Alumni Ventures

Napster offers the ultimate in interactive music experiences, creating better ways to discover, share, acquire, and enjoy the universe of music — anytime, anywhere. The Napster service is the easiest way to find, discover, and enjoy the universe of music online, on the go, and in the living room. With unlimited, on-demand access to music from a web browser, smartphone, and home entertainment devices, Napster lets you enjoy music your way anytime, anywhere. The service is available at www.napster.com in the U.S. and is also available in Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The company is a fully owned subsidiary of Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY).

Quai Network develops merge-mined blockchains with the goal of creating efficient blockchains.

Swaplanet is the sustainable way to renew your kids' wardrobes. Parents gather all their kids' outgrown and unused clothes, selecting those in good condition. We pick them up from their homes, sort, wash, photograph, and upload to our site. Parents receive credit for the clothing they sent, and can immediately start shopping for their kids' next clothes. We charge a small swapping fee per item to cover shipping, sorting, and washing costs.

Stashpad is the evolution of the legal notepad. Bytebase is designed for busy professionals who don’t have time for sophisticated notes methodologies and is the fastest way to create and share notes as they work, without leaving the keyboard. In Bytebase, notes are separated into small, self-contained units called bytes. Users can enter data and paste in code, text, or whatever they want to save. They can share it with others and create separate notebooks for each project. More important, each note can act as a link to another note, allowing to nest information within other pieces of information. To use it, users can simply paste in code snippets and text into the “No Man’s Land” area and then move it into separate projects later. A feed lets users send notes, called bytes, to co-workers within Bytebase. They can also add large text chunks called BigBytes. They can also make outlines and to-do lists in the app.

Parallel Markets Inc. develops and operates an online platform for investors. It provides services for companies to authenticate and verify a user’s investor credentials; and allows investors to assert profile-level information and qualifications across platforms with a single click. The company was founded in 2018 and is based in New York, New York.

Pontoro Inc. is a financial technology company founded in late 2018 with a mission of facilitating broader investor participation in real-world, private market assets. The company is creating a patented, technology solution that will enable the creation of a new type of enhanced private investment platform with liquidity generally not readily available in traditional private investment opportunities as well as features intended to ease fund administration. The initial focus will be to address the $15 trillion shortfall in infrastructure debt finance.

Pixelynx is a technology developer that focuses on integrating music, blockchain, and gaming. The company has created a direct-to-avatar gaming platform that serves as a bridge between digital collectibles, gaming, and virtual environments. By merging elements of gaming, music, fashion, art, and technology, Pixelynx enables artists and brands to launch digital collectibles through an NFT marketplace. Their platform facilitates the integration of these collectibles into both mobile and console gaming, utilizing blockchain technology to create immersive, playable worlds for users.

Pariti is a platform designed to assist businesses in underserved markets by connecting them with expert freelancers and providing access to essential resources. It helps these businesses navigate challenges related to capital access, talent acquisition, and international expansion. By facilitating connections with handpicked experts, Pariti not only offers advisory services but also enables these professionals to actively contribute to achieving the businesses' goals. Additionally, Pariti features a money management application that integrates with users' bank accounts and credit cards to deliver a comprehensive overview of their financial status, forecast upcoming income and expenses, and offer proactive spending advice. This dual approach empowers both businesses and individuals, fostering growth and financial well-being.

Paro is a platform that connects businesses with freelance finance professionals, including bookkeepers, accountants, and analysts, offering remote, on-demand support. Founded in 2015 and based in Chicago, Illinois, Paro utilizes artificial intelligence to match companies with experts who can address various financial needs. Their services encompass month-end accounting, tax preparation, financial modeling, cash flow management, and strategic advisory, among others. By leveraging a community of highly vetted finance specialists, Paro aims to provide tailored solutions that help businesses navigate immediate challenges and drive growth. This approach combines industry expertise with advanced technology, allowing companies to efficiently access the finance and accounting support they require to manage and expand their operations.

Parlor is an online curatorial platform that helps collectors discover artwork worth investing in. It is committed to sharing insights and learnings on the rapidly growing ultra-contemporary art market.

Parallel Markets Inc. develops and operates an online platform for investors. It provides services for companies to authenticate and verify a user’s investor credentials; and allows investors to assert profile-level information and qualifications across platforms with a single click. The company was founded in 2018 and is based in New York, New York.

Particle provides hardware and software tools to help users prototype, scale, and manage IoT products. Particle is an IoT device platform that enables businesses to easily add the power of connectivity to any product. From hardware to connectivity to device management and cloud, Particle provides developers with tools to prototype IoT solutions quickly as well as a reliable and secure platform for enterprises to scale. Over 150,000 product builders in more than 170 countries and half of the Fortune 500 have deployed connected IoT devices powered by Particle. Listed as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2015 and named as a major player to watch in the IoT Landscape in IDC Marketscape’s 2018 Vendor Assessment, Particle’s customers include NASA, SpaceX, consumer hot tub manufacturer Jacuzzi, and coffee-brewing pioneer Keurig. Venture backed by Root Ventures, Spark Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures. Particle is based in San Francisco, CA and Shenzhen, China. Particle was founded on 2012.

