BOCA RATON, Fla., May 19, 2025 — Dazos, the all-in-one CRM platform for behavioral health providers, has raised $25 million in Series A funding from New York-based Radian Capital. The funds will be used to accelerate product development and deepen support for its growing customer base.
Behavioral health providers are facing unprecedented pressure as demand soars, staffing remains tight, and legacy systems and processes slow teams down. By centralizing and simplifying admissions and revenue workflows, Dazos helps providers stay focused on providing great care. The platform – custom built for behavioral health users and workflows – gives teams the visibility and structure they need to grow efficiently, without the upfront and ongoing expenses typically associated with highly-customized software implementations.
“This funding allows us to move faster on the things that matter most to our customers: expanding capabilities, reducing administrative burden, and providing high-quality care for more people,” said David Farache, CEO of Dazos. “We’re building a system of record for behavioral health providers that seamlessly integrates with essential clinical systems such as industry-leading EMRs, and we’re just getting started.”
About Dazos Founded in 2021 in Boca Raton, Florida, Dazos has rapidly built a large and loyal customer base within the behavioral health space. The company’s mission is to empower behavioral health organizations with practical, easy-to-use software that increases admissions, maximizes revenue, and automates operations, allowing them to spend more time focused on delivering high-quality care. For more information, visit https://dazos.com
About Radian Capital Radian Capital is an NYC-based growth equity firm with over $1 billion of assets under management. Radian seeks to partner with strong entrepreneurs and management teams of software, marketplace, and tech-enabled services businesses, helping these capital-efficient companies systematically accelerate growth and innovation. Radian has deep expertise investing in vertical software companies, including those in regulated industries such as healthcare. Select healthcare-related investments include NikoHealth, VPL, and Documo. For more information, visit https://www.radiancapital.com.
Photographer Rob Stephenson awarded $100,000 fellowship to expand visual and sonic archive of the city’s neighborhoods
GREENWICH, Conn., May 16, 2025 — O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC (OSV), an investment firm that empowers creators, has awarded a $100,000 O’Shaughnessy Fellowship to Rob Stephenson, an award-winning fine art and architectural photographer based in Brooklyn, N.Y.
2025 O’Shaughnessy Fellow Rob Stephenson
Stephenson will use the fellowship to expand The Neighborhoods, his long-term documentary project that combines photography, field recordings and research-based writing to create a visual and sonic archive of New York City’s neighborhoods in the early 21st century. He will grow the project, which is currently distributed as a newsletter, into an interactive website, with print editions also under consideration. Nearing the end of its second year, The Neighborhoods has covered nearly 100 of the city’s 300-plus neighborhoods.
Stephenson’s photographs of evolving urban landscapes have been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, and in venues across North America and Europe. His commissions include work for the Center for Architecture and the Architectural League of New York. He has received multiple fellowships and awards, including the FotoFilmic Solo V award and the Joyce Elaine Grant Photography Exhibition Solo Show award. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Bloomberg Businessweek and other publications.
OSV’s founder and CEO, Jim O’Shaughnessy, commented, “As a New York lover and photography fan, I’m thrilled to support this important cultural and historical project.”
“I am deeply honored to receive the O’Shaughnessy Fellowship,” said Stephenson. “This recognition and support will allow me to fully dedicate myself to creating a comprehensive and accessible archive of New York City.”
About the O’Shaughnessy Fellowships Program
Launched in 2023, the O’Shaughnessy Fellowships program discovers and empowers the world’s boldest creatives, builders and researchers. Fellows receive a $100,000 grant and gain access to OSV’s network of founders, investors and experts.
OSV will award 12 fellowships in 2025. Applicants will also be considered for the O’Shaughnessy Grants program, which provides 20 additional $10,000 grants to promising innovators.
Stephenson is the fifth fellow announced in 2025. More information about previous fellows is available at OSV’s website.
Applications for the fellowships are now closed and will reopen on Jan. 1, 2026. Individuals interested in learning more can do so via OSV’s website.
About O’Shaughnessy Ventures
OSV is a creative investment firm that empowers creators to bring their ideas to life. Founded by Jim O’Shaughnessy, a pioneer in quantitative investing, founder of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, and author of five books, OSV aims to provide financial support and to partner in growing the next life-changing creative ideas.
