Fund II Highlights Both Insight Partners’ and Institutional LPs’ Commitment to Supporting Underrepresented Fund Managers

NEW YORK, July 6, 2023 — Global software investor Insight Partners today announced it has raised Insight Vision Capital II, L.P. (Fund II), its second 20/20 Vision Capital fund with $118M of capital commitments to invest with a focus on diverse-led, top-tier, early-stage funds. This follows on the heels of the first 20/20 Vision Capital $15M Fund I, raised entirely through capital commitments from senior partners of Insight (Insight GPs), which launched and deployed in the last two years. The $118M Fund II, a dedicated additional fund raised in this space, includes the capital of both Insight’s GPs and institutional Limited Partners, including Massachusetts Pensions Reserves Investment Management Board (MassPRIM), Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS), Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois, New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF) and Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo). These institutional investors are seeking returns from early-stage funds led and founded by diverse Fund managers.

20/20 Vision Capital Fund II has made commitments to funds managed by Act One Ventures Management, L.L.C., Hannah Grey Ventures, LLC, F7 Ventures LLC, SH Fund Management, LLC, Wischoff Ventures, Ansa Capital Management, LLC, Vesey Ventures, Springbank Collective, and Mastry Ventures, some of which are first time funds. This follows 20/20 Vision Capital Fund I investment into 14 funds, including funds managed by Maple VC Management, LLC, Noemis Ventures Management, LLC, and Precursor Ventures Management, LLC, among others, and Fund II has already made commitments to the successor funds of some of these initial funds. Across Fund I and II, 68% are led by first-time fund managers, 60% are led by women and 64% are led by Black and/or Latine fund managers.

From its inception, 20/20 Vision Capital’s premise has been that underrepresented fund managers are competitively positioned to provide attractive returns, as they possess differentiated perspectives and startup networks. Insight Partners believes that partnering with, and investing with, these GPs is both an attractive investment opportunity and an effective way to bring much needed diversity to the venture capital industry. Fund II reinforces that this is an enduring program that is expected to drive strong returns and impact for the long term.

“Participating Insight LPs similarly recognized the opportunity and mission of 20/20 Vision Capital and have now joined us for a second effort with Fund II. We all understand the long-term impact these up-and-coming investors have on the industry,” said Richard Wells, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “20/20 Vision Capital’s goal is for the fund managers to directly access institutional capital on their own and we’re thrilled to make Fund II part of the technology investing landscape.”

“MassPRIM is committed to fostering diversity within the investment landscape, and we believe one of the best ways to do that is to invest in funds led by underrepresented investors and managers,” said Michael Trotsky, CFA, Executive Director, and Chief Investment Officer of MassPRIM. “We are excited to partner with Insight on this initiative, and we hope that the emerging funds that Vision Capital invests in grow to become a fit for MassPRIM to invest in directly over time.”

Born in 2020 during the global pandemic and heightened social unrest, 20/20 Vision Capital supports managers from inception, allowing fund managers to utilize Insight’s GP connections, gain exposure to additional investors and have access to strategic programming, such as advisory support and briefing sessions on the state of the industry. Over the past two years, Insight’s dedicated team has hosted a variety of curated in-person events, including roundtables and networking sessions to contribute to the success of the fund managers. Due to these close partnerships, 20/20 Vision Capital has been able to engage in additional investments, further showing the focus on long-term growth and performance of the fund managers.

“With our 27-year investment perspective we recognized that the problem wasn’t a shortage of minority founders, but rather a shortage of funds investing in them at the critical pre-seed through Series A-B stage. 20/20 Vision Capital has been able to directly address this problem by investing with diverse GPs who in turn have the opportunity to identify and invest in diverse founders,” said Dionne Chingkoe, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “Since we began investing more than two years ago, many of our fund managers are already seeing positive results and all are showing promise. We’re optimistic about 20/20 Vision Capital’s continued success.”

About Insight Partners
Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of December 31, 2022, the firm has over $75B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 750 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has offices in London, Tel Aviv, and Palo Alto. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with right-sized, right-time practical, hands-on software expertise along their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.

