Georgia Messinger

I'm incredibly honored to be featured alongside some amazing peers in TechCrunch's Top VC Investors Under 30 in NYC list! A huge thank you to TechCrunch and Dominic-Madori Davis. This achievement wouldn't have been possible without the support and mentorship I've received. Special shout-out to Serena Dayal. She not only gave me the vocabulary and toolbox with which to explore investing and entrepreneurship, more importantly, she imbued me with confidence: the confidence to send a great cold email, approach someone at a networking event, or apply for a job I never thought I would get. At Chai Ventures, we invest $100-500K in pre-seed and seed-stage companies where women dominate decision-making and spending power. I'm passionate about innovations in consumer technology and goods. Companies like Mimikai, the first in over 25 years to secure a new EPA repellent registration with its exclusive active ingredient, Undecanone, are making groundbreaking strides. Also, Zeen (formerly known as Landing), a platform for visual, shoppable blogs, is redefining how we engage with content and commerce. I'm also dedicated to expanding the definition of women's health to address chronic conditions that disproportionately affect women, such as thyroid disorders, endometriosis, and osteoporosis. I'm optimistic about the transformative impact technology can have in this space. Committed to enhancing transparency in the VC industry, I believe clear funding criteria and open communication can demystify the investment process, making venture capital more accessible to entrepreneurs and aspiring investors. Despite recent challenges, I'm more energized than ever about my career choice. Being a doer means rolling up my sleeves to find impactful solutions and support our portfolio companies through tough decisions. As a connector, I bridge gaps, link founders with key resources, and build networks that generate value. I see myself in venture capital for the long haul. There's no other profession that offers a front-row seat to technological innovation. Supporting visionary founders like Aagya, Aya, Ellie, and Miri is an unparalleled experience. Outside of work, I'm training for my first marathon, playing racquet sports (ping me if you want to attend the next Founder & VC Squash Night hosted by me, Maria, and Theron), needlepointing, spending time with family (especially Soju, my Shiba Inu 🐕), trying new restaurants, and capturing moments with film photography. To founders looking to pitch: I'm incredibly excited by those who turn challenges into opportunities. If you have a strong team, an innovative and scalable product or service, and you're ready to seize a significant market opportunity, let's connect! Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey. 🚀 Here's to many more years of innovation, growth, and making a difference! Link to the full TechCrunch piece: https://lnkd.in/eREbag_q

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Everybody needs a place to put their love. - Karina Dresses tagline, circa 2012 In 2012 I made my first investment in a #femalefounder who also happened to be 50+. At the time I had no idea how unusual these founder traits were. I just knew the founder was passionate, authentic, experienced, perfectly aligned with both the product and the market. Most importantly there was a strong emotional bond between the product and the customers who bought it. 🤷🏾‍♂️- it just seemed like the smart thing to do. Not a lot of my investor buddies agreed at the time- probably not so surprising. Fast forward 10+ years and the value of my investment is ~20x & the amount of free cash flow distributed to equity holders is substantial & still increasing YOY. My takeaways: ✅Invest in authenticity, passion and intimacy (customer)- no matter what the founder profile looks like relative to others. ✅Follow your gut. ✅Not every deal is venture scale worthy. But there’s a potential investor for every deal. ✅Be the best version of you, not a lame version of someone else. Works for both investors & founders. :) Congratulations to Karina and the team at Karina Dresses! Proud as punch to be on this journey with you all🚀

