AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 17, 2023 — Zelus Analytics, the sports analytics company that is transforming player evaluation and in-game decision-making announced today that it has successfully completed the first tranche of its Series A. The round includes participation from Teamworthy Ventures, Gametime Capital, Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s 35V, Billy Beane, and others, who join existing investor RedBird Capital.
Zelus Analytics is known for its advanced data and analytics platform that evaluates, predicts, and improves player and team performance. The company’s world-class data science and engineering staff drives success for team partners across six sports, including baseball, basketball, hockey, football, cricket, and soccer. The company’s unique approach to sports analytics, combining academic rigor with high-level industry expertise, sets it apart in a competitive sports data, analytics, and technology landscape.
“We’ve added an exciting group of investors and advisors through this phase of our Series A round. The funding will allow us to further invest in our best-in-class sports intelligence platform,” said Doug Fearing, Co-Founder and CEO of Zelus Analytics. “Through those investments, we’re looking forward to expanding Zelus into a number of markets, including college, eSports, sports marketing, and others.”
“At Teamworthy Ventures, we have been fortunate to partner with several outstanding teams building technology for the sports market, including SeatGeek and Teamworks,” remarked Stephen Schmalhofer, Partner at Teamworthy Ventures.
“We are excited to partner with the talented Zelus Analytics team. In our conversations with their customers, it became clear to us that Zelus Analytics has recruited the most talented and experienced team in sports analytics. Their data-driven insights and analytics help professional and collegiate teams make better high consequence decisions — in game, in season, on draft day, and throughout the off season.”
Sports analytics pioneer Billy Beane added, “In leveraging state-of-the-art probabilistic modeling and machine learning techniques, Zelus sets the standard in sports analytics. Their expertise in dissecting complex data is unparalleled. As both a customer and an investor, I am incredibly optimistic about the transformative impact Zelus is poised to make.”
About Zelus Analytics
Zelus Analytics is an Austin-based sports analytics company that evaluates, predicts, and improves player and team performance in sports. Through a differentiated multi-sport business model and a unique data and analytics platform, Zelus Analytics provides tools to help its partner teams compete and win through league-leading sports intelligence. The company is active with clients across six different sports, including baseball, basketball, hockey, football, cricket, and soccer.
Nexus Venture Partners Leads Funding Round to Enhance Real-Time Device Intelligence for 6,000+ Companies
CHICAGO, Oct. 17, 2023 — Fingerprint, the world’s most accurate device intelligence platform, raised $33 million in Series C funding led by Nexus Venture Partners with participation from Uncorrelated Ventures. Fingerprint aids developers in building device identification with flexible APIs capable of identifying fraudsters while ensuring low-friction experiences for trusted users. The Fingerprint platform leads with best-in-class accuracy, identifying 99.5% of returning users in less than 500 milliseconds of processing time. The new funding brings the company’s total funding to $77 million.
“With the gradual death of cookies and proliferation of VPNs, high accuracy device identification has never been more important. Companies battle sophisticated attacks from online fraudsters while needing to ensure their trusted customers have a frictionless experience,” said Dan Pinto, Fingerprint’s co-founder and CEO. “Fingerprint solves this challenge for thousands of companies by enabling accurate device identification and providing additional signals to inform visitor intent without inconveniencing legitimate users.”
Since its last round of funding in 2021, Fingerprint has seen significant growth stemming from its ease of integration, instant value for new customers via API and extensive documentation. Industry leaders like Dropbox trust Fingerprint to detect and block account takeover attempts, while Neiman Marcus relies on the same technology to create personalized experiences for its most valued customers.
“Fingerprint is becoming a modern utility for the internet economy to combat fraud,” said Abhishek Sharma, Managing Director of Nexus Venture Partners. “Any business that processes online transactions or payments should use Fingerprint. Its device intelligence API helps high-scale websites and apps prevent fraudulent transactions. We’re impressed by the product’s ability to deliver 10x+ ROI for its customers consistently. We love Fingerprint’s developer-focused go-to-market approach coupled with its ubiquitous open-source library, FingerprintJS. The company has commercially grown 20x over the past three years. It has a resounding product-market fit, from small businesses to large public companies. We’re thrilled to triple down and further strengthen our partnership with Fingerprint.”
