Funding round led by Automotive Ventures; other investors include NP Hard, Connect Ventures, Tesla Alumni, and more than a dozen EV charging industry leaders

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 17, 2023 — eDRV, an API-first electric vehicle (EV) charging management solution used at over 7,500 charging locations globally, announced today it has closed on a seed funding round with an international set of investors, including Automotive Ventures from the United States, NP-Hard from the Netherlands, and Connect Ventures from the United Kingdom.

The investment firms are joined by more than a dozen angel investors and EV industry leaders from Tesla, Volta, and others. The funding will accelerate eDRV’s new solution for electric fleets, enhance the company’s existing platform for charging providers and deepen overall customer penetration in the rapidly growing US market.

“Each EV charger company operates their proprietary software,” said Automotive Ventures CEO, Steve Greenfield. “eDRV has built and manages an API layer similar to what Stripe and Plaid have done for financial services. They make it simple for any third party to integrate. In two years, I wouldn’t be surprised if a number of fleets here in the US are leveraging eDRV to run their networks.”

This latest investment demonstrates the value eDRV already delivers to dozens of global customers and the growing necessity of the company’s solution as the electrification of transportation accelerates. eDRV’s existing software empowers charging providers to quickly design and launch charging networks that maximize utilization and revenue potential. The company’s solution is also highly customizable. An API-first design offers customers flexibility of services, including hardware selection, payments, pricing, energy management, and integration with enterprise IT systems, and flexibility of applications, including multi-family apartments, retail, and hospitality.

eDRV’s core solutions consist of three primary components, which allow customers to launch charging services that immediately rival the largest charging networks:

1. A set of SDKs and APIs for creating a fully custom EV charging experience for drivers using web or mobile apps.
2. Starter or white-label applications to quickly convert EV charging stations into revenue generating assets. eDRV’s pre-configured payment links make it easy for drivers to pay for charging via Apple or Google pay.
3. An advanced toolkit consisting of pricing management, driver reimbursement, energy management, and marketing tools for charging businesses.

“The EV charging industry remains highly siloed, with many first movers building closed software solutions. This fragmented reality creates unnecessarily high barriers to entry for new charging networks and electric fleets” said Bhaskar Deol, CEO and Co-founder of eDRV. “With the backing of Automotive Ventures and other partners, we’re excited to accelerate our mission of uniting this ecosystem and enabling more companies to participate in our all-electric future.”

About eDRV

eDRV is an industry-leading EV charging solution that significantly simplifies the process of launching and managing EV charging networks and business offerings via open APIs. Listed among the top energy startups in the SET100 List, eDRV allows charging providers to better monetize their infrastructure and deliver customized charging experiences. To learn more, visit eDRV.io.

SOURCE eDRV

New digital hub for activism sets its path of innovating new ways of mobilizing change

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 16, 2023 — COMMUNITYx, the #1 fastest-growing, black and brown women led, and community-centered app that connects everyday people around the world to take actionable steps on causes they are passionate about, announced today a $2 million seed round and the upcoming launch of their web and mobile-based platform. The round was led by venture capital firm Fearless Fund, with participating firms Goodwater Capital, Techstars, strategic partner Attorney Ben Crump and leading influencers Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition, Baron Davis, Matt Barnes and more. COMMUNITYx puts the power of making change in the palm of people’s hands through its cause-based community-building feature and call-to-action tech toolkit which includes petitions, events, and fundraisers. Additionally, this launch extends to corporate and philanthropic partners enabling them to build digital advocacy campaigns, speed up mobilization efforts and generate impact report analysis for their target audience.

“We are excited to open our seed round for this groundbreaking digital hub for activism which will unite like-minded people around the world to take action on the most pressing issues of our time,” said COMMUNITYx CEO and Founder Chloe Cheyenne. “The investment from our partners reinforces our mission to democratize the social media landscape and accelerates our growth plans. We are thrilled to launch this new platform for global change that will make it accessible for anyone to take action on any cause from anywhere in the world at the pulse of their fingertips.

Some of the leading cause categories included as part of the launch are racial justice, climate change, LGBTQIA+ rights, women’s rights, health and human rights issues, civic engagement, education and policy reform. Individuals will feel the intentional level of inclusivity designed by the platform and empowered to exercise their voice, take action while enhancing the wellbeing of others. This level of advocacy will bridge the gap in mobilization efforts and help solve social inequalities experienced by many across the world.

