CHICAGO, March 1, 2023 — Angeles Investors – the angel investor community finding, funding and growing the most promising Hispanic and Latino/a ventures – is pleased to announce its recent seed investment in MasPanadas, a Rockville, Maryland-based business that makes a modern, American-palate-friendly empanada. Angeles Investors co-led the investment with Union Kitchen Ventures. The deal was led by Angeles Investors member, Louis Caldera, an experienced corporate director.
MasPanadas was founded by Margarita Womack, Ph.D. in 2020. While the business started as a food services operation, it more recently has emerged as a booming frozen packaged food line expanding rapidly into 1,000+ natural and organic retailers, including Whole Foods Market, as well as in hotels, country clubs, and event venues. Margarita was recognized in 2022 as Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Mid-Atlantic region) and was named Top CEO of the Year (small business leader) by the Washington Business Journal.
This investment is a monumental moment for Angeles Investors as it accomplishes two goals: 1) giving more Latina founders access to venture capital, and 2) creating more opportunities for Latinas to join corporate boards.
“I founded Latin Goodness Foods/MASPANADAS with a mission to offer Better Food for working families and also to provide Better Jobs that enable Better Lives for our employees, the majority of whom are fellow immigrants from Latin America,” said Margarita Womack Ph.D., MasPanadas Founder. “I am thrilled to partner with Angeles Investors, Inc., who offer the resources, experience, and unique insight needed to continue to grow our business and who share my commitment to engaging and positively impacting Hispanic/LatinX communities. Together, mas is better!”
Monica Hernandez, Founder of Mas Global Consulting, a provider of agile software development and technology services with teams in the United States and LATAM, and recognized as a top 3% Women Owned Business per American Express, will be serving on MasPanadas’ Board of Directors.
“I couldn’t be more excited to join the MasPanadas Board. MAS Global and MasPanadas have more than a name in common. Our company missions go beyond making a financial impact and extend deeply into impacting our communities,” said MAS Global Founder, Monica Hernandez. “Our higher purpose and sense of community have brought us together by way of Angeles Investors. By combining the knowledge, ganas and connections of our investor community, we will help MasPanadas reach their full potential.”
“We believe the MasPanadas team, combined with its truly unique approach, will unlock the full potential of the U.S. consumer market,” said Angeles Investors CEO, David Olivencia. “Our firm’s investment philosophy is all about finding the most exciting startups, funding the most disruptive and fastest growing business models and growing the impact of Hispanic and Latino entrepreneurs in the U.S. economy. With MasPanadas, we have discovered the perfect match.”
We look forward to partnering on more deals that create growth opportunities for our Hispanic and Latinx communities.
Fueled by the investment, Savant Labs Innovates on Self-service Analytics Automation in the Cloud with a Unique Drag-and-Drop No-code, Low–code Approach
SAN MATEO, Calif, March 1, 2023 — Savant Labs (savantlabs.io), the automation platform for data analysts, announces $11 million in seed funding led by Cota Capital – a leading investor in enterprise technologies – with participation from WestWave Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Uncorrelated Ventures, Handshake Ventures and several angel investors.
Savant Labs, Secures $11M Funding to Ease Operational Analytics with Drag-and-Drop No-code, Low-code Analytics Automation
As digital transformation matures, organizations are rapidly adopting modern SaaS applications and modern data platforms. This makes access to data much easier for businesses. But when it comes to running analytics on this data and supporting day-to-day business decisions, data analysts and business operations teams are left relying on complex, code-intensive tools. According to IDC, 78 million data workers are advanced spreadsheet and SQL users and they spend an average of 37% of their time weekly on repetitive, error-prone data and analytic tasks. From demand forecasting, price sensitivity analysis and revenue leak analytics, to tax and accounting, marketing and HR analytics, thousands of hours are spent on manual work costing businesses billions of dollars both in growth and efficiency loss.