Unlike other device identification methods, Fingerprint’s persistent visitor identifier continuously improves and maintains accuracy, even as browsers are upgraded. Providing a complete view of all users across web and mobile devices — whether or not they are logged in or concealing their identity — enables companies to build superior fraud detection and user experiences. Companies use Fingerprint for a variety of use cases, including:
Protecting login pages from automated account takeover attacks and phishing attempts.
Preventing payment fraud of all forms for payment processors and eCommerce retailers.
Account sharing detection and prevention for SaaS and subscription services.
Securing cryptocurrency exchanges.
Building paywalls that can’t be evaded by going incognito, changing IP addresses or clearing cookies.
Restricting access for bad actors in online gaming and gambling.
Fingerprint also makes it easy for any developer to get started with popular third-party integrations such as Cloudflare, Segment, CloudFront and many more. Additionally, Fingerprint partners with software vendors, including Dodgeball, Okta and Spec, to generate additional value for customers and increase customer retention.
The funding will enable Fingerprint to accelerate adoption within larger Enterprise customers, which have been a critical driver of the company’s recent growth. Fingerprint aims to build new tools and capabilities to tackle the most complex challenges in device identification.
For more information on Fingerprint device intelligence, visit Fingerprint.com.
About Fingerprint
Fingerprint, powered by the most accurate device intelligence platform, enables companies to prevent fraud and improve user experiences. Fingerprint processes almost 100 signals from the browser, device, and network to generate a stable and persistent unique visitor identifier that can be used to understand visitor behavior. With a commitment to best-in-class data security and privacy, Fingerprint is proud to be ISO 27001 certified, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and CCPA compliant. Fingerprint is trusted by over 6,000 companies worldwide, including 16% of the top 500 websites, to help catch sophisticated fraudsters and personalize experiences for trusted users. Learn more at fingerprint.com.
About Nexus Venture Partners
Nexus Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that supports extraordinary founders in building product-first companies. The firm takes a high-conviction approach, serving as inception, seed, or series-A stage partner to founders, actively engaging with them throughout the company lifecycle. With $2.6B capital in management, Nexus portfolio includes Postman, Apollo.io, MinIO, Fingerprint, Nx, Druva, Observe.ai, Rancher, Pubmatic, Delhivery, H2O.ai, Hasura, Kaltura, Quizizz, Sibros, TileDB, Turtlemint, Unacademy, Zepto, and Zomato. For more information, visit www.nexusvp.com or follow @nexusvp on X.
PITTSBURGH, Oct. 17, 2023 — Stabili-Teeth is pleased to announce a significant organizational change and the successful closing of its seed funding round. These developments mark a pivotal moment in the company’s journey towards revolutionizing dental care and enhancing the lives of millions by making full mouth dental restoration possible for patients suffering from terminal tooth loss at a fraction of the cost of alternatives in the market today.
Organizational Updates
Stabili-Teeth is thrilled to introduce Jason Babik as our new CEO. Jason brings a wealth of experience in building businesses for sustainable growth and profitability. His visionary leadership and strategic acumen will guide the company towards achieving its mission of making life changing dental care accessible to all.
Jason expressed his enthusiasm for the role, stating, “I’m excited to be a part of Stabili-Teeth and its game changing solution to improve the lives of patients while improving the service offerings for Dental Practitioners across the country. Our team is committed to delivering unparalleled innovation and value to our patients and partners and I’d like to thank our Founders, Dr. Carl Medgaus and Bari Medgaus for creating such an incredible foundation for our future success.”
Going forward, Bari Medgaus will assume the role of Chief Marketing and Clinical Success Officer with a focus on helping our Doctors leverage the Stabili-Teeth solution to unlock unprecedented value for their practices. Dr. Medgaus, Stabili-Teeth founder and inventor, will continue in his role as Chief Innovation and Training Officer and remain Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Stabili-Teeth is also proud to announce Mr. Carey Lyons will join our Board of Directors, effective immediately. After decades of success in founding, building and growing companies in the dental industry and the implant market, his guidance and expertise will help to ensure success in the next chapter of the Stabili-Teeth story.
Closing Seed Funding Round
Stabili-Teeth is also proud to announce the successful closing of its seed funding round from prominent angel investors. This minority round of funding will play a crucial role in accelerating growth and commercialization of Stabili-Teeth nationwide.
Dr. Medgaus commented on the funding achievement, saying, “We are humbled and grateful for the trust our investors have placed in Stabili-Teeth. This capital injection will enable us to expand our sales and operations team to help our Stabili-Teeth licensees achieve new levels of success and patient engagement. “
About Stabili-Teeth Inc.