OSV combines Jim’s deeply rooted interest in all things art, science, investing and technology with his long-held desire to establish scenarios designed to help promising creators and their inspiring ideas succeed, regardless of age, location, job history or level of education. For more information, visit OSV’s website.
Media Contact: Ena Gong O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC (917) 355-7420 [email protected]
Backed by institutions, family offices, fund of funds and industry executives, A100x builds upon its proven track record of backing companies that are building applications and middleware to solve real world challenges
BOSTON and NEW YORK, May 16, 2025 — A100x is pleased to announce its second fund, a $50 million vehicle dedicated to supporting aspiring early stage founders in artificial intelligence (AI), digital assets, and blockchain, and is strategically designed to foster the next generation of companies that are building applications and middleware to solve real world challenges and foster enterprise and consumer adoption. There is no better time than during this US administration to support these technologies.
Nisa Amoils and Sal Ternullo are the partners of the fund, joined by Frank Amato as venture partner and a team of analysts. Amoils has been a venture investor in these sectors since 2016. As a securities lawyer by training and having worked in media co-producing and hosting The Business of Blockchain show and writing for Forbes, she is uniquely well positioned to add value to early stage founders. Ternullo has been focused on emerging technologies since 2015. Prior to joining venture, he co-led KPMG’s digital assets advisory business in the U.S. and worked at State Street where he advised the bank on security and auditability related to the adoption of machine learning and blockchain. Amato spent eighteen years as a derivatives trader and precious metals market maker at J.P. Morgan and has been an active angel investor in these sectors.
“A100x was purpose-built to provide more than just capital to our partner founders,” said Sal Ternullo, Managing Partner of A100x. “As longstanding, experienced, and passionate investors in the rapidly evolving AI, digital assets, and blockchain space, we aim to bring deep operational and domain expertise to our portfolio of founders, and are proud to be a trusted partner to founders seeking to realize these technologies that address real world challenges. We are grateful for the support of our backers who have chosen to invest in our fund.”
The fund has been in operation since mid 2024 and has already made 15 investments. Previous early investments made by the team in blockchain and AI include companies such as:
Blockdaemon – a complete institutional solution for seamless, secure, and efficient web 3 services for large banks and financial institutions
Coreweave – provides purpose built cloud services that power the AI revolution
Nansen – provides data analytics to crypto investors
Risczero – democratizing zero knowledge proof technology making it available for developers everywhere
Securitize – making real world assets available to institutions and investors through tokenization, a process that registers ownership rights on blockchain
Champtitles – automobile digital title management and registration for local and state governments
Mythical Games – a solution for developers and game publishers to integrate ownership and a secondary economy into games
The current fund has backed projects such as the recently launched Anymal Foundation, which provides a programmable onchain identity layer for animals, ensuring better care, transparency and innovation across pet care, livestock equine, wildlife and more. It also backed Testudo, a technology that allows insurance companies to underwrite the risk of artificial intelligence lawsuits.
For more information about A100x and its current portfolio of companies, please visit www.a100x.vc.
The round was led by OM/VC (formerly Vectr Fintech) and MS&AD Ventures. New investors include Citi North America and Rustem Family office. Returning investors include 500 Global, Epic Angels, 1982 VC, and Big Sky Capital.
CrediLinq operates in the embedded finance sector, enabling B2B platforms to offer financing solutions. Its AI-powered technology infrastructure integrates into online platforms through APIs and leverages the platform’s real time alternative data to provide credit seamlessly to SMEs at the point of need.
Funds will be deployed to drive market expansion, strategic acquisitions and partnerships in the US, UK and Australia; boost local presence in Singapore; hire senior commercial, product and tech talent and invest in further technology enhancements.
SINGAPORE, May 16, 2025 — CrediLinq, the AI-powered embedded finance platform that is revolutionizing access to growth capital for underserved digital-first SMEs globally, announced today the close of its USD $8.5 million Series A funding round. The round was led by OM/VC and MS&AD Ventures. New investors include Citi North America and Rustem Family office. Returning investors include 500 Global, Epic Angels, 1982 VC and Big Sky Capital.
CrediLinq Co-founders, Deep Singh (right) and Vikram Kotibhaskar (left) (Photo credit: CrediLinq)
The CrediLinq team (Photo credit: CrediLinq)
CrediLinq will immediately accelerate geographic expansion, starting with the United States and subsequently into the United Kingdom and Australia. The company will look to partner with larger digital platforms in these markets to drive user growth, enabling digitally native businesses transacting on platforms to access capital.
