BLH Venture Partners

We look for smart entrepreneurs that focus on execution within growing markets in which they have relevant experience, keen insights or deep relationships. Our investment model is geared towards building long-term partnerships with both our companies and the markets they serve.

Billy L. Harbert

Partner

Ashish H. Mistry

Managing Partner

36 past transactions

Axle

Seed Round in 2023
Axle is an open platform for consumer-permissioned insurance data. With Axle, companies can instantly verify insurance and monitor ongoing coverage, helping them create a frictionless experience for their customers and reduce operational risk through better-informed decisions.

Shinesty

Series A in 2020
Shinesty, Inc. is an online retailer based in Boulder, Colorado, specializing in a diverse range of apparel and accessories for both men and women. Founded in 2014, the company offers an eclectic collection that includes sunglasses, swimwear, pajamas, tops, bottoms, boxers, suits, underwear, and dresses. Originally established as Shinesty, LLC, it rebranded to its current name in June 2015. The brand is known for its vintage-inspired designs and outlandish styles, catering to customers looking for unique and bold fashion choices.

Nexus

Venture Round in 2020
Chrono, Inc. operates a digital distribution platform known as Chrono.gg, which focuses on marketing computer games. Founded in 2015 and located in Austin, Texas, the platform features a unique sales model by offering a single game at a significant discount for a limited time of just 24 hours. Each day, the showcased game is replaced with a new title, providing customers with a curated selection rather than an extensive inventory. This approach aims to enhance the buying experience by emphasizing quality over quantity.

Shinesty

Venture Round in 2019
Shinesty, Inc. is an online retailer based in Boulder, Colorado, specializing in a diverse range of apparel and accessories for both men and women. Founded in 2014, the company offers an eclectic collection that includes sunglasses, swimwear, pajamas, tops, bottoms, boxers, suits, underwear, and dresses. Originally established as Shinesty, LLC, it rebranded to its current name in June 2015. The brand is known for its vintage-inspired designs and outlandish styles, catering to customers looking for unique and bold fashion choices.

Shinesty

Series A in 2019
Shinesty, Inc. is an online retailer based in Boulder, Colorado, specializing in a diverse range of apparel and accessories for both men and women. Founded in 2014, the company offers an eclectic collection that includes sunglasses, swimwear, pajamas, tops, bottoms, boxers, suits, underwear, and dresses. Originally established as Shinesty, LLC, it rebranded to its current name in June 2015. The brand is known for its vintage-inspired designs and outlandish styles, catering to customers looking for unique and bold fashion choices.

Cypress.io

Series A in 2019
Cypress.io develops a front-end automated testing application for running unit and integration tests in a browser. The company offers The Cypress Test Runner, a test engine that combines existing testing tools with a graphical user interface to monitor and debug tests. The company's dashboard service is an optional web-based companion that records test runs in continuous integration to understand failures and share results with the team, allowing a more powerful way of writing and running tests. Cypress.io was founded on 2015 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Evident

Series B in 2019
Evident ID Inc. develops software for online identity reliability investigation providing limited disclosure of verified information about a user to a recipient for the purpose of enabling an electronic or physical interaction. It offers services in the areas of identity verification, background checks, criminal history and watch lists, drivers’ record checks, professional licenses, drug tests and medical records, address verifications, and business entity. Evident ID Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

UserIQ

Venture Round in 2019
Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, UserIQ was founded in 2014 to help SaaS companies deliver what each of their users needs to be successful in every moment. As a result, you’ll scale onboarding, improve feature adoption, accelerate time-to-value, and ultimately drive more revenue throughout the customer journey. In 2017, G2 Crowd recognized UserIQ as the Customer Success solution with the Highest User Adoption and as a top product in Atlanta’s B2B tech industry.

Cypress.io

Seed Round in 2018
Cypress.io develops a front-end automated testing application for running unit and integration tests in a browser. The company offers The Cypress Test Runner, a test engine that combines existing testing tools with a graphical user interface to monitor and debug tests. The company's dashboard service is an optional web-based companion that records test runs in continuous integration to understand failures and share results with the team, allowing a more powerful way of writing and running tests. Cypress.io was founded on 2015 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Haste

Seed Round in 2017
Haste is an information technology company that offers a patent-pending purpose-built software running on customized network infrastructure, designed from the ground up to minimize latency, packet loss, and jitter. It enables its users to experience smooth and fast gameplay. The company was founded in

Gro Solutions

Series A in 2017
Gro Solutions exists to enhance the customer acquisition process for banks and credit unions. Our goal is to increase the number of customers you have as well as the account portfolio of your current base. Our flagship product, Gro Account Opening utilizes the best of the mobile world allowing your organization to on-board the Digital native easier and in less time. Whether online, on the go or at the branch, your organization can open and fund new accounts in the less than 4 minutes.

