Bascom Ventures

Bascom Ventures is a venture capital firm comprised of accredited alumni from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The firm focuses on investing in companies that are connected to the university, leveraging the network and resources of its alumni community. By pooling financial resources, Bascom Ventures aims to support the growth of innovative startups that emerge from or are associated with the university ecosystem. This targeted investment strategy reflects the firm's commitment to fostering entrepreneurial ventures that can benefit from the expertise and connections of its members.

Greg Baker

Founder and Executive Partner

27 past transactions

Solsten

Series B in 2022
Solsten is an AI company based in Berlin, Germany, that specializes in understanding human behavior in the digital landscape to enhance customer experience. Founded in 2018 by Joe Schaeppi and Bastian Bergmann, the firm offers a customer engagement platform that assists decision-makers in the gaming industry, including executives, researchers, and marketing professionals from medium-to-large studios. Solsten's platform aims to improve user engagement by helping developers locate, retain, and monetize players effectively. It facilitates sustainable monetization strategies, aids in game development, and enables studios to reach untapped audiences, ultimately streamlining the development process and bringing products to market more efficiently.

Quiver Quantitative

Seed Round in 2022
Quiver Quantitative is an alternative data platform aimed at empowering retail investors by providing access to unique data sources that are typically reserved for institutional clients. The platform aggregates various alternative datasets, including consumer data from sources like credit card transactions and social media, which are usually inaccessible to individual investors. By compiling this information into a free, user-friendly web dashboard, Quiver Quantitative seeks to level the playing field, allowing retail investors to make informed decisions and potentially improve their investment returns. This initiative addresses the existing information disparity between hedge funds and retail investors, fostering a more equitable investment environment.

Spartan Radar

Seed Round in 2021
Spartan Radar specializes in advanced radar technology that creates high-resolution real-time imagery, utilizing proprietary software algorithms that incorporate machine learning and edge-processing. By mimicking human sensory perception, Spartan's solutions enhance the performance of existing advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) by improving resolution, response time, and range while maintaining low computational demands. The company's expertise in signal processing, developed through years of experience in the aerospace and automotive sectors, enables it to offer cost-effective sensing solutions. Spartan's platform is applicable across various industries, including drone and automotive applications, positioning the company as a leader in innovative radar technology.

Strategikon Pharma

Series A in 2021
Strategikon Pharma, Inc. specializes in developing software that optimizes the outsourcing processes between sponsors and providers in the pharmaceutical industry. Its flagship product, Clinical Maestro, is a unique platform designed for the comprehensive management of clinical business operations, particularly in planning, outsourcing, and budgeting clinical trials. By facilitating an integrated virtual environment, Clinical Maestro enables biopharmaceutical companies to efficiently manage complex relationships with numerous global service providers who often operate with varying processes and reporting structures. The software replaces traditional, labor-intensive methods—primarily reliant on Excel—leading to significant cost savings and enhanced operational efficiency. Case studies with major pharmaceutical firms highlight the platform's effectiveness, achieving over 80% savings compared to manual processes and over 95% accuracy in predicting clinical study budgets. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in San Rafael, California, Strategikon Pharma also offers consulting services to support new clinical business operations.

Cultured Decadence

Pre Seed Round in 2021
Cultured Decadence is a startup based in Madison, Wisconsin, focused on cellular aquaculture to produce crustacean products. Founded in 2020, the company employs innovative cell culture and tissue engineering techniques to create lobster and crab meat directly from the animals' cells, eliminating shell, organs, and waste. This approach addresses the increasing global demand for sustainable and nutritious seafood, offering a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional fishing methods.

Markable Creators

Convertible Note in 2020
Markable Creators specializes in transforming social media content into shoppable experiences through advanced image recognition and AI-driven technology. By utilizing computer vision and deep learning, the platform allows users to identify fashion products featured in videos and photos, seamlessly linking them to e-commerce sites for easy purchasing. With a vast inventory of 200 million SKUs, which are regularly updated to ensure availability, Markable Creators addresses the growing demand for social commerce, especially among Gen Z consumers who increasingly discover products through digital content rather than traditional retail channels. The company has established partnerships with major social media platforms in Asia and has been recognized for its innovative solutions, winning top accolades for its contributions to AI and e-commerce integration.

LÜM

Seed Round in 2020
LÜM is a startup based in Madison that operates a music discovery and streaming platform combined with a social network. The platform is designed to promote emerging artists, enabling them to grow their fan bases while shifting the focus away from established talents. LÜM aims to enhance the music experience by introducing blockchain technology and NFTs, which will allow over 10,000 artists to engage with fans through NFT Access Passes. This initiative seeks to empower artists by restoring value to their work and redefining the fan-to-artist relationship. By facilitating a more equitable environment for music discovery and monetization, LÜM aspires to decrease the disparity in exposure between mainstream and new music, supporting artists throughout their careers.