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🗽🌳 Exciting News for NYC Tech Community! 🚀 Join us for an invigorating Venture Walk & Talk, proudly part of NY Tech Week! Scheduled for June 4th from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM at the scenic Maine Monument in Central Park, this unique event is hosted by Founders Committee Ventures. 🌟 Why Join Us? Imagine a relaxed stroll through the beautiful pathways of Central Park, where you can disconnect from the digital world and engage with NYC’s finest founders, angel investors, and venture capitalists. This is more than just a walk; it’s an opportunity to forge meaningful connections, share innovative ideas, and enjoy the great outdoors—all within the heart of Manhattan. ✨ Event Highlights: - Network with industry leaders and peers - Brainstorm new ideas in a refreshing setting - Enjoy the vibrant atmosphere of Central Park Whether you’re looking to collaborate on new projects, explore potential investments, or simply enjoy a break from the office routine, the Venture Walk & Talk is the perfect occasion. 👉 Registration is open but spots are limited and approval is required. Don’t miss out on this chance to be part of something special during #TechWeek. Lace up your walking shoes, grab a coffee, and let’s make strides together in the tech ecosystem! 🔗 https://lu.ma/wj9o67iy See you there for a breath of fresh innovation! #NYTechWeek #TechNetworking #StartupLife #VentureCapital

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🚀 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀! 🛠️ As part of my journey with the Included VC fellowship, I had the incredible opportunity to dive deep into an often-overlooked topic: 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙮 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙥𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙥𝙞𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙩. In my latest article, "𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗪𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗼𝗱", I explore why understanding the foundational technology is critical—not just for engineers, but for investors, founders, and anyone shaping the future of tech. 📌 Highlights include: 1. Why tech infrastructure is a key differentiator. 2. How VCs can benefit from asking deeper technical questions. 3. The need for more discussions about scalability, resilience, and adaptability in tech stacks. I’d love to hear your thoughts - how do you assess the "𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙙" when evaluating startups or scaling your own ventures? 💡 Your insights are invaluable, especially as we work to create a more inclusive and informed tech ecosystem. https://lnkd.in/g6zbbZ3n

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Next week is NY Tech Week, and on Wednesday, I'll be co-hosting TechWalk at 2 PM in Central Park. More details here: https://lnkd.in/eFey-aBd I look forward to connecting and chatting about the dynamic world of early-stage startup investing, go-to-market strategies, and the venture capital ecosystem. As a Venture Fellow at Fordham Angel Fund (FAF), I bring hands-on experience evaluating startups, conducting market analysis, and developing go-to-market strategies. Let's discuss founder due diligence, growth hacking techniques, and the nuances of crafting effective term sheets. I'm also passionate about discussing programs like Vencapital and Venture Cooperative that support minorities and women breaking into VC. Additionally, I'd love to share insights on content creation and storytelling from my experience hosting a YouTube podcast. If you're interested in personal branding, networking, or leveraging LinkedIn for career growth, let's connect! Join me for a walk and chat about the global business landscape, embracing diversity, and adapting to new environments. See you there! #NYTechWeek #TechWalk #Startups #VentureCapital #ContentCreation #PersonalBranding #Networking #GlobalBusiness #DiversityInVC

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A new era of deep tech has emerged. First time funds will raise “unheard of” amounts of capital to fuel next gen deep tech startups - producing outsized, superior returns for LP’s compared to the rest. Prudent investors will act on this data and shift investment strategy as LP’s or risk being left behind savvy wealth managers and CIO’s / FO’s who saw this trend begin 4 years ago.

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What's been happening in mental health? ⏺ Vitalic Health raised a $4M seed round for its geriatric behavioural health care platform. ⏺ Kooth Digital Health landed a $1.45 million pilot contract to provide their Soluna platform to over 50,000 students across New Jersey. ⏺ Peer support startup Fello , led by former Uber Eats executive Alyssa Pollack, raised $10.4M for virtual, app-based peer support designed to combat the loneliness epidemic. ⏺ Oceans Healthcare acquired Haven Behavioral Healthcare , expanding to 5 new U.S. states and adding 7 new locations. ⏺ Mabel raised a €600K pre-seed round to help improve women's mental health through microdosing programs and mushroom-based supplements ⏺ Wysa published a paper on the impact of their early stage digital mental health interventions for Singaporeans. ⏺ Applications for the KHP Ventures Mental Health immersion programme close tomorrow (Jan 7th) (All links below) __ If you liked this and want insights on the mental health industry in your inbox every week, subscribe to The Hemingway Report newsletter and follow me Steve Duke 📩 #MentalHealth #BehavioralHealth

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Wonderful article about Emily Knight and the whole The Engine Accelerator team on the amazing work their doing changing the world with #ToughTech!