“COMMUNITYx has created an outlet for direct change during times of uncertainty and we are thrilled to be partnering with them for this investment. Fearless Fund is dedicated to supporting businesses like COMMUNITYx as they are trailblazers in their field continuing to enhance the awareness and involvement of the social issues that surround us today. The proof of their activism shows through their most recent work with Justice 4 Tyre, a campaign housed on their site that raised over $1.2M for Tyre Nichols’ mother, worked with local Memphis activists to help mobilize over 500,000 people to take action on Justice4Tyre, gained thousands of petition signatures, and worked with local activists to achieve initial demands in Tyre’s case. The work that they are doing is beyond necessary, and we are honored to be able to support them in all of the great work that they will continue to do” says Arian Simone, Co-Founder of the Fearless Fund.

To learn more on joining or partnering with COMMUNITYx, please visit www.communityx.com.

Media Contact:
Dora Whittley
[email protected]

SOURCE COMMUNITYx

FlowSense shunt monitor quickly and non-invasively detects the flow of cerebrospinal fluid in implanted shunts, addressing a significant unmet need in hydrocephalus patient management

EVANSTON, Ill., Feb. 16, 2023 — Rhaeos®, Inc. (Rhaeos), a clinical stage medical device company focused on addressing an unmet need in the care of people with hydrocephalus, today announced the successful closing of $10.5 million in Series A funding led by the Steele Foundation for Hope, bringing Rhaeos’ total funding to date to more than $18 million. Other round participants include follow-on investors, Creative Ventures and Lateral Capital. The funding will be used to support the in-hospital launch of the FlowSense® shunt monitor, a wireless, non-invasive thermal sensor that rapidly monitors shunt function in people with hydrocephalus. The funding will also accelerate the development of the company’s pipeline products, including an at-home version of the FlowSense shunt monitor, and establish a path to better serve people with hydrocephalus in vulnerable communities worldwide.

“Our mission is to fund technology and innovation focused on improving the quality of life. Rhaeos’ technology addresses a critical unmet need for those suffering from hydrocephalus, how to monitor shunt function and improve clinical decision making,” said Joe Exner, Chief Executive Officer of the Steele Foundation for Hope. “Our investment will enable the exceptional team at Rhaeos to expand access to its innovative thermal sensors across the globe, improving the quality of care and outcomes for hydrocephalus patients.”

Over 1 million people in the US live with hydrocephalus¹, a chronic condition characterized by excess cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. Approximately 50% of neurosurgically implanted ventricular shunts (the standard treatment for hydrocephalus) fail within the first two years of placement¹. Formed out of the award-winning John A. Rogers Research Group at Northwestern University, the novel FlowSense technology is designed to rapidly and non-invasively monitor shunt function. The FlowSense system utilizes a small, bandage-sized patch that adheres to a person’s skin above the implanted shunt tubing. Critical data on shunt functionality is wirelessly transmitted to a mobile app in a matter of minutes, supporting clinical decision making to optimize treatment plans.

“Current diagnostic imaging tests used to assess shunt function are limited and can take up to 48 hours, leaving patients with hydrocephalus vulnerable to the damaging effects of excess cerebrospinal fluid on the brain,” stated David D. Limbrick, Jr., MD., Ph.D., T.S. Park Chair and Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Washington University School of Medicine, and Neurosurgeon-in-Chief, St. Louis Children’s Hospital. “The FlowSense technology allows me to assess my patient’s shunt function at their bedside in minutes, reducing diagnostic uncertainty and expediting appropriate treatment for people living with this highly complex, chronic condition.”

In 2020, Rhaeos received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for the FlowSense shunt monitor, enabling the company to work in close collaboration with the FDA to streamline the market clearance process. The FlowSense shunt monitor is currently being evaluated in an FDA pivotal study across multiple centers in the US. The company anticipates making the FlowSense shunt monitor commercially available to physicians and their patients in 2023. 

“At Rhaeos, we are passionate about improving the care of people living from hydrocephalus,” said Anna Lisa Somera, MS, MBA, MPH, Chief Executive Officer, Rhaeos. “We are grateful for this round of financing that will advance the availability of our innovative shunt monitor to significantly improve the management of failed shunts and accelerate the development of our platform technology to improve care of other chronic conditions.”

About Rhaeos Inc.

