The inaugural production allows fans and creatives to extend The Disco Ball story and share the rewards of ownership

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 26, 2023 — StoryCo today announced it has closed a $6 million seed funding round from a notable group of investors with expertise in art, media, games, entertainment, and technology. The round was co-led by Collab + Currency and Patron with additional investment from Floodgate Ventures, Blockchange Ventures, Sfermion, Flamingo DAO and angels Lloyd Braun, Sabrina Hahn, Packy McCormick, GMoney, and executives from UTA and WME.

StoryCo has also announced the launch of its ground-breaking collaborative storytelling platform, where established Hollywood creators and passionate fans combine forces to build the next great media franchises and jointly participate in their success, and revealed the upcoming release of The Disco Ball, its first story universe led by Story Architect Kyle Killen (Halo, Fear Street: Part One – 1994, Awake, Mind Games) and world-renowned artists shelby and sandy.

StoryCo founders Justin and J.P. Alanís commented on today’s news: “We feel so fortunate to have Kyle as our first Story Architect working alongside shelby and sandy to create a new immersive storytelling experience. Kyle and shelby and sandy are trailblazers at the forefront of a new technological movement at StoryCo. We are building a new model that will drive the development of incredible new stories and allow our community of creatives and fans to contribute meaningfully to its expansion.”

Releasing on the StoryCo platform in early 2023, The Disco Ball is an immersive and collaborative storytelling experience – a first-of-its-kind interactive narrative unfolding across the StoryCo site, social media and real-world interactions. The Disco Ball follows Captain Alma Cooke and her team of astronauts on the International Space Station as they are thrust into an existential journey to save the multiverse – a journey that can only be completed with the community’s help. By deciphering puzzles, discovering artifacts, and solving quests as the story unfolds on the StoryCo platform, the community will experience Alma and her crew’s story and assist as they fight forces that seek to end the Universe as we know it.

Community members can now claim their Disco Ball StoryPass to collect and earn digital art related to key story moments and characters, culminating in an exclusive piece of rare digital art that also conveys the right to control the future of The Disco Ball story. Visitors to StoryCo can sign up today to join the community, claim their StoryPass and access pre-release content.

Investor and Partner Quotes:

“StoryCo has created a pathway for an entirely new form of storytelling, allowing for a freedom of creative expression that previously didn’t exist,” said Kyle Killen. “I’ve long been looking for a way to immerse the audience more deeply into the story by making them a part of both the story and the creative process, and the technologies made available by StoryCo now enable that to happen.”

“We are honored to be the first Story Artists on the StoryCo platform,” said shelby and sandy. “It has been an incredible experience working with Kyle and the StoryCo team to empower a new form of community storytelling through amazing art that brings The Disco Ball world to life.“

“Despite Hollywood and the entertainment industry growing into such a massive business around original IP in recent years, the creative talent that help to imagine and bring these stories to life are often overlooked and excluded from the value they help to create. We believe that better models will emerge which help emerging creative talent to capture and share in the value around these IP. We’re thrilled to be partnering with the StoryCo team as they look to build a platform which does just this, helping creatives attain more control and ownership of the IP they help to create,” said Jason Yeh, General Partner at Patron.

“Historically, fans of the most well known stories and IP are often downplayed as mere consumers, not as owners, collaborators, or sources of inspiration. That changes today. Our team couldn’t be more excited to back StoryCo, the internet’s first open ecosystem of story creation, interaction, and most importantly—ownership,” said Derek Edward Schloss, Managing Partner at Collab+Currency.

About StoryCo:

StoryCo is a platform where creators and passionate fans connect, collaborate, co-create, and co-own the next generation of story franchise IP alongside established Hollywood talent. Founded by brothers Justin Alanís and J.P. Alanís, StoryCo is backed by notable investors in art, media, games, entertainment, and technology. More information about StoryCo and its inaugural production, The Disco Ball, can be found at www.story.co.

For further information, please contact:
Justin Alanis
[email protected]

For media inquiries:
M Group Strategic Communications
Dillon Arace
[email protected]

SOURCE StoryCo

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 26, 2023 — Roots Homes, the company pioneering fractional homeownership, announced a $2.2mm funding round led by Other Ventures, with participation from Behind Genius Ventures and Waveline VC. The funds will enable the startup to accelerate the growth of their Las Vegas operations following a successful beta launch late last year. Roots’ mission is to make homeownership easy for Millennials and Gen-Z by offering a truly convenient way to own a home.