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SOURCE Insight Partners

SINGAPORE, July 6, 2023 — Today, nami, a leading multi-sensing platform and ecosystem enabler for the Internet of Things (IoT) industry, announced the close of its Series A financing round, raising $10.5 million from strategic investors including Verizon Ventures, Amavi Capital, INSPiRE and Aconterra.

nami enables enterprise customers to rapidly deploy intelligent presence, motion, and situation-aware IoT services. The company’s full-stack platform ingests raw sensor data, augments it into actionable metadata, and uses it to trigger automation across entire IoT environment, delivering unprecedented use cases. Over the past two years, nami has developed a powerful platform for software-based sensing applications, featuring cutting-edge sensing topologies and associated intellectual property. With this new funding, nami is poised to expand its team and geographical presence to rapidly deploy its advanced digital sensing infrastructure across residential and commercial buildings on three continents.

“This funding round empowers nami to achieve our mission of building an ecosystem of AI sensors that cater to IoT players, internet service providers, insurance companies, and others across multiple verticals,” said Jean-Eudes Leroy, co-founder and CEO of nami. “Our innovative nami app brings peace of mind to families with security, safety, and wellness use cases while ensuring the utmost privacy. Additionally, our partners’ applications and dashboards utilize data from our API to enhance automation, complement their security solution and improve health outcomes in different types of environments.”

“At Verizon Ventures, we invest in companies whose innovative solutions leverage 5G and other advanced network technologies to deliver impactful new capabilities for both consumers and business customers,” said Michelle McCarthy, Managing Director at Verizon Ventures. “nami’s talented and seasoned team has laid out an impressive new vision for connected homes, transforming them into intelligent living spaces. We look forward to supporting them as they develop digital sensing infrastructure for residential and commercial buildings in Asia, Europe and North America.”

“We are thrilled to be part of the nami project, which aims to digitize walls and ceilings through non-intrusive sensing technology,” said Frédéric Van Weghe, Managing Partner at Amavi Capital. “In the wake of the global agenda for carbon neutrality in residential and commercial buildings, the ability to deploy non-line-of-sight sensing technology across wide surfaces, detecting occupancy, is a major leap forward for the PropTech industry.”

“What a great journey to build investment foundations for nami and proactively contribute to grow its business in Japan” said Ryosuke Takatsuki, Representative Director of INSPiRE Mutualistic Symbiosis Fund. “We are very excited by our cooperation with nami in Health & Wellness space for Mimamori project in Japan. Together, we pave the way for properly aging in place thanks to the right mix of AI and IoT technologies, made easy to deploy. Just Japan itself is a target market of 26 Millions elderly households for AgeTech.”

“IoT services on motion and presence are vital to reduce the carbon footprint and to increase the safety of people in residential and commercial buildings. nami’s multi-sensing platform realizes this in a highly scalable way by using existing widely adopted technology that doesn’t require line of sight. Situation awareness of people can be a global gamechanger for many use cases including energy management, alarm detection, and elderly monitoring.”, says Ron Schuermans, founding Partner of Aconterra. “We’re thrilled to welcome nami in Aconterra’s smart building tech ecosystem and to support such an amazing team.”

About nami

nami, headquartered in Singapore, delivers AI-powered digital sensing solutions to players in the Security, Safety, HealthTech, PropTech, and Energy Optimization fields through hardware-augmented software. Two of the nami co-founders, Jean-Eudes and Jérôme Leroy, serve as active members of the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), part of the steering committee of the new CSA Health & Wellness workgroup, and chair Matter’s RF Ambient Sensing Workgroup.

For more information, please visit www.nami.ai (https://nami.ai/)

SOURCE nami

Beloved for its performance training apparel, the announcement highlights the brand’s meteoric rise as the next great athletic brand.

NEW YORK, July 6, 2023 — Today New York-based men’s activewear brand, Ten Thousand, announced a $21.5 million Series A raise and a partnership with Life Time, North America’s premier Athletic Country Clubs and omni-channel Healthy Way of Life Brand. The raise and partnership underscores Ten Thousand’s cult following, differentiated positioning and rapid growth on the path to become the next game-changing brand in the technical performance apparel space. The investment was led by Provenance with participation from Fernbrook and Alfa. This syndicate joins existing seed investors including Dave Gilboa (co-founder of Warby Parker), Blue Scorpion, and Elizabeth St Ventures.