Rhaeos, Inc. is a private medical technology company spun out of Northwestern University and is focused on developing wearable sensors to improve the care of people suffering from chronic and difficult-to-treat conditions. The company’s novel FlowSense shunt monitor is a non-invasive, wireless, thermal sensor that addresses a clinical unmet need for people with hydrocephalus and is funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, the Pediatric Hydrocephalus Foundation, the Southwest Pediatric Device Consortium, the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation, the UCSF-Stanford Pediatric Device Accelerator, the West Coast Consortium for Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics, MedTech Innovator, and public, private, and institutional investors.

About the Steele Foundation for Hope

Founded in 2021, the Steele Foundation for Hope strives to find and fund lasting solutions for some of humanity’s hardest challenges, with a strong belief that advances found through technology and innovation are key to improving quality of life.

Reference:

1. Hydrocephalus Association Fact Sheet

SOURCE Rhaeos, Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 16, 2023 — SendOwl, a technology company that provides the infrastructure to transfer, manage, protect and collect payment for digital products, today announced it has secured $9M in series seed funding in a round led by by new investor TheGP, with participation from returning investors defy.vc and Alumni Ventures, and new backer Authentic Ventures. The new funding will be used to accelerate the product roadmap, increase the number of 3rd party integrations, and invest in key creator partnerships. 

SendOwl is building the “digital product rails for the internet” with a set of powerful and scalable tools designed to help people share their knowledge and passion with the world and in the process get paid for doing what they love. It is now the preferred tool for tens of thousands of independent merchants, as well as some of the world’s largest creative companies including Bungie Inc. and Universal Music Group.

“We believe scaled internet commerce was built primarily with physical goods in mind, and we’re excited to build a ground-up commerce layer for digital products,” said Matt Plotke, CEO of SendOwl. “We hear from creators all the time how much of a game-changer it is for them to control their revenue streams, and I look forward to continuing to expand the product and team to service an ever-growing user base. Completing this round at a significantly increased valuation to our last is further validation that our vision is resonating.”

SendOwl users have delivered more than $2B of digital products using the platform, which grew its monthly average users 25%+ in H2 of 2022 alone. The funding comes shortly after several other recent product launches, including the Link App, which allows Linktree’s 30M+ users to sell digital products and services directly from their Linktrees.

“We are incredibly excited to partner with Matt and the team at SendOwl,” said Phin Barnes, Co-Founder of TheGP. “It’s rare to find a company with such strong product market fit when it comes to helping creators build sustainable businesses. That’s why we were eager to provide the partnership and funding they needed to build the infrastructure to support these creators.”

“At defy.vc we saw the massive opportunity in front of SendOwl early on and it was a no brainer to continue to invest behind the vision and Matt’s leadership,” said Bob Rosin, partner at defy.vc. “With the tremendous growth in digital goods commerce, the need for an infrastructure solution is something that reminds me of the early days at Stripe.”

About SendOwl

SendOwl empowers individual creators and businesses to sell and distribute digital products anywhere online. With a scalable and reliable suite of solutions, users can go from zero to selling in under 5 minutes and go from 1 to 10M+ orders without worry. SendOwl provides all the tools needed to sell, deliver, and manage virtually any digital product post-purchase anywhere on the internet. Supported mediums include (but are not limited to) memberships, digital products, and services. For more information please visit https://www.sendowl.com.

About TheGP

TheGP is a venture capital firm for builders. Our team of tenured engineers, designers, recruiters, and go-to-market experts spends dedicated time building directly alongside the founders we partner with. We typically work with founders at the formation and breakout stages, as we’ve found that our embedded model is most impactful at those critical inflection points.

About defy.vc

Founded in 2016, defy.vc is a Silicon Valley based early stage venture capital firm. Defy was founded to invest in entrepreneurs and companies looking to solve complex problems. Defy’s focus is to help early stage companies mature and scale into companies ready for growth capital. The firm’s team has more than 50 years of venture experience, successful operating backgrounds and actively helps successful entrepreneurs grow companies from inception through exit. Connect with defy at https://defy.vc/ and @defyvc.

Media contact: [email protected]

SOURCE SendOwl

Lifestyle Commerce Platform Helps Retailers Capitalize on Modern Product Discovery Trends

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 16, 2023 — Curated for You, a rapid-growth, AI-powered lifestyle commerce company, today announced it has received $2.4 million in seed funding to continue the development and delivery of its industry-first lifestyle commerce and consumer insights platform for fashion retailers.

