Forum Ventures

Gratis Intelligence is a company that operates a consumer sampling and engagement platform designed to facilitate revenue growth for brands. By integrating point-of-sale systems, payment technology, and industry expertise, the company enables brands to connect with consumers in meaningful and compliant ways. This approach allows businesses to enhance customer engagement and drive growth within various venues, ultimately supporting a more effective consumer experience and better brand interaction.

Toodu is a consumer services that finds better ways to engage consumers with local businesses. It is based in Cape Town and was launched in 2011. Toodu is currenlty operational in South Africa only.

Granularity is a technology company that provides an AI-driven platform for retailers. This platform predicts social media and search trends, enabling marketing, merchandising, and planning teams to anticipate and capitalize on viral trends. By leveraging real-time data, Granularity helps retailers make informed decisions, staying competitive in the rapidly evolving market landscape. Founded by a former management consultant and data scientist, the company understands the challenges retailers face with fluctuating market demand.

AudiencePlus is a media company that specializes in content creation services aimed at enabling marketing teams to establish their own media channels. By focusing on the needs of SaaS businesses, AudiencePlus assists organizations in transitioning to media marketing strategies, while also leveraging community engagement to drive sustainable growth. The company provides tools and insights that help enterprises understand their audience and utilize first-party intent signals, ultimately enhancing marketing performance and fostering digital demand creation. Through its offerings, AudiencePlus empowers businesses to better connect with potential buyers and optimize their overall marketing efforts.

Angle operates as a subscription-based platform that connects consumers with locally-owned and operated businesses, primarily focusing on food and beverage establishments like coffee shops, craft breweries, bakeries, and quick-service restaurants. Headquartered in Dover, Delaware, the company offers membership programs for these premium brands and merchants to engage with their customers through exclusive deals and experiences.

Aiphrodite.ai is an AdTech SaaS platform that predicts visual and textual ad performance across various mediums using artificial intelligence personas mimicking customer behavior.

Nyla is a no-code platform specializing in frontend development. It enables users to create, launch, and iterate landing pages swiftly using an intuitive content management system that integrates with Google Analytics for performance analysis.

Brij is a platform that facilitates one-touch product registration and reorders by linking physical products to digital experiences. It enhances consumer engagement for brands by converting anonymous omnichannel shoppers into loyal customers.

Site Biz Pros provides a suite of software tools for small businesses to get online

Basix.ai is a Toronto-based company founded in 2017 that specializes in developing sales growth tools aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of sales teams. The company offers a platform designed to streamline sales conversations, reduce administrative tasks, and improve lead conversion rates. By leveraging technology, process optimization, and training, Basix.ai enables businesses to build larger sales pipelines and ultimately increase profitability. With a strong background in sales management, including incentive design and coaching, Basix.ai focuses on equipping sales teams with the resources they need to succeed in today's competitive sales environment.

FunnelGuard is a digital marketing platform founded in 2019 by Vinicius Freitas and Oliver Armstrong, based in Berkeley, California. The company specializes in helping clients prevent wasted advertising spend by identifying broken conversion points within their marketing funnels. FunnelGuard's platform offers tools to visualize, document, and monitor live conversion funnels, providing actionable insights and real-time warnings. This enables marketing agencies to enhance conversion rates and optimize their advertising budgets effectively.

AutoOptimize is a Canadian company founded in 2019 by Areeb Bajwa, based in Mississauga, Ontario. It specializes in enhancing website conversion rates through its cloud-based automated optimization platform. The platform enables users to conduct a variety of A/B experiments, testing elements such as headings, subheadings, buttons, order forms, and navigation features. Additionally, it allows for the experimentation with countdown clocks, testimonials, comparison tables, and pricing strategies, all without requiring any coding knowledge. This approach empowers businesses to optimize their websites effectively and efficiently, ultimately improving user engagement and conversion metrics.

Answerable enables brands to engage in conversational commerce at scale via trusted advocates. Its platform dynamically routes consumer queries to knowledgeable individuals from among the brand's employees, customers, or advocates, ensuring authentic and personalized interactions.

AdInMo is a New York-based company founded in 2017 that specializes in in-game advertising. It offers a platform that serves click-free ads, allowing brands and mobile application developers to engage with audiences in eSports, augmented reality, virtual reality, and mobile games without disrupting gameplay. AdInMo's InGamePlay advertising format ensures a seamless experience for players, enhancing brand visibility while providing game developers with new monetization opportunities. This approach generates additional revenue for developers and improves player retention by maintaining immersion. With a broad inventory that allows advertisers to target diverse player personas, AdInMo effectively connects brands with free-to-play mobile game developers, facilitating innovative advertising solutions in the gaming industry.