Roots’ fractional homeownership service upends the all-or-nothing nature of homeownership by allowing renters to purchase shares in their home each month. Roots will provide customers with a shopping budget to find a home. When they find one they like, Roots will buy it for them so they can move in. If the customer eventually wants to buy the home from Roots, they can, but they never have to. The equity a renter builds can be held long-term, go towards a downpayment, or be cashed out if they choose to move out. Roots will buy “most homes” in Las Vegas for their customers, allowing them to “test drive” a home to see if they like it before committing to buy it. Terms are 12 months and can be renewed year after year until a customer decides to either move out or purchase the home from Roots.

“In the last 10 years, wages have increased 34% while home prices have doubled. That means you need to save twice the money to buy a home with only 34% more income. For most people, homeownership is impossible,” said Lauren Self, Founder and CEO of Roots. “Roots eliminates the barrier to entry that traditional homeownership requires and makes it easy for renters to own by doing exactly what they’re doing now – renting.”

Roots began onboarding early customers late last year. They met their first customer, Trish Vea, in a Facebook group where Las Vegas locals look for housing. At the time, Vea’s large family was living in an apartment and dreamed of owning a home to give them more space. Vea said about Roots, “We are living proof that dreams come true. Roots helped us find a home in the area we like at a price we could afford. If you are looking for a home, I definitely recommend Roots. Let them make your dreams come true.”

For more information on Roots please visit www.Roots.Homes

SOURCE Roots Homes

Announces Work With Publicis And Dentsu, Advisors Actor Adrian Grenier, Activist Chelsea Miller And Ex-Lyft Exec Mike Masserman

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 26, 2023 — ValuesCo (www.values.co), a Web3 startup powering community-driven rewards ecosystems for good, has closed a $2.7 Million seed round. With the climate crisis, rising inequity, and hyperpolarization, 83% of Millennials & Gen Zs desire brands to align with their values (5WPR’s 2020 Consumer Culture Report). ValuesCo is enabling a collaborative future for brands, creators and nonprofits to co-create social & environmental impact with their audiences. The platform transforms marketing and community engagement into participatory experiences driving quantifiable impact. “I started ValuesCo to empower young people to feel more agency and understand that grassroots solutions to the world’s biggest challenges are possible,” says Co-founder & CEO Andrew Berkowitz.

ValuesCo (formerly Socialstack) has been used by watersports brand Starboard to incentivize cleanup of 770,000 pounds of ocean plastic, AfrofutureDAO to drive $1.1 Million to African history preservation, Christie’s to launch a social token experience, and the first two nonprofits to launch rewards tokens – Gen Z-founded OneUpAction debuted at Billie Eilish‘s 2022 tour.

The startup has begun working with global advertising holding companies Publicis Groupe and dentsu on client concepts and projects. 43 of the top 100 brands (Interbrand Best Global Brands 2022) have entered Web3 – including Nike & Reddit – with loyalty being the most common use case. Learning about this technology by harnessing it to build connection and community has become standard. However, brand purpose hasn’t been a core component, though acting on and communicating purpose has soared over recent years.

Investors in the round include leading Web3 funds including Flori Ventures, Metaweb Ventures, OWN Fund, and angels such as Celo President Rene Reinsberg and entrepreneur Richard Spanton Jr. ValuesCo has brought on key strategic advisors such as actor & UN Goodwill Ambassador Adrian Grenier, Gen Z activist & Muhammad Ali Foundation Humanitarian of the Year ’21 Chelsea Miller, ex-Lyft head of global policy & social impact Mike Masserman, and philosopher & author of Sacred Economics Charles Eisenstein.

“I am honored to join ValuesCo as an advisor – building blockchain tools that are easy to use and align monetary value exchange with real human value, are the foundation to an inclusive Web3,” says Adrian Grenier. “The team’s mission is fully aligned with my personal values.”

ValuesCo focuses on several gaps in Web3: education, consumer adoption of Web3 wallets, hands-on support required to launch a social token, and real-world impact. New paradigms of communities will emerge this decade through Web3’s enabling technology, and ValuesCo is committed to steering brands, nonprofits, and creators to build with purpose.

Values disrupts rewards & loyalty and the experience economy with purpose-driven communities and activations. Missions enable brands to enter Web3 without directly interfacing with blockchain.

The Values App enables rewards ecosystems for communities – and time-bound activations launched by brands. Values empowers communities to design & launch a social token with no code or blockchain knowledge. Community members create wallets instantaneously with phone/email login and earn tokens by completing actions and submitting proof via photo/social media, scanning QR codes, and more. Tokens are redeemed for rewards like products, experiences, and digital collectibles.