UserIQ

Series A in 2016
Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, UserIQ was founded in 2014 to help SaaS companies deliver what each of their users needs to be successful in every moment. As a result, you’ll scale onboarding, improve feature adoption, accelerate time-to-value, and ultimately drive more revenue throughout the customer journey. In 2017, G2 Crowd recognized UserIQ as the Customer Success solution with the Highest User Adoption and as a top product in Atlanta’s B2B tech industry.

Cypress.io

Seed Round in 2015
Cypress.io develops a front-end automated testing application for running unit and integration tests in a browser. The company offers The Cypress Test Runner, a test engine that combines existing testing tools with a graphical user interface to monitor and debug tests. The company's dashboard service is an optional web-based companion that records test runs in continuous integration to understand failures and share results with the team, allowing a more powerful way of writing and running tests. Cypress.io was founded on 2015 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Salesfusion

Series B in 2015
Salesfusion’s mission is to help marketers attract new opportunities, convert them into customers and nurture them into lifetime relationships. With Salesfusion, some of the best marketers today are not only driving quality leads into the sales funnel, they are automating the lead to revenue process. Salesfusion is more than marketing automation, it is the only lead to revenue platform you will ever need. Salesfusion integrates marketing automation software natively with more CRM vendors than any other marketing software package available today.

StrataCloud

Series A in 2015
StrataCloud is the platform for Software Defined Infrastructure that delivers the agility of Public Cloud in the data center. It provides a unified infrastructure management solution for virtual, converged, and cloud environments. It simplifies and automates intelligent, validated decisions that speed deployment, optimize performance, right-size capacity, and increase IT productivity. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

StrataCloud

Seed Round in 2014
StrataCloud is the platform for Software Defined Infrastructure that delivers the agility of Public Cloud in the data center. It provides a unified infrastructure management solution for virtual, converged, and cloud environments. It simplifies and automates intelligent, validated decisions that speed deployment, optimize performance, right-size capacity, and increase IT productivity. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

BetterCloud

Series C in 2014
BetterCloud, Inc. offers cloud office solutions designed to enhance the management and security of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications for organizations globally. As the first SaaS Operations Management platform, it enables IT professionals to define, remediate, and enforce management policies while providing critical insights into employee SaaS adoption. BetterCloud's services include a centralized platform for license management, user lifecycle management, data discovery, security automation, and IT automation. The automation engine, known as Workflows, streamlines complex processes to ensure compliance and accuracy. The company also offers platform APIs and content scanning capabilities for popular tools such as Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, Box, and Slack. BetterCloud serves a diverse clientele, including small to medium-sized businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and various industries such as healthcare and technology. Founded in 2012, BetterCloud is headquartered in New York City, with an engineering office in Atlanta, Georgia, and maintains a strategic partnership with Dropbox.

Salesfusion

Series B in 2014
Salesfusion’s mission is to help marketers attract new opportunities, convert them into customers and nurture them into lifetime relationships. With Salesfusion, some of the best marketers today are not only driving quality leads into the sales funnel, they are automating the lead to revenue process. Salesfusion is more than marketing automation, it is the only lead to revenue platform you will ever need. Salesfusion integrates marketing automation software natively with more CRM vendors than any other marketing software package available today.

Firefly Media

Venture Round in 2013
Firefly Media is a one-stop-shop that serves businesses through design, marketing, WordPress expertise, and branding. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

KidsLink

Angel Round in 2013
KidsLink, Inc. designs and develops a dashboard application for parents to capture, manage, and share the daily aspects of their kids' lives. It provides an online family management platform and mobile application that enable parents to import, aggregate, and share important documents, such as health insurance, immunization records, report cards, and activity forms on their smartphone, tablet, or desktop. The company’s solutions also allow them to store, track, and organize kid’s documents; save and share memories; be reminded of wellness best practices; find and communicate with health professionals; scrapbook childhood in a baby book; find deals on baby products; and share milestones with friends through Facebook, Twitter, and email. The company was founded in 2012 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

BetterCloud

Series B in 2013
BetterCloud, Inc. offers cloud office solutions designed to enhance the management and security of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications for organizations globally. As the first SaaS Operations Management platform, it enables IT professionals to define, remediate, and enforce management policies while providing critical insights into employee SaaS adoption. BetterCloud's services include a centralized platform for license management, user lifecycle management, data discovery, security automation, and IT automation. The automation engine, known as Workflows, streamlines complex processes to ensure compliance and accuracy. The company also offers platform APIs and content scanning capabilities for popular tools such as Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, Box, and Slack. BetterCloud serves a diverse clientele, including small to medium-sized businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and various industries such as healthcare and technology. Founded in 2012, BetterCloud is headquartered in New York City, with an engineering office in Atlanta, Georgia, and maintains a strategic partnership with Dropbox.