Adistry Inc., founded in 2014 and based in Longmont, Colorado, is a digital advertising agency specializing in the cannabis industry. The company operates an online and offline advertising platform that allows small businesses to search, compare, purchase, and track their advertising campaigns across various media channels, including TV, web TV, events, magazines, podcasts, radio, direct mail marketing, websites, and blogs. Adistry's technology aims to streamline and automate the process of buying and selling media and event sponsorships, helping sales teams reduce time-consuming tasks and scale their revenue streams. The company also offers a subscription planning tool designed to convert one-time media sales into ongoing relationships, thereby increasing potential revenue for clients.

Rev is a company that specializes in developing artificial intelligence-based tools for business-to-business (B2B) lead and demand generation. Founded in 2013 and located in San Diego, California, Rev's platform leverages natural language processing and machine learning to enhance lead generation efforts. By analyzing data from a company's best customers, Rev enables businesses to identify and target similar accounts throughout the marketing funnel. This approach aims to improve lead quality and conversion rates, addressing common challenges faced by demand generation marketers. The company focuses on optimizing prospect targeting to drive revenue growth, ensuring that sales teams receive high-quality leads and enhancing overall marketing effectiveness.

Gatsby is a developer of an online community management platform that provides promotional services for brands through micro-influencer collaborations. The platform offers custom-branded tools and facilitates the review of social profiles, enabling brands to effectively engage with their target customers. By leveraging various marketing tools, Gatsby aims to enhance online campaigning and help clients influence consumer behavior at scale, positioning itself as a leader in the evolving landscape of digital marketing.

Lightning AI operates an online platform that employs artificial intelligence to automate and optimize digital advertising processes. Its platform focuses on bidding, audience expansion, and retargeting strategies to help businesses achieve their marketing goals more efficiently.

Boon Company, Inc. operates a referral marketplace designed to connect job seekers and employers through a unique engagement network. Established in 2014 and based in Culver City, California, Boon's platform allows job seekers to create online portfolios, integrate with LinkedIn, apply for jobs, and track their applications. For employers, it facilitates posting job openings, identifying candidates, and streamlining the hiring process. Boon utilizes social and psychological engagement techniques alongside data science to enhance its referral recruiting engine, which significantly increases the number of referred candidates. Its powerful matching algorithms identify suitable candidates and engage employees effectively, while custom rewards and gamification encourage participation. Additionally, the platform provides deep integrations and analytics dashboards, making referral recruiting a cost-effective strategy for companies seeking to hire top talent from their networks.

GYMHIT Inc. is a software development company that offers a comprehensive business management and marketing platform tailored for the fitness industry. Founded in 2015 and based in Sacramento, California, the company provides an integrated solution that encompasses communication, scheduling, billing, and marketing services. Its platform is designed to support a diverse clientele, including health clubs, personal trainers, nutritionists, martial arts studios, and other fitness facilities. With over 200 paying locations, GymHit aims to enhance business operations and profitability for its clients. The founders, possessing more than 20 years of experience in the fitness sector, envision expanding the platform to include certification agencies and supply chain logistics, thereby creating a vertically integrated ecosystem within the industry.

Lifecycle is a customer engagement platform founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company specializes in creating intelligent communication solutions for businesses, enabling them to engage with customers through mobile messaging channels. Lifecycle's platform is designed for growth teams aiming to acquire, convert, and retain their initial customer base. It allows digital businesses to effectively test, measure, and send optimized messages tailored to individual users based on their interactions with web or mobile applications. By ensuring that the right content reaches the right users on the appropriate devices at the optimal time, Lifecycle enhances the overall customer experience and supports businesses in achieving their growth objectives.

Lifecycle is a customer engagement platform founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company specializes in creating intelligent communication solutions for businesses, enabling them to engage with customers through mobile messaging channels. Lifecycle's platform is designed for growth teams aiming to acquire, convert, and retain their initial customer base. It allows digital businesses to effectively test, measure, and send optimized messages tailored to individual users based on their interactions with web or mobile applications. By ensuring that the right content reaches the right users on the appropriate devices at the optimal time, Lifecycle enhances the overall customer experience and supports businesses in achieving their growth objectives.

