Rho Acceleration, a division of Rho Capital Partners, focuses on control or joint-control investments into ''transitional'' middle market technology companies, which we believe is a burgeoning yet underserved category in today's private equity markets.

Rho Acceleration

Allen & Company is a family-owned investment and advisory firm. The firm advises on M&A and capital raises, with an emphasis on the technology, media, healthcare, and sports sectors. Allen & Company was established in 1932 and is headquartered in New York, United States.

Allen & Company

American Public Media Group is engaged in public radio, theater rental, commercial radio, and publishing activities.   American Public Media Group is the largest owner and operator of public radio stations and a premier producer and distributor of public radio programming in the nation. It is also the largest producer and distributor of classical music programming in the United States.   The company operates station brands and services such as Minnesota Public Radio, which produces and acquires radio programming of community value for broadcast through a network of radio stations to the people of Minnesota and its border communities reflecting the culture, events, issues, and ideas of Minnesota and its people; Southern California Public Radio, which produces and acquires programs related to the people of Southern California and the United States, including the production and broadcast of local, West Coast, and Pacific Rim news and information programming; Fitzgerald Theater, which hosts various concerts, lectures, and productions; and Pretty Good Goods Catalog that sells program-related and psychographically-related goods to consumers.   The company also engages in printed communications activities primarily through the publication of Minnesota Monthly, an advertiser- and subscriber-supported monthly magazine as well as in various consumer show promotions. In addition, it offers community and commerce services to the public radio audience.   American Public Media Group has a strategic alliance with Radio Time, Inc. It was formerly known as Minnesota Communications Group and changed its name to American Public Media Group in May 1999. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

American Public Media

Progress Ventures is an early-stage investment fund focused exclusively on the emerging platforms in media and marketing technology. We partner with experienced entrepreneurs and commit capital to promising start-ups seeking to become active and integral pieces of the digital marketing and content ecosystem.

Progress Ventures

Cox Media Group is an integrated broadcasting, publishing, direct marketing and digital media company.    The company’s operations include television stations, radio stations, daily newspapers and more than a dozen non-daily publications.   The company employees over 7,000 people and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Cox Media Group

Cox Enterprises is a communications, media, and automotive services company. With revenues of $18 billion and approximately 60,000 employees, the company's major operating subsidiaries include Cox Communications (cable television distribution, high-speed Internet access, telephone, home security, and automation, commercial telecommunications, and advertising solutions); Cox Automotive (automotive-related auctions, financial services, media, and software solutions); and Cox Media Group (television and radio stations, digital media, newspapers, and advertising sales rep firms). The company's major national brands include Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book, and Manheim. Through Cox Automotive, the company's international operations stretch across Asia, Australia, Europe, and Latin America.

Cox Enterprises

Skyword

Skyword moves marketing leaders and those who create content for them forward. By embracing a sustainable, scalable approach to original storytelling, Skyword liberates brands from ineffective marketing practices and inspires them to create deeper connections with their audiences. The Skyword Platform makes it easy to produce, optimize, and promote content at any scale to create meaningful, lasting relationships. Skyword also provides access to a community of thousands of freelance writers and videographers, an editorial team, and program managers who help move clients’ content marketing programs to new levels of creative excellence. Skyword is a privately held company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with offices in Palo Alto, CA, and New York City. The company’s technology center is located in Pittsburgh, PA.   Investors include Cox Media Group, Allen & Company, Progress Ventures, and American Public Media Group.

Skyword is a leading content creation software and services company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It provides a platform that enables brands to create high-quality content at scale. Skyword's content creation technology includes tools for ideation, workflow management, automation, and performance tracking. The company's AI-powered capabilities like Content Atomization allow repurposing content for multiple channels and personas. Skyword also offers access to a global network of freelance creators and managed services like content strategy, editorial support, and digital production.