“We believe deeply in the combined power of automation technologies and analytics to transform modern businesses,” said Chitrang Shah, founder & CEO of Savant Labs. “This unique approach is finally making it possible to automate repetitive manual analytic tasks and reach insights at business speed. With Savant, analysts can have hundreds of data sources at their fingertips, create and automate analytics workflows in minutes and publish insights to the dashboard or business application of their choice.”
Savant’s end-to-end analytics automation lets users easily create dataflows, analytics workflows and leverage analytics bots to automate repetitive tasks. This introduces a breakthrough way to automate analytics across data sources while delivering results to modern dashboards and applications. Analysts can now drag-and-drop no-code, low-code analytics widgets to access, clean, prep, process and analyze data, and then deploy RPA bots to automate data delivery – all without coding or complex data engineering lift. The Savant Analytics Automation Platform supports bot-driven access to 200+ data platforms, cloud data warehouses and business applications, 300+ drag-and-drop analytics widgets to speed automating analytics, and bot-driven delivery of insights to 100+ business applications and dashboards.
“Savant’s automation solution has been a game-changer for us. Our team uses the platform every day to automate end-to-end dataflows and activate insights inside our business apps at lightning-fast speeds – without burdening our data engineers,” said Alex Schwarm, VP Data & Analytics at Arrive Logistics. “The power of Savant’s analytics workflow and bots alone saves us over 400 hours of manual analytic work every month.”
Modern leaders at companies like MariaDB, Arrive Logistics, Moogsoft and F5000s that can’t be named publicly are using Savant to automate data-driven workflows and eliminate thousands of hours of manual work. All while improving their operational efficiency and reducing the data infrastructure costs & complexity.
“Savant’s approach to automating analytics for modern data sources is unique and fills a major gap in the market for analysts who are dependent on IT/engineers for access to data,” said Bobby Yazdani, founder and partner, Cota Capital. “We are excited to be part of Savant and to get their platform in the hands of marketing, sales, finance HR and customer teams while accelerating innovation.”
The Savant founding team has deep experience in analytics through their entrepreneurial journey at multiple successful companies including Lattice Engines (acquired by D&B), Drawbridge (acquired by LinkedIn), Clearwell (acquired by Symantec), DataDomain (acquired by EMC), 3Par (IPO) and Hyperion (acquired by Oracle).
The funding allows Savant Labs to continue to scale their teams and innovate on delivering the simplest drag-and-drop analytics automation experience for business analysts to answer questions from data captured in the modern data stack and modern SaaS applications. To learn more about Savant visit https://www.savantlabs.io or start your no-obligation free trial at https://app.savantlabs.io/en/login/
About Savant Labs
Founded in 2021, Savant Labs empowers analysts to expedite answers from modern data sources and modern SaaS applications with drag-and-drop no-code, low-code analytics automation. The analytics automation is visualized in an intuitive workflow that combines dataflows and analytics flows and uniquely combines analytics bots. Organizations can leverage Savant’s pre-build analytics automation apps or build their own. Savant Labs, based in San Mateo, California, is funded by Cota Capital, WestWave Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Uncorrelated Ventures, Handshake Ventures, and several angel investors.
Capital will expand and finance decarbonization projects nationwide, further develop BlocPower’s proprietary SaaS analytics platform, and fund green economy workforce development programs in “Justice 40” communities
Rebranding represents new chapter of growth, maturity and continued momentum for the company
NEW YORK, March 1, 2023 — BlocPower, a leading climate technology company focused on greening America’s buildings, today announced a fundraising round of $150 million, including over $24 million of Series B corporate equity led by VoLo Earth Ventures and $130 million of debt financing led by Goldman Sachs. Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Credit Suisse, Builders Vision, New York State Ventures, Unreasonable Collective, Kimbal and Christiana Musk, Gaingels, Van Jones, Kapor Capital, My Climate Journey, Tale Venture Partners, and NBA superstar and entrepreneur Russell Westbrook also joined the equity round. To date, BlocPower has raised over $250 million of capital to finance building decarbonization in low income communities.
