Q1 2024 has been one of the largest quarters in NYA's history with $3.4m invested. Our April newsletter is packed with exciting news from our NYA organization and many of our companies. Read below for coverage of Cindy Cook announced as NYA's new Chair and her Member Spotlight discussing her new role and her past experiences in the organization. Also check out our latest investments in DSTLRY and Gait Better, and watch interview with Linebird CEO & Founder, Michael Beiro. We are proud to see all the incredible progress from our companies – Critical Mention, Customers.ai, Cynomi, Epicured, Kasisto,, Material, and Membrion.
MARCH INVESTMENTS
NYA Members invested $545k across two investments in March.
MARCH INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS
DSTLRY is a next-generation comic publisher that is creating a new era for comic book collectors and creators. DSTLRY is transforming the industry by providing a more sustainable and equitable future for comic book creators through making them part owners in the company. The team at DSTLRY has executed its plan flawlessly, with great traction and industry accolades (e.g., voted 2023 Publisher of The Year by Comics Beat). NYA Members invested in DSTLRY's first equity round, and this is NYA Members' second-time working with DSTLY Co-founders David Steinberger and Chip Mosher. NYA Members had also invested in David's first company, ComiXology, which was sold to Amazon. The deal was led by Kit McQuiston and Michael Costa.
GaitBetter is a virtual-reality walking platform that helps reduce fall risk and assists in recovery among people who have problems with walking and balance. The founder and CEO, Hilik Harari, has incredible perseverance that has led to significant progress in the US market, winning acceptance by Medicare and other payors. Its relatively low pricing and ability to work with any treadmill gives it major advantages over competing technologies. NYA Members recently invested in GaitBetter's Series B Preferred round. The deal was led by Tom Hirschfeld.
FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT
Michael Beiro, Founder and CEO of Linebird, fell in love with invention early on in his life. Michael was born in Edison, New Jersey, which is home to the Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park where the phonograph and the incandescent light bulb were invented. He still today keeps the 'Thomas Edison Center' mug at his desk. In high school, he went with his FIRST Robotics Competition team to the world championships, and then in college, he built a network with the local power company. Michael received a problem statement from Dominion Energy during senior year as part of a student project that turned into an invention, a patent, a prototype, a team, a company, which is how Linebird was founded. Linebird uses drone technology to reduce the hazardous man-hours and boost efficiency of electric utility line maintenance.
COMPANY NEWS
CRITICAL MENTION
Critical Mention has been named as one of the Top 25 Social Listening Tools for 2024 by Influencer Marketing Hub. Critical Mention offers social mentions analytics over time for share of voice, audience values, and mentions volume on specific networks. View Rankings and Expert Reviews
COMPANY NEWS
CUSTOMERS.AI
Customers.ai was named as one of the Top 11 AI Generation Software Tools of 2024 by eWEEK. Customers.ai was recognized for its easy-to-use platform that manages lead generation campaigns to drive revenue growth. Their AI-enabled sales outreach and data solutions help B2C companies connect with future customers. Read Full Article
COMPANY NEWS
CYNOMI
Royi Barnea, vice president of channel sales at Cynomi, recently spoke at the XChange 2024 conference about how the need to address security and compliance has become crucial in businesses of all sizes. Cynomi found that 86 percent of the service providers indicated they are planning to add virtual chief information security officer services. See More About the Growth of vCISOs
COMPANY NEWS
EPICURED
New York City FC announced a new partnership with Epicured, making the company the Official Nutrition Solution Partner of the Club. Epicured and its culinary and nutrition team will provide meals for New York City FC’s First Team for all away trips, working closely to enhance the players’ nutrition program while on the road. Epicured designs, prepares, and serves therapeutically tailored meals, snacks, and beverages and delivers them fresh nationwide. Read Announcement
COMPANY NEWS
KASISTO