In addition, CrediLinq will strengthen its leadership bench in sales, marketing, product and tech to support expansion in the target markets. A significant portion of the funds will also be invested in enhancing the company’s technology stack — with continual improvement of AI-led credit algorithms that use the SME’s real-time digital footprint including platform data, unstructured data, bureau information and the like, to reduce non-performing loans (NPLs), improve ‘Default On’ collections, and build agentic workflows to drive efficiency.
Deep Singh, Founder and Group CEO of CrediLinq, remarked: “Today marks a pivotal moment for CrediLinq as we accelerate the growth of embedded finance globally, helping platforms empower digital native SMEs with flexible, transparent and more seamless access to capital. With this new funding, we are excited to deepen our partnerships, expand into new markets, and invest in senior talent and technology infrastructure that will support the next phase of our growth.”
Vikram Kotibhaskar, Co-Founder of CrediLinq. added: “The embedded credit revolution continues to gain momentum, and CrediLinq is at the forefront of this innovation. By being integrated within platforms, our Credit-as-a-Service stack leverages API connectivity, transactional data and credit algorithms for quick decision-making at the point of need and offers easy checkout within the partner ecosystem. This results in a fast, frictionless and transparent customer experience and more ways for platforms to monetize their business. Our agentic workflows also drive efficiency and continuous monitoring to keep loan losses low. Platform partners benefit with higher stickiness, trust, and scalability that drives up GMV.”
CrediLinq’s solutions can be embedded across platforms that cover verticals of procurement, supply chain, e-commerce marketplaces, freelance platforms, banking, accounting, and payments. In the e-commerce space for example, CrediLinq has integrations with key marketplaces such as Amazon, Lazada and TikTok Shop.
Mark Munoz, Managing Partner at OM/VC commented: “As a long-term investor in Credilinq, we’re proud to support their growth into a global leader in credit-as-a-service. Their innovative use of technologies like AI to drive positive revenue outcomes for clients is aligned with our investment philosophy. It’s also encouraging to see that many of its users have reported consistent, immediate ROI from their crediting platforms, underscoring the value that Credilinq is delivering at scale.”
Lee Smallwood, Global Head of Markets Innovation & Investments at Citi, said: “CrediLinq’s innovative approach to embedded finance leverages AI to provide seamless credit solutions for digital-first SMEs, which complements our goal to transform financial services. Their platform’s ability to integrate into diverse digital ecosystems positions them to make a significant impact globally.”
Jon Soberg, Managing Partner at MS&AD Ventures, mentioned: “CrediLinq’s AI-driven platform offers a scalable solution to B2B platforms that want to embed lending as a complementary, value-add offering. Their focus on embedding credit within digital workflows is exactly what today’s rapidly evolving digital economy demands.”
Vishal Harnal, Managing Partner at 500 Global, reflected: “We first backed CrediLinq in 2022 and are doubling down as they scale their AI-powered platform globally. Deep and his team bring exceptional domain expertise and execution, having already built a trusted, scalable model for embedded finance that allows them to expand beyond Southeast Asia.”
For more information about CrediLinq’s embedded finance platform and Series A milestones, please visit www.credilinq.ai.
About CrediLinq
CrediLinq is a technology infrastructure company with a proprietary Credit-as-a-Service stack. Their API-centric approach enables B2B platforms and banks to build financial products for merchants, enabling the financial empowerment of underserved digital native SMEs to build, grow and scale their business.
What sets CrediLinq apart is embedding lending solutions within these platforms and harnessing the platform’s real-time alternative data, to offer business owners swift access to funding through AI-driven credit decisioning and agentic workflows. This empowers SMEs to manage cash flow by accessing seamless, flexible and transparent lending options.
The company holds a Capital Markets Services License under the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), enabling it to raise and deploy institutional capital to support SME growth. CrediLinq is ISO 27001 certified for information security management and is a member of the Singapore Fintech Association.
About Citi
Citigroup (NYSE: C), a leading global bank, invests in and partners with innovative startups that are transforming financial services and other industries. Focus areas include fintech, data analytics, and enterprise solutions. For more information, visit https://www.citi.com.