Starboard’s customers have participated in beach cleanups and verified goods purchased to earn branded tokens that can be redeemed for trees planted, discounts, and merchandise.

Today, the company unveils its new product Missions to drive shared purpose activations where brands and consumers embark on journeys together. Missions call on brands to champion impact goals that are reached through community action. “Corporations have largely not built in-roads to incentivize their communities to contribute to ESG performance,” says Justin Markell, ValuesCo Chief Strategy Officer “It’s time for a shift where consumers help fulfill on shared purpose with their actions and produce exponential change.”

With Missions, brands fund a reward pool and invite collaborators, including nonprofits & creators on ValuesCo, while unlocking the storytelling potential of the metaverse. The climate positive app is built on Ethereum, Polygon and Celo.

Over the past year, ValuesCo has cemented itself as a leader in the Web3 community space, empowering its communities to receive $2 Million in grant funding from blockchains including its own $350,000 grant fund, backed by Celo and its Climate Collective. It launched tokens for BridgingTheGap Ventures, which calls World Health Organization & Pitbull collaborators, and renowned DJ/activist BLOND:ISH‘s Bye Bye Plastic foundation. AfrofutureDAO, the first community on ValuesCo, is announcing a $1.65M grant from The HBAR Foundation, and the launch of its app for museums and cultural institutions. The DAO is a collective of African creators monetizing and digitizing art and historical archives to uplift the continent.

The name reflects the organization’s belief that society must realign economic value with values to create a just, regenerative future. “Value” in Latin is to be worth, or importance of something. “Co” is together. “Web3 enables new means of exchange, but we’re after something deeper – to help communities create value together,” Berkowitz explains. “By providing tools that align value with values through action, we see Web3 as a way to drive thousands of experiments that incentivize positive behavior through new forms of rewards and shared ownership.”

About ValuesCo – https://values.co/

ValuesCo is a climate-positive Web3 technology and experience company that powers rewards ecosystems for good. Brands, nonprofits and creators use our tools to inspire action that aligns value with values for the next gen. Founded & led by Millennials & Gen Zs, we believe a thriving world is realized through radical collaboration, access, and fun. ValuesCo is a 1% for the Planet member.

About Publicis Groupe – https://www.publicisgroupe.com/

Founded in 1926 and headquartered in Paris, Publics is the 3rd largest communications group in the world. Through a powerful alchemy of creativity and technology, we are driving business transformation across the entire value chain. Clients include Walmart, Verizon, Disney, and Visa.

About dentsu – https://www.dentsu.com/

Dentsu is the network designed for what’s next, helping clients predict and plan for disruptive future opportunities in the sustainable economy. Taking a people-centered approach to business transformation, dentsu combines Japanese innovation with a diverse, global perspective to drive client growth and to shape society.

About Celo – https://celo.org/

Celo is a carbon negative blockchain. It began with the intention of becoming the first carbon neutral platform by contributing offsets through the network protocol, making the resources powering it carbon-negative from the get-go. To date, Celo has offset over 2,285 tons of carbon through its work with Project Wren. It’s equal to the CO2 absorbed by 320,000 pine trees for a year. It’s enough to make Celo 8 times carbon negative based on Wren’s estimates.

Contact:
Andrew Berkowitz
[email protected] 

SOURCE ValuesCo

The investment completes Redivivus’ pre-seed fundraising round, totaling over $1 million

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Jan. 26, 2023 — Redivivus, a lithium-ion battery recycling startup, today announced an investment from ENEOS Innovation Partners, a corporate venture capital firm committed to delivering new energy, materials, and services to help realize a carbon neutral, recycling-oriented society for future generations. The investment by ENEOS Innovation Partners marks the final tranche of the pre-seed fundraising round by Redivivus, totaling over $1 million.

Redivivus provides safe end-of-life battery logistics. While the majority of the battery recycling industry is focused on materials processing, Redivivus is concerned with the first step of safely transporting hazardous end-of-life batteries prior to recovering critical elements through their patented technologies, Redi-Shred® and Redi-Cycle.

The initial collaboration between Redivivus and ENEOS Innovation Partners will accelerate the development of Redi-Shred®, a passivation technology to safely process end-of-life batteries at any state of charge or health. In the next phase, the goal is to develop a mobile system for specific use cases including the deployment of battery logistics vehicles. Toshihiro Horio of ENEOS Innovation Partners stated, “We hope for a truly eco-friendly, safe, and reliable battery recycling by innovation.”

