Levitate’s Post

🚀 Huge congratulations to Levitate for raising $15M! And yes, it was an up round 📈 which is not something every Series D can claim these days. Achieving this funding milestone is a testament to Jesse Lipson and his team's resilience, innovation, and unwavering commitment. Here’s to continued growth and success! 🥂 🎉 Startup investors take note. With hundreds of Billions 💰 invested in AI infrastructure, Levitate represents an example of the next wave of software companies. It has incorporated AI as a feature of its platform, thereby improving and accelerating its small business customers' digital marketing workflows. Integrating other's LLMs in a application specific context is reminiscent to what thousands of businesses did atop the Internet after the 1990's infrastructure buildout. Who will be the next Salesforce, Shopify, or HubSpot in the age of AI?

Founders, join our next webinar to dive into essential strategies for optimizing your cap table, learn more effective fundraising models, and explore capital efficiency techniques.   On Wednesday, August 21st, join Kristen Craft in conversation with Derek B., Managing Director at Forum Ventures, Brittney Wade, Investor at Alumni Ventures, and Abigail Risse, Healthcare Investor at Touchdown Ventures.     During this session you’ll:  - Learn how to structure your cap table for better growth and investor relations.  - Understand best practices for building an investor pipeline and fundraising more efficiently.  -Discover techniques to help extend your runway by effectively managing cash flow and fundraising cycles.  Register for the webinar here: https://lnkd.in/gzhhZW7t   #founders #startups #captable #venturecapital 

We're getting close! On May 2nd Manchester Angels (moi), Cambridge Angels (Simon Thorpe) and Turing Innovation Catalyst Manchester (Elizabeth Scott MBE) are hosting an event quite unlike anything before. I am literally giving away my playbook - this is how the team at Glenluna Ventures raise money for startups (just closed 4th deal this year!). If that wasn't interesting enough, the amazing team at GigPig (Michael Forster Kit Muir-Rogers) will talk about the brutal realities of raising a round during an insanely tough market whilst still building something incredible. Resilient Raising will have the team joined by their lead investor and super legend Chris Tottman (Notion Capital, Included VC @venchateam) and compered by Laura Sisson, CFA from YFM Equity Partners. Finally - we're going to break out into a number of working sessions where investors such as Chris Tottman Simon Thorpe Laura Sisson, CFA as well as folk such as David Turner Elizabeth Scott MBE and myself will help tackle some of the issues attending are facing. There are 30 places people. No more and no less! We can't accept everyone so get in quick! 🗓️ When: May 2nd 2024 11am - 3pm. 📍 Where: Circle Square. ❓How: Details in comments. #Investment #venture #ManchesterTech #Investors #Founders #StartUp

#fundingalert 💼Company: Sidekick 💰Funding: £8.5Million ⚡Round: Seed  👥Investors: Octopus Ventures, Seedcamp, and Semantic, MS&AD, BlackWood, and 1818 Venture Capital sponsored the seed round, which was co-led by Pact VC and TheVentureCity. Sidekick also offers a Portfolio Line of Credit, a lombard lending product designed to help investors stay invested over the long term while still having access to liquidity when needed. Sidekick, which was co-founded by Matthew Ford and Peter Townsend, provides a cutting-edge method of wealth management for individuals who want to get more out of their money and take advantage of benefits usually only available to the very rich. Stuart Newey, Kelly Hutchinson, Lee Bowyer, Adrian Vlad, Christine Edwards Read more - https://lnkd.in/gEjiB2Aj To share your startup story write us on - [email protected] #Sidekick #lombard #wealthmanagement #liquidity #news #funding #fundingnews #startup #startupnews #startuprise

"What are the two things you lookout for in a founder?" 🤔 👀 Thats exactly what we asked Andy Ayim MBE founder of the Angel Investing School at Hotbed's Founders Camp 📈 The Angel Investing School is on a mission to transform who gives and who gets investment. Their VERY BOLD ambition is to invest £1,000,000,000 into early stage #startups over the next 5 years by training 10,000 angel investors. ♻️ Enjoyed this? Repost to your network and follow us Dose Of Venture #venturecapital #angelinvesting #founder