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How I Used ChatGPT to Write "Venture Capital’s Wild Ride" People have asked me how I worked interactively with ChatGPT to write my latest article, "Venture Capital’s Wild Ride." So, I thought I’d share the process. I started with rough notes on how the 2021 venture capital boom impacted the Channel Islands. I used ChatGPT interactively to refine the structure, clarify key points, and create engaging section titles like "The Market Reverses Course" and "The Promise of AI." It wasn’t just about editing - ChatGPT helped me reword complex ideas, improve the flow, and ensure every section fit seamlessly into the overall narrative. I even used ChatGPT to write this post! If you’re interested in the full conversation that led to the final article, check the comments for the link. #founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic More at unbundled dot vc.

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HUGE thanks to everyone who came to Riffle Ventures and LabStart's #climateweekNYC event yesterday on how to close the "Zero to One" gap in #climatetech. We often say "Now all we have to do is deploy" or "We have all the solutions we need now we just need to scale them". But keep in mind that to roughly 40% of the technologies needed to hit 2050 net-zero goals are still not in the market, and these numbers don't reflect what's needed to enable climate adaptation and resilience either. Perhaps most importantly, of the solutions that are in the market, are they reaching those in most need, and are they being built and distributed equitably? Point being, the Zero to One phase matters. More early-stage entrepreneurship and co-creation is needed than we often think, and we can't solely focus on scale and deployment if we haven't even built much of what we need still. The unique mix of funding, technical inputs and infrastructure, talent, as well as longer timelines for testing and piloting make a lot of our highest impact climate solutions quite distinct from other technology verticals. On top of this, we face humungous equity and inclusion gaps throughout the tech and startup community writ large. Getting the Zero to One phase right gives us a chance to expedite the pathways into the market for climate technologies while also making sure these solutions are created and distributed equitably. We were extremely fortunate to be joined by leaders in this field - Halcyon, Autodesk Foundation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, ClimateWorks Foundation, CATAL1.5°T LATAM, Stepchange, Salesforce, King Philanthropies, Enduring Planet, Fractal Climate and many others! Feeling very, very grateful to have such wonderful colleagues like Suma Reddy Ashdeep S. Cyntia Abarca Nigel Keen and Alhan Fakhr alongside amazing partners and leaders like Deepa Lounsbury Megan Holcomb Troy Daley John Meissner Felipe Gonzalez Rosas Cristian Dávila Rafael Lorenzo Piñón Andrew Don Mitch Gainer Saleem Chapman Fred Tan Daniel J. Barker Emmanuelle Palikuca Shereen D'Souza Anay Shah Sara Bender, Ph.D. Adria Wilson, Ph.D. Shaina Horowitz Esther Nai Midori Takasaki Dimitry Gershenson Jennifer Wagner John Alexander, CEPA®, CSRIC® and many more (apologies for the Linkedin mention limitation)!

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It’s NY Tech week and my new favorite thing is teaching underrepresented founders how to talk back to investors. So many of them ask me for help fundraising, and I get it. I may not always think of myself as an expert, since I’m lucky enough to surround myself with people who are much more experienced at it than I am. But we did do it successfully once, raising more than $3M along the way with little more than a deck, a dream, and an incredible founding team. Of course, we’re all aware that this success puts us in the teeny tiny cohort of startups who raise without a traditional-looking founding team. So what’s the common theme in my advice to non-traditional founders at the early stage? Push back. It’s easy to get intimidated by investors. They’re smart, aggressive, and ask really hard questions. It can be hard to remember that YOU are the expert on your market. They are generalists. Even if they have strong opinions on your market, it’s OK to tell them when you think they’re wrong. In fact, if you have the conviction and confidence (plus evidence to back it up), disagreeing with your prospective investors can even be seen as an advantage. When a VC asks you a question at the pre-seed stage about your path to $100M in ARR, it’s OK to say “dude, we’re a pre-seed company. I know what our path is to get to a million, and we will have a lot to figure out after that.” Now, this only works if you have a track record that can support your confidence. Or if you don’t know the answer, but you DO know HOW you’re going to figure it out, talk about the path from experimentation to scalability. It’s better than making up a bunch of stuff that you’ll probably throw out eventually, and VCs will respect your focus and defense of your precious little time. Plus, they can usually tell if your confidence is lacking in your answer, anyway. This investor market is a tricky one, but never forget that they (investors) need you (founders) just as much as you need them. And hey, if you’re an up and coming female or underrepresented founder, and you need some help (or just a pep talk) I’d love to help. Happy Tech Week everyone!!

