NEWS
· A Fund About Happiness. We’re excited about our latest endeavor: Pursuing the Technological Vectors of Happiness. Joyance Partners is our new $20M fund that invests in companies from a range of new technologies with the potential to deliver happiness to individuals; what we call “Delightful Moments.”
Delightful Moments have been part of all human experience. They are the small, but powerful, separations from the daily humdrum. They are those moments when we feel a bit stronger, calmer, more joyful, more in control, and more in tune with the greater universe, further away from anxiety and pain.
Psychedelics. Meditation. Nicotine. Endorphins. The smell of vanilla. Massage. Jazz. Food. These are all traditional sources for Delightful Moments.
The Tech Vectors of Happiness range from transforming the human core (genetics), to creating new forms of human chemistry (personal pharma) or perceptions (neurosciences), to platforms that change a human’s circumstances, rather than body (virtual reality) and even transform that body into something radically new (personal robotics).
By investing in the Tech Vectors of Happiness, Joyance Partners is the first VC health fund focused purely on individual, personal experience, rather than today’s medical industrial complex. While Joyance sees the value in helping doctors and clinics, health plans and hospitals, our new fund sees far greater long-term human impact and value in the generation of technologies that will replace today’s syndrome-centric approach, with something more personal, more preventative, more predictive, and dramatically more powerful.
Joyance has its own team and will work cooperatively with the team at Social Starts.
TALENT
· Engineers! Our portfolio company Lambda School is offering free software engineering help in order to give its students real-world applications to work on. The students have been writing software for at least six months, and are well-versed in JavaScript (React, Node, React Native), as well as having written some Python and C++. Lambda School has staff in-house to help monitor quality, meaning you'll just have to give them specs and let them work. Students are also available to come in-house and work for free during their six month "project period" (and you can hire them on afterward if it's a good fit). If interested, email austen@lambdaschool.com or just fill out this form.
· Candidates of note. Here are a couple of particularly interesting job candidates that have arisen from our networks recently:
Rich Sutton. Chief Revenue Officer. Warner Bros., WebMD, Daily Mail. Most recently at the partner company of Readers’ Digest. Successful at startups and turnarounds. Understands and delivers on multiple revenue streams.
Aaron Spool. A finance and ops 'founder enabler' just coming off of an engagement as the interim CFO of a venture backed e-commerce startup. Aaron built their finance and accounting stack and got them ready to raise their next round. He has an MBA, CPA, and is a CFA charter holder. Aaron has worked at CIT, Moody's, and D&B in various finance, accounting, and BI leadership roles.
If you have interest in either of these candidates, let mike@socialstarts.com know.
· Open positions? Let us help! We can add your job opportunities to our website and circulate among our network. Email job listings to nicole@socialstarts.com.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU
· Wellthy. Our portfolio company Wellthy is a care concierge that helps manage healthcare for families with sick loved ones. Wellthy supports and relieves families with complex care, such as Autism and cancer. Families are assigned a dedicated Care Coordinator (think personal healthcare assistant) who creates a plan and gets tasks done, all through a modern online experience. Members of the Social Starts community can receive a $100 off to try out Wellthy by using discount code “FriendsofWellthy” during the signup process here.
· UnaliWear. Our portfolio company UnaliWear has just released its voice-controlled Kanega watch. The Kanega watch provides discreet support for falls, medication reminders and guide-me-home assistance for vulnerable seniors. Members of the Social Starts community can receive a 20% discount on monthly service fees for the life of the wearer – details here.
· AngelSpan. We think highly of this provider of professional investor relations software and support for early stage companies. AngelSpan can help you maintain consistent communication with Social Starts and the other investors and stakeholders that impact your success. To receive a 15% discount on their services, contact Joe Milam (joe@angelspan.com).
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
· Get big savings from Amazon Web Services (use organization ID 14cU3)
· Access Facebookls FbStart benefits for mobile app startups (use code "SocialStarts")
· Get Google Cloud Platform credits (email mike@socialstarts.com)
PORTFOLIO COMPANY FUNDRAISING UPDATES
· Visual Vocal raises $3.6M for virtual reality enterprise collaboration platform
· Lunar Wireless Raises $4.1 Million
· Vidrovr raises $1.25M to bring smarter video search to publishers
· Affinio Raises $9M To Push Analytics Into Brand Ad Budgets
PORTFOLIO COMPANY NEWS
· Granify launches new website to make machine learning tools accessible to ecommerce businesses
· Cassia Networks secures patent for long-range Bluetooth
· Original Stitch launches its AI shirt-fitting tool out of beta
· YouEarnedIt Quantifies The Employee Experience with Launch of Insights 2.0
· TripleLift and TabMo Partner to Fuel the Growth of Native on Mobile
· Mycroft reveals newest open source AI product
· Alphapoint blockchain technology selected to build Thailand FinTech hub “Trust City”
· Cleaning Portal Cleanify Acquires Helpling’s Canadian Operations
· AlphaPoint to Secure Blockchain Assets with Intel's SGX Tech
· MagicCube’s PIN on Glass to Revolutionize Retail Payments for Merchants and Financial Institutions
· Stratifyd 3.0 Adds Data Fusion, Alerts, and Enterprise Connectors
· How Shots Studios Plans to Take Over the Music Industry
· IRIS.TV launches AI-powered marketplace
· Gameflip Shatters FLIP Pre-Sale Goals, Sets Sights On December 4, 2017 ICO
· Price.com Launches World’s Smartest Shopping Chatbot to Help Consumers Save Time and Money
WE BLOG
· The Seven Deadly Startup Sins, by Managing Partner Mike Edelhart
· The Seven Heavenly Startup Virtues, by Managing Partner Mike Edelhart
· Your Agency is Hurting Your Chance of VC Funding, by Venture Partner Brett G. Durrett
· David Doesn't Have to Fight Goliath, by Venture Partner Charles C. Smith
WE’RE HERE TO HELP
· Mike Edelhart, Managing Partner
· Nicole Staudinger, Director of Marketing
HELP US MAKE CONNECTIONS
· Do you know fellow entrepreneurs who are making strides in content, commerce, work platforms or IoT software? We want to meet them- if you'd like to make an introduction, get in touch!
PROMOTIONS
· We're dedicated to sharing your news with our networks! Feel free to send any news releases, photos, or press about your company to nicole@socialstarts.com.