I'm beyond thrilled to share that fynk has raised a €3.1 million seed round let by 3VC with participation from 10x Founders and further commitment from existing investors. This isn't just about the funding - it's a validation of the countless hours, the ups and downs, and the unwavering belief that Dominik, Markus, and I have poured into building something we truly believe in. Bootstrapping the first phase of fynk was a rollercoaster. Founding a startup comes with its challenges - you really have to keep believing in yourself and the team you've put together. In that sense, this is a defining milestone in our career, and it enables us to accelerate our mission on a much larger scale in the upcoming years. We came to disrupt, and now, with our new investors on board, we genuinely can. I first met Peter L. almost a decade ago, and I couldn't be happier to now join forces and work together with 3VC. They've already proven to be a great, impactful partner in just the past few days and weeks. We're so glad to have chosen a VC that truly cares about technology and real value - not just the shiny objects visible to the naked eye. I just returned from three amazing days in Munich, where I had the pleasure of meeting most of the 10x Founders team, including Jessica and Julian. We're excited to work with them as they spearhead a new breed of VC with a very founder-driven approach, fostering a vibrant and supportive community where we were welcomed so warmly from day one. A special shoutout to our existing investors - Johann 'Hansi' and Lisa (Hans(wo)men Group), CoastCap (Moritz / Clemens), Stefan, Kai, Ignaz, Alexander, Manuel, Andreas and of course Domagoj - for their continued conviction and support. Their renewed commitment means the world to us and underscores their immense trust in our vision and team. The past few weeks and months have been truly rewarding. I've had inspiring and insightful conversations with many of the big names in the VC ecosystem. Even when discussions didn't result in actual investments (which, by nature, has to be most of the time), there's so much to learn about your market as a founder if you listen closely. But now, I'm looking forward to shifting into EXECUTION MODE. I can't wait to dive back deep into code (home is where the heart is, after all) and work closely with the rest of the team on delivering what we've promised. Here's to the next chapter of fynk! Let's build the future together. #fynk #startup #funding #teamwork #innovation #legaltech #entrepreneurship #grateful

🚀 Most Active VC Firms Based in Massachusetts With General Catalyst’s recent announcement of raising $8B in new capital, today’s spotlight is on the top VC firms driving innovation across the Bay State. Explore the key players shaping the venture capital ecosystem in Massachusetts: - .406 Ventures, led by Liam Donohue - Atlas Venture, led by Bruce Booth, David Grayzel, Jason Rhodes, Jean-Francois Formela, Kevin Bitterman, Michael Gladstone, and Peter Barrett - Battery Ventures, led by Jesse Feldman, Michael Brown, Morad Elhafed, Neeraj Agrawal, Russell Fleischer, Zack Smotherman, and Jordan Welu - F-Prime Capital, led by Stephen Knight - Flybridge, led by Chip Hazard and Jeffrey Bussgang - Founder Collective, led by David Frankel, Eric Paley, and Micah Rosenbloom - General Catalyst, led by Hemant Taneja - Mass Ventures, led by Charlie Hipwood and Vinit Nijhawan (he/him) - MPM BioImpact, led by Christiana Bardon M.D. and Ansbert Gadicke, M.D. - Polaris Partners, led by Brian Chee and Amy Schulman - RA Capital, led by Peter Kolchinsky and Rajeev Shah - SV Health Investors, led by Michael Balmuth, Tom Flynn, Paul LaViolette, Gregory Madden, and Nikola Trbovic 📧 For more details on each investor, check out our article in Startup Researcher NAI, and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter. #Boston #Cambridge #VCFirms

The smartest founders know that having a clean cap table and data room is critical to fundraising. Investors expect to see the right info, presented in the right way. Join Fidelity Private Shares’ Kristen Craft for a webinar designed for early-stage startups that are raising a pre-seed through a Series A. We will cover strategies and best practices to set you up for success. This session will cover: -What makes for a "clean" cap table and data room -Must haves and nice to haves when fundraising -What different types of investors — from angels to traditional VCs to family offices — expect to see -Fundraising best practices to help you generate interest and land the right investors Register: https://hubs.ly/Q02wmyz_0 👉 Be sure to follow all of our community leaders for more great events and info: Kristen Craft, Charlie Stephens, DeRonnie Pitts, and Jason Hammond. #startups #founders #captable

3 kinds of #venturecapital "closes" you should understand 👇 👉 The Single Close: The round is set to close on a date, and it closes on that date. Period. 👉The Rolling Close: Popular in pre-seed and seed, especially when there’s no lead investor. Instead of a fixed close date, a #startup #founder will just keep raising, and the wires will come in as they come in. 👉 The 2 Step Close: The lead signs+wires -- that's the 1st close. And then the angels, syndicates, and other smaller checks come in for a 2nd, final close. This is why you should never assume when you hear a round announcement that what they've announced is a final close. OK, closing time :) Let me know if there are other kinds of closes that I missed!