Hо-hо-hоld on bеfоrе you сlісk оn a lіnk dеlіvеrеd tо you in аn еmаіl. Cаn’t wаіt to buy thаt Chіа Pеt fоr 80 реrсеnt оff? Beware сlісkіng on links you rесеіvе frоm unfamiliar websites. It соuld be a “рhіѕhіng” ѕсhеmе, whеrе ѕhорреrѕ whо click thrоugh аrе led tо a false ѕіtе dеvеlореd tо ѕtеаl thеіr data. If the deal is too good tо раѕѕ up, еntеr thе wеbѕіtе nаmе bу hаnd іntо your browser.
Aрру holidays: For ѕаfе оnlіnе shopping, make ѕurе уоur аррѕ аrе downloaded from a trusted source, ѕuсh as the Andrоіd Mаrkеt, Aррlе App Store оr thе Amazon Aрр Store. Whеn уоu dоwnlоаd the арр, іt wіll аѕk fоr vаrіоuѕ “реrmіѕѕіоnѕ.” Be ѕurе tо rеаd thrоugh thеm аnd note whether thеу mаkе ѕеnѕе… fоr еxаmрlе, does a shopping арр nееd ассеѕѕ to уоur contact list? Another wау to сhесk on the safety оf apps is tо read through the feedback in thе соmmеntѕ section of thе market and сhооѕе аррѕ wіth a hіgh rаtіng.
Thеrе’ѕ nо рlасе lіkе hоmе fоr thе hоlіdауѕ… fоr ѕаfе оnlіnе hоlіdау ѕhорріng. Rеmеmbеr, a ѕесurе nеtwоrk connection – lіkе that іn mоѕt hоmеѕ or wоrkрlасеѕ – is ideal. Publіс Wi-Fi can bе hасkеd bу someone wіth thе rіght tools, еxроѕіng your раѕѕwоrdѕ, bіllіng іnfоrmаtіоn, and оthеr ѕеnѕіtіvе data. Therefore, іf you’re using a рublіс соnnесtіоn, it’s best tо limit yourself tо wіndоw-ѕhорріng and рrісе comparing, rаthеr than buуіng. Find Women glove mitts on this site along with the best outdoors gear for you.
Inspired by our friends at Techstars and their Techstars Holiday Guide, we thought it would be fun to highlight some of our direct and partner fund portfolio companies this holiday season. We think everything listed below is awesome, so we’ve tried to keep the hyperbole out of the descriptions so you can quickly scan for anything you are interested in. And of course, be sure to check this website to see all the coupon codes available.
We are glad to see our friends, Jason and Kevin, announce the closing of Calibrate Ventures initial fund with over $75 million in commitments. They are a first time fund, but experienced investors with a long history as partners. Funds like Calibrate and GPs like Jason and Kevin are the easy first-timers to back.
Jason and Kevin have been working together for the past decade at Shea Ventures. They honed their investing skills together, learning their relative strengths and instilling their shared values as partners. It’s not often that you find a first-time fund where the two partners have been together for this long and have a shared history of great investments including five companies with billion-dollar-plus exits (Chegg, Dollar Shave Club, Ring, ServiceMax, and SolarCity.)
Calibrate invests in early revenue startups to accelerate growth, drive commercialization, and maximize outcomes through appropriately-sized financing. They typically target an initial investment of $5 million in companies generating revenue between $1 million and $5 million. Current Calibrate portfolio companies include Alpha, Broadly, Built Robotics, Embodied, and Soft Robotics.
We often talk about networks and how that relates to our investing activities. Calibrate fits squarely into our network and we’ve co-invested with them many times including in Broadly, VictorOps, Yesware, Misty Robotics, Sphero, FullContact, and Occipital. They’ve also invested multiple times with our friends at True Ventures.
Jason and Kevin work extremely hard for their companies and this was a big motivator for our investment in Calibrate. We are happy to support them as an LP in their initial fund and we look forward to many more shared investments.
Our Investment in the Costanoa Opportunity Fund
Costanoa Ventures announced today the closing of its newest investment vehicle, a $75 million fund that will invest in the “early growth” rounds of the most promising companies emerging from Costanoa’s three early-stage fund portfolios. We are delighted to add Costanoa to our growing family of Partner Funds.
The notion of “adding Costanoa to our family” has a slightly odd ring to it since Greg has been like family for many years. Our relationship is long, deep, and multi-faceted. We met Greg for the first time in 2000 when he was a partner at Sutter Hill Ventures and led a catalyzing round in Return Path, which resulted in the merger of a company Fred Wilson had funded at Flatiron Partners with a company Brad had funded at Mobius Venture Capital. The resulting company, Return Path, still exists today and, eighteen years later, Greg, Brad, and Fred are still board members. A few years later, Greg co-invested (again, at Greg’s previous firm) in the round Brad led in FeedBurner, joining that board. FeedBurner’s board ultimately included Greg, Brad, Fred, and Matt Blumberg (Return Path’s CEO) along with Dick Costolo, the founder and CEO. Over the years, we have invested in roughly half a dozen companies with Greg.