Stabili-Teeth® offers a full mouth restoration solution that gives patients immediate full functionality and exceptional aesthetics at less than half the cost of the alternative of full arch fixed detachable solutions on the market. This innovative protocol allows Doctors to address a far greater portion of the market, requiring less of a Doctor’s and patient’s time. Stabili-Teeth® is the solution to democratize access to fully functioning teeth and a beautiful smile for the long term, improving a patient’s holistic health and confidence. www.stabili-teeth.com
If you’d like more information about Stabili-Teeth, please contact Bari Medgaus at [email protected].
MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 17, 2023 — Yardstik, a Trust & Safety Platform built to help high-volume hiring businesses safely hire, verify, and onboard workers at scale, has raised an additional $12 million in its most recent round of funding.
The expansion round is led by MissionOG with participation from existing investors Grotech Ventures, Rally Ventures, and Crosslink Capital.
The financing follows an impressive year of growth and product development for Yardstik. While other startups found themselves challenged by economic uncertainties, leaner teams, and tighter budgets, Yardstik saw over 300% growth in its customer base.
The success Yardstik experienced this past year is the result of its continued commitment to providing businesses in need of better trust and safety hiring tools with a more holistic, connected, and data-driven solution.
Earlier this year, Yardstik launched its Trust & Safety Platform. The platform is Yardstik’s answer to the question every high-volume hiring business, SaaS platform, and gig marketplace is asking itself today: how do we hire a lot of people, living in many different places, quickly and at scale without sacrificing trust and safety?
Yardstik meets this challenge head-on with its Trust & Safety Platform, and after a year of traction and success, the company is ready to double down.
“We’re thrilled to announce this new strategic partnership with the team at MissionOG, said Matt Meents, CEO & Founder at Yardstik. “Trust & Safety is a growing problem for every business, but especially for those navigating the new world of remote work, 1099 contractors, and the gig economy. The team at MissionOG has deep operational experience and knows exactly what a company at our stage of growth needs. We’re looking forward to working with them to bring our platform to more people,” he added.
Yardstik will use the infusion of capital to bring faster, more affordable screening, verification, and onboarding tools to businesses desperate for a better, more connected solution. These tools come at a time when businesses are being forced to address and solve for a rapid rise in the costs and risks associated with fraud in the hiring process.
“The way businesses and people work together is evolving rapidly. Existing tools businesses utilize are outdated, siloed, and hard to implement, ” said George Krautzel, Managing Partner at MissionOG. “By removing the trust and safety challenges associated with onboarding and monitoring workers, Yardstik’s customers can better focus on meeting the ever-increasing demands of their markets.”
In the coming months, Yardstik will introduce additional products and services that live within their Trust & Safety Platform. The company also plans to significantly increase its team, adding members to fill open roles in engineering, sales, marketing, legal, and technology.
About Yardstik Yardstik brings better Trust & Safety tools, workflows, and expertise to companies that need to quickly screen, verify, and hire the right people at scale. Yardstik’s holistic Trust & Safety Platform delivers best-in-class products and support to make screening, verification, and monitoring faster, safer, and more affordable for growing gig marketplaces, software platforms, and high-volume hiring businesses. For more information, visit https://yardstik.com.
About MissionOG MissionOG partners with high-growth businesses that have proven models in segments where we have had success as operators and investors, including financial services and payments, data platforms, and software. To help accelerate their partner companies, the firm invests financial capital and leverages a broad network of industry experts. Headquartered in Philadelphia, MissionOG is led by a team that has effectively built and scaled companies through their various stages of growth to successful acquisitions.
Contact Information: Anthony Ostrowski VP of Revenue [email protected]
LISBON, Portugal, Oct. 17, 2023 — Einvestment, known for its expertise across a wide range of asset classes and its commitment to introducing modern techniques for efficient wealth management, has recently shed light on the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the financial sector.
Highlighting how the AI sector significantly outperforms the market, the wealth management platform owners underlined their deep commitment to harnessing the potential of AI to drive technology and venture capital investments.
As the financial landscape evolves, Einvestment has consistently demonstrated its aptitude for staying ahead of the curve. The company’s proactive approach, coupled with its “on the ground” knowledge and deep-rooted experience in various sectors chosen for asset allocation, places it in a prime position to understand and leverage the evolving dynamics of the market.
