Oxonian Ventures is the leading early-stage venture fund investing in Oxford alumni founded companies, using investment capital from Oxford alumni and affiliated institutions. Oxonian Ventures brings together Oxonian founders and investors to move ventures forward and elevate the visibility and reputation of Oxonian founded companies.

Oxonian Ventures

Founded by entrepreneurs, The Refiners is a San Francisco-based Seed Fund Program devoted to helping world-class entrepreneurs thrive in the bountiful yet complicated environment of Silicon Valley. The Refiners is passionate about the needs of international startups and believe they are different enough to warrant a program specifically for them. Over a three-month period, startups usually receive funding, networking, and mentorship opportunities in Silicon Valley. The Refiners’ aim is to equip start-ups with the tools necessary to expand your startup’s vision and scale globally. The Refiners is committed to providing start-ups with unparalleled support, guidance, and expertise.

The Refiners

XFactor Ventures is focused on making pre-seed and seed stage investments in companies with billion dollar market opportunities that have at least one female founder.

XFactor Ventures

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

Relay Ventures is a venture capital firm specializing in start-ups, seed, early-stage, mid venture, late venture, and growth capital investments. It seeks to invest in the mobile computing industry with a focus on applications and services including mobile commerce such as payments, advertising, retailing, and consumer banking; vertical and horizontal enterprise applications; communications; social networking; location-based and location-aware applications and services such as navigation and mapping; media and entertainment; commercial services and supplies; wireless application service providers; wireless devices software; wireless networking equipment; and lifestyle and personal productivity applications for the BlackBerry and other mobile platforms. Relay Ventures also focuses on investments in mobile-related software and services and mobile eco-system sectors. It seeks to invest in mobile technology with a focus on software for mobile devices and the connected Internet. John Albright and Kevin Talbot founded Relay Ventures on January 1, 2010. It has its headquarters in Toronto in Canada, with an additional office in San Francisco and Calgary.

Relay Ventures

One Planet Group is a closely held private equity firm that owns a suite of online technology and media businesses while also investing in early-stage companies. Owned and operated businesses span a variety of industries including ad tech, publishing, and media. One Planet’s mission is to support strong business ideas while building an ethos that helps improve society and give back to communities.  Infused with foundational values which promote diversity and inclusion, unity, service to humanity, and excellence in all things, One Planet Group strives to foster an environment that promotes equality, love, and empowerment.  The company’s investment portfolio includes a diverse group of innovative tech-enabled products and solutions. Investing primarily in high-growth early-stage entities, the focus is on companies that aspire to the concept of ‘Innovation + Intention.’ Specific areas of focus include the future of mobility, education technology, health technology, and environmental solutions.  Core operating businesses for One Planet Group include Buyerlink, a leading online marketplace for performance-based marketing; AutoWeb Inc., an automotive matchmaking platform connecting in-market car shoppers to their preferred vehicle transactions; California.com, a curated guide to living in California; and Contractors.com, a site connecting homeowners and service providers. One Planet Group also operates BahaiTeachings.com, a non-profit platform that shares personal perspectives to promote the oneness of humanity. One Planet Group was founded by tech entrepreneur Payam Zamani in 2015. With offices and employees in over ten countries, its global headquarters is located in Walnut Creek, California.

One Planet Group

Swing Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund dedicated to supporting innovation and entrepreneurs. It specializes in the fields of financial services, venture capital, and private equity.

Swing Ventures

Techstars is a global platform that provides investment and innovation. Through the Techstars Worldwide Entrepreneur Network, founders and their teams connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and corporate partners who will help their companies grow. Techstars operates four divisions: Techstars Mentorship-Driven Accelerator Program supercharges success and Techstars Startup Programs inspire, educate, and connect entrepreneurs. Techstars Venture Capital Fund invests in innovative and disruptive companies. Techstars Corporate Innovation Partnerships help brands create products and services. Techstars' accelerator portfolio includes more than 1,000 companies with a market cap of $8.1 billion.