“As lifelong athletes that consistently struggled to find adequate training gear, we started Ten Thousand to build what we were looking for in the market — a streamlined assortment of no-nonsense, premium gear that could take us through any and every training session,” explains Ten Thousand Founder and CEO, Keith Nowak. “By only using the highest quality materials, obsessing over the details, and working with elite hybrid athletes to design, develop, and test every product, Ten Thousand has become the go-to performance brand for serious athletes. The result is purpose-built gear that is made to last. As a business we’ve not only seen significant growth on a consistent basis, we also have one of the highest repeat customer rates in the industry. With this new investment and our partnership with Life Time we can shift the business into high gear by growing our team, investing in more inventory, exploring retail, larger partnerships and new marketing channels.”

“There’s an authenticity and seriousness to Ten Thousand that is sorely lacking from so many of the other activewear start-ups,” says Anton Romash, Ten Thousand Board Director and principal at Provenance, a Los Angeles-based growth oriented investment firm leveraging data-driven insights to foster growth and profitability. “In an incredibly short period of time they’ve established themselves as a true best-in-class brand and are in pole position to take advantage of the massive opportunity in the market to become the next great American activewear brand. We’re very excited to help fuel that growth.”

Adds Nowak, “As our repeat rate shows, once a customer tries Ten Thousand, they stick with Ten Thousand. And now with this funding we’ll be able to reach even more new customers through both continued digital marketing as well as further channel expansion. The funding will also help us better keep up with customer demand – which has been one of our biggest challenges to date. When we set out to raise our Series A we quickly saw Provenance as an ideal partner. We had built relationships with their team over multiple years and knew they were unique in how they combine data-driven decision making with unmatched brand, product and operational expertise. We have every intention of becoming a household name and this funding along with the new partnerships will play a big role in helping us get there.”

Coinciding with this funding announcement, Ten Thousand also announced a 3 year partnership with Life Time Athletic Country Clubs that will make them the exclusive men’s training apparel brand of Life Time’s Dynamic Personal Training (DPT) team and its Studio, GTX, Alpha, and Ultra Fit classes, and will sponsor select Life Time events as well as deliver exclusive products and in-club activations.

One major point of emphasis within the partnership will be Run Strong, Ten Thousand’s take on running that has ushered in a new breed of hybrid athletes who train to improve physical strength and endurance, as well as mental fortitude. Ten Thousand has been at the forefront of this new movement in the fitness and training space and have already hosted Run Strong activations at this year’s Life Time Miami Marathon and Chicago Half Marathon. Participants were encouraged to wear weight vests and do push-ups and burpees throughout the race, raising over $10,000 for the Life Time Foundation. Ten Thousand plans to expand on this success with the addition of Run Strong divisions at other organized races as well as host Run Strong community events throughout the year.

Press Contact
Taylor Stacey | ACL & Co. | [email protected] | 415-377-5096

SOURCE Ten Thousand

The closing complements 12 existing investments and 30 previous investments from the firm’s first fund in 2019.

LA QUINTA, Calif., July 6, 2023 — Harmonix Management LLC, a venture capital investment firm focused on investments in science-driven startups, announced today the successful close of Harmonix Fund I LP (the “Fund“) with investments deployed across the healthcare, life sciences, deep tech, and space tech verticals.

The Fund’s closing comes after Harmonix deployed capital to 12 investments that build on the successes of the firm’s first fund (a self-funded entity closed in 2019) that executed 30 investments across many highly successful and innovative companies.

Harmonix launched Fund III in July 2023.

Today, Harmonix’s diverse portfolio features a range of cutting-edge companies, including Bit.Bio, a platform programming the software of life; Volumetric, a 3D bioprinting platform for drug research and human organ replacements; and Insilico Medicine, an AI drug discovery and development platform.