Redivivus is utilizing the pre-seed funds to build their first integrated Redi-Shred® system. The company is planning pilot programs with partners in the United States. The three-part passivation system includes cryogenics to slow the thermal kinetics of batteries in any state of charge or health, customized shredding equipment and conveyance, and a neutralizing bath to render material ready for transport.

“The pre-seed funding round is a stepping stone to showcase the need for technology that is considerate of the realities of battery recycling” stated Luke Workman, Redivivus CTO.

Redivivus CEO, Erika Guerrero, concluded “Redivivus is honored for the opportunity to create global recycling technology. The collaboration with ENEOS Innovation Partners is aligned with our commitment to a global view on technologies that improve life for all beings.”

About Redivivus

Redivivus is the complete solution to lithium-ion battery recycling. Our proprietary technologies provide white-glove logistics, disassembly and material recovery service for end-of-life batteries. If you are interested in recycling with Redivivus, please fill out the form at https://www.redivivus.tech/survey or send us an email at [email protected]. Discover more at www.redivivus.tech.

SOURCE Redivivus

Elaborate’s technology offers doctors a way to contextualize health data and deliver clear, action-oriented communications to their patients.

NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2023 — Elaborate, the tool that doctors and their staff use to deliver contextualized, action-oriented lab results to patients, announced today it has raised $10 million in Seed funding. The funding round was led by Tusk Venture Partners, with participation from Founder Collective, Company Ventures, Bling Ventures, and Arkitekt Ventures, as well as renown investors such as Elliot Cohen (Pillpack, Amazon), Sara Wajnberg (Oscar), Scott Belsky (Behance, Adobe), and Sean and Peter Glass, MD (Advantia).

Today, over 44% of patients getting routine bloodwork will receive at least one out-of-range value that is not clinically relevant or an immediate cause for concern, but causes the patient to call or message their practitioner for clarification. In the past, clinical practices have withheld results from patients to ease the burden of panicked patient calls and messages. However, the recent 21st Century Cures Act mandates the electronic release of all medical records to patients, including test results, without delay. While this mandate ensures patients have access to their own health data, it has unintended consequences for a doctor’s workload, skyrocketing the number of questions patients have about their lab results.

Launched in 2021, Elaborate seamlessly integrates with a doctor’s existing electronic medical records (EMRs) to deliver patients personalized and contextualized lab results that offer insights about their health and action items in real-time. By providing contextualized health data, Elaborate reduces unnecessary back-and-forth between patient and doctor, while giving patients greater agency over their health.

“When patients receive lab results without context, they consistently do 2 things: start Googling and then reach out to their doctor in panic after they’ve diagnosed themselves with something new,” said Nicole Bocskocksy, CEO and Founder of Elaborate. “Regulation requiring the direct release of health data has the right intent, but fails to consider the extra work it creates for doctors and the poor patient experience. I’ve witnessed firsthand how doctors are bombarded by unnecessary patient questions following routine bloodwork. They spend hours of their personal time answering the same basic questions over and over again, knowing they’ll be doing it again the next time the patient gets their results. I created Elaborate with the vision of our software acting as the doctor’s trusted assistant, offering a credible, clinically-backed explanation to the patient to give doctors desperately needed relief from these administrative tasks.”

To deliver this new patient experience, Elaborate’s technology leverages underlying clinical guidelines sourced from reputable sources such as UptoDate and PubMed, as well as a medical advisory board of clinicians with years of experience at institutions like Mt. Sinai and John Hopkins. Additionally, it offers clients the option to incorporate custom protocols to fit their clinical approach. Using Elaborate’s bespoke technology, doctors reduce their administrative workload by an average of 32 mins every day, freeing up more time for in-person patient care, education, and diagnosis.

“When Nicole first came to me with the concept, I thought it would be impossible to capture the clinical nuance when interpreting these reports,” shares Amy Esposito, MD, member of Elaborate’s medical advisory board and Medical Director at Reside Health. “But what the team at Elaborate has been able to do for their clients, including my practice, is nothing short of remarkable. Because they’re plugged into the EMR, they use all of the information in the patient’s chart to summarize the key findings and help them schedule a billable followup visit if necessary. Plus they customize everything our clinical protocols for us. Our team has saved a ton of time and frustration, but even more importantly, our patients love the ease and clarity of the results.”

Acting as the doctor’s trusted assistant in delivering health data to patients is a novel concept in addressing growing practitioner burnout. “Given how strained our healthcare system already is, we can’t continue to rely on doctors to manage inboxes when they should be spending time with patients. Elaborate allows doctors to comply with new regulatory requirements around health data sharing and gives patients control of their health quickly and seamlessly” said Jordan Nof, co-founder and managing partner of Tusk Venture Partners.

