Eniac Ventures Newsletter: Summer 2018
Eniac Ventures is excited to announce Seed to Scale: A podcast dedicated to all things startup & seed stage
We’ll be serving up candid conversations with some of the most interesting founders, investors, and influencers to discuss the ups and downs of building an early-stage company, securing funding and what it takes to scale to the next level.
Our first guests include Mike Maples, Founding Partner of Floodgate, Chieh Huang, Founder and CEO of Boxed (an Eniac-funded company) and Heather Hartnett, CEO of Human Ventures.
Mike Maples on spotting the Thunder Lizards before they hatch
Chieh Huang on company culture & how his role as CEO changes every 6 months
Heather Hartnett on the Myth of the Big Idea and looking Beyond the Resume
Episodes are available on Anchor and anywhere you listen to podcasts, including iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts.
Follow us at @SeedtoScale.
b8ta raised a $19 million Series B, led by Macy’s
On June 26, an early Eniac-funded company, b8ta announced a $19 million Series B, led by Macy’s, with participation from Sound Ventures, Palm Drive Capital, Capitaland, Graphene Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Plug and Play Ventures.
Macy’s funding was part of their larger strategy to expand its existing partnership to scale The Market, a hands-on experiential-based retail concept that is powered by Built by b8ta.
Eniac Ventures led their seed in 2015, and b8ta has since raised a total of $39 million. Read More
Raken raised a $10 million Series A
On June 5, Eniac portfolio company Raken announced a $10 million Series A. The latest round was led by U.S. Venture Partners, with participation from Eniac Ventures, Tao Capital Partners, Rincon Venture Partners, and Spider Capital. The company now has more than 3,000 customers, including top Fortune 500, and is deployed in all 50 U.S. states and across 89 countries.
Raken Founder and CEO, Kyle Slager was named “Most Admired CEO” by San Diego Business Journal. Kyle was quoted, “We do everything we can to help employees achieve their goals, and the office is just one aspect of that.” Read More
Universe raised a $4 million Series A
On June 20, Eniac portfolio company Universe announced a $4 million Series A from Javelin Venture Partners, along with Eniac Ventures, General Catalyst, Y Combinator, Box Group, among others.
Universe is an iOS app that allows users to create websites in minutes in a way that feels more like Instagram than traditional approaches, and their users have built more than 160,000 sites. The latest funding supports operational growth and the company has raised $7.2 million to date. Read More
10% Happier raised $3.7 million in new funding, corporate Apple pilot, and demo at WWDC
On June 5, Eniac portfolio company 10% Happier announced $3.7 million in Seed II funding, placing total funds raised to date at $5 million. The round included prior investors Eniac Ventures, Founder Collective, NextView Ventures, and new investors Khosla Ventures, Trinity Ventures, and Correlation Ventures. The “meditation for the rest of us” company reported its users have logged over 50 million mindful minutes.
This past year, 10% Happier has worked with Apple to kick-off a corporate Mindful Minute Challenge for all employees worldwide. Additionally, Apple showcased the 10% Happier app on stage at WWDC as part of the Apple Watch and iPhone demos. Read More
MedCrypt raised a $1.9 million Seed round, led by Eniac Ventures, to scale cryptographically embedded software for medical devices
On June 28, MedCrypt raised a $1.9 million Seed round led by Eniac Ventures, with participation from Sway Ventures, Nex Cubed, Oronoco Investments, and Friedman BioVentures. The medical device cybersecurity technology provider will be using the proceeds from this round to scale implementation of its security software into its customers’ devices.
This week, MedCrypt welcomed Vidya Murthy as VP of operations, ushering in customer perspective to this next phase of growth. Read More
Hinge
Eniac-funded company Hinge was acquired by Match Group Inc. with a controlling stake of 51%. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed and they still have the option to buy the remaining shares within the next year.
iovation
In June, iovation has announced the completion of their acquisition by TransUnion. iovation is an early Eniac-funded company that pioneered fraud detection and consumer authentication for more than 5 billion unique devices across 35,000 leading brands in 50 countries.
Fuzzy Pet Health
Eniac-funded company Fuzzy Pet Health launched a new telemedicine vet care plan available to pet parents across the U.S. For $10 a month, Fuzzy Connect lets pet parents talk or text with veterinarians in real-time to get immediate advice on medical issues or behavioral tips. Fuzzy Pet Health is available on iOS or Android.
Snips
Eniac-funded company and French startup Snips announced Snips AIR, a private-by-design, decentralized alternative to Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Snips AIR protects users’ privacy by processing their voice locally on the device, without sending any data to the cloud. AIR Base and AIR Satellite will be launch at the end of 2019. Snips also announced an ICO, Air Token, to fuel their developer marketplace that will run on the AIR blockchain.
Attentive
Attentive was named a top “Company To Watch” by The Lead, an org focused on connecting fashion brands and retailers with next-generation digital technologies. Read how this is Eniac’s second time backing the Attentive Founders Brian Long and Andrew Jones. Their previous startup, TapCommerce, sold to Twitter in 2014.
Eniac hosted their summer offsite at The University of Pennsylvania. Operating for almost a decade, the Eniac Partners wanted to head back to where it all began and visit the inspiration and namesake for Eniac Ventures, ENIAC, the world’s first programmable electronic computer.
Eniac visited Pittsburgh for the Carnegie Mellon & Innovation Works AI/Robotics Venture Fair and hosted a happy hour to celebrate the city’s budding early-stage tech scene. In addition, Nihal Mehta spoke at the Pittsburgh Tech Council offering advice and insights to local founders and entrepreneurs.
Hadley Harris joined fellow investors Graham Brown from Lerer Hippeau, Catherine Ulrich from FirstMark and Alex Clayton from Spark CapitalLast for a panel discussion on strategies for how founders can find the right VC at AWS Startup Day. Check out what they had to say.
VentureBeat
Where is VR headed? Investors share insights on the industry’s trajectory
Forbes
Men And Women Benefit When Mentorship Cross The Gender Divide
VentureBeat
Carnegie Mellon and Innovation Works hold ‘venture fair’ for Pittsburgh AI and robotics startups
TechVibe Radio
Eniac Ventures’ Nihal Mehta talks to PTC Members
teknovation
Nihal Mehta reminds entrepreneurs that failure is a learning experience
September 27
Q&A panel with the Women in Computer Science (WiCS) at Penn.
As Eniac’s alma mater, we’re hosting a back-to-school panel with the student organization for Women in Computer Science focused on supporting young women for a discussion around navigating the early-stage tech community, entrepreneurship, and networking.
October 11
“Hacking the Enterprise” dinner in San Francisco.
Sponsored by Google, the dinner will host an educational discussion with technical founders of early-stage companies on navigating the challenges of selling into the enterprise.
August 20
Eniac’s Post-Y Combinator Founder & VC Community Dinner
Eniac and Parade Ventures will be hosting their semi-annual post-YC dinner focused on the diverse VC and founder community.
Stay tuned for more events coming up and email caitlin@eniac.vc for more info.