Peter Derksen, Managing Director at Einvestment, remarked, “Our team constantly monitors the markets to elevate the efficiency of quarterly portfolio rebalancing. AI is currently driving a major share of technology investments and venture capital funding. In line with our mission to continuously innovate and provide the superior investment opportunities to our clients, we plan to present an AI-focused segregated portfolio to our clients by the end of 2023, once we collect a longer performance history and track record of success.”
The Fund’s management team focuses on risk management, boosting diversification, and ensuring a superior performance for its clients. Notably, investors benefit from flexible performance fees, with the unique offering that the more is invested, the less performance fee is charged from positive returns for investment management services.
The wealth management platform, having delivered superior returns since 2018, also stands out for its commitment to responsible investing. Underlining their intention to move beyond traditional investment strategies, Einvestment’s portfolio managers steer clear of ESG-unfriendly companies and sectors.
Investors can seamlessly verify their accounts, invest, and sign agreements using electronic signatures. The intuitive and secure Investor’s Portal, accessible from both laptops and smartphones, ensures that clients can manage their portfolios with just a few clicks, further exemplifying Einvestment’s commitment to modernity and client-centricity.
Moreover, the company has always laid significant emphasis on its customer relations. With a dedicated and experienced customer service team available around-the-clock, Einvestment ensures that every client’s query or concern is addressed promptly.
As the world moves deeper into the AI era, Einvestment remains committed to not just observing the changes but actively shaping the future of investments. With a forward-thinking approach, combined with its wealth of expertise, the company aims to offer AI-powered investment solutions to its global clientele.
About the Company
Einvestment’s mutual fund provides a customized strategy aligned with the investors’ distinct requirements. To know more, visit https://einvestment.com/
Media contact: Matthew Richardson [email protected] +351 211 452 614
Groundbreaking AI-generated media detection platform closes round and adds Explainable AI, Real-Time Call Detection for clients.
NEW YORK, Oct. 17, 2023 — Reality Defender, the premier deepfake and AI-generated media detection platform, today announced it has raised $15 Million in Series A funding. The round was led by DCVC, with participation from Comcast, ex/ante, Partnership Fund for New York City, Rackhouse Venture Capital, and Nat Friedman’s AI Grant.
Reality Defender Founder Team (Left to Right): Ben Colman (Co-Founder, CEO), Ali Shahriyari (Co-Founder, CTO), Gaurav Bharaj (Co-Founder, Head of R&D)
Founded in 2021, Reality Defender provides enterprises, content platforms, and governments with bleeding-edge solutions to proactively detect deepfake and AI-generated content across audio, video, images, and text. In just two years, the company has partnered with enterprises, governments, and platforms to detect millions of deepfakes, deflect state-sponsored attackers, stop disinformation, and prevent advanced voice fraud in real time.
“Our incredible team built the only platform capable of stopping the most advanced threats of our time,” said Ben Colman, CEO and Co-Founderof Reality Defender. “Our new partners at DCVC not only believe in our platform and our team, but share our vision for growing Reality Defender to fully address the innumerable AI-enabled problems of tomorrow. We’re thrilled to work in lockstep with a group so equally passionate about our mission of stopping dangerous deepfakes and GenAI content for good.”
“While Generative AI has already created massive productivity boosts for products and companies, it has also significantly reduced the cost for bad actors to create fake news, media, voice, and even fake organizations to target individuals, institutions, banks and whole societies,” said DCVC General Partner Ali Tamaseb. “In the face of this dire threat—a whole new cybersecurity category—Reality Defender’s best-in-class technology is leading the delivery of an absolute civil necessity: the ability to distinguish between what’s real and what isn’t.”
In addition to fundraising, Reality Defender has launched Explainable AI on the platform’s web application. Available today for all clients using Text Detection, Explainable AI enables clients to scan a document and see color coded paragraphs of AI-generated text. Explainable AI for audio, video, and image detection will continue to roll out on the Reality Defender platform in the coming months. The company has also launched real-time voice deepfake detection to select clients, allowing call centers and anti-fraud teams to detect the use of manipulated or fabricated media as it happens.
ABOUT REALITY DEFENDER Reality Defender is a groundbreaking security platform offering comprehensive deepfake detection. A Y Combinator graduate, Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs alumni, and winner of SXSW Pitch 2023, Reality Defender’s proactive deepfake and AI-generated content detection technology is developed by a leadership team with over 20 years of experience in applied research at the intersection of machine learning, data science, and cybersecurity. With models defending against present and future fabrication techniques, Reality Defender is the best way to detect and deter fraudulent text, audio, and visual content, partnering with government agencies and enterprise clients to enhance security and detect fraud. For more information, please visit www.realitydefender.com.