The Fund’s investments in healthcare and deep tech have empowered what Harmonix believes to be groundbreaking achievements, such as Insilico Medicine’s world-first fully AI-designed drug in clinical trials.

“We are immensely proud of the progress we’ve made with our second fund, and of the incredible companies we’ve had the privilege of investing in,” said Maximilian Winter, founder and general partner of Harmonix. “Our success is a testament to the bold and innovative visionaries leading these startups. This fund has allowed us to expand our impact within healthcare, life sciences, deep tech, and space, and we remain dedicated to supporting advancements in these exciting sectors.”

Winter added, “We continue to look towards the future where science-driven innovation can disrupt traditional paradigms and create transformative solutions for the advancement of humanity.”

Harmonix’s first two funds have supported what the firm considers to be 10 major breakthroughs in less than five years. Additionally, Harmonix believes new technologies have enabled the rapid evolution of the healthcare investment landscape to create a trillion-dollar market potential within these sectors.

Harmonix is committed to being situated at the forefront of the biotech industry, fostering ethical and socially impactful companies, and supporting scientific advancements that accelerate humanity forward. The firm believes its commitment to collaboration, support, long-term vision, and innovation ensures that its portfolio companies are well-equipped to bring about significant change.

For more information about Harmonix, its investment approach, and portfolio companies, please visit https://harmonixfund.com/.

ABOUT HARMONIX

Harmonix is a California-based venture capital firm founded by Maximilian Winter along with partners Cofield Mundi and Krish Ramadurai, focused on investing in breakthrough technologies at the intersection of life sciences, healthcare, and deep tech. With a strong commitment to ethics, social impact, and scientific advancements, Harmonix supports and empowers entrepreneurs to develop and scale their groundbreaking ideas, creating a comprehensive ecosystem for innovation and growth.

SOURCE Harmonix

Optiversal AI helps multiply SEO traffic and revenue for the Retail 100

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., July 6, 2023 — Optiversal, the generative AI content provider accelerating content creation for large retail enterprises, today announced that it has secured $4.2M in seed funding led by Bling Capital, with participation from Alpaca Ventures and Red Sea Ventures.

“Bling Capital is proud to support Optiversal in its mission to revolutionize the retail industry through its cutting-edge generative AI technology — helping consumers easily find highly relevant, yet often hard-to-find products sold by retailers. Optiversal’s early success with large retail enterprises and the expertise of its seasoned team speak volumes about their potential to transform the enterprise landscape,” said Ben Ling, general partner of Bling Capital.

Optiversal eliminates operational and technical barriers to producing relevant, high-quality content at scale for Retailers. Since its launch, the Optiversal platform has converted tens of thousands of missed content opportunities into hundreds of thousands of traffic-generating landing pages, delivering material revenue for enterprises while improving the consumer experience. To date, the company has generated over $125 million in new revenue for its retail customers, including multiple top-20 retailers, showcasing the immense potential of AI-powered content creation in the retail industry.

Optiversal will use this funding to accelerate the growth of the company by investing in product development, its tech and infrastructure, as well as increasing efforts to meet growing customer demands.

“We founded Optiversal with the goal of revolutionizing the way retailers approach content creation,” said Will Underwood, CEO and Founder of Optiversal. “Our platform addresses the challenges faced by large retail enterprises in generating high-quality, engaging content at scale. Our ability to develop custom AI models tailored to each of our customer’s unique voices, enables them to maintain a consistent and distinct brand voice across all marketing channels while significantly reducing the time and effort required to produce high-quality content. We’re thrilled to have the backing of investors like Bling Capital, Alpaca Ventures, and Red Sea Ventures, who share our vision for transforming the retail industry through AI-powered content creation solutions.”

Optiversal was founded by Will Underwood, Lucas Tieleman, and Jarrod Wolf, a dynamic trio of successful serial entrepreneurs who have been working together in the retail technology space for nearly a decade. Their combined expertise and passion for innovation have been instrumental in the development of Optiversal’s AI-powered content creation platform. With a proven track record of delivering transformative solutions to the retail industry, the founders are well-positioned to lead Optiversal in its mission to revolutionize content creation for retail enterprises.