Elaborate was founded in 2021 by former Oscar and Parsley Health executive, Nicole Bocskocsky. The company plans to use the funding to grow their team and deliver a more deeply embedded practitioner experience for select EMRs. Jordan Nof, Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Tusk Venture Partners, will join the Board of Directors.

About Elaborate
Elaborate is the platform for practitioners to share lab results that tell patients what their health data means and what to do next. The company’s technology integrates with doctors’ EMRs and analyzes patient data with Elaborate’s proprietary clinical insights engine, enabling doctors to send a personalized report summarizing patients’ key findings. The technology is responsible for covering 500,000 patients and has integrations live with 65+ EMRs.

Contact:
Rachel Livingston
[email protected]

SOURCE Elaborate

Additional Backing from Marcy Venture Partners to Support New Product Innovation and Continued Growth

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 26, 2023 — Spatial Labs, the leading infrastructure company powering new technologies to redefine the consumer experience for the next generation, announced today a $10 million seed funding round led by Blockchain Capital, a leading venture firm in the blockchain industry. Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners has also returned to participate in this round. The close of the seed round brings the company’s total funding to over $14 million.

“Our investment in Spatial Labs reflects our view that this technology presents an unparalleled opportunity to solve some of the landscape’s most complex challenges,” said Bart Stephens, Founder & Managing Partner of Blockchain Capital. “By empowering new business models, delivering immersive experiences, and providing insights into consumer needs, Spatial Labs will continue to shape and power the future of commerce and connectivity in Web3.”

“Spatial Labs is designing next-gen technologies to connect brands to younger demographics that shop and interact with products in completely new ways. Through our technology solutions, we provide brands with rich consumer data and previously inaccessible revenue models,” said Iddris Sandu, Founder of Spatial Labs. “The consumer goods industry is at a pivotal inflection point. Partnering with ambitious, innovative investors that align with our core ethos will enable Spatial Labs to continue to deliver the tangible innovations that brands and consumers are asking for.”

The new capital will support efforts to scale and diversify Spatial Labs’ proprietary blockchain-enabled tech stack, deepen the company’s footprint across the consumer goods landscape, and expand into other industries, including media and entertainment. It will also be allocated towards a range of technical, business, and strategic team development efforts targeting C-Suite executives. These initiatives are intended to accelerate Spatial Lab’s consumer-centric product innovation and continued rapid growth.

“Spatial Labs has already demonstrated incredible innovation in technology and culture. Iddris and team have the acumen to seamlessly connect products in the physical and digital world, making products that drive user joy,” said Larry Marcus Co-Founder and Managing Director of Marcy Venture Partners.

This marks the second investment from Marcy Ventures Partners, following a pre-seed raise of $4 million in 2021 to support the debut of Spatial Labs and launch of LNQ, an innovative, state-of-the-art chip platform that uses blockchain technology to authenticate products and unlock digital twins. Additional investment came from seasoned founders and entrepreneurs, including Ron Burkle (Co-Founder of Yucaipa Capital, Founder of Soho House group), Scooter Braun (Raised in Space VC Studio), Anthony Tolliver (Former NBA Player, Principal at Wealthlete Private Equity), and Bobby Wagner (Seattle Seahawks linebacker and Partner of VC Studio Fuse Venture Partners).

Founded by 25-year-old entrepreneur and business creative Iddris Sandu, Spatial Labs is committed to creating vertically integrated hardware and software solutions that serve as a physical entry point into the digital world – while delivering real-world utility. The LNQ One Chip, a proprietary 13mm microchip, allows any item to be scaled into a traceable digital asset on the blockchain and provides owners with a digital ledger that tracks a physical item’s authenticity, origin, ownership history, real-time value and enables added benefits such as loyalty incentives, enhanced insights and more.

In addition to empowering more conscious consumption, the LNQ One Chip opens new post-secondary revenue models and is poised to completely revolutionize the brand-to-consumer relationship in the physical and digital world. This technology provides an effective end-all solution for brands, retailers, and creators to reach and engage with their core audience, resulting in increased loyalty and consumer lifetime value.

The LNQ On-Chain Network is powered by Polygon, the leading blockchain development platform offering scalable, affordable, secure, and sustainable blockchains for Web3. The two companies partnered in December to release their first official collaboration, ‘Orbs by Spatial Labs’ x Polygon, a double-layered cotton crewneck embedded with the signature LNQ One Chip. The exclusive offering features a generative graphic on the front and branding on the back. By scanning the Orb, users can view an exclusive AR experience and gain access to future drops and Spatial Labs + Polygon ticketed events.