Intrinio

Series A in 2019
Intrinio is a financial data company that provides an accessible platform for investors and developers through its application programming interface. The company's mission is to simplify financial data access, enabling users to save time and reduce costs associated with data collection and analysis. By offering a variety of financial data feeds, including fundamentals, economic indicators, insider transactions, and stock prices, Intrinio facilitates valuable insights from SEC filings in user-friendly formats. This approach empowers developers to create innovative financial analytics products while allowing investors to focus on research, testing assumptions, and generating insights. Intrinio aims to reshape the financial data landscape by fostering collaboration among data providers, developers, and investors, ultimately enhancing the overall financial innovation ecosystem.

Azumo

Series B in 2018
Azumo front light is here to light the way to the new era of high efficiency, durable displays that don’t fight the environment but work in tandem with it. The time has come for all of us to reflect on what displays can do for devices.

SimpleMachines

Series A in 2018
SimpleMachines (SMI) has created a Software-Defined Compute platform that is future-proofed against the growing needs of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, machine learning, robotics, and big data. Traditional computer systems (CPUs) were designed to be easily programmable, which allowed technology to permeate every facet of daily life. But the software those systems ran only got faster as a result of the doubling of performance every 2 years (Moore’s Law), which has recently come to an end. Software has gotten more complex and data sets are growing exponentially, creating the need for a new chip platform. Recently, the industry has resorted to building single purpose systems (ASICs) that are impossible to reprogram. These hardware-only (chip) solutions are incredibly expensive, take years to develop and deploy (3+ years), and run the risk of being obsolete by the time they are ready, making them poor investments for the rapidly changing software and environments they are meant to enable. SimpleMachines’s solution is a radically new software-centric approach to the problem that deploys a programmable platform with a breakthrough software stack that enables the programmer to easily optimize the hardware on the fly and get the performance of custom silicon with a platform that supports hundreds of different use cases.

FinLocker

Seed Round in 2018
FinLocker, LLC is a financial technology company founded in 2014 and based in St. Louis, Missouri. It develops a consumer-enabled financial data platform that facilitates the loan process for mortgages and other financial products. The platform serves both businesses and consumers by streamlining loan transactions and enhancing the overall financial experience. For businesses, FinLocker provides tools that cut costs, reduce fraud, and mitigate risks while improving customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. For consumers, the platform simplifies the loan application process, minimizes paperwork, and enables better management of personal finances. Using consumer consent, FinLocker captures essential borrower data and employs intelligent analytics to offer tailored loan product recommendations based on individual financial profiles.

Verity

Series A in 2018
Verity Studios AG, founded in 2014 and based in Zurich, Switzerland, specializes in the development of indoor drone systems. The company is recognized as a leader in the indoor drone market, providing innovative solutions for both the live event and logistics industries. Verity offers end-to-end drone show production services that cater to bespoke events, theatrical productions, and entertainment shows, delivering captivating aerial performances for clients such as Cirque du Soleil and Madison Square Garden. Additionally, Verity has created a commercially successful inventory tracking solution using fully autonomous indoor drones, which is deployed in warehouses to enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and minimize errors. Its clientele includes prominent companies like Maersk and Samsung SDS. With a commitment to sustainability, Verity’s systems also aim to lower waste and carbon emissions.

Tethr

Venture Round in 2018
Tethr enables the enterprise to make smarter business decisions based on the true Voice of the Customer, with an AI-driven communications intelligence platform that listens to and analyzes every customer conversation and surfaces contextual understanding and insights from the data. Based on over a decade of best-practice CX research, Tethr gives organizations the ability to measure what matters and share the voice of the customer insights across the organization to directly impact sales results, customer loyalty, operating costs, compliance, and risk.

LYLA

Venture Round in 2018
LYLA offers a unique solution for employee engagement and patient satisfaction by providing a comprehensive service that addresses personal business needs. Through an onsite concierge service and a mobile application, LYLA enables employees to manage their errands and other tasks efficiently. This approach allows employees to focus on their work, ultimately enhancing their productivity and providing them with valuable free time. With a network of vendors, LYLA delivers customizable services that ease the burden of daily responsibilities, contributing to improved employee welfare and satisfaction.

Innoblative Designs

Venture Round in 2018
Innoblative is developing Sira™, a Saline-assisted Intraoperative Radiofrequency Ablation device that uses bipolar current to intraoperatively create a controlled zone of ablation. Sira’s unique design and saline microinfusion system allow it to have unparalleled contact with target tissue and to be powered with existing electrosurgical generators already installed in the operating room. This device represents an exciting new option for intraoperative ablation of soft tissue which surgeons can easily adopt.