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Skyword is a leading content creation software and services company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It provides a platform that enables brands to create high-quality content at scale. Skyword's content creation technology includes tools for ideation, workflow management, automation, and performance tracking. The company's AI-powered capabilities like Content Atomization allow repurposing content for multiple channels and personas. Skyword also offers access to a global network of freelance creators and managed services like content strategy, editorial support, and digital production.
Skyword360, the company's flagship content marketing platform, allows users to collect and discuss ideas from contributors, plan content calendars, and assign tasks. It streamlines content workflows while maintaining quality through automated governance and expert review. Skyword's data-driven insights ensure content resonates with target audiences. The platform's Digital Asset Manager organizes and centrally stores all digital assets.
In May 2024, Skyword launched AI-powered content optimization within its Accelerator360 tool, enabling automated audit and enhancement of existing website content to boost search performance. This complements Accelerator360's capabilities for creating fresh, SEO-optimized content at scale.

Canva is a graphic design platform that offers a web-based suite of tools and features for creating professional-looking designs for various purposes, including social media graphics, presentations, marketing materials, and more. Founded in 2013 by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams, Canva provides an intuitive and user-friendly interface with drag-and-drop functionality, an extensive library of templates, graphics, and fonts, allowing users to design without extensive technical expertise.
Canva's key product offerings revolve around its versatile design tool that enables users to create visually engaging content. The platform incorporates features such as customizable templates, a vast collection of graphics and images, video editing capabilities, and tools for designing websites, presentations, and documents. Canva's collaborative features allow multiple users to work on designs simultaneously, fostering teamwork and streamlining the creative process.
In 2021, Canva generated revenue of over USD 1 billion, with 10 million paid subscribers and 4.5 million paid team subscriptions. The company has experienced remarkable growth, amassing 90 million users as of October 2022. Canva's profitability and strong cash reserves, with USD 700 million on hand, have positioned it as a resilient player in the industry, even during challenging economic conditions.
To further enhance its offerings, Canva has acquired several companies, including Zeetings (a presentations startup), Pexels and Pixabay (stock photography websites), Kaleido.ai (an Australian startup), and Smartmockups (a Czech-based company). In September 2022, Canva announced the launch of its "Canva Worksuite," a comprehensive suite of products aimed at professionals, including Canva Docs (a document editor), Canva Websites (a website builder), and Canva Whiteboards, among others.
Key customers and partnerships
Canva has established partnerships with various companies to expand its reach and enhance its offerings. In 2020, Canva signed contracts with FedEx Office and Office Depot, enabling users to print and ship their designs directly from the platform.
The company has also forged strategic collaborations with industry leaders, such as its recent partnership with Affinity, a provider of professional-grade creative software. This alliance aims to bridge the gap between user-friendly platforms and professional-grade tools, empowering creators at all levels.
Furthermore, Canva has gained significant traction within the enterprise sector, with 85% of Fortune 500 companies, including FedEx, L'Oréal, and Salesforce, utilizing Canva's design tools. As of 2022, Canva reported having 4.4 million customers paying for its "Canva for Teams" offering, demonstrating its growing presence in the business world.

Canva

Grammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant that helps professionals and students communicate effectively across various platforms and devices. Developed by linguists and engineers, Grammarly uses algorithms to provide suggestions for improving grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity, conciseness, tone, and overall style.
Grammarly's key product offerings include a free version with basic writing suggestions, as well as premium and business plans with advanced features like full-sentence rewrites, plagiarism detection, vocabulary enhancements, and brand tone consistency. The AI analyzes writing in real-time and makes contextual recommendations to ensure the message resonates with the intended audience.
One of Grammarly's standout capabilities is its seamless integration with over 500,000 apps and websites, allowing users to receive writing feedback wherever they type.
Key customers and partnerships
Grammarly has formed partnerships with educational institutions like Harvard University and Stanford University to help students and faculty improve their writing proficiency. Its business plan serves companies across various industries, assisting teams in maintaining consistency and adherence to specific brand tones through customizable style guides.
As of June 2024, Grammarly's user base includes over 30 million people worldwide and over 70,000 professional teams.

