Current Companies On Grid Ventures

RapidSOS is an advanced emergency communications company at the cutting edge of commercializing technology to connect any device (car, IoT, wearable, phone) directly to 911 and first responders in an emergency, warn people in harm’s way, and predict and preempt emergencies before they occur.  RapidSOS closed a $14M round in April 2017 led by Highland Capital Partners with participation from Two Sigma Ventures, Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, and three former FCC Chairs — Tom Wheeler, Julius Genachowski, and Dennis Patrick; and a $16M round in April 2018 with participation by Microsoft Ventures; and a $30M Series B in November 2018 led by Playground Global.  Both Apple and Google have now adopted the RapidSOS system for 911 location transmission.  geodisruption, geodata.

The New York Shipping Exchange provides the global shipping industry a standardized “over-the-counter” exchange for entering enforceable freight contracts.  NYSHEX raised a $8.5 million Series A funding in March 2017 led by Goldman Sachs Principle Strategic Investments and GE Ventures, with participation from Blumberg Capital, Tectonic Capital and other investors. vertical geo-marketplaces.

Tire Agent is a one of a kind online tire retailer that provides tires and installation at your home or workplace, or delivery to the shop of your choice.  Tire Agent has experienced exceptional growth since its launch in September 2018, and offers free shipping and great prices on all the tire brands you know, and many brands that you should consider. If you need replacement tires for your vehicle, try Tire Agent — satisfaction guaranteed! (New York Angels) vertical geo-marketplaces.

Clarity, formerly known as Four Mine, is the fastest growing engagement ring company in the U.S., with 9x growth in revenue last year to $20 million.  Clarity offers 3D-printed, try-at-home rings which are ideal for a discreet and personalized shopping experience.  (ffVC, Plug and Play)   vertical geo-marketplaces.

QuickFrame is a fast-growing, on-demand marketplace for original digital video — The leading producer for highly efficient, short-form, platform-targeted video, used by J&J, Colgate, ABC, Turner, Casper, and many others. (VFL Investments) vertical geo-marketplaces.

Culinary Agents is a professional job matching and networking platform specifically designed for food, beverage and hospitality professionals.  METRO Cash & Carry recently purchased a minority interest and is expanding Culinary Agents to Spain, Portugal, Japan, Austria, Turkey, Germany and Italy. (RRE Ventures, James D. Robinson, HBS Angels, Metro)  vertical marketplace.

LiveXYZ  Live focuses on locations and events.  It maps what’s happening now across nearly every block of New York City, mapping more than 120,000 locations including coffee carts, water fountains, murals and farmers markets. It gives you a look at what’s going on at any given time in any neighborhood, from live music performances to gallery shows and more.  geodisruption, geodata.

AllTheRooms brings you all the rooms on the planet via the world’s largest accommodation search engine.  Kayak & Trivago, only better!  (New York Angels, 37 Angels, Brian Cohen) vertical marketplace, big data-enabled.

Front Range Biosciences® is dedicated to providing Clean Stock™ nursery services to high-value crops like hemp, coffee, and cannabis so that growers and consumers can benefit from exceptional quality, lab efficiencies and safely produced plants.  In 2017, Front Range Biosciences announced a partnership with the the world’s leading agriculture school for research — The University of California, Davis — for Cannabis Genomics Research.

EnerKnol is a one-stop resource for all US energy regulatory data, gathering real-time policy information from 2,000+ sources and providing an intelligent dashboard for energy market professionals. EnerKnol also produces New York Energy Week, the largest energy industry conference on the East Coast. (Select Venture Partners, Archer Gray, New York Angels, HBS Angels) next-generation content.

Cups is the “Starbucks App” for independent coffee shops.  Cups helps you discover and patronize your city’s best independent cafes with purchase prepaid plans. Launched in Tel Aviv, and now in NY, Philadelphia, the Bay Area, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and Sacramento.  Download the Cupsapp and use my code hlsvf to get a FREE cup of offee and $10 off your first plan! (Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, HBS Angels) vertical marketplace, geomarketing.