ABOUT DCVC DCVC is deep tech venture capital. Over more than a dozen years, the firm has backed brilliant entrepreneurs using computational approaches to solve trillion-dollar problems in the real world across a broad set of industries, especially those that haven’t seen material progress in decades. With billions of dollars of assets under management, DCVC builds long-term relationships with the founders it backs. The firm has been with many of its companies from their very start — and through to their recognition by the public markets as category-defining businesses. For more information, please visit www.dcvc.com.
TORONTO, Oct. 17, 2023 – Meeranda, a privately held artificial intelligence (AI) solutions provider serving both small and medium businesses (SMBs) and global multinational corporations (MNCs), announced today that it has joinedNVIDIA Inception, a program that nurtures startups revolutionizing industries with technological advancements.
Meeranda plans to use the resources available through NVIDIA Inception, such as the latest cutting-edge technical tools, to aid its teams in their continuous effort to deliver The New Personalized Customer Experience. Other advantages of being part of the NVIDIA Inception program include the opportunity to connect with potential investors who are passionate about supporting ground-breaking technologies. The program will also offer Meeranda the opportunity to collaborate with industry-leading experts and other AI-driven organizations.
“We are thrilled to be part of the NVIDIA Inception program,” said Mr. Raji Wahidy, Co-Founder and CEO of Meeranda. “Meeranda is now joining an elite group of startups driving change across industries and around the world. The program will provide Meeranda with further expertise, technology, and access to venture capital, as well as global awareness of our service offering. This is yet another step forward in the right direction for our team, and we are excited and grateful for this opportunity.”
NVIDIA Inception helps startups during critical stages of product development, prototyping, and deployment. Every NVIDIA Inception member gets a custom set of ongoing benefits, such as NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute credits, preferred pricing on NVIDIA hardware and software, and technological assistance, which provides startups with the fundamental tools to help them grow.
Meeranda is a privately held Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions provider, serving Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) and Global Multinational Corporations (MNCs). Meeranda is best known for its Human-Like AI that intends to offer the new personalized customer experience to combat the ongoing frustration of dealing with chatbots and half-baked AI solutions. Although in its early stages, Meeranda already has agreements across six countries and seven industries, thus far.
ISTANBUL, Oct. 17, 2023 — Cerebrum Tech, a pioneering technology company, celebrated for its recent innovations such as Cere and Cere Insight in the field of generative artificial intelligence, has successfully secured a substantial investment of $1.8 million, valuing the company at $15 million. This achievement was made possible through the collective support of individual and institutional investors, under the leadership of Boğaziçi Ventures, one of Türkiye’s foremost Venture Capital companies. This investment not only signifies a substantial vote of confidence in Cerebrum Tech’s endeavors but also positions the company for further growth and innovation in the dynamic realm of generative artificial intelligence.
Boğaziçi Ventures VC Logo
Cerebrum Tech, a visionary venture studio recognized for its outstanding products and solutions across diverse sectors, including artificial intelligence, finance, industry, e-commerce, and Web3, has successfully secured a noteworthy investment of $1.8 million. This investment was led by Boğaziçi Ventures, a leading name in Türkiye’s technology-focused venture capital landscape. The valuation of this achievement stands at an impressive $15 million.
The investment process was realized with the enthusiastic participation of both individual and institutional investors, marking an important milestone for Cerebrum Tech. This strategic collaboration will see Cerebrum Tech become an integral part of the BV Growth Venture Capital Investment Fund’s portfolio, which boasts participation from a range of forward-thinking investors, both individual and institutional alike.
In March, Cerebrum Tech unveiled Cere, a groundbreaking artificial intelligence application. Available in both personal and corporate versions, Cere is one of the first AI applications to leverage 3D avatars, offering a dynamic and immersive experience. Following this remarkable launch, September witnessed the introduction of Cere Insight, an innovative addition to the realm of artificial intelligence. Cere Insight stands out with its unique capabilities, allowing users to efficiently summarize extensive documents with multi-file support, and extract valuable insights from large datasets. Notably, it accomplishes this without necessitating coding expertise, thanks to its advanced LLM technology. Moreover, it empowers users to effortlessly create customizable chatbots with seamless web integration, delivering a transformative experience.