Salesfusion

Series B in 2013
Salesfusion’s mission is to help marketers attract new opportunities, convert them into customers and nurture them into lifetime relationships. With Salesfusion, some of the best marketers today are not only driving quality leads into the sales funnel, they are automating the lead to revenue process. Salesfusion is more than marketing automation, it is the only lead to revenue platform you will ever need. Salesfusion integrates marketing automation software natively with more CRM vendors than any other marketing software package available today.

Vidyo

Series D in 2013
We’re video-enabling the world. Recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant as a leader and a visionary, Vidyo is used by organizations like Google, CERN, Etsy, Philips, Alibaba, Kaiser, DISA and others. We are tackling a huge challenge: to ensure that the world can take advantage of the endless benefits of video chat by making it better than any other form of communication, whether you are in the office - or far out in the field under challenging bandwidth and wifi conditions. Vidyo makes it easy to embed the most beautiful, resilient and immersive multiparty video chat into any application, on any connected device. In healthcare, banking, IoT, customer engagement, enterprise collaboration, government, field services and more, video chat is revolutionizing - while simplifying - how we communicate. We envision a future in which hospitals, banks, universities, police stations, data centers, manufacturing facilities and all places in between see elegant video chat as the sustainable and intuitive way for humans to better connect with one another - making us more productive while saving tons of time and resources. From Silicon Valley to New York, Europe, Asia-Pacific and beyond, Vidyo is one of the most diverse teams in tech, with hundreds of gifted employees living and sharing their experiences all over the world. We are beyond excited about what we’re building, and believe our mission is just getting started.

Ionic Security

Series A in 2013
Ionic Security, a data security platform, provides access control, intellectual property monitoring, data encryption, and policy management. Ionic Security (formerly Social Fortress) enables the use of cloud services by protecting sensitive data anywhere it travels and wherever it resides, whether on the corporate network, in the cloud or on mobile devices. The first unified data security platform of its kind, Ionic Security takes a comprehensive approach to secure data in today’s borderless enterprise by providing access control, intellectual property monitoring, data encryption, and policy management, without proxies or gateways or changes in user behavior. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and is backed by leading venture firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Google Ventures, TechOperators, and ff VC as well as industry experts Christopher Klaus, Ken Levine, Phil Dunkelberger, and Dr. Paul Judge.

BetterCloud

Series A in 2013
BetterCloud, Inc. offers cloud office solutions designed to enhance the management and security of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications for organizations globally. As the first SaaS Operations Management platform, it enables IT professionals to define, remediate, and enforce management policies while providing critical insights into employee SaaS adoption. BetterCloud's services include a centralized platform for license management, user lifecycle management, data discovery, security automation, and IT automation. The automation engine, known as Workflows, streamlines complex processes to ensure compliance and accuracy. The company also offers platform APIs and content scanning capabilities for popular tools such as Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, Box, and Slack. BetterCloud serves a diverse clientele, including small to medium-sized businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and various industries such as healthcare and technology. Founded in 2012, BetterCloud is headquartered in New York City, with an engineering office in Atlanta, Georgia, and maintains a strategic partnership with Dropbox.

KontrolFreek

Venture Round in 2013
KontrolFreek is the leading developer of innovative gaming accessories that enhance the gaming experience and give gamers of all skill levels the competitive edge. KontrolFreek products are developed based on a careful study of ergonomics, ensuring each product also helps to reduce gamer fatigue, improving overall gaming comfort.

TripLingo

Venture Round in 2012
TripLingo, Inc. develops mobile applications designed to assist international travelers in overcoming language barriers. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company offers a suite of tools including an instant voice translator and access to live translators, enabling users to navigate diverse languages and cultures effectively. TripLingo's applications cater to a wide audience, including consumers, businesses, travel management companies, and brands around the world. The company emphasizes that language learning should be personalized, focusing on practical communication rather than fluency. As of April 2019, TripLingo operates as a subsidiary of Travel and Transport, Inc.

Ionic Security

Series A in 2012
Ionic Security, a data security platform, provides access control, intellectual property monitoring, data encryption, and policy management. Ionic Security (formerly Social Fortress) enables the use of cloud services by protecting sensitive data anywhere it travels and wherever it resides, whether on the corporate network, in the cloud or on mobile devices. The first unified data security platform of its kind, Ionic Security takes a comprehensive approach to secure data in today’s borderless enterprise by providing access control, intellectual property monitoring, data encryption, and policy management, without proxies or gateways or changes in user behavior. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and is backed by leading venture firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Google Ventures, TechOperators, and ff VC as well as industry experts Christopher Klaus, Ken Levine, Phil Dunkelberger, and Dr. Paul Judge.