Since its inception in 2020, Spatial Labs has delivered the most innovative hardware-software infrastructure shaping the future of commerce, consumer experience, and connectivity between brands and the next generation. For more information on Spatial Labs, please visit slabs.one.

ABOUT SPATIAL LABS

Spatial Labs (sLABS) is an industry-leading hardware/software infrastructure company powering the next generation of Web3 technology. Founded by technologist and entrepreneur Iddris Sandu, Spatial Labs is committed to driving innovation at the intersection of culture, community, connectivity, and limitless design to revolutionize the future of the human experience. The company’s first product LNQ, an innovative state-of-the-art blockchain-enabled hardware platform, was publicly launched in May 2022. LNQ aims to make the Web3 more accessible and provide creators with decentralized tools to engage with their communities through LNQ’s proprietary, real-time processing stack. To learn more, visit slabs.one.

ABOUT BLOCKCHAIN CAPITAL

Founded in 2013, Blockchain Capital is one of the earliest and most active investors in the blockchain technology industry and the crypto ecosystem. Blockchain Capital has raised seven and deployed five prior venture funds, including the first ever ICO of a venture fund (BCAP) in April of 2017. The firm is based in San Francisco and was founded by serial entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley investors Bart Stephens and Brad Stephens. To learn more, please visit www.blockchaincapital.com or follow @blockchaincap on Twitter.

ABOUT MARCY VENTURE PARTNERS

Marcy Venture Partners (MVP) was Co-Founded by Shawn Carter (JAY-Z), Jay Brown and Larry Marcus. MVP has a passion for building game-changing businesses and mass-market brands. The firm invests in Consumer & Culture with an emphasis on positive impact including sustainability, inclusivity, accessibility, empowerment and health & wellness. Our companies are led by exceptional management teams with clear vision, purpose and executional excellence. We lead or co-invest in companies that have meaningful brand values, high customer joy driven by an outstanding product, demonstrated growth and clear catalysts for the next level of scale. https://www.marcyvp.com

Media Contact:
Factory PR
[email protected]

SOURCE Spatial Labs

Largest Pool of Capital in Firm’s History to Fuel Continued Investment in Technology and Healthcare Companies Across Stage, Sector and Geography

MENLO PARK, Calif. and NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2023 — New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) today announced that it has closed on approximately $6.2 billion across two funds, bringing the firm’s assets under management to over $25 billion as of December 31, 2022. The new pair of funds marks a first for NEA, with one dedicated to early-stage investing and the other to venture growth-stage opportunities, reflecting the 45-year-old firm’s continuous evolution of its model over decades.

Both funds will be invested across a broad range of technology and healthcare sectors, including enterprise and consumer technology, digital health and life sciences. Consistent with the firm’s strategy over many funds, investing activities will span the entire lifecycle of company building, from incubation and seed-stage investments to fueling the growth of market leaders.

“We are deeply grateful to our Limited Partners for the trust they have placed in our team, and excited to have raised the largest pool of capital in NEA’s history at a time of great uncertainty, but also tremendous opportunity,” said Scott Sandell, Managing General Partner, NEA. “Our own performance over decades strongly affirms the importance of both peaks and troughs in a healthy ecosystem for innovation and company building, and we look forward to supporting founders at every stage with both the capital and the cycle-tested expertise NEA has always brought to bear in tough times.”

NEA’s history of steadily investing in both technology and healthcare through challenging economic environments spans decades, resulting in a deeply experienced team and affirming that innovation cycles, not market cycles, are among the most important in fueling long-term success. Working alongside founders to build strong companies that can survive and thrive in any market is a hallmark of NEA’s approach, and the firm believes that the innovation unfolding across its core sectors of focus will create abundant opportunities for investment across its new funds.

“As technology transforms every industry globally, we see an expanding opportunity set at both the early and growth stages that our team is exceptionally well-positioned to execute on given our deep domain expertise across core sectors of innovation including software, infrastructure, fintech, next-generation web technologies and artificial intelligence,” said Tony Florence, Managing General Partner, Technology.

“Healthcare innovation has never been more important than at this moment in time,” said Mohamad Makhzoumi, Managing General Partner, Healthcare. “With the industry on the precipice of dramatic change, we are eager to build on NEA’s enduring legacy of creating and investing in the next generation of tech-enabled healthcare disruptors and transformational life sciences companies.”