Techstars

We support early stage entrepreneurs and help them accelerate their growth. Throughout the investment process, we collaborate with founders to gain understanding of their unique needs – defining the success of each company. We look for opportunities that have an impact on people’s lives, such as renewable energy and medical solutions, but we're tech- and industry agnostic. With our background, we can help commercialise innovative ideas and develop seed and Series A companies. Our ticket sizes range from 50k-500k USD.

Forward Venture Capital

Newchip is a global remote startup accelerator. Newchip Accelerator, 1401 Lavaca St. PMB 40433, Austin, TX, 78701, Email: investing@newchip.com

Newchip Accelerator

The Beans

The Beans offers a software application platform that creates personalized cash flow plans designed for its users. The Beans is Simplifying the path to financial balance through design and technology so that people can focus on what they love.

The Beans offers a financial wellness platform to help employees manage financial stress. Their platform enables participants to create personalized cash flow plans that adjust as their financial situations change. It also offers evidence-based and interactive professional development courses that teach effective strategies for relieving financial stress and making financial progress.

Helping employers provide personalized, high-touch, and holistic financial wellness tools to their entire workforce.

Financial Wellness Tools

The Beans offers a financial wellness platform to help employees manage financial stress. Their platform enables participants to create personalized cash flow plans that adjust as their financial situations change. It also offers evidence-based and interactive professional development courses that teach effective strategies for relieving financial stress and making financial progress.As of August 2024, The Beans was available for iOS devices offering a free tier and a paid tier costing USD 29.99 annually. The latter includes the ability to create a visualized cash flow plan and unlimited support.Key customers and partnershipsIn an effort to expand its reach, the company has partnered with over 80 different distribution networks, including notable organizations such as the Boys &amp; Girls Club of America, YMCA, and certain regions of Teach for America.

Based in the UK, Salary Finance offers a comprehensive suite of financial well-being benefits for employees. The company partners with employers to offer a platform that provides employees with access to a range of financial well-being products, including salary-backed loans, earned wage advances, savings accounts, and customized educational resources to help them build and automate savings as well as improve their overall financial well-being.In April 2024, the US operations of Salary Finance merged with the financial wellness benefit platform <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/609722">Finfit</a>. The combined entity now operates under the FinFit brand in the US.Key customers and partnershipsAs of February 2024, the platform was used by 600 employers across the UK, available to more than 4.5 million employees. These include more than a fifth of the companies in the FTSE-100 index. Its notable customers include the NHS, Dunelm, Virgin Active, and Simply Health.Salary Finance partnered with the American financial technology company Chime in July 2021, to launch Save—a new product to incentivize US employees to set up a salary-linked savings account with Chime, and become entitled to a USD 50 bonus and a variable Annual Percentage Yield (APY) of 0.50%.

Salary Finance

Payactiv offers a financial wellness solution, centered around "Earned-Wage Access," allowing employees to access their wages before payday. Employees can instantly access funds for hours worked, with options to transfer to their bank, load onto a Payactiv card, or withdraw cash at Walmart. Its app works as a digital wallet and includes additional features such as AI and machine-learning-based tools for budgeting, tracking savings, managing spending and bills, and obtaining personalized one-on-one financial coaching from trained professionals.The Payactiv app also features a free communication tool—Payactiv Connect—that enables employers and employees to connect for HR communications, company news, alerts, and shift scheduling.Key customers and partnershipsAs of November 2023, PayActiv’s platform was used by employees at over 4,000 businesses from industries such as retail and food services across the US, with some customers in Canada, Australia, the Philippines, and Brazil. Its clients include Walmart, Wayfair, Ibex Global and several others. It also entered into a partnership with US Bank in February 2022, where users of prepaid US Bank Focus Cards for payroll will be able to access their wages early.The company also has working partnerships with payment processors such as <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/23004">Fiserv</a> and <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/13061">Visa</a> to enable real-time transfer of earned wages to bank accounts of employees.

