Seeding the Future: What A Seed Portfolio Looks Like

Anycart is an easy-to-use website that combines grocery shopping, cooking, and delivery. With a single search for what you want to cook, Anycart will recommend a recipe, add the ingredients to your preferred grocery delivery service cart, and provide video cooking instructions. Monetization will likely come from fees paid by grocers and brands for directing purchases.

We participated in a competitive $5M Seed round largely done by Menlo VC and Greycroft. Both are top-decile funds, known to be earlier stage investors with multiple unicorns under their belt.

What we liked:

• Strong team of serial entrepreneurs and operators
• Enormous market, with consumers increasingly attracted to online food shopping
• Asset light, scalable business model
• Partnerships with Whole Foods and Safeway

Most manufacturing, warehouse, food service, and ag jobs are still not automated. RIOS is expanding the scope of what robots can do by making major improvements to the software and hardware of robotic arms. Just one example of their product’s abilities: They can pick up raspberries in a variety of positions without damaging the fruit.

We joined RIOS’ last Seed round ($1M raise) before their anticipated Series A. Investors included Motus Ventures (Argus Cybersecurity, acq. $420M) and Morpheus (DeepMind, acq. by Google for $500M) — experienced and supportive investors.

What we liked:

• Huge addressable market
• Highly experienced technical team
• Business model of charging a recurring amount for an end-to-end service (robots as a service)

CoScreen is a desktop collaboration SaaS solution for remote teams. It enables users to screenshare by drag and drop as if they were working on the same desktop, side by side. It’s a tremendous solution for distributed teams, with its value underscored in the era of Covid.

We participated in a $4.5M Seed round led by Unusual Ventures, a great partner who limits its number of companies in order to nurture them. Other investors included an impressive list of strategic angels.

What we liked:

• Strong founding team with experience at Google’s AI, Fidelis, HireVue
• Big market opportunity
• Robust early traction with 1,700 signups from companies
• Highly defensible moats and first-mover advantage

Arrive is an outdoor experience company that enables consumers to plan outdoor adventures and rent premium outdoor gear — saving customers money and storage space. The company’s go-to-market model is focused on channel partnerships with outdoor experience destinations like ski resorts and campgrounds.

We participated in a $3.5M Seed round ($8M pre). Co-investors included FreeStyle Capital, Corigin Ventures, and Science (leading LA incubator and early stage venture fund incubating Dollar Shave Club, DogVacay).

What we liked:

• Proven sharing economy business model
• Proprietary distribution channels (with zero upfront CAC)
• Pedigreed investors who are highly collaborative and hands-on

Tembo Health is an early stage telemedicine platform bringing specialty medical care (e.g., cardiology and psychiatry) to specialty nursing facilities like nursing homes. Tembo delivers care from MDs and nurse practitioners via a proprietary, video chat platform. Nursing homes pay no out-of-pocket costs, deliver better patient care, and save money through reduced patient transportation and logistical expenses.

We participated in a $2M-$3M Seed-Plus SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) with a $20M valuation cap and 15% discount to their next round. This investment was led by Bloomberg Beta’s Founder.

What we liked:

• Inbound sales momentum and projected revenue increase, boosted by Covid
• Strong team with great domain expertise and strong skills
• Attractive model, with pricing per facility based on number of medical specialties supported
• Propriety tech platform, with first-mover advantage