Investors in the seed round include commerce-focused Dundee Venture Capital and AI-centric AIX Ventures.

Google trend reporting has shown that the way products are categorized and tagged (e.g. “blue floral dress”) often does not match the way customers shop (e.g. “East Coast wedding guest dress,” “spring brunch outfit,” or “bridal shower dress”). Lifestyle commerce is a marketing and sales approach where a brand connects itself to the ideals, values, and aspirations of their target audience, thus creating an idea that the use of their product brings that audience closer to its aspirational lifestyle.

The Curated for You platform enables retailers to automate the creation and implementation of trend-, event-, and lifestyle-based product tagging and curation at scale across all marketing channels. This creates new opportunities for retailers to drive revenue, save costs, and improve efficiencies with little intervention needed for implementation. The platform can be deployed in as little as a week.

“In the coming decade, the retailers who embrace lifestyle commerce will win. Ecommerce is no longer a point-in-time transaction – it’s woven into the fabric of our daily lives. Fashion retailers need a way to surface relevant products not only at the bottom of the funnel when a customer has already decided on a look, but the moment a customer buys their festival ticket, starts exploring a new aesthetic, or begins planning for a life event,” Katy Aucoin, Co-Founder & CEO of Curated for You, said.

Curated for You is the only solution designed for lifestyle automation at scale. The platform creates thousands of new lifestyle curations based on the trends, events, and lifestyle factors that are triggering consumer purchases every day.

It does this by leveraging state-of-the-art technology that includes two key innovations:

• A Lifestyle Knowledge Graph that detects and connects relationships between lifestyle concepts and individual consumers.
• Measurement of consumer motivations based on social-scientific measurement theory, leveraging machine vision and natural language processing to accurately predict consumer perceptions at scale and improve the shopping experience.

“Dundee Venture Capital is focused on supporting commerce brands that will define a new category, and Curated for You is poised to do that with lifestyle commerce. We envision CFY becoming foundational to ecommerce search and product discovery, as the focus moves from product-centric to people-centric experiences. Their vision for enabling ecommerce retailers to capture more sales is innovative and well supported by market trends and needs,” Matt Shandy of Dundee Venture Capital, said.

“As a venture fund dedicated to backing AI-focused entrepreneurs who are building category-leading AI products, we were immediately impressed with Curated for You’s team, domain expertise, and technology. Curated for You’s state-of-the-art approach specializes in measuring consumer motivations based on social-scientific data-annotation techniques paired with machine vision and natural language processing. Their approach allows clients to make shopping better by centering experiences around consumer lifestyles,” Bianca Caban of AIX Ventures said.

Curated for You will use the financing to expand capabilities and execute hiring for product, development, and sales colleagues. The company recently brought on a seasoned team of strategic advisors from the fashion and technology industries, including Jenny Fleiss (co-founder of Rent the Runway who was one of Fortune’s “40 Under 40” and Fast Company’s “Most Influential Women in Technology”); Divya Mathur (former Chief Merchant at Intermix and Senior Director of Global E-commerce Buying and Site Merchandising at Michael Kors).

To learn more about Curated for You, visit https://www.curatedforyou.io/.

About Curated for You

Curated for You is an AI-driven lifestyle commerce platform whose mission is to evolve ecommerce by giving retailers the ability to predict and meet customers’ fashion needs based on the individual’s lifestyle interests. Through its innovative Lifestyle Knowledge Graph, Curated for You helps retailers automate the creation and implementation of trend-, event-, and lifestyle-based product tagging and curation at scale across all marketing channels, boosting revenue across social media, email, paid ads, onsite citations, filters, facets, and search.

About Dundee Venture Capital

Dundee Venture Capital was formed in 2010 to lead seed rounds in regions and entrepreneurs historically underserved by venture capital. Dundee has more than $90M under management across three funds and has invested in more than 50 world-class founding teams in 20 different cities. For more information visit dundeevc.com.

About AIX Ventures

AIX Ventures is a seed stage venture firm led by the world’s foremost thought leaders in AI with a mission to fund generations of AI-focused entrepreneurs. For more information visit aixventures.com.