PayActiv

Based In the UK, Wagestream provides a financial wellness platform, offering a range of services including earned wage access, financial education, tools for savings, and pay and spend tracking. Wagestream’s tools are offered to employees through a mobile app, with an analytics platform for employers to monitor participation and financial resilience of staff.Employees can access their earned wages using the app by paying a flat fee of GBP 1.95 (USD 2.50) per withdrawal. The company’s platform has integrations with several payroll and timekeeping systems, enabling organizations to deploy Wagestream into their payroll process.Wagestream acquired 1) Australian earned-wage access startup Earnd in March 2021 to enter into the Australian market. 2) a credit card startup Keebos, in October 2023, to integrate Keebos credit score building platform (that uses open banking data) with Wagestream’s core offerings.Key customers and partnershipsAs of February 2024, Wagestream had a global user base of more than 3 million, which included more than 1,000 corporate customers in industries such as the retail, hospitality, and healthcare sectors. The company has offices in the US, UK, Spain, and Australia and some notable employers include Burger King, Pizza Hut, Crate &amp; Barrel, Bupa, University of Chicago, Popeyes, and National Health Service UK.The company also partnered with French Insuretch provider Wakam in August 2023, to introduce income protection coverage to its users.

Wagestream

Cleo offers tools for budgeting, and provides personalized spending and savings advice by connecting to a user's bank account and applying machine learning algorithms to analyze spending habits and transaction history. The app also provides access to an interactive chatbot which users can query to obtain on-demand suggestions (which has been supported by an in-house large language model since 2023).&nbsp;The platform also offers additional features such as a secured card to build credit score, direct debits, and salary advances.Cleo operates a subscription-based pricing on its budgeting and savings tools, with fee-based pricing on its cash advance offerings targeted at gig workers and workers with poor credit. The platform charges monthly subscription fees in the range of USD 1.99 - 5.99 on Cleo Plus offering and charges USD 10.99-14.99 on Cleo build offering.Cleo’s target market is the Gen-Z segment of the population and as of October 2023, the company had 7 million users, (up from 4 million in December 2020) and had USD 72.3 million annual recurring revenue (which was up 2.4x YoY)

Cleo

FinFit offers a financial wellness benefit platform for employers that uses predictive AI, and includes tools for employees to budget, track spending, set savings goals and obtain personalized financial assessments. The platform also provides access to certified financial counselors to obtain one-on-one financial advice. In addition to financial coaching, the company also offers services such as tools to manage student loan debt, get early access to earned wages, and obtain low-cost short-term loans backed by the employee’s salary. In April 2023, Fitfit merged with the US operations of UK-based financial wellness platform <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/342361">Salary Finance</a>. The two companies aim to launch a combined platform in the US under the Finfit brand.FinFit operates a subscription-based pricing model, and charges employers in the range of USD 0.30–1.00 per employee per month based on the size of the organizations and number of employees. The platform also generates revenue through interest income by charging users interest in the range of 7.9%–24.9% APR on its loans. It charges fixed interest on its lines of credit.As of March 2024, FinFit was reported to be serving more than 500,000 employees (up from 150,000 in 2020).Key customers and partnershipsIn September 2024, FinFit <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/33696">partnered with</a> <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/945256">Sunny Day Fund</a>, a financial support platform, to offer emergency savings accounts for employees through its SafetyNet platform. In August 2024, FinFit <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32581">partnered with</a> <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/493140">isolved</a>, a human capital management platform, to expand product reach.

FinFit

Offers end-to-end financial wellness solutions ranging from educational resources to interactive platforms/tools for managing finances as well as access to registered investment advisors.

Provides a platform for employees, through their employers, to access earned wages or obtain emergency interest-free funds/loans, which are settled through their paycheck.

Provides a platform for employers to provide resources such as tools and advice to manage employee debt (with an increased focus on student loan debt).

Apps and platforms that allow consumers to obtain personalized financial advice, automate savings, create budgets, and track and manage spending.

Offers interactive platforms/tools for employers to provide personalized financial education resources and/or coaching to its employees.

Solutions that enable companies to offer and manage employee-sponsored emergency savings accounts through automated payroll deductions.

Platforms for employers to support employees with other debts such as mortgages, credit card debt, etc. through repayment assistance, refinancing options, and automated administrative processes.

Operates a B2B SaaS model to support employers with offering various fringe benefits to employees

The Beans

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless