Kevin Coop, CEO, DailyPay

Kevin Coop is the CEO of DailyPay, a Financial Technology company that provides on-demand access to earned wages for millions of workers in the US.  The company offers a software platform that enables enterprise employees to access a portion of their earned wages ahead of the traditional payday schedule.  Kevin joined the company as CEO in early 2022 and has decisively steered the company into its next chapter by driving substantial revenue growth and profitable operations.

Historically, hourly workers in the US have been locked into standard pay cycles or pushed into alternative financing options (i.e. Payday Loans).  These loans were expensive, unregulated, and often predatory in nature.  Even today, these practices persist, as a recent study found that 22% of hourly workers say they have taken out a payday loan this 2022.  Fortunately, DailyPay has delivered a tech-enabled lending solution to the market, with fair terms and financial flexibility for workers at the heart of its platform.

Today, DailyPay partners with hundreds of businesses, including large corporations and gig economy platforms, to offer this benefit to millions of employees.  It integrates with payroll systems to provide a seamless and secure way for employees to access their earnings, track their financial progress, and manage their finances more effectively.  And employees are speaking with their feet - the average turnover rate improved by 35% for workers with DailyPay’s earned wage access solution.  And Kevin continues to lead new initiatives within the company, including its Friday card– a reloadable prepaid card and app that makes financial transparency control available to employees.  Says Coop, “Payday loans and overdraft fees have been a financial plague on underserved communities for far too long.  DailyPay is disrupting those predatory industries with an innovative product that allows workers to access their earned pay before an arbitrary payday so bills can be paid on time.”

A career executive in financial technology companies, Kevin Coop brings decades of experience in large company operations, having driven growth and sustained profitability at enterprises of various sizes and stages.  Most recently, Kevin served as President of North America at Dun & Bradstreet, where he was responsible for business across all product lines and operations in North America.  Prior to Dun & Bradstreet, Kevin served as Group Executive and President at Black Knight, where he oversaw Data & Analytics across the firm’s divisional groups. 

We are thrilled that Kevin and co. recently announced their latest fundraise of over $175 million in new capital, with $75 million in equity financing and a $100 million expansion of its credit facility.

Daniel Sokolovsky, Founder and CEO, Warp Technologies

Daniel Sokolovsky is the Co-Founder and CEO of Warp, a tech-powered network of freight shippers and carriers. The company primarily supports the “middle mile” of transit, as goods move from distribution centers to fulfillment and sortation centers. A serial entrepreneur, Daniel founded Warp in 2021 with a vision for how technology delivers greater flexibility, visibility, and reliability to the shipping process.

Historically, the logistics industry has been driven by human capital with high touch processes. Whether you’re pricing a shipment, sourcing a carrier, or following a payload through its journey, you can expect that pen and paper, phone calls, and even on-site visits may be involved. Daniel experienced this firsthand while co-founder and CEO at AxleHire, a last-mile shipping and delivery company. While AxleHire’s role was to deliver goods from its fulfilment centers to their final destination, the company faced a key hurdle in tracking upstream payloads and accurately predicting when they would arrive. The middle mile was an opaque segment of their supply chain that required constant human intervention, and finding the right mix of cost and reliability was a constant tension. Daniel described the challenge: “The only way shippers can get per pallet rates today is from less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers. The only way shippers can consistently hit narrow delivery windows today is from dedicated full truckload (FTL) options.” Daniel recognized that if a company could provide an automated system that reduced shipping costs by offering LTL shipping, while still providing the reliability of on-time deliveries, the opportunity would be massive – and thus Warp was born!

Today, Warp’s network of freight trucks and cross docks provides deliveries to carriers such as FedEx, UPS, Veho and many others. The company supports customers with 99% on-time pickup and 97% on-time delivery, while providing an average of 20% savings per week. The company’s network weaves together truckload-sharing, back-hauls, and physical consolidation points, bringing tech driven optimization to the physical realm of logistic. As Daniel envisioned, the company has unlocked per pallet and per cart shipping and pricing, while providing new visibility through the journey.

Prior to founding Warp and AxleHire, Daniel was CEO and co-founder at Berkeley Delivers, a meal delivery platform for college students. Daniel has also been a member of the Forbes Technology Council since 2019, Daniel holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics from UC Berkeley.

We are thrilled that Daniel recently announced the successful close of the company’s $5.7 million Series Seed round, led by MaC Ventures, with participation from Frontier Venture Capital, Bonfire VC, and others.

Ivor Clarke, Founder and CEO, SubjectWell

Ivor Clarke is the Founder and CEO of SubjectWell, a patient recruitment platform for clinical trials. In medical research, finding the right mix of candidates for trials is one of the biggest bottlenecks in moving new therapeutics through the approval process. SubjectWell helps Pharmaceutical and BioTech companies execute clinical trials with truly diverse patient sets and deliver approved treatments to market much faster than before.

Ivor founded SubjectWell in 2012, with a vision for how technology could unlock new patient populations, especially for individuals who hadn’t considered participating in trials before. Ivor’s background at Datran Media, a digital marketing technology company that specialized in audience analytics, provided him the insight for how the internet could open new channels for patient recruitment. Ivor states that “SubjectWell expands access to clinical trials by engaging the 96 percent of the population that has never participated in clinical research.” Ivor also recognized that the pain point within clinical research was very acute. Ivor also recognized that quickly assembling a diverse patient set for a clinical was well outside of Pharma’s core competencies, yet it was a critical gating item for bringing a new therapeutic to market. If he could reach a broad audience using a scalable recruitment platform, and then optimize candidate pools based on research needs, a key barrier to delivering new treatments could finally be relieved.

Today, SubjectWell supports clinical trials for 15 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies and recruits patients from four continents. The company’s 230-person team helps companies and Clinical Research Organizations (CROs) find qualified patients in over 175 therapeutic areas, including a more recent expansion into oncology for small-cell lung cancer and breast cancer.

Prior to founding SubjectWell, Ivor founded Hoot Call, a contact center that handled over 30,000 calls a day. Ivor served as Vice President while at Datran Media and was also a VP of Product Development at Skylist, a software development platform for enterprises. Ivor holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon.

We are thrilled that Ivor recently announced the successful close of the company’s $35 million Series B round, led by Asset Management Ventures, with participation from Frontier Venture Capital, Healthy VC, and Bertelsmann.

Frasier Lipton, Founder and President, Frasier Sterling

Frasier Lipton is the President and Founder of Frasier Sterling, a celebrity-loved jewelry and fashion brand for Gen-Z and millennial consumers. From the company’s founding, Lipton’s vision was to offer trendy, customizable products that let shoppers reflect their unique personalities - at an accessible price point. With a devoted following on social media, and endorsements from the stars Gen-Zs love, the company has built a compelling brand that promotes authenticity, self-love, and confidence to its audience.

Lipton first launched the company from her Los Angeles apartment as a self-described “side hustle”, but it quickly grew into much more. What began as an outlet for her lifelong passion for design accelerated into a venture-backed startup with a national presence. Frasier’s products were picked up by major retailers Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters, and Revolve, eventually selling in over 5,000 stores across the US. Then, after building a solid relationship with its target audience, the company decided to pivot away from a retail model. Says Lipton, “We decided at that point, the retail space is changing so much, we need to be in control of our own destiny, and the only way to do that is to go direct-to-consumer.”

Today, Frasier Sterling offers customizable jewelry and apparel products at an affordable price directly from its website, and lets its audience embark on an “exploration of self through style”. This message resonates with consumers from all walks of life, including celebs like Justin and Hayley Bieber, Bella and Gigi Hadid, Dua Lipa, and Doja Cat, who are regularly spotted wearing Frasier’s products in their everyday lives. These influencer endorsements have led to a large following on the company’s social media platforms, where they engage with over 1 million followers every month. This scale of following creates powerful data and analytics that drive the company’s marketing strategy, product design, and partnerships. Frasier emphasizes that “as a DTC business with a very young and interactive audience, every decision we make is based on data - and it’s worked out very well for us.”

True to its brand, Frasier Sterling has been encouraging its followers to engage with various charities and nonprofits that support empowerment. Most recently, the company has donated a portion of sales to the nonprofit Girls Inc, an organization focused on mentor relationships, breaking the cycle of poverty and equipping young girls to become role models in their community.

We’re excited that Frasier Sterling recently closed a new Preferred Round of $2.2 million, with both new and existing investors. This round will unlock the next phase of growth as the company continues to make personal expression an everyday accessory.

Chris Romer, Founder and CEO, Project Canary

Chris Romer is the CEO and co-founder of Project Canary, a ClimateTech company and leading provider of environmental data. Canary provides technology to measure and address greenhouse gas emissions across the energy value chain. From the company’s founding, Chris’s vision was to unlock a net-zero energy economy and tackle climate change – and achieve this with support from the biggest players in the space. With a suite of software and IoT solutions, the company measures environmental impact and provides independent, quantified emission profiles across the energy, agricultural, and manufacturing sectors.

 But how did we get here? It’s no secret that the oil and gas companies have been slow to embrace the E in ESG data. Historically, the strategy has been a combination of inaction and greenwashing. As a result, climate stewards have excluded fossil fuel companies from the conversation, and energy producers haven’t taken the necessary steps to responsibly assess their environmental footprint. Chris realized that high-fidelity data was a critical first step to empowering companies to take ESG action, while still acknowledging the impact of operations. And this challenge isn’t limited to energy sector. As Chris puts it, “getting to net-zero is a mission-critical goal for agriculture, landfills, and steel industries, and the sense of urgency has never been more profound.” With this mission, and the innovative technology to enable it, Chris has led a talented team of engineers, scientists, and industry professionals to market.

Today, Canary helps over 100 energy partners accurately assess the environmental impact of their operations and create resilient, low-carbon energy systems. By providing transparent, verified emissions data, producers have been able to reclassify natural gas products as Responsibly Sourced Gas (RSG), and demonstrate their commitment to responsibly developed energy. Canary also provides a TrustWell rating system for customers, a certification process for facilities to be individually rated, certified, and inspected on an annual basis. These tech-enabled services are packaged into a SaaS platform, with data being independently certified throughout the process. With Chris’ forward-looking persistence, the company is fast-tracking its growth to providing the most important data for solving the climate crisis.

Chris began his career as an investor with JP Morgan, where he leveraged public-private partnerships to finance infrastructure projects for schools, hospitals, and transportation.  He then served as a Colorado state senator, where he led energy policy for the natural gas rich state and helped pass the “Clean Air, Clean Jobs” bill. Immediately prior to Project Canary, Chris co-founded Guild Education, the first B-Corp to reach a $1 billion. His 25-year career spans multiple industries, and has yielded the unique insight needed to transform the complex world of energy systems.

We are thrilled that Chris recently announced the successful close of the company’s $111 million Series B round, led by Insight Partners and with participation from Frontier Venture Capital, Brookfield Technology Partners, Quantum Energy Partners, and Energy Impact Partners.

Shane Kovalsky, Founder and CEO, Mystery

Shane Kovalsky is the Founder and CEO of Mystery, a startup that provides employee events and rewards. Mystery organizes events and provides software tools for companies to coordinate logistics and track attendee engagement. From the company’s founding, Shane’s vision was to leverage technology to build deeper connections through shared experiences. While Mystery navigated a true pivot , the company’s north star of optimizing for happiness remains the same.

 But about that pivot. Mystery launched in 2019 as a way for couples to plan a surprise “mystery” date night. Couples would sign up for a date night package, receive a hand-delivered gift box, and the date’s itinerary was slowly revealed as the evening unfolded. The company planned thousands of Mystery date nights and was beginning to launch in new regions, when the pandemic brought things to a halt in March of 2020. As Shane puts it, “We went from having a great business to an illegal one in about seven days”.

 While the world transitioned to remote working, Mystery leveraged its logistics and planning tools for a new use case: employee engagement and team building. The company began providing virtual events such as mixology classes, casino nights, musical comedy, chocolate making – the list goes on. At a time when many people felt more isolated than ever, Mystery provides connection.

 Today, Mystery helps customers bring their company’s culture to life through shared team experiences. The company serves over 1,000 customers, from tech giants Amazon, Uber, and Stripe to a Girl Scout troop and a woman-owned karate dojo. Customers use Mystery’s software tools to select event options from qualified vendors, and measure employee engagement, reactions, and connection to team members.

 Prior to founding Mystery, Shane led sales and product development at Convoy, a trucking and logistics software company. Shane began his career as a co-founder of Seattle Web Pros, a website development shop that served small businesses, and went on to oversee product design at Porch.com. Throughout his time in these roles, Shane saw the power of well-designed products that felt good to use, combined with behind-the-scenes logistics software that made planning effortless. Armed with this insight, he set out to build the platform to amplify joy through peer-to-peer connection.

 We are thrilled that Shane recently announced the successful close of the company’s $18.5 million Series A round, led by Greylock and with participation from Frontier Venture Capital, Coop Ventures, Endeavor, and Moving Capital.

Karan Talati, Founder and CEO of First Resonance

Karan Talati is the Founder and CEO of First Resonance, a software platform for building hardware. First Resonance brings new insight and flexibility to the manufacturing process, allowing customers to iterate on hardware design, analyze real-time data, and automate production. Karan’s journey at First Resonance began with the vision of a factory floor where people, machines, and processes were connected from start to finish.

First Resonance was designed to tackle two huge challenges in manufacturing: work flow and part flow. Workflow includes core functions such as quality management, production analytics, and process automation. Part flow covers the complicated process of supply chain purchasing, inventory and Bill of Materials (BoM) management, and component traceability. While these systems can be summarized succinctly in principle, they present enormous complexity in application.

Karan gained firsthand knowledge of these challenges early in his career. First, while serving as a Software & Manufacturing Engineer at SpaceX, and then later as a Data Engineer at Sense360. Karan saw the potential of a software platform that could manage data across machines, trace materials from purchase order to deployment, and direct human capital where it mattered most. Armed with this insight, he set out to build a toolkit for the evolution of manufacturing.