For more information about Optiversal and its AI-powered content creation platform, please visit https://www.optiversal.com or contact [email protected].

SOURCE Optiversal

ZÜRICH, Switzerland, July 6, 2023 — SDX, Switzerland’s first fully regulated FMI for digital assets, announces that it has entered into comprehensive discussions with CV VC, Switzerland’s prominent VC for tech startups. This marks a significant step in harnessing the strengths of both organizations to drive innovation within the digital asset landscape.

CV VC, renowned for its expertise in identifying promising portfolio companies, will actively seek opportunities to leverage its knowledge in tandem with SDX. Simultaneously, SDX will play a key role in enabling and facilitating the tokenization journey of these startups. Both entities are committed to educating early-stage companies on the transformative value of tokenization and intermediated securities.

SDX and CV VC are exploring use cases to empower emerging companies to access SDX’s digital private equity ecosystem, seamlessly connecting them with partnering financial institutions and offering streamlined funding solutions, enhanced automation, and transparency. By joining the SDX ecosystem as an issuer, blockchain startups can increase their investability among institutional investors with traceable tokenized assets.

“With CV VC’s pivotal role in the Swiss startup ecosystem as the leading blockchain-focused VC, we at SDX are looking forward to harnessing the power of blockchain technology to drive the digital transformation of private markets,” says David Newns, Head of SIX Digital Exchange.

“Like SDX, CV VC believes that the financial market infrastructure, in Switzerland and beyond, is presently optimized for public companies, yet there are plenty of opportunities in private equity markets. We look forward to supporting SDX in their mission to co-shape a growing and vibrant Swiss Digital Market Infrastructure Ecosystem,” adds Olaf Hannemann, Co-Founder of CV VC.

About SDX

SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) is the first fully regulated financial market infrastructure (FMI) for the issuance, trading, settlement, and custody of digital assets. SDX is licensed by Switzerland’s financial market regulator, FINMA, to operate as a stock exchange and central security depository (CSD) on distributed ledger technology (DLT). As part of the SIX Group, SDX is subject to the Group’s high quality and security standards covered under Swiss law.

About CV VC

CV VC is a global blockchain investor, operating ecosystem acceleration hubs across Switzerland, Liechtenstein, South Africa, Germany, and Portugal. It provides seed funding and an acceleration program to innovative tech teams in exchange for equity or tokens. CV VC expertise extends to offering blockchain industry consulting and advisory services to corporates and governments.

SOURCE SIX Digital Exchange

OSAKA, Japan, July 5, 2023 — EX-Fusion announced today the close of an over-subscribed $1.8 billion yen seed-round investment designed to accelerate the commercial development of laser fusion technology. EX-Fusion has raised 130 million yen to date, and this latest financing will bring the total amount raised to 1.93 billion yen.

Background

Currently, there is growing interest in the potential of laser fusion for achieving a decarbonized society, and international competition is intensifying. In the past, academic research and development have been carried out mainly by universities and national research institutes in various countries but following the announcement of the energy gain (net energy gain) experimental results of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States on December 13, 2022, startup companies around the world are accelerating towards the commercialization of laser fusion.

EX-Fusion is committed to promoting the commercialization of laser fusion in Japan. By combining high-output, high-repetition laser technology, continuous target supply devices, and cutting-edge optical control technology, we aim to realize the world’s first commercial laser fusion power plant, and contribute to the development of technology in various optical industries, not limited to the energy sector.

Purpose

Since the previous round of funding, we have focused on the development of components for laser control. Through this round of funding, we will establish our own facility and prepare an environment for integrated testing of these components.

In addition, larger components are required to control higher-output lasers. In order to become a global leader in future nuclear fusion energy science, we aim to achieve in-house production of dedicated laser systems and advanced manufacturing technologies, as well as establish a variety of optical industries centered on laser fusion, and make significant progress as a producer of clean energy.

Investors

ANRI

Nissay Capital

Delight Ventures

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Capital

Nikon-SBI Innovation Fund

Osaka Shoko Shinkin Bank

Mitsubishi UFJ Capital

SMBC Venture Capital

Shizuoka Capital

Kyushin Social Capital

Germination Fund

Comments from investors

ANRI, Masahiro Samejima (Lead Investor)

I am very happy to be able to participate in this round of funding as the lead investor.