RankPeek Inc. is a company that specializes in developing and operating a platform designed for monitoring and managing product reviews on various shopping websites. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, the platform allows users to track and respond to product reviews and ratings across multiple online retailers. It provides brands with actionable insights through analytics and sentiment analysis, equipping them with tools to interact with consumers, address queries, and acknowledge positive feedback. Additionally, RankPeek's platform features a dashboard for monitoring customer feedback and product performance, helping clients enhance their product ratings and overall reputation in the market.

GYMHIT Inc. is a software development company that offers a comprehensive business management and marketing platform tailored for the fitness industry. Founded in 2015 and based in Sacramento, California, the company provides an integrated solution that encompasses communication, scheduling, billing, and marketing services. Its platform is designed to support a diverse clientele, including health clubs, personal trainers, nutritionists, martial arts studios, and other fitness facilities. With over 200 paying locations, GymHit aims to enhance business operations and profitability for its clients. The founders, possessing more than 20 years of experience in the fitness sector, envision expanding the platform to include certification agencies and supply chain logistics, thereby creating a vertically integrated ecosystem within the industry.

RankPeek Inc. is a company that specializes in developing and operating a platform designed for monitoring and managing product reviews on various shopping websites. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, the platform allows users to track and respond to product reviews and ratings across multiple online retailers. It provides brands with actionable insights through analytics and sentiment analysis, equipping them with tools to interact with consumers, address queries, and acknowledge positive feedback. Additionally, RankPeek's platform features a dashboard for monitoring customer feedback and product performance, helping clients enhance their product ratings and overall reputation in the market.

Founded in 2012, AdHusky specializes in automated Facebook advertising solutions for financial service firms. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, the company enables businesses to create targeted campaigns and reach specific audiences.

EventKloud offers a SaaS platform for event marketing automation. Its tool enables personalized content distribution across multiple channels, encourages audience engagement, and provides data-driven analytics to optimize event campaigns. It caters to various events such as live entertainment, conferences, and festivals.

TrackMaven, Inc. is a marketing analytics and attribution software company based in Washington, D.C., founded in 2012. The company provides a comprehensive platform that enables marketers to measure and optimize their performance across various digital channels. Its software integrates with existing tools, including social networks, web analytics, and marketing automation platforms, offering a unified view of marketing metrics such as website traffic, conversions, and revenue. TrackMaven also delivers competitive intelligence, allowing users to benchmark their performance against competitors, peers, and industry influencers. Additionally, the platform offers insights into content optimization, campaign strategy, and executive reporting, thus helping marketers demonstrate their value and enhance their results. As of October 2018, TrackMaven operates as a subsidiary of Skyword Inc.

LiveRe, developed by Cizion, is a social commenting solution tailored for blogs and websites. The platform enables brands and content companies to foster meaningful relationships with their audiences by facilitating engaging social experiences. Users can log in using their social media accounts to interact with various customizable widgets, including comments, reviews, polls, and media uploads. This functionality allows brands and marketers to enhance user engagement while collecting valuable data and insights regarding user behavior. Through its innovative approach, LiveRe supports brands in creating a dynamic online presence that encourages interaction and community building.

TrackMaven, Inc. is a marketing analytics and attribution software company based in Washington, D.C., founded in 2012. The company provides a comprehensive platform that enables marketers to measure and optimize their performance across various digital channels. Its software integrates with existing tools, including social networks, web analytics, and marketing automation platforms, offering a unified view of marketing metrics such as website traffic, conversions, and revenue. TrackMaven also delivers competitive intelligence, allowing users to benchmark their performance against competitors, peers, and industry influencers. Additionally, the platform offers insights into content optimization, campaign strategy, and executive reporting, thus helping marketers demonstrate their value and enhance their results. As of October 2018, TrackMaven operates as a subsidiary of Skyword Inc.

Encore Alert is a technology company that offers a proactive alerts tool designed specifically for digital marketers. It surfaces relevant social data opportunities in real-time via push notifications, providing actionable recommendations on how to respond effectively. This platform is used daily by mid-market brands such as NASA, WeddingWire, Georgetown University, and the Consumer Electronics Association. Encore Alert is currently seeking seed funding from investors including DC's NextGen Angels and prominent industry figures like Max Wessel (VP of SAP) and Sean Glass (Founder of HigherOne/Acceleprise).