About OM/VC
OMVC is an early-stage venture capital firm targeting investment opportunities in fintech, deep tech, climate tech and where they intersect. With presence in San Francisco, Honolulu, New York and Singapore, it deploys private capital across Seed to Series A companies and provides visionary founders with operating expertise, capital formation advisory and access to talent. Founded by a former entrepreneur and a regulatory innovator, OMVC aims to create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and the communities it operates in through integrating human-centric and tech-forward approaches.
MS&AD Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, one of the world’s largest insurance groups. MS&AD Ventures invests in early-stage startups advancing innovation across insurtech, fintech, and ESG sectors. For more information, visit https://msad.vc/.
About 500 Global
500 Global is a venture capital firm with US$2.2 billion in assets under management (as of 31 December 2024) investing in globally ambitious founders building fast-growing technology companies. The company focuses on the U.S. and global markets where innovation, capital, and ecosystems can propel startups and unlock long-term value. For more details, visit https://500.co/.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 15, 2025 — Mercurius Media Capital (MMC), the first U.S.-based media-for-equity venture fund, announced a strategic investment in Mode Mobile, the fast-growing platform transforming how consumers monetize their time and attention. MMC has committed an initial $1 million, with an option for an additional $2 million, in targeted media inventory to accelerate Mode’s visibility and adoption across the U.S. market. Mode Mobile operates at the intersection of fintech, media, and rewards, offering a disruptive platform where consumers earn value from their time and attention.
In a landscape often focused on superficial engagement, Mode Mobile pioneers a model of value creation for underserved audiences. “At Mode, we’re pioneering a new way to utilize an everyday asset—turning smartphones into EarnPhones™,” said Dan Novaes, CEO and Co-founder of Mode Mobile. “Our passionate team is eager to partner with MMC and tap into their media expertise to accelerate our growth and connect with entirely new audiences.”
MMC’s investment will fuel Mode’s expansion through a broad media campaign, leveraging MMC’s partnerships with leading media platforms such as Sinclair Broadcast Group, TelevisaUnivision, Atmosphere TV, and others. Mode Mobile joins a growing portfolio of culturally relevant companies accessing high-impact advertising in exchange for equity.
“This isn’t just a growth story it’s a new framework for engagement,” said Piyush Puri, Founding Partner of MMC “Mode is building a model that aligns incentives at scale, fundamentally reshaping user interaction with devices, data, and dollars,” This partnership highlights the power of media-for-equity investing in unlocking growth for startups often overlooked by traditional funding models.
MMC bridges the gap for DTC and mid-sized brands by educating them on TV economics and the long-term value of brand-building MMC’s media offer premium inventory as a strategic asset, with a vested interest in each company’s success, creating impactful and targeted campaigns.
About Mercurius Media Capital Mercurius Media Capital launched in December 2023, is the first U.S.-based media-for-equity venture fund with ~$90 million in committed capital. Co-founded by Satyan Gajwani and Piyush Puri, MMC builds on over 15 years of experience driving media capital transactions at The Times of India Group, facilitating over $3 billion in media-based investments. MMC has partnered with leading media platforms, including Sinclair Broadcast Group, Televisa Univision, Atmosphere TV and others, to offer high-growth startups and enterprises access to distinct, large-scale advertising inventory in exchange for equity. This fund has backed several companies, including Airtasker, Deskera, Edly, Captain Experiences, reAlpha, RYSE and more.
This communication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Investments in MMC are available only to verified accredited investors. Forward–looking statements are based on current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Media Contact: Interdependence PR Angelic Venegas, Account Director 847-977-5601 [email protected]
BOSTON and LOS ALTOS, Calif., May 15, 2025 — Mendoza Impact, a Boston-based nonprofit, made a $250,000 investment into Prosperos, a fintech startup that is bringing financial access to the Latino market. Founded by Silicon Valley startup veterans Vinay Pai and Salvador Chavez (both formerly of Bill.com), Prósperos is revolutionizing capital inclusion by treating all American workers as firstclass customers with bank accounts and credit cards from day one. Mendoza Ventures joins FEBE Ventures, BAT VC, Tekton Ventures, and Courtyard Ventures in supporting Prósperos.
“We are so excited to support the Prosperos team. Financial access at all levels is the bedrock for a healthy economy, and Prosperos is already delivering on that promise in the early stage. Any family making a wage deserves financial inclusion, and real impact is getting all American workers the financial mobility to grow into our economy.” – Mendoza Impact founder Senofer Mendoza
“With Prósperos, our customers have access to bank accounts with no minimum balances, no monthly fees, and no fees for depositing their paychecks or using their credit card for payments. With our financial platform, a family can save over $1000 each year in fees for banking services.” – Vinay Pai, CEO and Cofounder, Prósperos.