Media Contact:

Mary Brendza
[email protected]
512-680-5297

SOURCE Curated for You

Previous $3.5M seed round for new studio was led by Bitkraft Ventures, with participation from Sisu Games Ventures and 1Up Ventures

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 16, 2023 — FuzzyBot, a new Los Angeles-based video game studio, recently entered into strategic partnerships with a dynamic cross section of gaming companies, securing investments from Dreamhaven, Loaded, Lirik, and Gaingels, among others. This follows FuzzyBot’s $3.5 million seed round from August of 2021, which was led by Bitkraft Ventures with participation from Sisu Games Ventures and 1Up Ventures.

Founded by former EA developers in 2020, FuzzyBot’s CEO Tatyana Dyshlova and Creative Director Max Spielberg have grown their team to include industry veterans from DICE, Bungie, Ubisoft, and Retro Studios. FuzzyBot is currently developing its first game, an innovative co-op “rogue-life” adventure game that blends the deeply compelling, evolving gameplay of the roguelite genre with the cozy and creative player investment found in the best life sims—spawning a brand-new take on how combat and progression can come together in a charming, social, and highly replayable experience.

“We have a lot of respect for the team at FuzzyBot,” said Dreamhaven’s Paul Della Bitta. “Their previous success in bringing quality gameplay experiences to life and their fresh take on two very popular genres has us very excited about FuzzyBot’s future.”

“I love what Tatyana and Max are doing with their studio, and based on their deep understanding of gaming and knowing what players want—investing in their vision was a no-brainer for me,” said livestreamer Lirik. “Looking forward to getting my hands on the game once it’s further along in development.”

“FuzzyBot’s belief in the power of creators to improve game development is representative of what we believe is the future of the industry,” said Loaded’s Colin DeShong, EVP of Creator Monetization. “Great games will always be player-first, and there are few better ways to understand players than through creators whose very content is reflective of their preferences.”

“We are thrilled to support this innovative and diverse leadership team and are excited for the next step of their journey!” said Lorenzo Thione, Gaingels Partner.

“We are truly humbled and excited to partner with so many incredibly talented people and organizations from across the gaming industry,” said FuzzyBot CEO Tatyana Dyshlova. “With the invaluable support of our partners, we are energized and eager to bring joy and excitement to players everywhere through this innovative game. It is a true testament to our team’s passion for the art of game development.”

For more information, please visit www.fuzzybot.com.

Contact: 
[email protected]

SOURCE FuzzyBot

Additional Series C funding from MassMutual Ventures comes on the heels of strong 2022 growth

INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 16, 2023 — Zylo, the enterprise leader in SaaS Management, today announces it has secured an additional $5 million in Series C funding from MassMutual Ventures and celebrates key milestones from 2022, further solidifying its position as the market leader.  

“By enabling organizations to manage their growing SaaS portfolios and derive the greatest value from their SaaS investments, Zylo is solving a problem that nearly every organization faces – and one that’s become more apparent in the current economic climate,” said Chuck Svirk, Partner at MassMutual Ventures. “Zylo has emerged not only as the category creator, but the clear category leader setting the standard for SaaS Management technology today.”

Zylo announced the first tranche of its $31.5M Series C raise in November. Baird Capital’s Venture Team led the C round, which also included Spring Lake Equity Partners and existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures and High Alpha, as well as strategic partner and investor Coupa Ventures.

This additional funding comes in the wake of an exceptionally strong year of growth for Zylo. Having experienced several record-breaking quarters, the company doubled new business and welcomed many innovative organizations to its roster of customers which already includes enterprises such as Adobe, Atlassian, Coupa, Doordash, Intuit, Salesforce, and Yahoo.

Amid economic uncertainty, organizations face mounting pressure to reduce expenses. Today, SaaS is the second largest operating expense of most companies. Increasingly, organizations recognize the need for SaaS management technology and services to drive down spending, control costly renewals, mitigate risk and stop SaaS sprawl. In 2022, Zylo helped customers identify nearly $3.2 billion in wasted SaaS spend. Fueled by the most data in the SaaS management landscape, Zylo added more than 2,000 new applications to its Zybrary and more than $1B to its SaaS spend under management, totaling $30B in spend.

“The growth-at-all-costs model of the past is over, as organizations take more fiscally responsible positions,” said Eric Christopher, CEO at Zylo. “Fiscal health is critical to surviving in today’s economic climate, and continually driving cost savings is not just important in the short term, but will be well into the future. SaaS Management must be part of the conversation, as it has the most immediate impact. In fact, we identified up to 40% of unused SaaS licensing within our customer base in 2022 alone.”