The investment round will drive BlocPower’s mission by expanding heat pump and building electrification programs across the U.S. BlocPower will further develop its highly differentiated, proprietary BlocMaps SaaS analytics platform; grow its financing and administrative capabilities; and broaden its Civilian Climate Corps green workforce initiative, focused on training and hiring at-risk individuals in vulnerable communities. Notably, the round comes at a time when Black startup founders in the United States raised just 1% of VC funds last year—an estimated $2.25 billion out of $215.9 billion—nearly half of what they raised in 2021 ($4.34 billion).
“Since 2014, BlocPower has focused on decarbonizing America’s urban core, developing the green economy’s workforce, and bringing climate justice to underserved and vulnerable communities. We are fighting the climate crisis while improving quality of life for city residents. Series B equity and working capital financing from Goldman Sachs will allow us to accelerate building decarbonization across America. We will help low-to-moderate income communities to access the benefits of President Biden’s once in a lifetime green economy investments,” said Donnel Baird, CEO and founder of BlocPower.
Since its 2020 Series A, BlocPower has demonstrated 4,000% revenue growth, including signing city-scale decarbonization projects in Ithaca, NY and Menlo Park, CA, and large-scale projects in Denver, CO; San Jose, CA; Buffalo, NY; Denver, CO; Atlanta, GA; and San Luis Obispo, CA. The company completed hundreds of green energy upgrades across the country, bringing the total number of completed projects to more than 5,000 apartments, homes, houses of worship and commercial buildings. BlocPower has also added several new American geographies to BlocMaps, which is now being used by municipalities and utilities in New York City, Ithaca, San Luis Obispo, Chicago and other cities to develop and implement equitable, data-driven decarbonization strategies.
In 2022, BlocPower’s Civilian Climate Corps was awarded a two-year, $108 million contract from New York City Mayor Eric Adams to train 3,000 city residents for clean energy jobs and to help reduce gun violence as part of Mayor Eric Adams’ Precision Employment Initiative. The new contract expanded upon a $37 million contract from 2021, which launched the NYC Civilian Climate Corps. To support that growth, BlocPower opened two new training facilities in Brooklyn and the Bronx, and raised $130 million of debt from Goldman Sachs. The program trains next generation green economy workforce from communities with a high risk of gun violence, focusing on the use of cutting edge software to install clean energy hardware.
“BlocPower has proven that the right combination of technology, finance, industry know-how and determination can help tackle some of the world’s most difficult challenges, and we are excited to support the company as it embarks on its next phase of expansion,” said Kareem Dabbagh, Managing Partner at VoLo Earth, who will be joining BlocPower’s Board of Directors. “At VoLo Earth, we dig deep to source companies with the right combination of technology, scalability, climate and social impact, winning economics, and tremendous long-term growth potential. BlocPower is emblematic of this mix, and we look forward to leveraging our operational expertise to help contribute to the company’s future success.”
Baird concludes, “Whenever someone wants to make a change, or do something new, nothing is guaranteed to turn out according to best laid plans. You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. You can’t renovate a home without dust and mess, and, sometimes, lead, mold, and asbestos. We go into low income communities to finance and upgrade 100 year old buildings–and sometimes we run into 100 year old surprises lurking in the walls, or hiding in the basement. But I’m proud that at BlocPower, we always finish what we start, and we clean up messes. The biggest mess of all is the climate crisis. We are pleased that VoLo Earth and other climate focused investors like Microsoft, Credit Suisse, New York State Ventures, Goldman, and Builders Vision are investing in building decarbonization as an immediately actionable way to combat climate change. We hope that our momentum will be a catalyst for further investments in other green startups, and startups founded by women and people of color, which have historically received less than 3% of venture capital.”
In addition to the new fundraising round BlocPower launched its corporate rebranding, representing a new chapter of growth, maturity and continued momentum for the company. BlocPower’s new, modern brand aims to convey the intensity and energy that fuels BlocPower’s vision for the future: that every home and building in America can be an engine of opportunity, and that all the climate, health, and economic benefits flowing from the green economy should be accessible for everyone.