First Financial Bank (FFB) has developed an AI-driven digital assistant, Gabby, in partnership with Kasisto. The bank has significantly grown its operations and attracted new customers through implementation of Kasisto's AI technology. FFB posted a 27% increase in CDs and a 35% increase in mortgage originations in the past four months. Read Article
COMPANY NEWS
MATERIAL
Material celebrated its 6th birthday and was featured in CNN. Material offers a wide variety of beautiful and contemporary kitchenware for the at-home chef, who is looking for high-quality tools to fit their aesthetic of their kitchen design. See Material Featured in CNN Underscored
COMPANY NEWS
MEMBRION
Membrion was recently selected to join the exclusive group of innovators in the 100+ Accelerator program. Membrion is rapidly expanding behind it ceramic desalination membranes that recycle water from challenging wastewater streams, which is action supporting numerous United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Read About the Accelerator 100+ Program
NYA ORGANIZATIONAL NEWS
New York Angels is thrilled to announce Cindy Cook as NYA's fourth Chair and the organization's first female Chair. NYA is incredibly thankful for Chair Emeritus Mark Schneider and his leadership for the past six years. Mark led the organization through some exciting and challenging years for early-stage investors and has improved our Screening Process, Member Engagement and the organization as a whole. In her new role, Cindy goals are to grow and sustain the start-up community and increase visibility of NYA externally. Read Full Press Release
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Cindy Cook joined NYA five years ago and has steadily increased her involvement. She launched NYA’s Member Engagement Committee and served on the Marketing Committee for the past few years. Over the last five months, Cindy had joined the Screening Committee. Cindy has also led a number of deals for NYA, and she acts a Board Observer on Allstar and Kidas. These experiences combined with her leadership on the NYA Board has led to Cindy becoming NYA’s fourth Chair. Prior to NYA, Cook had 30+ years of senior operating roles at industry leading firms in entertainment, healthcare, education and consumer package goods. She helped lead digital transformation and new product initiatives at these companies.
MEMBER EVENTS SHOW HER THE MONEY MOVIE SCREENING
New York Angels members spent the evening at a special screening of Show Her the Money. While women are making progress in the industry, the film addresses how women are getting less than 2% of venture capital funding and demystifies what venture capital is. Show Her the Money tells the story of visionary entrepreneurs as they endure uphill battles to turn their ideas into reality. Find Future Screening Dates
MEMBER EVENTS
WITHUM INVESTOR & PORTFOLIO COMPANY PANEL
Withum partners and managers met with NYA members and portfolio company CEOs and CFOs on March 25th. Withum addressed critical tax and accounting planning and implementation issues for our portfolio companies, which topics have significant impact on both NYA members' and our founders' ultimate outcomes. Topics such as data protection (including SOC reports), cybersecurity, R&D tax credits and founder QSBS considerations provided a rich experience for our teams. Learn More about Withum's Tech and Emerging Growth Practice
COMMUNIT Y CONNECTIONS PAVE HEALTH VENTURES JACOB RITTER MYERS
Jacob Ritter Myers, Pave Health Ventures General Partner, joined NYA in our March Forum to discuss how they successfully invest in businesses that help reduce illnesses before they start. Myers also shared recent trends and top challenges for healthcare companies. Connect with Pave Health Ventures
PITCHBOOK
CLIMATE TECH'S STRONG PERFORMANCE
In 2017, climate-tech startups had the worst expected returns relative to nine other emerging tech verticals. The category now has the sixth-best outlook. VC investment and valuations held up better in climate tech than in other verticals last year. These companies have grown headcount faster than their tech peers, and they have significantly increased their share of patents filed, the report found.
Investment Forum (Hybrid):
• April 15th (9:00 AM - 12:30 PM)
May Screening (Hybrid):
• May 6th (9:00 AM - 1:00 PM)
FOUNDER DEADLINES
June Screening Application:
• Due May 13th
*New York Angels, Inc. ("NYA") is a not-for-profit corporation that is funded by membership dues for individuals and/or entities that NYA has designated as members as well as from certain sponsors. Its purposes include providing administrative support to its members. NYA does not invest in companies. Investments, if made, are made by individual members of NYA.
