Impellent Ventures

We’re thrilled to announce the appointment of Gregory J. Gordon as our new President and CFO! With 25+ years of leadership experience, Gregg has a proven track record of scaling businesses and driving innovation. From co-founding and leading SSRN through its acquisition by Elsevier to pioneering transformative business practices globally, Gregg brings a wealth of expertise to Kickfurther as we celebrate a decade of growth and innovation. Sean De Clercq, our CEO, shares: “Gregg’s appointment represents a strategic step forward. His insights will be invaluable to our team, the businesses we work with, and our marketplace as a whole.” Here’s to an exciting new chapter. #companynews #CPG #announcement

...and the winner is Allure Security! Last night, we were honored as the winner of the Boston Business Journal BostInno Fire🔥2024 Cyber Security Inno Blazer Award! As you can see, the team is quite happy about it 😁 Those smiling faces are Molly DeQuattro, Rick Grinnell, Erik Dasque, and the newest addition to the Allure Security leadership team, Pawan Bajaj. Not a bad way to start a new job! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED ALLURE SECURITY! Thanks especially to Glasswing Ventures for encouraging us to participate. You guys rock! 🎸

FINALLY, a market map for founders of VCs investing in consumer ✨ Over the past year, it’s become increasingly difficult to identify which VCs are still committed to backing consumer startups. This uncertainty leaves founders wondering where to turn for funding and who is actively pursuing opportunities in the space. To help, we’ve compiled a curated list of early-stage consumer VCs still investing in consumer tech, marketplaces, prosumer tools, subscription models, and CPG/eCommerce. This list makes it easier for founders to connect with investors ready to fuel the next wave of consumer innovation.

Hopefully a foreshadowing of future milestones: Today Block Party got to participate in Nasdaq’s opening bell ceremony as one of the finalists in Okta’s SaaS Startup competition, alongside RunReveal and Validia! Lots of fun and hype and full of cameras, cheering and confetti. I’m not very good at taking time to celebrate but someone today made a point to remind me that it’s important to enjoy the wins along the way, and I’m trying to take that to heart. Major thank yous to the Okta Ventures team Austin Arensberg Eunice Wong Jessica (Valdez) Martinez for making this moment possible and congratulations to the other finalists Evan J Johnson Alan Braithwaite Paul Vann Justin Marciano. And of course kudos to the Block Party team that’s doing the work to make it all happen. It’s such a privilege to work with awesome people every day towards a meaningful mission!

"𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝘄: 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗦𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲" - 𝗔 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘁 #𝗠𝗪𝗖𝟮𝟰 🎙️ A few weeks ago, I had the absolute pleasure of being a guest on an incredible panel featuring Malcolm Gladwell and two trailblazers who are reimagining how technology serves our communities and our First Responders. And now, the full conversation is available on the #RevisionistHistory podcast—trust me, it’s a must-listen! 𝗜𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: A firefighter navigating a burning building, their exact location tracked in real-time, vitals monitored, and movements guiding support teams. Sounds like sci-fi, right? But it’s happening today! Ryan Litt showcased how 3AM Innovations Inc.'s FLORIAN platform is making this a reality, using AI to completely change the game for emergency response—all made possible through the T-Mobile For Business Advanced 5G network, which provides the reliable, real-time connectivity essential for this kind of life-saving precision. And that wasn’t all. Dr. Azizi Seixas from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine painted a picture of communities long struggling with healthcare access. Thanks to T-Mobile's #5G network, AI-powered health monitoring is now delivering hospital-level insights straight to patients’ homes, opening up healthcare in ways we never thought possible. Then, of course, Malcolm Gladwell tied it all together with his signature insight, reminding us that the real power of technology isn’t in the code or the connections—it’s in the lives it touches. This episode captures something truly special: that moment where tech, humanity, and purpose meet to spark real change. You can hear the passion in each speaker’s voice as they talk about these innovations that aren’t just shaking up industries—they’re saving lives. 🎧 Ready to get inspired? Catch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/giY6b2GP

Today I’m excited to announce my company Lumi. We have closed a $4m seed round led by Seven Seven Six 7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣, alongside Kapor Capital and Impellent Ventures, and notable angel investors like Mariam Naficy, David Sze, Chamillionaire, and execs from Meta, Anthropic, ContextualAI, Nike, Sleeper, Pave, and more. Lumi is an AI-powered storytelling platform that's revolutionizing how we tell stories – and who gets to tell them. Lumi is empowering anyone to be a storyteller, regardless of their skill set. Lumi enables you to create, publish, and monetize your stories all in one platform. How do we do that? By creating access to: 🤩 End to end story creation 🛠️ Simple AI tools 📚 Physical and digital publishing 🤠 Built-in merchandising The best part is CREATORS OWN ALL OF THEIR WORK! It's everything a creator needs to build and scale their stories, without having to rely on personal connections into Hollywood or having to bankroll a full team. This is how we level the playing field. This is how we create access and opportunity for the world to tell their stories. Lumi is about to turn every storyteller into their own personal Disney. Sign up now to start creating ↓ https://lumistory.ai/ Here's a link to our Tech Crunch article: https://lnkd.in/gt7kwfD2

Last week, Somak Chattopadhyay and Anthony Santaro attended Upstate Capital Association of New York's annual Saratoga Forum, where Somak spoke on a panel on the State of Private Capital in New York with Heidi Knoblauch, David Brown, Cian Cotter, and Frank McEvoy. It's always a pleasure to be part of this wonderful event!

Last week may be my favorite one this year. Our team here at Impellent Ventures played host to 150 of the most amazing entrepreneurs, investors, and influencers in our little slice of upstate NY for the Finger Lakes Summit (#FLXSummit). Attendees for this year's conference have: - created over $25B of economic value and tens of thousands of jobs (plus nearly a $1T in investment value) - drawn over 20B social media impressions - produced music that has won five Grammy Awards - built iconic media properties such as Hitch, Pursuit of Happiness, House of Dragons, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and Baby Shark - founded game changing companies such as Napster, Dollar Shave Club, Rotten Tomatoes, Trinet, Affirmed Networks, NTT Data, and many more - made first check investments in world changing companies that have made them Midas list VCs Yet, even with all this amazing history, the group was the most humble, generous, and caring set of folks you could possibly hope to spend time with. Small and honest discussions explored not just the fruits of success but the grit, determination, and community support that is necessary to succeed when things invariably go sideways. We talked about our businesses, but we also talked about how to create a life of meaning and how to support your family as you grow a very demanding business. Pride and hubris were set aside in favor of pay it forward mentality and deep learning. The hope is these conversations create the seedlings of our world's next great companies and I have no doubt great things will come from this. I feel fully refreshed and inspired to continue to build with friends, both new and old and inspired by the world ahead of us (even if the news paints a gloomier picture) Huge thanks go to those who made this all possible: the Impellent Family (Philip H. Beauregard, Tariq Trotter, Montinique Kniffen, and Ilana Habib); my close friend and the umph behind the party, Sasha Hoffman; our amazing sponsors, Fidelity Private Shares, Silicon Valley Bank, Goodwin, Latham & Watkins, and 1919 Investment Counsel; and all of the amazing folks who took the time to come visit us from near and far to share their love of creating a better tomorrow.