In recognition of its work to date, BlocPower is being honored as an Emerging Leader by Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington, D.C. at the Vice President’s residence. The Biden-Harris Administration is ensuring that 40% of climate infrastructure investments impact “Justice 40” communities, which are communities that have a history of excess pollution, disenfranchisement, and underinvestment.
Home and building owners can complete an instant project assessment to get started with BlocPower. Individuals looking to invest in the company’s work can learn more here.
About BlocPower BlocPower is the U.S. climate technology leader rapidly greening American cities. Since its founding in 2014, the company has completed energy projects in more than 5,000 households, commercial buildings and houses of worship. BlocPower utilizes its proprietary software for analysis, leasing, project management, and monitoring of clean energy projects. The company is backed by the world’s top investors, including VoLo Earth, Goldman Sachs, Kapor Capital, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Salesforce, the NY State government, Exelon, the American Family Life Insurance Company Institute for Social Innovation, Accelr8, and others. In 2022, Fast Company named BlocPower the #4 Most Innovative Company in the World.
About VoLo Earth Founded in 2020 by a purpose-built team of experienced founders, investors, and company strategists, VoLo Earth invests in climate solutions that address the root causes of emissions. The firm seeks to accelerate the new energy economy and deliver superior investment returns by addressing the planet’s climate crisis at its roots and providing first-in funding and hands-on leadership to early-stage climate tech companies. For more information, please visit: www.voloearth.com/.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., March 1, 2023 — cultivate(MD) Capital Funds LP, funds that are focused on investments into early-stage healthcare companies with innovative technologies, announced today that one of their portfolio companies, Grand Rapids-based SPDx has hired Julius Heil in the role of CEO. Mr. Heil brings over 30 years’ experience in healthcare and logistics with deep expertise in supply chain management, operations and asset management. Most recently, Mr. Heil served as President and CEO of Intalere, a leading national group purchasing organization (GPO).
SPDx is creating a network of purpose-built facilities to provide surgery centers and hospitals with off-site sterilization and logistics services that are powered by world class technicians, IT systems, and the latest sterilization technologies and methods. Their services are expected to increase revenue and asset use for facilities while lowering costs, as well as reducing risks of healthcare-acquired infections for patients.
Julius Heil said, “Every patient deserves access to quality, affordable healthcare close to home. I am very excited to join SPDx because its business model facilitates expansion of the healthcare ecosystem, thereby providing patients with a larger choice of safe environments in which to receive care. The skills and experience of the board of directors and the management team already in place created an opportunity I knew I had to be part of and should not pass up. Expansion of this business to more cities across the US is just good for everyone SPDx serves.”
Scott Lancaster, Chief Investment Officer of The 4100 Group, Inc. said, “We partner with teams—founders and those who surround them—where there is a clear indication of a match between the expertise and experience set and the problem they are going after. SPDx is no exception. With veterans of the medical device and logistics arenas, SPDx complements hospitals, ASCs and OEMs through a proprietary system of services that support the quadruple aim.”
SPDx Board Member Michael Chaney said, “We are pleased with the progress of SPDx and the opening of our first facility to provide patients with safer and more affordable health care. Julius’ extensive experience, skills, and excellent leadership make him a great addition to the current strong team. This positions us to accelerate our expansion to other markets to serve more patients and expand this exciting new business model.”
SPDx is entering the market with their first facility operating in Phoenix, AZ in Q1 of this year.
About SPDx (Sterile Processing Express):
SPDx is a company specializing in centralized sterile processing serving Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Hospitals and OEM Suppliers. SPDx’s unique approach changes the way in which sterile processing is handled, with benefits of increased revenue, efficient case turns, improved compliance and service for facilities that specialize in surgical procedures. Patients benefit from reduced risk of healthcare-acquired infections and lower costs. To learn more about SPDx, please visit us at https://sterileprocessingexpress.com/
About cultivate(MD) Capital Funds
As a medical device venture capital fund, cultivate(MD) is dedicated to bringing emerging health care innovations to market, with a special focus on medical device and orthopedic technologies. cultivate(MD) is focused on investing in early stage healthcare companies with innovative technologies that have demonstrated evidence of effectiveness. For more information, visit: https://genesisinnovationgroup.com/
Node Capital, Arrington Capital, Maelstrom, Version One Ventures, and Purpose Investments also back staking protocol to address issues of centralized staking markets.
