Social Starts

Social Starts is a California-based venture capital firm established in 2012, specializing in Series A investments in the healthcare and technology sectors. It is recognized as the first venture capital partnership dedicated to the emerging science of individual health and the promotion of happiness through health. The firm manages a family of funds, including Social Starts A, Social Starts 1 through 3, and Joyance Partners in the US and Europe. Social Starts aims to identify and support leading technologists and scientists globally, prioritizing innovations in health, biotech, and therapeutics. By leveraging advancements in medical care focused on prevention and personalization, as well as artificial intelligence to anticipate individual needs, the firm views health and happiness science as a significant early-stage investment opportunity. Its approach has yielded substantial returns, and the firm has received recognition as a top fund and active global venture capital player.

Jun Deng

Partner

Holly Jacobus

Partner

Anna King

Chief Financial Officer

William Lohse

Investor

Nicole Staudinger

Director, Marketing

Past deals in Austin, TX

Made In Cookware

Venture Round in 2019
Made In Cookware designs, manufactures, and distributes cookware products, such as frying pans, sauce pans and lids, saute pans, stock pots, kits, and accessories. The company retails its products through online e-commerce platform. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

HackNotice

Venture Round in 2019
HackNotice is a threat intelligence company specializing in data breaches as well as leaked credentials and identities.

Osano

Venture Round in 2019
Osano, Inc. is a Public Benefit Corporation based in Austin, Texas, that operates a data privacy platform designed to assist companies in achieving compliance with data privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA. Founded in 2018, Osano provides a range of services including consent management, data subject rights management, vendor risk monitoring, and alerts for policy changes and privacy law updates. The platform evaluates the privacy practices of over 10,000 vendors using a proprietary framework aligned with NIST and ISO privacy standards. Additionally, Osano offers a tracking API for personally identifiable information (PII) and access to a team of privacy experts, ensuring that businesses can effectively manage their data sharing and privacy obligations.

UnaliWear

Seed Round in 2019
UnaliWear Inc. develops a wearable watch that provides discreet support for falls, medication reminders, and a guard against lost-wandering with ‘guide-me-home’ assistance. The company was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Austin, Texas.

Paradromics

Seed Round in 2019
Paradromics, Inc. is focused on developing brain-machine interfaces that facilitate data transmission between the brain and machines, primarily targeting the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The company creates implantable systems capable of decoding complex neural recordings into data streams, which can be utilized by various neural prostheses. Its technology emphasizes high-volume, bidirectional data streaming, allowing patients with neurological disorders to reconnect with their environment and compensate for lost biological connectivity. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Paradromics also offers applications to support its product suite, aiming to enhance the quality of life for individuals with disabilities.

Made In Cookware

Seed Round in 2019
Made In Cookware designs, manufactures, and distributes cookware products, such as frying pans, sauce pans and lids, saute pans, stock pots, kits, and accessories. The company retails its products through online e-commerce platform. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Claimbot

Seed Round in 2019
Claimbot is a specialized chatbot platform designed specifically for the insurance industry, focusing on enhancing claims management processes. By integrating with existing systems, Claimbot provides users with accurate and actionable answers, minimizing the necessity for direct interactions with call center agents. This approach not only streamlines communication but also reduces operational costs for insurance and automotive businesses. Ultimately, Claimbot aims to improve customer satisfaction and foster loyalty by delivering an efficient and engaging customer experience during critical moments.

Osano

Seed Round in 2019
Osano, Inc. is a Public Benefit Corporation based in Austin, Texas, that operates a data privacy platform designed to assist companies in achieving compliance with data privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA. Founded in 2018, Osano provides a range of services including consent management, data subject rights management, vendor risk monitoring, and alerts for policy changes and privacy law updates. The platform evaluates the privacy practices of over 10,000 vendors using a proprietary framework aligned with NIST and ISO privacy standards. Additionally, Osano offers a tracking API for personally identifiable information (PII) and access to a team of privacy experts, ensuring that businesses can effectively manage their data sharing and privacy obligations.