Today, First Resonance serves customers in Automotive, Aerospace, Robotics, and other Advanced Industries. Customers use the platform to automate 3D printing and job routing, supercharge satellite engine production, and reduce the number of hours engineers spend manually collecting data – just to name a few use cases. When people, machines, and processes are optimized and aligned toward a mission, innovation thrives.

We are thrilled that Karan recently announced the successful close of the company’s $14 million Series A round, led by Craft Ventures and with participation from Frontier Venture Capital, Blue Bear Capital, Fika Ventures, and Stage Venture Partners. 

Anna Jaffe, Founder & CEO, Mobi

Anna is the Founder and CEO of Mobi, an AI/ML platform that travel, transport, and hospitality customers use to optimize their guests’ lifetime value. By leveraging both historical and real-time data, Mobi’s customers unlock insights to better understand guest behavior, personalize product offerings, and predict asset capacity and demand. Mobi can restructure a customer’s data to enable faster learning and add digital interactions to existing tools to improve the data collected. Mobi currently works with hotels, airlines, vehicle fleets, and cruise providers to optimize booking and concierge services, manage assets across locations, and better understand the total spend of guests across their itineraries.

Prior to Mobi, Anna was a recurring lecturer at MIT, where she co-founded the MIT Vehicle Design Summit, a multidisciplinary program for STEM students to design and build hyper-efficient vehicles. Anna’s work brought together students and industry leaders, and was featured in Discover, NPR, and the New York Times. Anna’s leadership in the program culminated in the fabrication of seven driving vehicle prototypes and a team of more than 450 people in 20 countries around the world.

We are thrilled that Anna recently announced the successful close of the company’s $20 million Series A round, led by FYRFLY Venture Partners and with participation from Frontier Venture Capital and previous investors, RPM Ventures, Enterprise Ventures, and Truxton Investments.

David McFarland - CEO, Coterie

David is the Founder and CEO of Coterie, a US-based insurtech focused on making risk transfer efficient for the small commercial P&C insurance space. Coterie uses industry-leading tech, deep insurance expertise, and product innovation to embed insurance into their partners' existing products and workflows, leveraging data from multiple sources to turn small commercial accounts from an unprofitable obligation to a profitable opportunity. Coterie currently works with a variety of small business tools including accounting, payment processing, lending, and payroll companies, as well as agent and broker channels.

Immediately prior to founding Coterie, David was Chief Actuary and Head of Insurance Product & Pricing at Clearcover, a personal auto insurtech in Chicago. Before Clearcover, David worked in the insurance space with a variety of products in personal and commercial lines. David is a Fellow in the Casualty Actuarial Society and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

We are thrilled that David recently announced the successful close of the company’s $50 million Series B round, led by Weatherford Capital and with participation from Frontier Venture Capital and previous investors, RPM Ventures, Intact Ventures, Group 1001, and Alpha Edison. 

Liza Rodewald & Erica McMannes - Founders, Instant Teams

We couldn’t be more excited about Instant Teams’ recent $14M Series A financing, led by Tiger Global. The company’s growth continues to accelerate as it helps United States military spouses across the world find meaningful career opportunities. Founders Liza and Erica epitomize grit, determination and achievement, we can’t wait see the impact they create in 2022 and beyond!

Liza Rodewald

Liza Rodewald is a 4x entrepreneur and software engineer with over 16 years of technical experience. She has built multi-million dollar enterprise software for government and healthcare industries.  Her passion for entrepreneurship came from her desire to have a more flexible lifestyle and lead her to advocate and shape the future of work for companies and workers.

Liza graduated with honors with a degree in Computer Science from the University of South Alabama.  She is in the top 3% of graduates from the Founder Institute, and alumni of the Blue Startups Accelerator, named one of the Top 25 SheEO and a published Forbes author.   She is also a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Council and serves as a mentor for female founders.

She is currently the Founder and CEO of Instant Teams, a remote-first, tech-enabled solution building high-quality customer support and operational teams. Our remote teams are built with military spouse and underserved talent communities enabling 24/7 support around the globe.

Erica McMannes

Erica McMannes is COO and co-founder of Instant Teams and the Instant Teams Academy. Erica found her calling in Silicon Valley in 2012, as a founding member of 3 startups focusing on user acquisition and community growth. She has been an Active Duty Army Spouse for 19 years and found the mobility and freedom as a remote professional to be something she wanted to replicate for more people. 

Erica is an expert at leading teams in a remote environment and starting and running a successful business as a military spouse and female founder. 

She is currently the Founder and COO of Instant Teams, a remote-first, tech-enabled solution building high-quality customer support and operational teams. Our remote teams are built with military spouse and underserved talent communities enabling 24/7 support around the globe.