“As the son of immigrants, I saw firsthand how lack of financial access holds families back. My father had to pay over 10% of his wages just to cash his checks and send money home to our family in Mexico. With Prósperos, we have the opportunity to change that—to help Latinos save their hard-earned money, build credit, and take meaningful steps toward financial security and opportunity.” – Salvador Chavez, COO and Cofounder, Prósperos.
In a year known for sluggish capital deployments, this stands out as a break from the norm and a call to action for investors to stand up to support new founders. As the first check from the nonprofit born out of Mendoza Ventures’s best practices, this sets the tone for a strong impact framework for Mendoza Impact.
Prosperos
Prósperos leverages modern financial technology with a vision of delivering a simple, convenient mobile financial platform to the 400M Latinos in the Western hemisphere. Say goodbye to fees for cashing checks and sending money. And say hello to a platform that allows you to build a prosperous financial future for your family. Together, we will all prosper. Welcome to Prósperos!
Mendoza Impact
Mendoza Impact was started as the philanthropic arm of the Mendoza family. Having deployed over $30M to successful diverse founders through their VC fund Mendoza Ventures, they believe that the funding discrepancy isn’t a pipeline problem– it’s a capital commitment problem. As a result of this gap in commitments, in 2023 they founded Mendoza Impact to create opportunity for all Americans by empowering and funding the next generation of founders, funders, and fellows to impact their communities. Mendoza Impact is a registered 501(c)(3) Non-Profit.
Deal brings AI-powered platform and top-tier talent into 1848 Ventures, strengthening its vertical SaaS strategy and unlocking growth in the $500B+ skilled trades market.
WESTFIELD CENTER, Ohio, May 15, 2025 — 1848 Ventures, an AI-first venture studio building SaaS solutions for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the US, today announced the acquisition of Luminest, an AI-powered home management startup focused on predictive maintenance and structured property data. The acquisition marks a major milestone in the evolution of 1848 Ventures—from a venture builder to a full-spectrum venture creation platform with the capability to acquire, integrate, and scale strategically aligned companies. This is the first acquisition in the studio’s history and signals a broader expansion of its investment strategy.
Luminest’s proprietary AI models and structured data infrastructure will be integrated into 1848 Ventures’ efforts to solve demand generation and job quality challenges facing specialty contractors and skilled trades professionals.
“This marks a turning point for 1848 Ventures,” said Kal Amin, 1848 Ventures’ Managing Partner. “As the venture landscape continues to evolve, so will 1848 Ventures. We’re not solely focused on building companies from the ground up. We’re assembling high-signal platforms, top-tier talent, and proprietary technology to solve the most pressing problems facing SMBs. Luminest brings all three, allowing us to accelerate key initiatives already underway within our venture studio.”
With this deal, Luminest founder Jateen Parekh and founding engineer Adam Kay will join the 1848V team. Parekh joins 1848V as Venture Leader and was most recently Executive Vice President of Ad Technology & Platforms at iHeartMedia. Earlier in his career, he was the first employee at Lab126, where he was responsible for building the original Amazon Kindle product, team, and platform—playing a key role in one of Amazon’s most iconic hardware and software launches.
Kay joins 1848V as Engineering Lead and is a seasoned full stack engineer with experience at ControlZee, iHeartMedia, Jelli, and Midway Games, where he specialized in engineering innovation and rapid prototyping. He has collaborated with Parekh on special projects for over a decade, bringing a strong, time-tested dynamic to the leadership team.
“We’ve always believed that combining individualized property data with proprietary models and applied data science could fundamentally reshape how services are matched and delivered,” said Parekh. “With 1848 Ventures, we now have the platform, resources, and strategic alignment to bring that vision to life.”
The acquisition gives 1848 Ventures a head start in the $500B+ skilled trades and property services market—a highly fragmented and underserved sector where AI adoption is accelerating. It also marks the first execution of 1848V’s strategic investment thesis: to compound venture creation with targeted acquisitions that enhance speed, talent, and defensibility.
“We’re designing a venture platform with range—where we can build from zero, scale with speed, and integrate innovation when it makes strategic sense,” said Amin. “Luminest fits this model perfectly: high-caliber talent, differentiated technology, and alignment with where we believe the market is going.”