Portal is an innovative digital video sharing platform that changes how people earn money from their content. Portal has no secret algorithms that tracks every move instead, viewers can instantly send creators $0.10-$100 to show their appreciation.

Alpaca is a developer-focused financial technology platform that provides an embedded brokerage infrastructure for accessing financial markets through modern application programming interfaces (APIs). The platform enables users to trade stocks and cryptocurrencies, offering real-time market data and tools for algorithmic trading. With its developer-friendly approach, Alpaca supports a wide range of applications and businesses worldwide, attracting tens of thousands of developers who utilize its services to create and enhance investing applications. The company has raised over $100 million in funding from prominent investors, reflecting its strong position in the financial technology landscape.

TOP Network is a decentralized open communication network that provides cloud communication services on the blockchain. TOP offers secure, low-cost services such as messaging, calling, video, VPN, CDN, IoT data sharing and more. TOP Network is also a high-performance public blockchain platform designed to handle real-world business of any size or volume. Powered by innovations including three-layer network, two-layer sharding, two-layer lattice DAG and PBFT-DPoS*, TOP can process several hundred thousand transactions per second on the blockchain. The long-term mission of TOP Network is to build a public blockchain infrastructure for all Dapps. Our world-class team of over 100 developers is striving for this goal. TOP Network originated from the common underlying network layer of Dingtone, CoverMe and SkyVPN, three communication apps built by the TOP team before the blockchain project. These apps, having attracted over 60 million users in total, will be ported to TOP Network upon the launch of TOP and generate huge volumes of transactions in the TOP ecosystem. TOP Network was founded by serial entrepreneur Steve Wei and his colleagues in late 2017. Steve was one of the earliest employees of WebEx in the 1990s. After WebEx, he founded a successful video conferencing software company which was acquired by Huawei in 2010. In 2012, Steve co-founded Dingtone, a public listed company operating popular communication apps such as Dingtone, CoverMe and SkyVPN. TOP Network has closed $15 million early investments from prestigious institutional investors and individual billionaire investors, including DHVC, Fenbushi Capital, NEO Global Capital (NGC), Ontology Global Capital (OGC), LD Capital and more.

Veem is a payment service provider that helps simplify the way businesses send and receive funds. It offers a platform that enables small businesses to send and receive payments in local currency. Using blockchain as a payment rail, the company eliminates the need for intermediary banks, reducing costs for small- and medium-sized businesses. It converts the sender’s funds into bitcoin, selling the digital currency at an exchange for the desired currency of the recipient. Aldo Carrascoso and Marwan Forzley co-founded the company in 2014 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Getaround empowers users to instantly rent and drive great cars shared by people in their city. Cars can be rented by the hour, or the day, with a $1M insurance policy and 24/7 roadside assistance included. By using its app, people skip the lines and paperwork at traditional rental car counters, and the hassle of buying and maintaining a car. Powered by Getaround ConnectTM, the patented connected car technology, Getaround creates a fun and safe carsharing experience is without the need to meet the car owner, carry an access card, or coordinate picking up a car key. People share everything from a Prius to a Tesla and earn thousands in extra income each year, offsetting the high cost of car ownership while also making a positive impact on the environment.

Payzer is a mobile and internet payment application developer that enables users to make payments and obtain credit with fast on-the-spot approvals. Customers can use the company's cloud-based platform to accept credit cards, debit cards, and electronic checks in the field or at the home office, with real-time tracking across their organization, allowing contractors to develop and run their business more efficiently through streamlined payments.

Filecoin is a data storage network and electronic currency based on Bitcoin.

Upstart is a lending platform that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to price credit and automates the borrowing process. The company's proprietary underwriting model identifies borrowers despite limited credit and employment history by using variables including schools attended, area of study, and work experience. Upstart powered banks can offer higher approval rates and experience lower loss rates*, while simultaneously delivering the exceptional digital-first lending experience their customers demand. Upstart was founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Mateo, California and Columbus, Ohio.

Particle provides hardware and software tools to help users prototype, scale, and manage IoT products. Particle is an IoT device platform that enables businesses to easily add the power of connectivity to any product. From hardware to connectivity to device management and cloud, Particle provides developers with tools to prototype IoT solutions quickly as well as a reliable and secure platform for enterprises to scale. Over 150,000 product builders in more than 170 countries and half of the Fortune 500 have deployed connected IoT devices powered by Particle. Listed as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2015 and named as a major player to watch in the IoT Landscape in IDC Marketscape’s 2018 Vendor Assessment, Particle’s customers include NASA, SpaceX, consumer hot tub manufacturer Jacuzzi, and coffee-brewing pioneer Keurig. Venture backed by Root Ventures, Spark Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures. Particle is based in San Francisco, CA and Shenzhen, China. Particle was founded on 2012.