This month at January Ventures: Kinside acquired by UrbanSitter, Guidewheel’s Lauren Dunford speaks at TED2025, PlanetFWD’s Julia Collins interviewed on the Masters of Scale podcast, and more!
Portfolio Highlights
Kinside has been acquired by UrbanSitter. The Kinside team built the most advanced daycare and preschool marketplace, unlocking real value for working families and the employers who support them. Now a part of UrbanSitter, an online hub connecting families with babysitters through social networks, this acquisition will allow for families to find any kind of care in one trusted, centralized platform. Kinside was one of January Ventures’ earliest investments, and we’ve loved being a part of their journey. Together with UrbanSitter, the Kinside team will be able to deliver a seamless, full-spectrum care experience, from licensed preschools to trusted sitters to care credits, all in one place. Congratulations to the Kinside team on the start of this exciting new chapter.
Lauren Dunford, Guidewheel Founder and CEO, delivered a TED Talk at the flagship TED2025 #HumanityReimagined Conference in Vancouver. Lauren shared customer stories and insight into the manufacturing sector as the conference attendees and speakers were tasked with asking: what are humans for?
We’re looking forward to seeing the full talk when it releases.
Julia Collins, Founder and CEO of PlanetFWD, shared her journey and the impact that PlanetFWD is making on the Masters of Scale podcast. Planet FWD is a carbon footprint management platform for the consumer products industry and in this episode, Julia dives into her journey and Planet FWD’s impact in helping companies take climate action. You can listen to the episode here.
Other Portfolio News
Treefera’s founders, Caroline Grey and Jonathan Horn, have been named London regional finalists for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award.
Belong has been named one of TechRound’s Fintech50 for 2025 as one of the 50 companies shaping the future of finance.
Systole Health, a group telehealth platform to scale cardiometabolic care, has been named to the 2025 Rise 50 List by Around the Bonfire.
Sorcero, a platform that automates advanced knowledge bases for life sciences, has been named 2025’s Google Cloud Partner of the Year for Business Applications in Healthcare & Life Sciences.
Food for thought
Why America stopped innovating–and how we can start again.
AI Investing Trends Report: What Founders Need to Know, based on insights from 57 VC investors
Charles Hudson shares uncomfortable and unanswered questions he has as an AI investor.
From Peter Walker at Carta: here’s what’s really going in the market for every VC startup stage from Seed through Series D.
Where we were
January Ventures cofounders Maren Bannon and Jen Neundorfer attended the Power 100 Awards in Los Angeles, hosted by Blueprint Capital Advisors. Both were honored at the event alongside other asset managers who are leading by example, generating top portfolio outcomes, building competitive organizations, creating access for founders, and shaping the future of venture capital. See the full list of honorees here.
January Ventures hosted an event in Boston to discuss the findings from our 6th Annual Early Stage Founder Survey. We had a great group of founders, funders, LPs, and ecosystem leaders for a candid conversation on the state of startups and founder sentiment. Thank you to our sponsors: Cooley, Fidelity Private Shares, and Silicon Valley Bank. You can read the full report here.
January Ventures co-hosted a Women [+ allies] in VC breakfast event in Los Angeles with Supply Change Capital. Thank you to all the VCs and LPs who took time out of the busy week at Milken to support and connect with each other. Very grateful to Carta for sponsoring, and the female-owned Sightglass Coffee Hollywood for the delicious food and coffee.
Jen led a Venture101 Workshop with current and prospective founders at the Harvard Innovation Lab in Boston. This event is part of January’s ongoing efforts to demystify venture capital and fundraising at the earliest stage of company formation.
Jen attended the Women in Venture retreat hosted by Citizens Private Bank, an invite-only gathering that brings together thought-leading LPs and GPs for intimate, off-the-record conversations that drive industry change.
ALMA DINNER IN LONDON [NEEDS CAPTION/LINK]
Save the Date
January Ventures is partnering with two of our portfolio companies, The Grand and Elektra Health, to host an event for moms and moms-to-be in tech who are leading, building, and navigating the complexities of today’s tech and startup world. The morning includes fireside chats and coaching exercises to better understand ourselves and form meaningful connections with each other. Register HERE.
January Ventures is hosting a virtual workshop on raising a Seed and Series A in today’s market on June 10th at 11am ET / 4pm BST. Panelists include Hayley Barna (Partner at First Round Capital) and Lars Albright (General Partner at Unusual Ventures). Register HERE.