ClosedLoop.ai

Venture Round in 2019
ClosedLoop.ai, Inc. designs and develops data science software solutions tailored for the healthcare industry. The company offers a machine learning automation platform that supports healthcare data scientists in building predictive models and deploying them operationally. Its products include predictive models for various healthcare challenges such as readmissions, sepsis risk, healthcare-associated infections, and chronic disease management. ClosedLoop also provides customizable predictive models to address the unique needs of healthcare providers, accountable care organizations, payers, and pharmaceutical companies. Founded in 2017 and based in Austin, Texas, ClosedLoop leverages artificial intelligence to identify at-risk patients and recommend effective interventions, enhancing healthcare outcomes.

Stoplight

Seed Round in 2018
StopLight is an online platform that helps developers build, test, and improve their web APIs. The company is an API Design Management Platform powering the world's leading API first companies. Developing good design-first practices will minimize future costs, speed up the time to market and lead to more consistent, higher quality microservice, and IoT applications. It was launched in August 2014 and is based in Austin, Texas, United States.

Made In Cookware

Seed Round in 2018
Made In Cookware designs, manufactures, and distributes cookware products, such as frying pans, sauce pans and lids, saute pans, stock pots, kits, and accessories. The company retails its products through online e-commerce platform. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Kazoo

Series A in 2017
Kazoo, Inc. owns and operates an employee engagement and performance management software as a service (SaaS) platform. It allows employees to connect, reward, reveal, and report in real-time and receive digital points from peers to reward them for behavior that generates revenue or reaches other workplace goals. The company was formerly known as YouEarnedIt, Inc. and changed its name to Kazoo, Inc. on April 3, 2019. Kazoo, Inc. was founded in 2011 and is based in Austin, Texas.

UnaliWear

Series A in 2016
UnaliWear Inc. develops a wearable watch that provides discreet support for falls, medication reminders, and a guard against lost-wandering with ‘guide-me-home’ assistance. The company was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Austin, Texas.

RoiKoi

Angel Round in 2016
As of April 23, 2020, RoiKoi was acquired by Terminal Inc. RoiKoi develops a database of pre-vetted candidates to be hired by recruiters. It allows clients to find passive employee referrals and talented people, including software engineers, data scientists, project managers, designers, sales people, and marketers who fit for their company. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Treeline

Venture Round in 2016
Treeline is a United States-based company that specializes in designing and developing software for creating backend applications. Its platform simplifies the process of building custom, high-performance applications for Node.js, allowing users to develop enterprise-grade backends rapidly and efficiently. With Treeline's tools, users can accelerate application development, completing projects in hours rather than months.

Kazoo

Seed Round in 2015
Kazoo, Inc. owns and operates an employee engagement and performance management software as a service (SaaS) platform. It allows employees to connect, reward, reveal, and report in real-time and receive digital points from peers to reward them for behavior that generates revenue or reaches other workplace goals. The company was formerly known as YouEarnedIt, Inc. and changed its name to Kazoo, Inc. on April 3, 2019. Kazoo, Inc. was founded in 2011 and is based in Austin, Texas.

Sails

Seed Round in 2015
The Sails Company specializes in developing frameworks and tools aimed at enhancing the productivity of JavaScript developers. It is the primary sponsor of the Sails framework and associated open-source projects, including Waterline, Skipper, and the Node Machine specification. The company also offers Treeline, an automation platform that simplifies the creation of custom, high-performance applications for Node.js. Additionally, Sails provides professional services and solutions that streamline modern development processes, allowing organizations to build practical, enterprise-grade backend applications without the need for extensive coding.

Clarify

Seed Round in 2014
The world has moved beyond text. That simple understanding is at the heart of what we’re doing at Clarify (formerly OP3Nvoice). Ever since the invention of the Gutenberg press human knowledge has been preserved and communicated in text. The digital explosion has changed this. Now video and audio technologies enable the capture and storage of information in quantities that are mind-boggling. Just think of the huge volume of phone calls or conference videos that are recorded every day.

Mass Relevance

Series A in 2012
Mass Relevance develops and offers cloud-based software for media and entertainment sectors. Its software enables social media content aggregation, filtration, and integration. The company's clientele includes [CISCO](http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/cisco), GolfDigest, [MSNBC](http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/msnbc), NBC Sports, and Pepsi. It was formerly known as TweetRiver and changed its name to Mass Relevance Inc. in December, 2010. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Austin, Texas. In April 2014, Mass Relevance merged with Spredfast, forming a comprehensive social marketing company.