3Q24 Newsletter

👋 Hello, It's BTV

Welcome back to our quarterly newsletter!

Q3 is electric at BTV. In October alone, in less than a week, we hosted Demo Day for the third cohort of The Mint, our Annual LP Meeting, our annual founder retreat, and went to Money20/20. Like we said, busy quarter.

But first: We’re hiring! Send us folks who you think would be a great fit!

🚀 The Mint, our pre-seed platform

In October, we finished the 3rd cohort of The Mint. It was energizing to work with such driven founders every day in SF! The 6 companies pitched their startups to >200 investors at Demo Day, and they all made us proud.

Introducing…the third Mint cohort!

How to learn more about these 6 companies:

1. Quick links to their websites, founder info, and contact info: click here.
2. Check out Sheel’s Demo Day recap here
3. Watch their pitches at our Demo Day: click here (private link, do not share). 

📈 BTV Portfolio Updates

💰 Fundraising

Human Interest (Pre-BTV) raised $267 million in new funding at a $1.33 billion valuation.

Agree (BTV II) raised $3 million in a pre-seed funding round, which we led. To learn more about why we invested, check out some thoughts from Sheel!

Deck (BTV II) raised $6 million CAD in a seed round, which we co-led. To learn more about why we invested, check out some thoughts from JC!

Permanent (BTV II) raised $3.7 million in a seed round, which we led. To learn more about why we invested, check out some thoughts from JC!

Plumery (BTV II) raised $3.3 million in new funding from DN Capital & QED.

Stay (BTV II) raised $2 million in a seed round, which we co-led with Maya Capital.

Silver (Mint II) announced their $1 million pre-seed funding round.

📰 In the News

Chipper Cash (Pre-BTV) announced a partnership with MoneyGram and Stellar. Chipper Cash, a Stellar-enabled anchor, now provides its users with the capability to seamlessly cash in and cash out of their wallets using MoneyGram’s physical agents.

Mercury (Pre-BTV) 

• Announced it acquired Teal, an early-stage accounting startup.
• Launched a working capital product to support ecommerce businesses with inventory, advertising, and more.  
• Launched expense reimbursements and expanded spend policies to complement their broader suit of expense management solutions. 
• Secured a $100M credit warehouse with Natixis to fuel the growth of their corporate credit card business.

Nova Credit (pre-BTV) 

• Expanded its partnership with SoFi to provide access to consumer-permissioned bank data and cash flow analytics through Nova Credit’s Cash Atlas solution.
• Partnered with Akoya to help lenders deploy cash flow income analytics to improve credit decisioning through increased data access.

CloudTrucks (BTV I) launched safety scorecards for owner-operators, which offer performance-based and data-driven safety scores for their businesses.

Coast (BTV I) partnered with BuildOps to streamline expense management for the construction industry.

Curant (BTV I) was acquired by MyCarrier, a SaaS transportation management platform that allows SMB companies to manage their freight needs directly with their carriers.

Unit (BTV I) 

• Was selected by two new banks, Lincoln Savings Bank and Vantage Bank, to power their direct partnerships with tech companies.
• Launched Wallets, a new way for Unit’s customers to  move and store money for use cases that do not require a traditional bank account.
• Launched White-Label Fraud Outreach, a customizable way to help their customers confirm or report suspicious card transactions.

Agree (BTV II) launched their product, which allows anyone to securely send and sign any agreement with AI-powered workflows, free e-signature, automated invoicing, and integrated payment. We’ve stopped using Docusign in favor of Agree and recommend you do the same!

Basis (BTV II) entered a strategic partnership with top 100 accounting firm, Wiss, and is already automating entry-level accounting work, freeing up the accountants to do higher-level activities that their people find more stimulating and clients find more valuable. 

A partner at Wiss said, “We are a Microsoft firm—we have a private Wiss ChatGPT instance with firm data and have found Copilot useful—but Basis’s capability for integrated, end-to-end automation is transformative.”

They also signed a term sheet for a highly competitive Series A, which will be announced soon.

Effectiv (BTV II) was acquired by Socure for $136M in cash & stock.We will recycle proceeds.

Reins (Mint II) partnered with First Choice Business Brokers (FCBB). Through the partnership, FCBB clients can access Reins's dynamic, technology-driven custom equity incentives programs, including the unique Modern Agreement for Rewards & Equity (MARE).

📢 BTV in the Spotlight

Podcasts and articles featuring our portfolio founders:

• Chris (Reins) was on the ACHR NEWSmakers podcast, explaining how HVAC contractors can use incentives with their employees. 
• Marty and Will (Agree) were on PYMNTS TV, talking about how their product will embed invoices into eContracts to speed time to money for mid-market businesses.
• Dash (Ezra) was featured in Inc., talking about how Ezra is building the 401(k) for the working class.

