3Q22 Newsletter
š Hello, It's BTV
Hello from BTV, and welcome to our very first public-facing newsletter!
Weāve launched this newsletter in an attempt to cover a broader range of BTV portfolio updates and BTV in the news. While this is an extension of our usual LP update, it is meant for public consumption. Moving forward, we'll plan to share this newsletter on a quarterly basis.
We're coming off an incredibly busy few months and are excited to recap the latest happenings.
Letās get into itā¦
š New to the BTV Portfolio
Monnai announced their $3.15 million seed funding round. To learn more about why we invested, check out some thoughts from Nihar!
LogRock announced their $2 million seed funding round. To learn more about why we invested, check out some thoughts from Jake!
Paytrix announced their Ā£5 million pre-seed funding round. To learn more about why we invested, check out some thoughts from Jenny!
Yave announced their $7.5 million seed funding round. To learn more about why we invested, check out some thoughts from Jake!
š Portfolio Updates
CloudTrucks launched CT Credit, a business credit card designed to help small- and owner-operated trucking carriers track and pay expenses.
AngelList launched Stack Equity Management, a way for startups to organize and manage their cap tables within the platform.
Divibank launched an inventory financing solution, growing the financial toolkit theyāre offering SMBs in Brazil.
Unit:
- Added a fourth partner bank, Thread Bank, whereas most BaaS providers only have one. This helps them derisk, support the widest range of financial products, and expand capacity for clients.
- Launched its first credit product, an offering that allows Unit customers to build custom-designed charge cards.
Rocketplace raised $9 million in a seed funding round, led by one of our LPs.
Chipper Cash partnered with Highnote to allow US customers to access their digital wallets in the US and abroad that require a card payment.
Caplight raised $3 million in a strategic investment led by one of the leading global market infrastructure providers, Deutsche Bƶrse Group.
Ramp was featured by Forbes in an article detailing how they built a company valued at $8 billion in under 3 years.
š° In the News
Check out some podcasts featuring our portfolio founders:
- Tobenna at CloudTrucks on FreightCasts, talking about his story and how he decided to build a platform for small carriers.
- Jaime at Divibank on Aprendimientos, talking about his story and how he decided to create a financial platform helping startups finance themselves quickly and efficiently.
- Mark at Amitruck on the Future of Supply Chain, talking about his background and career journey, the freight opportunity in Africa, and Amitruckās role in that opportunity.
- Daniel at Coast on Leaders in Payments, talking about the future of fleet and fuel payments, software and verticalization, the need to embed financial services to add value to vertical SaaS, and where Coast is headed.
- Hunter at LogRock on The Freight Caviar Podcast and Standing Out,talking about homing in on problems in the logistics space that can be attacked purely with software, and how LogRock helps U.S. trucking companies comply with federal and state regulations and save money on insurance rates.
- Hunter was also interviewed by FreightWaves, explaining the importance of the framework that compliance costs are presented within to trucking company owners, and how focusing on what he calls ātoday costsā can lower overhead and prevent future compliance fallout.
Shake (our affectionate name for Sheel and Jake) also spent some time on the podcast circuit.
Sheel:
- On Alto, talking about the risks and rewards of seed-stage investing, resilient founders, and his entrepreneurial path;
- On Sand Hill Road, talking about his path to venture, life as a VC, and the value of being a former founder as an investor;
- On 20VC, talking about lessons from investing, GP dynamics, mistakes managers make with Fund I, and emerging market fintech; and
- On The Deal, talking about the future (where everything is fintech) and how Better Tomorrow Ventures is helping founders build the future.
Jake:
- On Early Days, talking about how he and co-founder, Tim, built NerdWallet.
Sheel also spoke about the state of fintech funding at The Fintech Gala in San Francisco. Spoiler alert: the state of fintech funding isā¦"weird!"
š¤ Community
AUGUST:
We went to Mexico for a team retreat! While in Mexico City, we hosted a happy hour for all of our closest fintech friends (pictured below). Then in Vallo de Bravo, weāre pretty sure we invented a new way of working: WFP.
OCTOBER:
This was our busiest, best month of the year. We started with our annual LP meeting in SF ā which featured a DIY moss wall!
The next day, we headed to the Redwoods for our second annual Camp BTV ā our retreat for our portfolio company founders. Among breakout sessions on business strategy and personal wellbeing, we took ice baths and sang songs.
We hosted an invite-only future fintech founder Indian Pizza Party in SF in partnership with Cambrian Ventures - more to come in this arena as we continue to build our roster of high-potential fintech founders.
We wrapped up October with Money20/20 where we hosted a hike with yoga, a Soulcycle class, and brunch! Oh yeah, and Sheel did Hot Ones, but for fintech.
NOVEMBER:
Jenny, Nihar, JC, Jake, and Sheel met up in NYC for The Fintech Formal!
To warm up for the fintech event of the year, we hosted a happy hour that turned into a block party.
Then we had a ton of fun hanging with our closest fintech friends all dressed up! Especially Sheel š
šŖ Talent
Layoffs continue to happen across tech companies both big and small, but there is good newsā¦
We continue to meet great talent who can support our portfolio companies, and we've made introductions across the portfolio with focuses on Product, Engineering and Design for current roles and opportunistic conversations.
We've also connected strong Business folks (GMs, BizOps, etc.) with companies and founders where there might be a need or an interest in a conversation.
In sum, many of our portfolio companies are hiring for key roles. In addition to introductions, we also launched our jobs page to support and amplify our portfolio company efforts. Check it out and reach out to our Head of Talent, yoni@btv.vc, if anything looks interesting!
š Reading Recs
We recommend taking a look at Coatueās recent whitepaper. We think it gives great insight on why we should all still be bullish on fintech.
šļø Coming Up
Sheel and Jake are fitting in a couple more trips before the year wraps. If you're around, let us know!
- Sheel heads to Budapest November 28 - December 1.
- Theyāll both be in CDMX the week of December 12.
Kicking off 2023:
- Sheel and Nihar will be in India in January, starting the trip with Niharās wedding; and
- Our San Francisco team is scheming on some live events and workshops to help our community mingle and learnā¦stay tuned!
Thanks for reading! Made it this far? We appreciate you. Tell us what you want from this newsletter so we can be better tomorrow (and next quarter).
Until next time,
Team BTV
