This month at January Ventures: Treefera closes $12M series A, Clarity Pediatrics raises $10M seed round, Belong comes out of stealth and closes pre-seed, and more!
Highlights:
Just six months after closing their pre-seed round, Treefera has successfully raised a $12m Series A in a round led by AlbionVC with participation from January Ventures and Concept Ventures. Treefera has built an AI-enabled data management platform that can analyze, evaluate and report on nature-based assets, starting with trees. The company has seen incredible growth since their launch at New York Climate Week in September 2023, with customers across the finance, insurance and sustainability sectors quickly adopting it.
Clarity Pediatrics, a chronic pediatrics care startup led by Christina LaMontagne and Alesandro Larrazabal, has announced $10m in seed funding. Clarity has provided online care to thousands of families in California, and it plans to use $10 million in seed funds it raised from Rethink Impact, with participation from January Ventures, Homebrew, and Maverick Ventures, to expand its services to other states in 2024.
After closing a historic pre-seed round, Belong is officially out of stealth mode: Co-founders Avion Gray and Samantha Rosenberg have announced their £2.95M pre-seed raise for their innovative wealth-building platform “mak[ing] forms of wealth-building that have traditionally been the realm of a wealthy few, accessible to a wider demographic, focusing on professionally-employed millennials.”
Sorcero has been named to Fast Company’s annual list of the world’s most innovative companies of 2024 and #1 in the “Small & Mighty” category. Recognizing companies who are “punching above their weight to deliver huge results,” Sorcero caught the attention of Fast Company due to its efforts to expand accessibility to healthcare. Sorcero uses advanced, medically-tuned AI to unify and enrich unstructured and structured data across every pertinent source so that teams can answer medical questions.
Inc. Magazine has named The Grand World founders Rei Wang and Anita Hossain Choudhry to its list of 2024’s Most Intriguing Women Entrepreneurs. “The seventh annual definitive list of women entrepreneurs making significant waves in business” highlights the most dynamic women in business and shares how they were able to not only endure but thrive in a challenging landscape.
January Ventures Community Spotlight:
April 22 marked Earth Day, and January Ventures highlighted companies in our portfolio that have missions dedicated to conservation, preservation, and taking care of our shared planet. Earth Day is “a reminder of the importance of environmental conservation and sustainability, encouraging us to come together and take action for a healthier planet and brighter future.”
We are proud of the difference that these companies are making and look forward to supporting them in their important work.
🌳 Treefera: Founded by Jonathan Horn, and Caroline Grey, Treefera is an AI-enabled data management platform focused on bringing transparency and accuracy to nature-based asset reporting.
🔥 Pano AI: Pano, founded by Sonia Kastner, uses deep learning AI and computer vision to automatically detect, verify and classify wildfire events in real time.
🌍 Planet FWD: Planet FWD, founded by Julia Collins, makes it easier for consumer companies to achieve net zero by leveraging technology to measure, quantify and reduce supply chain emissions.
🔗Helios AI: Co-founders Francisco Martin-Rayo and Eden Canlilar launched the world’s first Virtual Supply Chain Analyst™, Cersi, that specializes in tracking pressures on the agricultural supply chain like weather, natural disasters, geopolitical risks and the effects of climate change.
⚙️ Guidewheel: Founded by Lauren Dunford and Weston McBride, Guidewheel's AI-powered FactoryOps platform empowers manufacturers to drive productivity and net zero at scale.
Food for Thought:
A new study of unicorn founders finds most are ‘underdogs,’ and female founders are rising.
America is in the midst of an amazing startup boom
Benchmark General Partner Sarah Tavel discusses her approach to AI investing - including why the value is in the application layer - on the 20MinVC.
Vera Baker, a member of the January Ventures operator network, spoke with Julia Dous about cap table diversity.
Megarounds, rounds over $100M, make a comeback in Europe.
Lux Capital’s Deena Skakir publishes a book to inspire young girls to become entrepreneurs.
How AI is inspiring venture capitalists to play matchmaker for their founders and corporate decision-makers.
Climate tech investment roars back with an $8.1B start to 2024.
Where we were:
We hosted a few events this month for our January Ventures founder and operator community: drinks in New York City and a lunch for our founders and operators in London (pictured above). We enjoyed the opportunity to connect in person, share stories, learnings and support.
Jennifer recently sat down with Leora Zach, CFA, Client Solution Specialist, for the UBS Family Office Solutions podcast. She shared her experience in venture and discussed important questions and considerations to help family offices evaluate prospective funds. Learn more and listen here.
Maren Bannon was recently a judge at London Business School’s Launchpad pitch competition. Congrats to Dogo on winning 1st place, and to Laces and OLE Technologies for runners up!