It’s a huge luxury to invest with people you’ve known and worked with over such a long time. It is fair to say that, having been deep in the trenches with Greg in multiple situations over many years, we know the stuff of which he is made. There are few investors or board members we trust or admire more.
In the six years since founding Costanoa, Greg has managed to surround himself with truly outstanding people. The recent addition of Mark Selcow as General Partner is perhaps the most visible sign of what has been a long, methodical approach to building a truly great team firm. All along the way, Costanoa has made significant investments in itself, assembling a set of highly experienced and dedicated resources–Operating Partners Martina, Jim and Michelle, for example–to enable the Firm to better help its portfolio companies. In LP-speak: Costanoa has been spending its management fees well. It has been supremely gratifying to watch Costanoa evolve into a deeply resourced team on a mission to help entrepreneurs succeed faster in their efforts to build impactful, enduring businesses.
As we have noted before, one of the goals of our Partner Fund investments is to expand and deepen our network of positive contributors to the venture industry. While many of the funds we back are newer or next-generation firms, we also love having the opportunity to invest in our existing relationships, in situations where we are able to take a longitudinal view of the people and partners that make up a team. We think this significantly de-risks our strategy and can help drive better overall returns. As was the case here, we like to engage early and deeply in the process with our GPs, helping sort through issues and, if possible, catalyzing the fundraising process by being willing to commit early. In short, we like to dig in and help. It is also worth saying explicitly: we really love to back good human beings.
Our investment in Costanoa Opportunity Fund I is a textbook example of our Partner Fund strategy at work. Congratulations to the entire Costanoa team. We look forward to many years of continued partnership, co-investing, and “family” dinners.
Our Investment in True Ventures VI
We were delighted to see our friends at True Ventures announce their newest set of funds. Foundry Group and True Ventures have a long-standing relationship as friends, peers, and co-investors. It’s fun to note that both Foundry and True were founded in the same vintage of emerging managers, although they got started a couple of years before us. Our firms were founded with overlapping values and ambition to support entrepreneurs differently than many VC firms created before 2003.
We’ve had a great partnership with True through investments like Fitbit, Stocktwits, 3D Robotics, Urban Airship, LittleBits, MakerBot, Pioneer Square Labs, SonicSensory, and Glowforge. While I’m sure I left a few out, you get the idea that we love to work together. Some of these investments have required us to work very closely through challenging situations and it’s in these moments that you see the quality of the partnership. We can always count on the True team to do the right thing by founders and co-investors.
When we first raised Foundry Group Next, it was obvious that we would want to invest with True Ventures as an LP in addition to our co-investing activities, we normally buy stocks online. We’re grateful to have invested now in two of their funds, continuing our partnership with True as both an LP and co-investor.
Our Investment in Molekule
We are pleased to announce Foundry Group’s Series B investment in Molekule. Based in San Francisco, CA, Molekule has developed an air purification solution which captures airborne bacteria, allergens, mold, chemicals, and viruses, and breaks them down into elements that aren’t harmful. Molekule’s first product, which is shipping now, can bring relief to millions of people suffering from respiratory issues like asthma and allergies as well as help people who just want to live a healthier lifestyle. It was founded in 2014 by Dr. Yogi Goswami, Dilip Goswami, and Jaya Rao.
Molekule’s patented Photo Electrochemical Oxidation (PECO) technology completely destroys air pollutants on a molecular level. This is a critical distinction from industry standard technology, like HEPA, that hasn’t evolved since it was developed in the 1940’s. HEPA filters merely trap some pollutants on the surface of the filter where they continue to survive. Molekule’s groundbreaking technology actually breaks down pollutants to eliminate bacteria, mold, toxic gasses (VOCs), dust, smoke, and other airborne allergens — including particles 1000 times smaller than what a traditional air filter can catch.
Air pollution is a pervasive problem that impacts everyone. Research has found that dirty air can degrade our brains, become a driver of dementia and exacerbate the effects of asthma and allergies. In particular, indoor air quality is an issue that has been largely overlooked, yet it impacts nearly every aspect of our wellbeing. According to the EPA, levels of indoor air pollutants can be two to five times higher than the outdoors due to dust, mold, chemicals, and allergens.
Molekule fits into our Human Computer Interaction theme. Similar to our investments in FormLabs and Glowforge, Molekule is bringing industrial grade technology to the consumer market at an affordable price. Clean air is something that can benefit every person on the planet, so the market opportunity is enormous. The best part is that the technology really works and is available now!
We were introduced to Molekule by our good friend, Jeff Clavier, in connection with Uncork Capital’s earlier investment in the company. We often talk about how we like to invest in entrepreneurs who were put on this planet to solve a particular problem, and that has never been truer than in the case of Yogi, Dilip, and Jaya. A renowned renewable energy scientist, Dr. Yogi Goswami began working many years ago on technology to improve air quality for his son, Dilip, who suffered from severe asthma. 20 years later, Dilip is the CEO of Molekule and his sister, Jaya, is COO. Yogi continues to drive R&D as Molekule’s Chief Scientist. We couldn’t be more excited to work with this team and this incredible product. By the way, Molekule makes a great gift for friends and family!