We have been supporting the company since the pre-startup stage of the technology concept, and we feel that the world’s attention to laser fusion is rapidly increasing due to the research results of the NIF in the United States. On the other hand, there are still various elemental technologies to be developed and time to realize laser fusion, so we would like to support the company steadily as a “Patient Capital” that can carefully nurture such “Tough Tech” in a long-term perspective, without being too affected by the trends of the world. Let’s somehow deliver the “sun on earth” to humanity.

About the future

EX-Fusion will explore many new technology areas, including clean energy generation, and maximize the potential of laser fusion energy. In particular, we will contribute to the development of technology in various optical industries, not limited to the energy sector, by utilizing the continuous target supply devices and cutting-edge optical control technology that have been obtained in the process of striving to realize a commercial laser fusion power plant.

What is laser fusion energy?

Safe, reliable, and clean energy that does not generate high-level radioactive waste. It is generated by a small nuclear fusion reactor using an abundant fuel that can be extracted from seawater. It has the same or greater power generation as a nuclear reactor and the safety of conventional renewable energy, and it can also respond to load changes by changing the number of laser repetitions.

CONTACT:
Shoko Oda
PR/Media Manager
[email protected]

SOURCE EX-Fusion

BOSTON, July 5, 2023 — LearnLaunch Fund + Accelerator, a prominent edtech investor, has recently unveiled its 2023 Breakthrough to Scale program, showcasing the selection of five promising edtech startups for investment and active engagement. These companies are committed to developing innovative solutions that offer future-proof learning, earning, and collaboration opportunities through cutting-edge technology and human-centered design.

Having made strategic investments in over 80 edtech companies since 2013, LearnLaunch has achieved remarkable milestones. Its portfolio companies have raised more than $250 million in funding and positively impacted the educational journeys of over 40 million learners worldwide. LearnLaunch continues to foster the growth of visionary pioneers who are driving accessibility, equity, and outcomes across diverse educational sectors.

The five participating startups in the program are:

• Alchemy Vision (Los Angeles, California): Alchemy Vision is a leading digital platform that specializes in workforce upskilling within the eye care industry. Their comprehensive solution is designed to efficiently train employees while alleviating the workload of senior staff. With a scalable and cost-effective approach, the company empowers teams to positively impact practice growth, elevate patient satisfaction, and cultivate professionalism and confidence among staff members.
• Ann (Tel Aviv, Israel): Ann is revolutionizing the education publishing industry by accelerating the digital transformation. Ann uses AI and machine learning technologies to transform static materials into dynamic, interactive content that integrates assessments and real-time reports for teachers while preserving the essence of the original publications.
• Kiddie Kredit (Miami, Florida): Kiddie Kredit is closing the income gap by addressing youth financial literacy.  Their mobile app is designed to educate children about the credit system and credit responsibility through chore completion, fostering financial literacy from an early age.  The company is already in partnerships with Equifax & several other major financial institutions.
• Lingco (Lansing, Michigan): Lingco (Lansing, Michigan): Lingco offers an adaptive language learning platform for K-12 and higher ed. It assesses students’ language competencies and provides actionable insights and engaging content to instructors for better course structuring and helping students achieve proficiency.
• UpBrainery UpBrainery provides Exploration Pathways for an immersive career exploration experience for students in K-12. UpBrainery is focused on the rapidly growing Career and Technical Education (CTE) space. The company leverages AI and machine learning to provide hyper-personalized student learning paths. With built-in badging, micro-credentialing, and teacher tools, it is designed for easy implementation in any classroom.

These selected startups will embark on a transformative 12-week journey through LearnLaunch Accelerator’s Breakthrough to Scale program, primarily conducted virtually. During this intensive period, the companies will seize opportunities to strengthen their product-market fit, expand their customer base, and establish scalable operational frameworks. The founders will receive support from mentors, venture partners, and funders within LearnLaunch’s robust network. Following the program, each company will be well-prepared for subsequent stages of funding, deployment, and operational success. The program will culminate with a demo day scheduled for the week of October 2nd, 2023, held in New York as part of EDTECH WEEK.