About 1848 Ventures:
1848 Ventures is building the operating system for SMB transformation—venture by venture, acquisition by acquisition. Backed by Westfield, 1848V builds, funds, and scales AI-native SaaS companies designed to help SMBs thrive in a rapidly evolving economy. To learn more about 1848 Ventures and its portfolio, visit www.1848ventures.com.
ChristianaCare, Kettering Health, Medical University of South Carolina, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, MedStar Health, Sharp HealthCare, others join Abundant platform to build high value, sustainable companies that benefit healthcare providers.
CHICAGO, May 15, 2025 — Abundant Venture Partners announces the launch of the Abundant Platform to grow high value, sustainable companies that benefit healthcare provider organizations. The platform accelerates commercialization through the Abundant Venture Studio, ensures rapid adoption via the Abundant Alliance of healthcare providers, and drives scale with aligned, provider-backed seed and series A venture funds.
“Health systems have taken unnecessary risk and haven’t been rewarded adequately for their work with early stage ventures,” explained Harry Kirschner, Chief Executive Officer, Abundant Alliance. “After decades of reacting to the market and choosing what new innovations to ‘bet on,’ healthcare providers can now be in the driver seat and work closely with their peers to de-risk and accelerate the operational and equity impact from work with early stage ventures.”
Health system members of the Abundant Platform play a pivotal role as co-developers, early adopters, and aligned owners, and are rewarded threefold for their participation. “We came to Abundant with a concept and IP that demonstrated great outcomes at our health system, yet we knew it had broader potential,” said William Sheahan, Chief Innovation Officer, MedStar Health. “Abundant uniquely positioned us to explore and launch a new company with other providers signed on as co-developers, investors, and customers.”
Abundant only backs companies that have been vetted to address critical challenges that drive sustainable value and create equity earning opportunities for healthcare providers. “Our partnership with Abundant has accelerated our health system’s efforts to get more involved with evaluating and adopting ‘outside-in’ solutions with demonstrated outcomes while also creating a platform for our internal teams to focus our ‘inside-out’ innovations on capabilities with broader appeal,” said Michael Gentry, Chief Executive Officer, Kettering Health. “It’s great to be part of a collaborative where health systems drive the strategy and stand to reap the benefits.”
“Health systems are more than just providers of medical care—they are the backbone of their communities, fostering economic stability and innovation,” said Leo Brubaker, Managing Partner, Abundant Venture Partners. “The Abundant Platform enables health systems to take an active role in shaping the future of healthcare—creating and scaling solutions that not only improve patient outcomes but also strengthen the communities they serve.”
Abundant plans to select up to ten additional healthcare provider organizations to join the Alliance and is actively reviewing early-stage startups and entrepreneurs for Platform evaluation. To learn more or apply, visit abundantventurepartners.com.
ABOUT ABUNDANT VENTURE PARTNERS
Founded in 2011, Abundant Venture Partners has developed a collaboration platform that grows high value, sustainable companies to benefit healthcare providers. The platform accelerates commercialization through the Abundant Venture Studio, ensures rapid adoption via the Abundant Alliance of healthcare providers, and drives scale with aligned, provider-backed seed and series A venture funds. Through a unique combination of aligned ownership, capital efficiency, and focus on strategic impact, Abundant is directing more than $80 billion in healthcare provider buying power toward opportunities that shave years and millions of dollars off the traditional healthcare innovation process. To date, the firm has made 36 investments and founded 19 companies.
Backed by industry heavyweights and fueled by a team of leading OpenAI scientists, Google designers, plus Pixar and Sony animators, and Riot games developers, Cartwheel’s suite of 3D animation tools bridges the massive gap between creative vision and technical execution, making the entire process 100X faster, easier and more accessible than ever before
NEW YORK, May 15, 2025 — Cartwheel, a company propelling animation into the future, today announced its highly anticipated suite of 3D animation AI tools is now available to the public. Emerging out of closed beta, where the company amassed over 60,000 creatives on the waitlist alone, Cartwheel’s new suite of tools powers up professionals and welcomes anyone who has ever wanted to try 3D animation by removing technical bottlenecks so users can focus on story and performance, and making it 100 times faster, easier and more accessible than ever before.
Cartwheel’s highly anticipated suite of 3D animation AI tools unlocks a world of storytelling opportunities for games, movies, social media and advertising.