Rayvio

Series B in 2017
Rayvio Corporation is a company based in the United States that specializes in developing ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs) for water purification and disinfection. Founded in 2013, Rayvio focuses on advanced health and hygiene solutions that aim to deliver clean water and create healthier environments. Their efficient UV LED technology can be integrated into various applications, providing consumers with on-demand solutions that enhance health without relying on chemicals or expensive consumables. By leveraging microchip technology, Rayvio seeks to improve healthcare and hygiene while making personal care more accessible and cost-effective for a broad audience.

Wheels Up

Private Equity Round in 2017
Wheels Up is a membership-based private aviation company in the United States that aims to make private flying more accessible and affordable. It provides on-demand private aviation services through an innovative platform that connects consumers with safety-vetted aircraft. Members can book flights, manage their accounts, and explore ride-share options using a mobile app. Wheels Up offers a variety of travel alternatives through a combination of programmatic and charter services, utilizing both owned and leased aircraft as part of an asset-light model. Additionally, members can participate in the Wheels Down program, enhancing their overall experience. The company is dedicated to delivering flexibility, service, and safety in private aviation.

Dog Parker

Seed Round in 2017
DogSpot is solving an everyday problem for dog owners and retailers. Our hi-tech doghouse, the DogSpot, sits directly in front of stores that can’t allow dogs inside giving dog owners a safe place for their dogs to wait while they go shopping. Retailers love us because we're changing shopper behavior: shoppers spend 2x as long in-store when they use the DogSpot and we keep them health code compliant -- a growing concern as new trends in dog ownership have 87% of dogs going shopping with their owners every week. Current location partners include retail giants Kroger & Albertsons. And advertising partners include two of the biggest pet brands, Purina and Banfield Animal Hospital. Business Model We make money three ways: dog owners pay by-the-minute to use the service, location partners pay to make the amenity available to their shoppers and brands pay to advertise with us in our high-traffic locations.

Harbor MedTech

Series C in 2017
Harbor MedTech, Inc. is a regenerative medicine company based in Irvine, California, specializing in the development and commercialization of tissue regeneration products. Founded in 2010, the company offers a range of solutions for chronic wounds, hernia and joint repair, and soft tissue reinforcement. Notable products include Architect, an extracellular collagen matrix designed for managing various skin wounds, and EPMatrix, a collagen scaffold aimed at soft tissue repair. The company's innovative BriDGE platform enables the creation of advanced therapies for applications including breast reconstruction, Achilles tendon repair, and rotator cuff repair, as well as other surgical needs in dermatology and general surgery. Harbor MedTech is also engaged in a strategic partnership with Edwards Lifesciences to enhance its product offerings and market reach.

HealthMyne

Venture Round in 2017
HealthMyne, Inc. is a healthcare informatics company based in Madison, Wisconsin, established in 2013. It specializes in providing innovative imaging solutions and analytics primarily for cancer care providers. The company's technology enhances clinical decision-making by offering real-time, evidence-based imaging insights that facilitate improved patient care while also reducing delivery costs. HealthMyne's platform includes features such as tumor image manipulation, automatic tumor staging, specialized reporting, and management of incidental findings, all aimed at streamlining clinical workflows. By integrating electronic health records and image repositories, HealthMyne supports physicians in diagnosing and treating patients more effectively, ultimately enhancing clinical collaboration and quality assurance in patient management.

Markable Creators

Venture Round in 2017
Markable Creators specializes in transforming social media content into shoppable experiences through advanced image recognition and AI-driven technology. By utilizing computer vision and deep learning, the platform allows users to identify fashion products featured in videos and photos, seamlessly linking them to e-commerce sites for easy purchasing. With a vast inventory of 200 million SKUs, which are regularly updated to ensure availability, Markable Creators addresses the growing demand for social commerce, especially among Gen Z consumers who increasingly discover products through digital content rather than traditional retail channels. The company has established partnerships with major social media platforms in Asia and has been recognized for its innovative solutions, winning top accolades for its contributions to AI and e-commerce integration.

Highly

Seed Round in 2017
Highly Inc. is a company based in San Francisco, California, that specializes in developing web-based highlighting tools for sharing important online content. Founded in 2014, Highly provides users with the ability to highlight and save key sections of articles and other web materials, facilitating a more efficient way to manage and share information. Its tools are designed to be compatible with various operating systems and mobile platforms, allowing users to easily access and share highlights across different devices. Highly aims to transform the way individuals interact with their reading material, offering a more personalized and efficient method for sharing valuable insights and stories.
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