LONDON, March 1, 2023 — ether.fi, a liquid staking protocol designed with decentralization at its core, announced today that it has completed a USD$5.3m funding round co-led by investors North Island Ventures (NIV,) Chapter One, and Node Capital, with participation from Arrington Capital, Maelstrom, Version One Ventures and Purpose Investments.
ether.fi addresses existing ETH staking issues around centralization and composability. As a decentralized non-custodial staking solution, ether.fi allows stakers to retain control of their keys while delegating validator operations to a node operator.
ether.fi brings a new platform approach to the staking market. Minting an NFT representation of every validator generated through its protocol, to allow for the storage of validator metadata, ether.fi intends to unlock new use cases and long-term value creation for developers building on staking infrastructure.
Enabling trustless node operation and a services layer on which others can build, ether.fi’s solution serves as a building block for Web3 infrastructure. Ethereum stakers depositing a minimum of 32 ETH will hold the NFT, which represents the economic interest in the validator. Once the NFT liquidity pool and the protocol treasury management contracts are implemented and launched, ether.fi will enable fractionalization via the launch of its eETH Liquid Staking Derivative token, for liquidity pool individual stakers with more than 0.1 ETH. Additionally, stakers and node operators will benefit from ether.fi’s decentralized protocol by providing them with economic exposure to revenue derived from services built on the staking infrastructure.
Commenting on the launch, Mike Silagadze, Founder & CEO said, “ether.fi was established as a direct remedy to common issues facing Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSDs) surrounding custody and risk. Thanks to our investors, we are excited to be launching the ether.fi platform as the LSD market enters a pivotal phase. The staking market serves as a gateway to a $10 billion ecosystem of blockchain products and services. Offering a new way to earn yield on crypto assets, the LSD market has increased significantly in recent months. The upcoming Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade is expected to further accelerate the market by enabling ETH staking withdrawals that can be used across DeFi, without giving up the staking yield.”
Travis Scher, Managing Partner at NIV said: “We believe that Ethereum‘s transition to proof-of-stake is a generational technological milestone, enabling the network to support applications and experiences that could not previously exist. ether.fi is building foundational, decentralized infrastructure to push Ethereum forward, and we’re thrilled to support its world class founding team in pursuit of their big vision.”
Jack Lipstone, Investment Partner at Chapter One added, “ether.fi’s decentralized approach to ETH staking could not be arriving at a better time while all eyes are on regulatory actions against centralized entities. At its core, Ethereum block validation will reach its potential through the full-stack approach that ether.fi is building towards that includes transparent staking and a node services layer. We are so beyond excited to support ether.fi and grow alongside the founding team because we see this community bringing a lot of value to the overall Ethereum ecosystem.”
To support ether.fi’s validator operations at launch, the protocol will be partnering with leading node operators Kiln, Finoa, DSRV, and Allnodes. Responsible for fostering the adoption of multi-operator validation as a use case for Distributed Validator Technology (DVT), Obol will serve as ether.fi’s official DVT partner.
Launching on 4th March 2023 at ETHDenver, the world’s largest Web3 #BUIDLathon for Ethereum and other blockchain protocol enthusiasts, designers and developers, ether.fi aims to have 100,000 ETH staked by mid-2023.
The latest funding round will support ether.fi as it looks to increase its hiring across the next six months, and to build out partnerships with a variety of channels that will feed into the protocol, including custodians, centralized exchanges, crypto wallets, and hardware wallet apps.
About ether.fi
ether.fi is a liquid staking protocol that allows stakers to retain control of their keys while delegating validator operations to a node operator. Formed under a shared vision of what DeFi should be, ether.fi offers stakers a decentralized, non-custodial staking solution that can serve as a building block for web3 infrastructure.
