Recent news from our
‍portfolio and fund

Collaboration Delivers Greater Payment Choice, Financial Wellness Tools, and More Flexibility to Temporary Workers

Key benefits of the partnership include:

• Same Day Pay: Workers can access up to 50% of their earnings on the same day they complete work at no cost via the Branch App, reducing financial stress and providing greater control over their personal finances.
• Fee-Free Digital Banking: The Branch App offers a digital wallet backed by a fee-free bank account* and Mastercard debit card along with free ATM options so that Flexers can eliminate traditional banking fees and have another direct deposit option.
• Financial Management Tools: Branch provides a suite of financial wellness tools, including cashback rewards, cash flow insights, and a marketplace for additional personal financial solutions, to help workers manage their finances more effectively.
• Enhanced Flexibility: The payments partnership aligns with Indeed Flex's commitment to empowering job seekers with control over work opportunities, ensuring that workers have the financial flexibility to match their work arrangements.

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Frate, a Toronto, Canada-based startup transforming the retail returns process, raised CAD$3.6M in Seed funding. The round was led by Matchstick Ventures with participation from 2048 Ventures (NYC), Whitecap Venture Partners (Toronto), Closed Loop Venture Partners (NYC), and BeSer Ventures (San Francisco). The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts. We co-led the Pre-Seed round in Frate.

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Two Boxes, the best way for brands and 3PLs to streamline returns and capture critical data from the process, has successfully raised $5.3 million. The oversubscribed funding round led by Peterson Ventures and saw participation from new investor Assembly Ventures, alongside renewed support from existing backers Vinyl, Range Ventures, and Matchstick Ventures. With more than one million returns processed to date, the company is a proven logistics solution. We led the Pre-Seed round and are super excited about their progress.

Matchstick Ventures is thrilled to announce our continued support of Tab Commerce as they secure a US$2.5 million seed round, led by Toba Capital, with participation from existing investors including Matchstick Ventures and Mucker Capital, as well as new investors Cascade Seed Fund and several restaurant customers. We believe Tab Commerce's innovative solutions, such as the newly launched Tab Corporate + Purchasing Card tailored for restaurants, are poised to revolutionize expense management in the hospitality industry.

A week after announcing a $12 million Series B funding round, Denver-based ALLCITY Network has launched its DLLS outlet in Dallas. Helmed by local NBA insider Marc Stein, DLLS will offer daily weekday shows covering the Cowboys, Mavericks, Stars, Rangers, and more on YouTube and podcast platforms.

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Tilt, the pioneering platform for leave management solutions, is thrilled to announce the successful completion of its $15 million Series B funding round. This round was led by Bramalea Partners, with additional participation from HearstLab and continued support from Firework Ventures, Origin Ventures, and Techstars. As a reminder, we led a Pre-Seed round in Tilt.

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Introducing Zed AI, in collaboration with AnthropicAI. Zed AI brings LLMs directly into your editor with an extensible, text-centric approach. We're also piloting anthropicAI's new Fast Edit mode for Claude 3.5 Sonnet with a small set of Zed users.

ALLCITY Network is changing sports media and based on the millions of engaged users they just raised a $12 million Series B. They make it more fun to be a sports fan. We led their Seed round.

Pre-seed and seed deals for local early-stage startups are starting to close faster heading into the second half of 2024. Find out what other insights local investors shared during TechWeek Chicago.

We are excited to announce that Matchstick Ventures Fund III has completed an investment in Althea. Althea is an end-to-end software for the introduction of regulated psychedelics into health care.

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After.com raises $10 million in Series A funding led by HIPstr, the early-stage investment arm of HighPost Capital, LLC. The pioneering end-of-life technology services platform will use the proceeds to enter new markets, boost marketing efforts, and expand its team. We led their Seed round.

This recent report from Pitchbook is full of interesting data about the ever changing venture market. One takeaway we have from this is that 54.8% of all pre-seed/seed deals are done off the coasts currently (not in Bay area, NYC, LA, Boston). We also noticed that 3 of our targeted markets - Denver, Austin & Chicago - are called out specifically for their growth. Denver had more deals than any other non-coastal group the first half of the year. We are excited to be supporting this ecosystem.

Congratulations to our region’s Entrepreneur Of The Year® finalists, who were selected by an independent panel of judges based on their demonstration of long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, among other core contributions and attributes. Finalists were recognized and winners were announced during the regional celebration.

We are excited to announce that Matchstick Ventures Fund III has completed an investment in Mentium. Mentium is an AI copilot that captures, structures, and matches all payment-related documents, automating data entry for transportation companies.

New investment fuels expanded capabilities to empower life sciences, healthcare, banks, financials services, insurance, and public sector organizations to rapidly leverage generative AI in every use case.