Sandell, who has led NEA’s investments in a broad range of technology companies for nearly three decades, enters his third investing cycle as the firm’s managing general partner with the new funds. NEA’s core investing practices will continue to be led by Tony Florence, Managing General Partner, Technology; and Mohamad Makhzoumi, Managing General Partner, Healthcare. Florence and Makhzoumi joined the firm in 2008 and 2005, respectively, and were elevated to their current roles in 2021. The long tenure among NEA’s leadership team reflects a focus on mentorship and emphasis on promoting from within that spans decades. Each of the firm’s general partners was promoted to their current role, with an average tenure of 17 years.

About NEA

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. Founded in 1977, NEA has over $25 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2022 and invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm’s long track record of investing includes more than 270 portfolio company IPOs and more than 450 mergers and acquisitions. For more information, please visit www.nea.com.

Contact: 

NEA
Kate Barrett    [email protected]
Erica Sunkin   [email protected]

SOURCE NEA

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 26, 2023 — Ethos Wallet, a product for users to access digital assets and decentralized applications, today announced a seed round of $4.2 million led Boldstart Ventures and gumi Cryptos Capital (gCC) with additional participation from Mysten Labs, Tribe Capital, Matrixport, Charge Ventures, Builder Capital, Alliance DAO, Meltem Demirors and others. The company plans to use the funds to increase headcount, continue the development of its wallet, developer infrastructure and apps, and expand capabilities outside of traditional wallet functionality.

Ethos, co-founded by Nadia Eldeib (CEO) and Jared Cosulich (CTO), was the first application live on the Sui developer network. Sui is a layer 1 blockchain built by Mysten Labs, a team previously from Facebook’s Diem team who raised over $300M in funding. Ethos was founded on the core principle of providing users an easy-to-use and secure wallet to not only store and trade crypto, but also discover and experience other applications on the Sui blockchain. The company’s technology will also make it easier for developers to build decentralized applications on the Sui blockchain.

The Sui blockchain and the smart contract language Sui Move have advanced the technological capabilities for the blockchain developer community. The future of apps is undergoing a revolution where new, consumer-friendly and creative use cases and applications can now exist, and will be built by established consumer brands and web3 pioneers alike. Ethos is working to make this future, where apps and wallet are integrated, experiential and interconnected, possible.

In addition to its crypto wallet, the company has built and launched the first fully on-chain game on the Sui blockchain’s developer network, called Sui 8192, as well recently releasing on-chain chess and checkers games. These games are interactive and dynamic NFTs, which are also integrated and can be played directly in the Ethos wallet explorer. Sui 8192 has become one of the most popular applications on the Sui developer network, with an average of over 100,000 transactions per day.

Sui 8192 is an NFT in itself with every move recorded on-chain. 8192 is an example of how decentralized applications will evolve on Sui. The game can be discovered through the Ethos Wallet. The wallet is a place that features discoverability for games and experiences on the Sui blockchain. In addition to the wallet, you can safely pre-approve batch transactions with the Ethos Chrome extension wallet for the fastest Sui 8192 game experience, which is a capability exclusive to sui.

CEO and Co-Founder, Nadia Eldeib commented on today’s news, “When we first set our sights on developing a wallet on the Sui blockchain, it became our mission to evolve what a crypto wallet is. Currently, they are viewed as a place to store crypto assets, however, they have the capability to do much more. With Ethos, we’re working on developing, discovering and interacting with blockchain-based applications and to make those interactions safer and easier to use. We are excited for the future of Ethos and to continue working with the Mysten Labs team to grow the ecosystem in advance of the Mainnet launch.”

Sign up for Ethos Wallet at ethoswallet.xyz.

For developers looking to build applications on the Sui blockchain using the EthosConnect kit to connect to Ethos and other Sui wallets, onboard walletless users with email, get the starter app and documentation, visit here, visit here.

Investor Quotes

Ed Sim, founder and General Partner, boldstart ventures – “One of the gating factors for adoption of decentralized applications has been a lack of powerful developer tooling for builders and ease of use, security, and discovery for end users. We’re thrilled to back Nadia and Jared as Ethos Wallet will unleash a whole new class of dApp users with APIs for developers to easily build reimagined wallets with the ease of use of any web application.”

Miko Matsumura, Managing Partner at gumi Cryptos Capital – “We look for something we call gumicorn founders. This type of person has ultra-high conviction and world-class product skills needed to thrive in a bear market. Nadia Eldeib is one of those people.”