Our BTV team also spent some time in the spotlight:

• Sheel was quoted in the New York Times about tech companies engaging directly rather than through media.
• Sheel was on Belief as a Disruptor, talking about what investing in people looks like in action, Sheel’s philosophy for venture capital, and how a willingness to try things can lead to the most unexpected outcomes.
• Sheel was on Money Moves, talking about the intricacies of fundraising, both for startups and venture capital funds.
• Sheel was on Founders in Arms, talking about the state of FinTech, entrepreneurship in India, and the evolving landscape of social media.

🤙 Community

Not only did we get to spend loads of time in the office with The Mint founders throughout last quarter…AND live it up with more of our founders at our annual Camp BTV…but Jake made it down to LatAm, and Sheel and Nihar hopped the pond to Saudi Arabia and Dubai!

Let’s catch you up…

In August, Jake flew south to spend more time in Brazil, and to finally check out the fintech scene in Argentina! 

In São Paulo, he got our portco founders together for a lively dinner about all things fintech quantum mathematics and physics. This NerdWallet co-founder really found his people 🙂

And in Argentina, besides realizing what $60 USD looks like in Argentine Pesos 🤯, he caught up with the whole team of BTV portco, Mendel!

Then, it was time to bring it home. In August, we kicked off The Mint’s third cohort, in San Francisco. 

First, Team BTV spent the weekend preparing for The Mint, going deep into our plans and dreams for BTV’s future, and getting a little lost on a hike to a waterfall on a beach. Don’t worry, we found it.

Then, we were ready to get Minty! We gathered our Bay Area portcos for a founder mixer before they all got to co-work in our office over the next 10 weeks – starting with some turmeric pre-game shots at the office.

Perks of working with The Mint founders IRL for 10 weeks included: bowling, happy hours, Exploratorium After Dark, family-style lunches, birthday parties, and the energy of an office full of bright folks building at turbo speed!

In September, Sheel and Nihar flew to Saudi Arabia, where Sheel spoke at the 24 Fintech summit. While in the area, they got the bonus of joining a board dinner with BTV portco, BRKZ, and sampling Dubai’s famous chocolate.

Sheel closed out September by joining Origin for their fintech fireside and happy hour. The sharp questions and fun convos made for a fantastic time!

And finally, we reach October – our best month of the year. Over a span of 1 week, we held:

1. Our annual LP meeting
2. The Mint’s third Demo Day to >200 investors and strategics (standing room only!)
3. Camp BTV, our annual retreat in the Redwoods for our portfolio founders
4. A Money2020 kickoff happy hour in Vegas, co-hosted with some of the greats: GIC, Notable Cap, Cooley, Stifel, Blank, and WestCap!

💪 Talent

Q3 found us deep in the weeds with our third Mint cohort. 

Common themes we worked through included role definition, crafting compelling interview processes, and deep dives into the nuts and bolts of finding and engaging talent. 

We also hosted a panel of current BTV founders to share their experiences and lessons learned making their initial hires and building their teams. Notably, one of our Mint companies hired a founding engineer by the end of the program, while others were able to connect with contract engineers and offshore development teams sourced through our network. 

We also launched a search for a new investor role here at BTV. If you're passionate about fintech and supporting founders on their journey, take a look!

And, as always, you can find great opportunities in our portfolio companies here:

📖 Reading 

• When Matt Levine writes, we read. Check out his latest piece in Money Stuff: “Accounting Isn’t Cool Anymore” 
• Matt Brown wrote a great piece on why the future of vertical software will be more “vertical” and less “software.”

🗓️ Coming Up - Let’s Hang!

Here’s where you’ll find Team BTV over the next quarter+

• Nov. 18-21: Jake ➡ NYC
• Dec. 9-12: Sheel ➡ London
• Jan. 6-8: Jake ➡ NYC
• Jan. 20-24: Sheel ➡ NYC
• Jan. 27-29: Jake and Sheel ➡ LA for the Upfront Summit
• Jan. 29-31: Sheel ➡ Miami for the ANIMO Summit
• Feb. 19-22: Jake and Sheel ➡ Boca Raton, FL
• March: Team BTV ➡ NYC to kick off the 4th cohort of The Mint!

Made it this far? We appreciate you. Feel free to hit reply and tell us what you want from this newsletter so we can be better tomorrow (and next quarter).

Until next time,
Team BTV