“Like what the iPhone did for photography, we believe Cartwheel will do for animation,” said Jonathan Jarvis and Andrew Carr, Cartwheel’s Co-founders. “We’ve developed a new way to simplify the animation process, putting creatives in the drivers’ seat as they dramatically accelerate their workflows, eliminate tedious tasks, free up budget for more creative exploration, and enhance control over their final products. It’s a game-changing approach for people across industries and we’re beyond excited about its potential to transform the future of animated film, anime, gaming, advertising and storyboarding, social media and more.”
Leveraging advanced technology, Cartwheel turns video, text and large motion libraries into production-ready 3D character animations that are easy to move, edit and download directly into current workflows. Professional animators can rapidly prototype ideas in any 3D format, make major refinements or subtle tweaks using Cartwheel or their preferred 3D software, and unlike other generative tools, eliminate disruptive changes to their existing pipelines. Animators can also access Cartwheel’s robust library and quickly find a motion to fit or inspire their scene, while more novice creators can swiftly generate video clips, and designers and developers can turn their character animations into files that can simply be dropped into their apps or websites.
Cartwheel’s unique formula of eliminating hours of repetitive work, and in turn, opening up time to explore more in-depth story telling, has made the company a hotbed for some of the most respected talent across industries. This includes the company’s co-founders Andrew Carr, Cartwheel’s Chief Scientist and former scientist at OpenAI who built code generation for codex and chatGPT and Jonathan Jarvis, Cartwheel’s CEO and former director at Google, where he was a founding member of the Google Creative Lab and launched a wide array of new products and features for Google Brain, Search, Android, and Workspaces, as well as led animation studio Universal Patterns. It also includes a diverse team of creative luminaries from Riot Games, Sony, Unity and more.
Joining its team is Catherine Hicks, former animation director for Pixar known for her incredible work on over 15 movies including the Oscar winning teams for Inside Out, Coco, Toy Story 3, as the company’s new head of animation innovation and Neil Helm, who was heralded for his creative vision and deep understanding of motion at Pixar, working on Inside Out 2, Turning Red, Lightyear, and Toy Story 3 & 4, as its new head of interactive animation.
The company’s layered experience across a variety of creative disciplines has also attracted a number of influential backers. This includes a fresh $10M round (bringing total funding to $15.6M), led by Craft Ventures, along with Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo, Ben Feder’s Tirta Ventures and Runway, and with participation from existing investors Accel, Khosla and Human Ventures. Cartwheel will use the infusion of new funds to continue to train its motion models, attract new talent, and ramp up marketing efforts to get the word out.
“Animation is fundamental to the biggest, most beloved entertainment franchises and experiences in the world. Cartwheel will help animators to expand the frontier of what is possible,” said Lainy Painter Singh, partner at Craft Ventures. “We believe the next decade will see animators create experiences and worlds that people today only dream of, while welcoming in an entirely new, much larger generation of creatives to the art.”
“Cartwheel has changed the entire paradigm of animation by introducing a new toolset that builds on the artistry of animation, making productions more efficient so more stories can be told,” said Ben Feder, Managing Partner at Tirta Ventures. “Where concepts could take days, weeks, or months to visualize, Cartwheel’s technology makes the process virtually instant, unleashing an entirely new world of storytelling possibilities in video, games, advertising and many other sectors. We are proud to be investors in Cartwheel and look forward to enabling today’s developers to benefit from this groundbreaking technology.”
Cartwheel’s launch comes at a time when indie animators and game designers are looking for new ways to share their stories at a fraction of the cost of using traditional animation tools. To battle test its viability, while in closed Beta, Cartwheel was used by creatives from top companies including: Dreamworks, Duolingo, Sony, Roblox and more, who were all eager to see if they could integrate Cartwheel’s tools easily into their workflow. The results were clear, with many reporting that Cartwheel integrates smoothly into existing workflows and offers new ways to experiment, iterate, and animate faster.
For more information about Cartwheel and how to access its free suite of tools please visit: https://getcartwheel.com/
About Cartwheel
Cartwheel is a new way to make 3D animation for games, movies, ads, and more. Founded in 2023 and built by industry veterans from OpenAI, Google, Pixar, Sony, and Unity, the company’s suite of tools makes the entire animation process 100x faster, easier, and more accessible – from start to finish – whether you are a seasoned professional or just starting out. For more information about Cartwheel, please visit: www.getcartwheel.com