SaveUp

Series A in 2012
SaveUp is the first free rewards program for saving money and reducing debt. Users earn SaveUp credits for every dollar saved or debt reduced and can use these credits to play for prizes ranging from travel, cars to even a $2M jackpot. While using SaveUp users are provided financial education, suggestions to improve their financial circumstances and better financial services. SaveUp can be used with 18,000 financial institutions in the US including rewards for savings accounts, 401k, IRA, or reducing debts like credit cards, car loans, student loans and mortgages.

BetterCloud

Seed Round in 2012
BetterCloud, Inc. offers cloud office solutions designed to enhance the management and security of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications for organizations globally. As the first SaaS Operations Management platform, it enables IT professionals to define, remediate, and enforce management policies while providing critical insights into employee SaaS adoption. BetterCloud's services include a centralized platform for license management, user lifecycle management, data discovery, security automation, and IT automation. The automation engine, known as Workflows, streamlines complex processes to ensure compliance and accuracy. The company also offers platform APIs and content scanning capabilities for popular tools such as Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, Box, and Slack. BetterCloud serves a diverse clientele, including small to medium-sized businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and various industries such as healthcare and technology. Founded in 2012, BetterCloud is headquartered in New York City, with an engineering office in Atlanta, Georgia, and maintains a strategic partnership with Dropbox.

Acumen Holdings

Series B in 2012
Arkansas-based Acumen Brands operates a portfolio of ecommerce sites in a diverse array of industries, which include work apparel (toughweld.com), medical scrubs (scrubshopper.com) and country lifestyle apparel (countryoutfitter.com). Our proven business model generates online conversions through an intimate understanding of SEO, SEM, social media marketing and the right balance of price, assortment and availability. Our talented group of young minds continues to generate amazing growth by innovating, iterating and having a healthy dose of data fanaticism. We understand the art and science of insights based product merchandising.

Forbes Travel Guide

Series A in 2011
For more than 50 years, Forbes Travel Guide has assisted travelers in making smart decisions about where to stay and dine when traveling. Since its founding in 1958 as Mobil Travel Guide, Forbes Travel Guide has been committed to the same rigorous inspections of hotels, restaurants and spas-the most comprehensive in the industry with more than 500 standards tested at each property we visit-to help you cut through the clutter and make easy and informed decisions on where to spend your time and money. Our team of anonymous inspectors are constantly on the road, sleeping in hotels, eating in restaurants and making spa appointments, evaluating those exacting standards to determine a property's rating. Startle is the online home of Forbes Travel Guide, the creators of the original Five-Star ratings system and the leading travel authority since 1958. This unique new platform combines expert travel content with social connections, curated lists and insider deals to create unique travel experiences for the most discerning travelers.

Digital Assent

Series B in 2011
Digital Assent is a healthcare technology company that helps physicians and brands more effectively engage patients at the point of care. The company’s tablet-based PatientPad solution enables patients to check-in for their appointment when they arrive, explore relevant health information while they wait, and rate their visit before they leave.

Half Off Depot

Series A in 2011
Half Off Depot provides online customer acquisition programs for local merchants using its innovative Automated Internet Marketing (AIM) platform. The AIM engine provides a turnkey, cost effective, and risk-free method for local merchants to acquire new customers online. AIM is specifically designed to engage, convert, and retain prospective customers by targeting them with compelling online offers across advertising, email, search, and social media channels. Half Off Depot is growing rapidly and is cash flow positive. Half Off Depot, acquired CrowdSavings in 2013 and rebranded as nCrowd.

nCrowd, Inc.

Series A in 2011
nCrowd, Inc. is an online platform that specializes in customer acquisition for local merchants, offering a wide range of consumer deals accessible via the Internet. The company features an extensive marketplace that includes local services, experiences, national products, and travel offers. With over 3 million consumer members across the United States, nCrowd enhances the online presence of local businesses and aids in customer retention through its proprietary Automated Internet Marketing engine. Established in 2008 and headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, nCrowd emerged from the merger of CrowdSavings and Half Off Depot, with its name change occurring in February 2013. The company is supported by investors including Noro-Moseley Partners, BLH Venture Partners, and Linch Capital.

Acumen Holdings

Series A in 2010
Arkansas-based Acumen Brands operates a portfolio of ecommerce sites in a diverse array of industries, which include work apparel (toughweld.com), medical scrubs (scrubshopper.com) and country lifestyle apparel (countryoutfitter.com). Our proven business model generates online conversions through an intimate understanding of SEO, SEM, social media marketing and the right balance of price, assortment and availability. Our talented group of young minds continues to generate amazing growth by innovating, iterating and having a healthy dose of data fanaticism. We understand the art and science of insights based product merchandising.