Grammarly

Picsart is a digital content creation platform that offers a suite of AI-powered tools for creating and editing images, videos, GIFs, logos, and other visual content. The company's flagship product, Picsart Ignite, comprises over 20 AI tools that enable users to generate visuals, enhance existing content, and streamline creative workflows.
Picsart's AI capabilities span image generation, upscaling, object removal, background replacement, style transfer, and avatar creation. Its tools cater to both individual creators and businesses, assisting with tasks like designing social media posts, ads, and product visuals. The platform has seen significant adoption, with over 2 million AI-generated images produced daily as of November 2023.
The company has also expanded its enterprise offerings, launching an API program in February 2022 that allows businesses to integrate Picsart's creative tools into their platforms. This move aims to support the creator economy by enabling businesses to offer deeper creative experiences.
Key customers and partnerships
In June 2024, Picsart announced a partnership with Getty Images, a leading provider of stock imagery. This collaboration enables Picsart subscribers to generate unique images with commercial rights and indemnity directly within the platform, streamlining the content creation process for marketers and businesses.
Additionally, Picsart has integrated its tools with Walsworth Yearbooks, one of America's largest yearbook printers. This integration grants students access to Picsart's photo editing suite, enhancing their yearbook design capabilities with AI-powered solutions.

Picsart

Typeform is a no-code SaaS platform offering conversational forms, quizzes, surveys, and asynchronous video solutions to help companies engage with their audiences and grow their businesses. Founded in Barcelona in 2012 by David Okuniev and Robert Muñoz, Typeform revolutionized online data collection by emphasizing empathy and seamless design to make digital interactions feel more human. The platform's intuitive, mobile-responsive forms feature one question at a time, natural language, and built-in logic to emulate real conversations.
Typeform's core product allows users to create visually appealing, customizable forms without coding. Its paid plans, ranging from USD 290 to USD 990 annually, offer advanced features such as unlimited questions, payment integration, and email notifications. The platform integrates with various business tools like HubSpot, Google Sheets, MailChimp, and Salesforce.

Typeform

Ceros is a cloud-based experiential content creation platform that empowers marketers and designers to create rich, interactive content without code or traditional web development. The Ceros platform provides a no-code solution for creating and publishing engaging digital experiences that drive user engagement, lead generation, and sales.
At the core of Ceros is a design studio that offers complete creative control, enabling users to develop and deploy pixel-perfect layouts using a familiar freeform canvas. They can incorporate animations, interactions, and multimedia elements into their designs using presets and templates. The studio facilitates collaboration, with features for real-time previews across devices, version control, and file management.
Ceros simplifies the creative workflow by allowing direct import of design files from Adobe Creative Cloud apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, and integration with Getty Images library. It is compatible with all major CMS platforms for seamless embedding of interactive content on websites. Published experiences can be easily updated in real-time and optimized for search discoverability.
Ceros has evolved from a digital publishing startup in 2012 to a comprehensive experiential content solution serving enterprise clients across industries. With over 350 employees, it reported annual recurring revenue of over USD 50 million as of September 2022 after raising USD 133.5 million in funding led by Sumeru Equity Partners.

Ceros

Assists content writers in creating digital written media including blogs, ebooks, magazines, and journals.

Offers tools to create pictures, videos, animations, and other visual media.

Assists in creating a variety of digital media channels including podcasts, polls, quizzes, and surveys.

Platforms for discovering and purchasing digital content. Typically offering a repository of digital content or a marketplace to discover and connect with content creators.

Tools for collaboration between internal and external team members on content creation.

Platforms that provide an all-in-one solution that covers the entire content creation process. Typically also provides consultancy services covering content strategy, design, and analytics.

NLP automates the creation of personalized written media content for different use cases

For written and visual content creation AI/ML is a core part of the end result

Uses generative AI to automate the creation of personalized content across multiple media formats

Skyword

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