“Like many organizations, we’re always looking for ways to trim unnecessary costs and eliminate waste,” said Evan Stolk, technical buyer at Vivint. “By leveraging the Zylo platform to identify purchasing inefficiencies and opportunities to rightsize licenses, we’ve been able to drive significant cost savings on a few key applications and are actively working to identify and act on even more opportunities for optimization.”

More 2022 Milestones for Zylo

• During the third quarter, Zylo also produced SaaSMe 2022, the industry’s only event for IT, finance and procurement leaders focused on forging a dynamic partnership to drive down costs while fueling adoption and innovation. In its second year, the event drew a record number of attendees and featured speakers from Adobe, Redis, Pushpay, CM Group, LinkedIn, Biogen, Highspot and others.
• On the heels of SaaSMe, Zylo released the first episode of season two of SaaSMe Unfiltered, the industry’s only SaaS management podcast focused on how organizations can maximize their SaaS investments. The podcast, available on all major podcast platforms, further cements Zylo’s position as the SaaS management leader.
• Throughout the year, Zylo won awards from major organizations like the Inc. 5000, SAP being named a Concur Endorsed App and was identified as a representative vendor in the Gartner Market Guide for SaaS Management Platforms. The company was also recognized as a top startup employer by Forbes and recognized by the Indianapolis tech community with nominations for three Techpoint Mira Awards in 2022.
• In 2022, Zylo hired strategic additions to the team to maximize industry expertise for customers. These individuals include D. Wayne Poole as COO, Courtney Shaffer Lovold as SVP of Sales and Jason Leet as CFO.

For more information about Zylo’s SaaS Management platform and cost optimization services, visit zylo.com.

About Zylo
Zylo is the enterprise leader in SaaS Management. Companies such as Adobe, Atlassian, Coupa, Doordash, Intuit, Slack, Salesforce, and Yahoo leverage Zylo’s enterprise-proven technology and unparalleled SaaS Management expertise to control the rising costs and risks of SaaS while improving software adoption by employees and driving innovation.

With more than 30 million SaaS licenses and $30 billion in SaaS spend under management, Zylo is fueled by more data than any other provider. Only Zylo’s enterprise SaaS management platform delivers 100% visibility into your SaaS footprint to drive actionable insights and automated workflows. Alongside the platform, Zylo offers a suite of spend optimization services to drive greater cost savings while freeing up resources, implementing a proven best-in-class approach to manage SaaS negotiations from end to end.

Having raised more than $72.5M to date, Zylo is backed by leading SaaS investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Baird Capital’s Venture Team, Spring Lake Equity Partners, High Alpha, GGV, Slack Fund, Salesforce Ventures, MassMutual Ventures and Coupa Ventures. To learn more, visit zylo.com.

About MassMutual Ventures
MassMutual Ventures (MMV) is a multistage global venture capital firm investing in financial technology, enterprise SaaS, digital health, climate technology, and cybersecurity companies. With teams based in Boston, Singapore, and London, MMV manages over $1 billion in investment capital across the globe. We help accelerate the growth of the companies we partner with by providing capital, connections and advice. With our deep expertise and extensive Fortune 500 network, MMV helps entrepreneurs build compelling and scalable companies of value. For more information, visit www.massmutualventures.com.

Media Contact:
Emylee Eyler
[email protected]

SOURCE Zylo

AZ-VC’s investment enables Bluetail to accelerate its sales power, technology, and service leadership position for private and business aviation operators.

PHOENIX, Feb. 16, 2023 — Bluetail, the leading modern SaaS aircraft records platform for private aviation, has announced that it closed an additional $2.2 million Series A investment. The round was led by AZ-VC,  an Arizona-based venture capital fund that is uniquely focused on supporting emerging technology companies throughout the state.

With its triple-digit growth in 2022, 600M+ in aircraft records managed and a growing customer base of private, corporate, and charter operators, Bluetail will use the additional funds to expand and scale its market presence, introduce new revolutionary products and integrations, and bring further automation enhancements to its industry-leading solution. All this serves to improve asset value, drive significant cost efficiencies, and reduce friction in maintenance transactions.