Cerebrum Tech has consistently championed pioneering initiatives across various sectors. From artificial intelligence and internet of things to finance and the dynamic Web3 sphere, Cerebrum Tech continues to make indelible contributions to the evolving technology landscape.
“Our aspiration is to fortify our presence in the global market through the international investments we’ve garnered from day one”
“Our aspiration is to fortify our presence in the global market through the international investments we’ve garnered from day one,” affirmed Dr. Erdem Erkul, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Cerebrum Tech, an esteemed leader in Türkiye’s artificial intelligence landscape. He elaborated on the company’s journey, stating, “When Cerebrum Tech set its course in 2021, we committed to fostering the growth of the technology entrepreneurship ecosystem in our homeland and establishing ourselves as a distinguished new-generation technology firm on the global stage. The partnership with Boğaziçi Ventures, I believe, is a pivotal step towards achieving our ambitious goals. We will persistently innovate and scale our existing products to cater to the evolving landscape of new-generation technologies, including artificial intelligence, which is already shaping the future, for the global audience.”
In addition to Boğaziçi Ventures, a prominent investment company in Türkiye, and a group of international investors, Cerebrum Tech has garnered support from Inveo Ventures Coinvestment Venture Capital Investment Fund. This forward-thinking fund specializes in investing in future technologies, aligning seamlessly with Cerebrum Tech’s commitment to innovation.
Furthermore, Cerebrum Tech remains bolstered by individual investors, notably including Faruk Eczacıbaşı, one of the company’s early backers. His continued involvement in this investment round underscores the unwavering commitment to Cerebrum Tech’s growth and success among individual investors.
“Cerebrum Tech is set to assume a pivotal role within our portfolio”
“Cerebrum Tech is set to assume a pivotal role within our portfolio,” declared Barış Özistek, Managing Partner of Boğaziçi Ventures. Boğaziçi Ventures, renowned for its unwavering focus on innovative technologies and disruptive innovation, has added Cerebrum Tech to its roster of investments. Cerebrum Tech, one of Türkiye’s standout success stories in the fields of artificial intelligence and Web 3.0, has exhibited remarkable growth and potential in recent years.
“In 2023, Boğaziçi Ventures maintains its steadfast commitment to investing in visionary projects driven by technology. This approach, rooted in constructive disruption, is instrumental in shaping the future. Cerebrum Tech, now a proud member of our BV Growth Venture Capital Investment Fund, has rapidly ascended to become one of the flagship projects within our expansive portfolio.”
“An Investment Paving the Way for a Bright Future”
Boğaziçi Ventures, a trailblazing name in Türkiye’s alternative asset management sector, is on a mission to invest in the future by emphasizing projects that bring intrinsic value, distinct from the conventional investment management approach. Boğaziçi Ventures wholeheartedly believes in the potential of technology and technology entrepreneurs in our homeland. In each of our investments, we go beyond mere financial contributions, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our portfolio companies throughout their journey as a dedicated team. We bolster them with our wealth of knowledge, experience, and an extensive network of resources.
As we embark on the shared journey of fostering Cerebrum Tech’s growth, we take immense pride in the opportunity to co-author a new chapter of success within the vibrant entrepreneurship ecosystem of our nation. This investment embodies our unwavering commitment to catalyze innovation and pave the way for a brighter future.”
About Cerebrum Tech:
Established in 2021, Cerebrum Tech is a forward-thinking venture studio dedicated to pioneering solutions in key sectors like Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, finance, e-commerce, and Web3. Fueled by a team of experts, Cerebrum Tech excels in driving digital transformation, developing innovative, globally recognized applications in artificial intelligence, Web3, data security, consultancy, as well as smart cities and sustainability. At the heart of Cerebrum Tech’s mission is a vision to be a trusted leader in next-generation technology operating from strategic locations, including Silicon Valley, Istanbul, Seoul, Ankara, the Netherlands, Malta, and London, It’s a venture studio firmly rooted in its belief in harnessing the potential of young talent.
About Boğaziçi Ventures:
Boğaziçi Ventures stands as a preeminent alternative investment firm, specializing in the conception and management of funds dedicated to technology companies across various sectors and global territories. Their commitment lies in generating substantial added value for the companies they invest in.