Shoppable®, formerly 72Lux, is the market leader in contextual commerce and universal shopping cart technology.  Shoppable allows users to easily purchase or save any product they discover throughout the entire web — without leaving the publisher’s site. The Shoppable Google Chrome extension enables users to purchase products from any website via a universal shopping cart. Shoppable raised a $3.5 million Series A in August 2016. (500 Startups, First Growth Venture Network, Dave McClure, Stewart Alsop, Paul Singh, Thomas Varghese, Alex Goldberg) ecommerce

Luminoso allows big data to become big insight, identifying the nuances of meaning that enable actionable business insight. Recently closed $6.5 million Series A. (MIT Media Lab, Acadia Woods Partners, Atlas Ventures, Rationalwave Capital Partners) big data-enabled.

CloudFrame modernizes legacy big data software systems with a step-by-step, low-risk approach to migrating to a modern, lower-cost, cloud-based solution.  CloudFrame was selected to participate in the NYC Fintech Innovation Lab  and completed a $1.5 million seed financing in 2019.  (New York Angels) big-data.

Consumers expect free Wi-Fi. SocialSign.in turns free Wi-Fi into a powerful marketing channel for retailers and venue operators. (TechStars, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, Alex Iskold, Jerry Wang, First Growth Venture Network, MetaPropNYC) geoInfrastructure.

Social Standards (formerly BarTrendr) allows brands to objectively measure and analyze social conversations as if it were sales data.  Brands can now instantly measure the true ROI of their marketing efforts, see detailed demographics and psychographics of their actual consumers, anticipate trends before they affect sales. Social Standards is the foundation for Nielsen Bar Moments, the most comprehensive measurement and analytic resource in the beverage industry with 1.5 million monthly engagements. (Band of Angels, New York Angels) social frameworks, big data-enabled.

Walc is the first navigation app that gives you directions based on what you see. Instead of telling you to head north, Walc guides you via local businesses and landmarks and gives you walking directions like you’d give a friend.  Walc is the winner of McDonald’s Innovation in Transportation Challenge at SXSW 2015; BMW Ventures’ Future of Mobility Competition; and WeWork’s NY Demo Day. geosocial, geoinformation.

Exited Companies

PageScience leads in enabling advertisers to target pages, and not people, for the best advertising response.  PageScience’s proprietary PageMatch technology respects user privacy and moves beyond user cookies, retargeting, and programmatic. Formerly Precision Health, PageScience has particular depth in targeting heath indications respecting user privacy, and without cookies. (Metamorphic Ventures, Cava Capital, iNovia Capital, Founder Collective, Alpine Meridian, Health Ventures Group, Mike Perlis) big-data enabled, healthy living. Sold to AccentHeath.

  SeamlessDocs is the next-generation form and e-signature platform  with a focus on being the new standard for paperless government forms. SeamlessDocs closed a $5 million Series A financing in 2015, a $7 million Series B funding round led by Motorola Solutions in 2016, and was sold to Kofile, the leading provider of digital transformation services for local governments, in October 2020 (also Govtech Fund, Entrepreneurs’ Roundtable  Accelerator, Murat Aktihanoglu, HBS Angels, Code for America, Urban.Us) ecommerce, big-data-enabled

AirXpanders offers a needle-free alternative for women who choose reconstructive surgery following a mastectomy. The AeroForm tissue expander received  FDA de novo clearance for a US launch in 2017. AirXpanders raised $36.5 million in an IPO on the Australian ASX exchange in 2015. (ASX:AXP).

Prior Investments

PowerVision produces the FluidVision intraocular lens to be inserted into the eye during cataract surgery and restore perfect vision in people with presbyopia.  Alcon recently purchased an option to buy PowerVision as part of a $40 million Series D financing. (Venrock, Aisling Capital, Correlation Venture Partners).

Fund Holdings