“Despite the wildfire spread of software during the 21st century, some pen-and-paper industries are still absent of modern solutions, private aviation included. Bluetail is redefining aviation records management with a cloud platform that is a true 10x solution. We are eager to support the founder’s ascension as they bring innovative solutions to an industry that is primed for disruption.” stated Jason Pressman, AZ-VC.

“We are extremely proud that AZ-VC has recognized the value of our significant market growth, expansion of the aircraft records software category, and our unlimited potential as the business aviation industry continues to see the ROI benefits of our platform and digital scanning services,” stated Roberto Guerrieri, CEO of Bluetail.

This current funding is in addition to a previously announced round of $2.1 million from Brookstone VC and angel investors.

About AZ-VC

AZ-VC is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Arizona. In 2022, AZ-VC launched a groundbreaking $110M fund to accelerate the growth of technology in the state. The firm focuses investments on sector-agnostic tech startups led by local founders. Managed by a team of industry veterans, AZ-VC is committed to helping the next generation of great companies grow and thrive in Arizona. To learn more, visit azvc.com. 

About Bluetail, Inc.

Bluetail is the leading modern aircraft records platform. We enable aircraft owners, operators, and flight departments to move away from paper-based records and digitize, organize, search, and share all aircraft records (back-to-birth) from anywhere on any device. Our customers experience the peace of mind from knowing every aircraft logbook, document, and history is professionally scanned, indexed, and secured with our FAA-compliant, cloud-based SaaS platform so they can focus on running and growing their business. Learn more at https://bluetail.aero.

Media Contact:
Dale Smith
Media Relations Representative
Bluetail, Inc.
M: 904.400.1000
E: [email protected]

SOURCE Bluetail, Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 16, 2023 — Axion Ray, the AI platform transforming product integrity intelligence, today announced a $7.5M Seed round led by Amplo and co-led by Inspired Capital. Boeing, Tinicum Venture Partners, and former executives from leading manufacturers such as General Motors also participated in the round. The San Francisco-based company launched in 2021 to provide effective stopgaps against the hundreds of billions of cost manufacturers incur each year due to quality issues in the hands of customers.

Enabled by new AI algorithms that synthesize unstructured data into actionable insights, Axion’s technology flags engineering issues months earlier, allowing companies to intervene at the first signal and prevent losses from recalls. The company works with manufacturers across industries to surface safety and quality risks mined from service networks, dealerships, connected sensors, production, supplier management, and other data sources.

“Manufacturers are engineering increasingly complex products and integrity challenges have grown exponentially, impacting customer safety and satisfaction. Leaders want to react faster but learn about problems months too late. By leveraging advancements in artificial intelligence, including Generative AI, Axion helps manufacturers set up a proactive command center platform that empowers executives and engineers to respond in real time,” says Daniel First, Founder & CEO at Axion. “Between supplier quality challenges, difficulties with software-rich products, and an engineering workforce with high turnover, enhancing product integrity has never been more important to our partners.”

Axion works with OEMs and suppliers across industries. Their rapidly expanding customer base includes Boeing, Penn Engineering, Cummins, and other manufacturers across aerospace, defense, automotive, and medical devices.

“As a major tier 1 supplier into multiple global markets, our service networks produce reams of unstructured data in different databases. This data often contains valuable information that can enable us to proactively detect, understand, and manage our largest emerging issues, and more. Axion Ray shows great promise to our engineering and analysis teams to mine these hidden gems—enabling us to react faster to any emerging problems,” says Stuart Davey, Director of Field Quality at Cummins.

“Axion’s advanced artificial intelligence coupled with deep industry understanding will strengthen Boeing’s delivery of high-quality products, by becoming more digitally enabled,” adds Nicola Bates, Head of Innovation Programs at Boeing.

“Axion has become a market leader in proactive engineering management” says Samuel Garcia, Partner at Amplo, who will be joining Axion Ray’s board. “The biggest driver of their growth is their ability to show companies the massive revenue and cost savings they can realize in just days after implementing the platform.”

To meet soaring customer demand, the funding will be used to fuel a wave of hires in engineering and artificial intelligence.

About Axion Ray

Axion Ray is the only AI-powered proactive intelligence platform that extracts actionable insight from unstructured manufacturing data in real time, effortlessly. We are headquartered in San Francisco and backed by leading venture capital firms. For media inquiries reach out to [email protected]. Learn more at axionray.com.

SOURCE Axion Ray