With a distinguished history of investment decisions that have impacted over 100 technology companies, Boğaziçi Ventures takes an active role in nurturing technology startups. The firm’s partners and team actively engage with entrepreneurs, providing guidance, mentorship, and invaluable knowledge transfer to steer them toward international success.
Boğaziçi Ventures encompasses a group of companies that establish and oversee specialized funds tailored to the unique requirements of investors. Additionally, the firm offers secure custody services for digital currencies, catering to the evolving needs of the digital economy.
A subsidiary of Boğaziçi Ventures, BV Asset Management, plays a pivotal role in assisting both individual and institutional investors in establishing and managing mutual funds, in accordance with the regulations of the Capital Markets Law.
Distinguished by its innovative approach, BV Asset Management establishes and oversees funds that are intricately tied to technology, providing opportunities to invest in publicly traded technology companies.
In all, the tech-enabled consumer products company has raised $230 Million since inception, the most recently closed $11 million equity raise led by Memphis, Tennessee-based Gullane Capital
CANTON, Ohio, Oct. 17, 2023 — Society Brands, a tech-enabled consumer products company built for and by founders, today announced it has raised an additional $25 million of equity, most recently having secured $11 million in a funding round led by Gullane Capital, LLC, an investment firm focused on managing and advising pooled investment vehicles consisting of qualified individuals.
Since its initial raise of $205 million, Society Brands has raised an additional $25 million in equity funding bringing the total capital commitment since inception to $230 million. Additional lead investors include Callais Capital, an institutional VC firm in Louisiana, and North Coast Ventures, a Cleveland-based capital partner who invests primarily in early and growth stage companies. The recent equity fundraise will allow Society Brands to continue acquiring e-commerce native brands in a targeted and strategic manner, further the build out of their operating team and infrastructure and provide even more financial strength to the company’s balance sheet.
“Despite recent headwinds in the e-commerce space, Society Brands is stronger than ever. We’ve had strong execution from both an organic and inorganic growth perspective and this equity raise is a testament to that,” said Michael Sirpilla, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Society Brands. “This recent $11 million raise, which now totals $25 million since our last capital raise announcement, demonstrates the confidence that our investors have in our business plan and our future success. Moving forward, Society Brands is positioned to become a premier tech-enabled consumer products company as we continue to acquire great brands and partner with incredible founders.”
Society Brands has a differentiated business model and deal structure that creates alignment with founders while truly enabling them to take their brand to new heights by sharing best practices and resources.
“We believe Society Brands’ business model to develop lasting and meaningful relationships with the sellers to grow their business and, as a result Society Brands’ overall portfolio, is a formula for success,” said Trip Miller, founder of Gullane Capital. “We are equally impressed with the high integrity founder-run culture amongst Society’s leadership that aligns with our investment partner’s values. Given that, we are optimistic that Society will be among the strongest players in the marketplace.”
Society Brands not only acquires brands that sell on Amazon, but also companies with a strong and loyal direct-to-consumer audience on platforms like Shopify. They encourage founders to stay on board to be part of the team and offer rolled equity as part of the deal consideration to create alignment. It’s their desire to build a community and ecosystem of like-minded entrepreneurs that have the skill and energy to grow with their brand. Not only will founders elevate to the next level professionally, but they will also develop relationships that will last a lifetime.
“Society Brands’ strong financial position will allow it to further capitalize on additional acquisitions that can be integrated with the company’s exceptional management team and proven processes for growing businesses that we believe will yield solid results for all stakeholders,” said Court Coursey, Managing Partner of TomorrowVentures, and Society Brands advisor and early-stage investor.
In recent months, Society Brands has fostered genuine organic growth by cultivating powerful relationships between brands. This not only strengthens the shared mission but also enhances the combined value, saving millions annually. Society Brands’ commitment isn’t just about efficient operations; it’s about nurturing each brand under one umbrella, allowing them to thrive and flourish. Society Brands successfully owns and operates seven distinct brands including Capsule Supplies, Barnesmith, Power Theory, and Wolf Tactical, to name a few. Additional brands are currently in the acquisition pipeline and will be announced soon.
About Society Brands Society Brands is a tech-enabled consumer products company that acquires e-commerce native brands that primarily sell on their own DTC sites and platforms like Amazon, Walmart, and others. Society Brands was built by founders, for founders™, providing entrepreneurs meaningful liquidity while at the same time affording them an opportunity to stay on board, build their brand and roll equity into Society Brands’ platform. For more information, please visit www.societybrands.com.