Adeniyi Abiodun, Mysten Labs Co-Founder and CPO – “It is rare to see fundamental advancements in functionality in crypto, and we believe Ethos represents just that with wallets. Partnering with the Ethos team to build user-friendly and experience-oriented infrastructure for developers and consumers in the Sui ecosystem is exceptionally exciting, and we look forward to building together.”

About Ethos

Ethos is a wallet reimagined as a home base for users on the Sui blockchain. The mission of Ethos is to provide web3 users a simple and integrated experience to store digital assets, and discover and engage with decentralized applications.

How Ethos Works

To get started, download the Ethos Wallet Chrome extension (or in the future, mobile application). After you create an account, you can start exploring applications, NFTs, and projects.

CONTACT: Peter Padovano, [email protected]

SOURCE Ethos Wallet

Seed Round Led by Equal Ventures

Funds will Bolster Suppli’s Mission of Reducing Payment Friction for Independent Suppliers in the $500 Billion Construction Materials Industry

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 26, 2023 — Suppli, the digital accounts receivable platform that enables construction suppliers to turn their credit department into a competitive advantage, today announced it has raised $3.1 million in seed funding. Equal Ventures led the round, with additional participation from Audacious Ventures, Dash Fund, Chase Gilbert (CEO of Built Technologies) and Ali Javid (CEO of Wrapbook).

While over $500 billion of construction materials are sold in the U.S. each year, many vendors rely on manual paperwork, homemade spreadsheets or dated software solutions that don’t address the unique workflows of this industry or meet the demands of an increasingly digital customer base. In fact, by 2024, 60 percent of material buyers will be digital natives, according to U.S. BLS Employment Projections. Currently, paying for construction materials requires, on average, more than 15 documents for each sale, it takes about 83 days to get paid in construction, and more than 40 percent of suppliers don’t offer online payment.

Enter Suppli, the only software solution that empowers independent material suppliers and distributors to turn routine account management and payment tasks into a delightful, digital customer experience that competes with national and big box suppliers.

“The big brands like Builders FirstSource, Home Depot and Lowes are hiring thousands of software engineers and investing billions in customer-facing technology to capture these modern buyers. Simply having an online payment portal isn’t enough. Suppli levels the playing field for independent vendors allowing them to offer a comprehensive solution with features like text-based payments, automated lien waiver requests, one-click deposits, full mobile-responsiveness and more,” said Ryan Ayers, Suppli co-founder. “We are 100 percent focused on material vendors which enables us to deliver these last mile features, build true integrations with industry ERPs and charge a simple flat fee similar to what most vendors pay for just basic payment processing today. With this investment, we’ll be able to significantly grow headcount, offer new services and accelerate product development.” 

Suppli also empowers construction credit and finance professionals with the modern tools they deserve to manage accounts more efficiently, freeing them to focus on value-added customer service. This is particularly critical given today’s tight labor market and the need for vendors to attract younger workers who demand the latest software.

“The construction industry has traditionally not relied upon technology and as the industry begins its digitization process, Suppli is at the forefront of that digital transformation by enabling material suppliers to digitize their payment flows and for the first time provide their customers with a payment and credit flow that they are used to seeing in their personal lives,” commented Richard Kerby, co-founder of Equal Ventures.

Suppli’s co-founders previously ran a material distributor in Texas where they experienced first-hand the challenges and complexities facing material vendors on a daily basis. “We built Suppli as the software we always wanted for ourselves but could never find,” said Thanasi Skafidas, Suppli co-founder. “Trade credit is the lifeblood of a material vendor, but is often viewed as a ‘back office’ function. Suppli turns the credit relationship into a competitive advantage by making it convenient, seamless and less risky.”

Since publicly launching in Q4 2022, Suppli’s active customer count is already in the double digits, and top material suppliers across the country, ranging from lumberyards to insulation contractors and beyond, are using the platform to power credit and payments for their combined 50,000-plus end customers. The new financing will allow Suppli to build on this momentum and expand its team and product offerings with multiple new features and financial products planned for this year.

About Suppli
Suppli is a digital accounts receivable platform that enables construction suppliers to turn their credit department into a competitive advantage. Top material vendors leverage Suppli to deliver the digital customer experience their customers demand and supercharge their credit teams with tools to get paid faster and reduce risk. Suppli is led by a veteran founding team of building materials suppliers, software engineers and financial experts.

For more information, or to schedule a demo, please visit www.gosuppli.com.

Media contact:
Scott Cianciulli
The Plunkett Group
(212) 739-6753
[email protected] 

SOURCE Suppli