardware in order to use ZoOm. In September 2019, Facetec improved its product by embedding an age-estimation tool.&nbsp;Even though selfie-based authentication has become commonplace, many of them use 2D facial mapping which makes them vulnerable to spoofing attacks (attempts to gain access illegally by reproducing a person's face using images, masks, mannequins, etc.) due to the use of 2D mapping of facial features.&nbsp;The company claims that its product is one of the few companies to be certified at level 1 and 2 in the iBeta Presentation Attack Detection (PAD) test, which is governed by an ISO standard. The software can detect digital and physical 'spoof artifacts' such as high-resolution photos and videos, masks and mannequins.Key customers and partnershipsFaceTec has over 100 customers across various verticals with an installed base of over 10 billion smart devices. ZoOm targets a wide range of markets ranging from banking, e-commerce, healthcare, insurance, e-voting, attendance, and government. Majority of FaceTec's customers are currently government and financial institutions.

FaceTec, Inc.

<div>
 
 FaceFirst offers facial recognition solutions mainly for access control as well as for identity authentication and real-time security. It focuses on retailers, airports, casinos, banks, as well as music and gaming events. The company also offers a mobile app (for iOS and Android) for facial recognition on the go. FaceFirst&rsquo;s facial recognition tool is mainly aimed at the retail segment, which accounts for around 50% of its business. FaceFirst&rsquo;s patented retail security platform can identify any known shoplifters or forbidden employees attempting to enter the store. Its products can be integrated with existing retail systems. 
 
 
 The company also introduced Mask-ID in November 2018, which instantly blurs identified faces without compromising accuracy. Additionally, the retail security platform allows its users to access the company&rsquo;s database of retail criminals, enabling them to include any individuals banned by the company itself. FaceFirst is one of the companies to work with lawmakers to help regulate the industry.
 
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FaceFirst

Companies that are developing facial recognition technology to suggest tags for photos uploaded on the platform, typically social media.

Companies that provide facial recognition technology for contactless and fast-payment gateways.

Companies providing tools to identify VIP customers and repeat customers by using facial recognition.

Companies that provide technology to monitor physical access to offices, retail stores, and residences as well as access to electronic devices, such as mobile phones and laptops, using facial recognition.

Companies providing facial recognition technology to identify people from live and recorded videos.

Companies that provide facial recognition technology to police and government agencies to identify criminals, protestors, unauthorized overstayers in the country, and departing passengers.

Facial recognition is a type of biometrics used to verify individuals

Used in smart city applications for access control

Facial recognition technology is built on ML models for training data

Waldo Photos

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