LearnLaunch constantly seeks to enhance its capacity by welcoming new, knowledgeable individuals to support the growth and development of startups. “Our program alumni give rave reviews of their weekly meetings with our Venture Partners during the program” said Jean Hammond, Founder and General Partner. “We are thrilled to add an industry thought-leader; Dr Alina von Davier, Chief of Assessment at Duolingo, as the newest member in our Venture Partner team of industry experts”.

Finally, LearnLaunch is excited to announce an equity investment into the Fund by Needham Bank under their Community Reinvestment Act umbrella. This investment supports the Bank’s ongoing goals of investing in workforce development and reaching low and moderate income  communities. This closely aligns with LearnLaunch’s aim to grow innovative businesses that have a big potential for social impact, with over 66% of its investments led by BIPOC and female founders.

LearnLaunch Fund + Accelerator is the leading Edtech startup program. Using our unique mix of milestone-based funding and one-on-one venture partner and mentor support, we work with impact-driven entrepreneurs on achieving product-market fit and developing go-to-market strategies to achieve scale. We look for companies with revenue and scalable impact potential. Our relationship-driven approach supports funding, partnerships, and growth for the long term. For more information, visit https://learnlaunch.com/accelerator.

SOURCE LearnLaunch Fund + Accelerator

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., July 5, 2023 — Urban SDK, a cloud based traffic management system of record for state and local governments, announces a seed funding round led by GOVO Venture Partners. The round is also supported by DeepWork Capital, Florida Opportunity Fund, Techstars, and venVelo.

This investment will be instrumental in fueling Urban SDK’s rapidly expanding footprint across the United States and Canada. In 2022, the company grew annual recurring revenue (ARR) by 145% and maintained a net revenue retention of 109%. The funds are dedicated to support the sustained growth Urban SDK has experienced from the public sector market and the demand they are receiving from the Civil Engineering industry.

“The US continues to lead the world in traffic deaths per capita, vehicle emissions output, and cars sold  —  it’s a compounding issue,” said Justin Dennis, Urban SDK COO and Co-founder. “Our cities do not have one platform for traffic engineers to easily access traffic diagnostics for any local road, make decisions to improve traffic safety and efficiency, and  quickly communicate with stakeholders. Traffic Management is a $5 Billion market opportunity and we could not be more excited to solve this problem with GOVO as partners.”

An alum of the Techstars Smart Mobility Accelerator, Urban SDK provides public works, planning, and law enforcement officials with a system of record used to create safer roadways. By streamlining traffic management operations and equipping officials with diagnostic reports of local roads, Urban SDK ensures that stakeholders have the information they need to keep their communities safe.

“We expect to see increased demand in the government sector for data-related solutions that enable better decisions and innovation,” Rob Panepinto, GOVO’s managing general partner, said of the investment. “Urban SDK has already impressed clients with the quality of their solution and has built a management team with a solid vision for execution and growth. We are excited to work closely with the company and its leadership team, leveraging our knowledge and expertise in the government sector.”

“Urban SDK is honored to partner with GOVO, who has an intense focus and experience in the state, local and federal marketplace. With the expertise and network GOVO and their partners provide, we are poised to double revenue over the next 12 months and further cement our platform as the system of record for Public Works departments.”

About Urban SDK

Urban SDK is a traffic management system of record for state and local governments across North America. The platform delivers diagnostic reports on local roads, GIS visualizations, and cloud-based data storage to public works officials, transportation planners, traffic engineers, and law enforcement officials. With a mission to improve mobility, Urban SDK is empowering stakeholders to create safer roadways in their communities.

About GOVO Venture Partners

GOVO Venture Partners is a Winter Park, Florida based company. GOVO Fund I is a venture fund that invests, seed round through series A, in early stage companies for which doing business with government or navigating government regulations is an important success factor.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Jonathan Bass
Director of Marketing, Urban SDK
[email protected]
386.228.7668

SOURCE Urban SDK