Consumer applications like Venmo, Cash, and Zelle have revolutionized person-to-person instant payments. Businesses have not had the same functionality and the business-to-business payment space has long been reliant on charging significant transaction fees and tying up cash flow with long waits until funds are available. This is especially onerous for small businesses, freelancers, and startups that operate on tight margins. Hopscotch is a B2B payments platform that offers instant payments without any fees. Similar to the consumer apps, users can collect and receive payments from clients and vendors, whether they have Hopscotch accounts or not. The company just launched its payment product this week in private beta and plans to expand its offering to holistically service the needs of small businesses. AlleyWatch caught up with Hopscotch CEO and Cofounder Reed Switzer to learn more about how the business is catering to the needs of a digitally savvy generation, the company's strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Shine Capital, Stellation Capital, NOEMIS Ventures, 3KVC, Valar Ventures, and Red & Blue Ventures.
The latest venture capital, seed, pre-seed, and angel deals for NYC startups for 3/10/2022 featuring funding details for Noula Health, Capchase, and much more.
Intelligent document processing incorporates automation to capture, extract, and process data from various formats including, forms, images, PDFs, and ZIPs. By leveraging API-based technology, businesses are able to free up human capital to focus on higher-value tasks by automating the multitude of documents they need to handle on a daily basis. Base64.ai has built a sophisticated OCR document processing automation platform that can handle 700+ document types off the shelf with the ability to adapt to continuously improve and expand its capabilities through AI. By coupling AI with OCR, the platform is able not only exponentially improve data extraction accuracy vs just using OCR alone but also accommodate more types of documents. Base64.ai is flexible in its implementation with a cloud-based solution, on-premise, and can even be incorporated to power enterprise RPA platforms. With data, both unstructured and structured, powering the future of the enterprise and business, the intelligent data processing market is forecasted to demonstrate a 34.6% CAGR through 2027. AlleyWatch caught up with Base64.ai Head of Marketing Andy Karuza to learn more about how the experience of onboarding Uber drivers served as the catalyst for the company, the company's strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Long Journey Ventures and Data Community Fund.
It’s estimated that startups and small businesses waste in excess of $130B each year as a result of poor visibility into vendor spending. By leveraging AI into their accounting stack, companies can take advantage of automation and unprecedented financial intelligence. Glean AI is an automated accounts payable solution that drives savings by providing non-intuitive spend insights. With the platform, companies can focus on cost optimization, benchmarking, and spend intelligence rather than spending time on low-value activities like manual invoice processing. With Glean companies can make ACH, check, and international payments, sync bills and payments with leading accounting software, serving the needs of both accounting and FP&A teams. AlleyWatch caught up with Glean AI CEO and Founder Howard Katzenberg to learn more about the inspiration for the business, the company's strategic plans, latest round of funding from investors that include Contour Venture Partners, American Express Ventures, Infinity Ventures, B Capital Group, and Portage Ventures.
6 new deals, $280M+ in funding during a busy day. The latest venture capital, seed, pre-seed, and angel deals for NYC startups for 3/8/2022 featuring funding details for Axonius, Hopscotch, and much more.
63% of full-time employees indicate that financial stress has increased during the pandemic; 72% of employees would be attracted to another company that cares more about financial well-being than their existing employers. Keeping employees engaged and satisfied during the current intensified competition for talent is not only good business but absolutely essential. Addition Wealth is a financial wellness platform for employees to receive trusted guidance in navigating their financial circumstances. Employers, through Addition Wealth, are able to offer financial education and tailored solutions to their employees as a workplace benefit with free, unlimited access to certified financial advisers in addition to a suite of digital tools. Founded by an ex-Uber employee, the company is able to address the needs of employees that have significant equity compensation components in addition to handling more traditional financial planning like budgeting, debt management, retirement, taxes, purchase of a home, and educational planning. AlleyWatch caught up with Addition Wealth CEO and Founder Ana Mahony to learn more about how Additional Wealth is democratizing access to financial solutions for employees, the company's strategic plans, recent round of funding from investors that include Nyca Partners, Core Innovation Capital, and Financial Venture Studio.
Knowing your customer is the golden rule of sales. Online transactions provide an unprecedented opportunity to truly understand customer behavior and purchase intent at scale. E-commerce retailers that are not utilizing data-driven insights in their operations operate at a significant disadvantage to their data-savvy competitors. Swiftline is a one-stop platform that seamlessly brings data science to e-commerce sellers. Data science and the insights it yields can be applied holistically to optimize the entire customer journey, handling things like inventory, pricing, warranty, market basket analysis, recommendation, upselling, sentiment through reviews, churn, lifetime value, and more. Optimizing these levers can mean the difference for establishing a flourishing and significantly profitable business for merchants. The company also provides non-dilutive financing solutions for expansion through Yardline. AlleyWatch caught up withSwiftline CEO Ari Horowitz to learn more about the inspiration for the business, the company's strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Raptor Group, Cloverhill Ventures, Atalaya Capital Management LP, The Benvolio Group, Corner Capital Management, Thrasio, Evolution VC Partners, Gaingels, and Ulysses Ventures.
The uncertainty of the pandemic led to exploding demand for estate planning and much of this demand was serviced through technology for the first time. This digital transformation allowed individuals to execute and revise wills and estate plans quickly. The newfound attention for this planning also served as a boon for charitable giving. FreeWill is a comprehensive online estate planning platform that gives people the ability to update or write their will in 20 minutes directly from their computers and all for free. The platform provides living wills with beneficiary designation as well as power of attorney, and in California, living trusts are offered as well. How is this free? The company partners with 600+ non-profits and during the process of establishing wills, users are given the option to provide small gifts (bequests, charitable distributions, and stock gifts) to these non-profits. Since launching in 2016, the company has executed over 420K wills and provided commitments exceeding $4.7B to non-profits. AlleyWatch caught up with FreeWill Co-CEO and Founder Jenny Xia Spradling to learn more about the public benefit corporation that sits at the intersection of philanthropy and utility, the company's strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Bain Capital Double Impact, ICONIQ Growth, QED Investors, Ulu, Highland, Pear, and HearstLab.
4 deals and $60M in new funding. The latest venture capital, seed, pre-seed, and angel deals for NYC startups for 3/3/2022 featuring funding details for EMTECH, Exeest, and much more.