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Excited to announce Frist Cressey Ventures' investment in Qualified Health and privileged to partner w/ SignalFire, Healthier Capital, Town Hall Ventures and others!   Healthcare costs are increasing at a faster rate than ever before, with the US spending nearly twice as other wealthy countries and still ranking bottom in outcomes. It's a story you've all heard - - US healthcare is known for astronomical inefficiencies, waste, workforce supply constraints, fragmented access, appalling patient experiences, and driving patients and businesses into debt.   Yes these problems present opportunities. But opportunities are limited to the system's appetite for change, desire and incentive to try something new and the innovation available. At FCV we believe we've hit the trifecta with Generative AI. Generative AI has given us truly transformational tools in the toolkit and the healthcare ecosystem is demanding to absorb its benefits. This perfect collision of supply and demand means healthcare is poised for big change.   Generative AI is everywhere, it's buzzy, it dangles hope and opportunity. But many things need to be true for the Gen AI transformation in healthcare to take hold, such as but not limited to:   💡 Patient lives and data need to remain safe: We believe in a highly regulated and human life-touching sector such as healthcare we must ensure Gen AI can drive to unrivalled savings and improvements in the quality of care WHILE not putting patient lives or data at risk.   💡 Systems need to own their utilization of Gen AI: We believe systems will use some hybrid of external partners and homegrown solutions but importantly will want full control of data provisioning and utilization as well as the ability to solve an unlimited number of nuanced issues and not cookie cutter algorithms.   💡 Costs need to be looked at on an enterprise level: We believe the speed of innovation in Gen AI means costs will continue decreasing dramatically but at an enterprise level this will still not be a small detail. Systems will want the ability to understand costs and delegate as needed for the outcomes desired at the organizational level.   Enter Qualified.   We knew when we met Justin Norden, MD, MBA, MPhil and team we were standing in front of changemakers. These individuals have lived and breathed the true application and implementation of Generative AI far before we were asking ChatGPT to write our emails. In fact, if you’ve ever driven in a Waymo you’ve benefited from past products this team has built.   Qualified Health is on a mission to enforce governance in Gen AI, allow systems to rapidly build for their needs, monitor and make decisions for all GenAI (homegrown and external) and accelerate the value the sector can glean from these new technologies.   Huge shout out to William T., Tommaso Auerbach and Jamie Kuntz for their hard work!

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It was so fun speaking on a panel all about Gen Z at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech Summit with four of my favorite people in the consumer startup + VC community: Terri (honorary Gen Z), Suraya, Alexandra, and Marc. 💜✨🧿 🔮 Thank you so much for having me, Maryam, and Allie for writing the incredible recap of our conversation. _____ Sure, you might be reading this thinking: Values and vibes? Lifestyle? What am I supposed to do with that? (At least one study shows that 74% of business leaders say they struggle working with Gen Z.) But dismissing their rhetoric also ignores harsh realities. This is a generation whose formative years played out in the isolation of COVID-19, and amid escalating political polarization and economic uncertainty. Gen Z is more likely than any to have (or need) a side hustle, and their struggles with mental health are well-documented: Gen Z’s suicide rates are astonishingly high. They’ve also lived all their lives with social media—which emerged in the conversation as the ultimate double-edged sword. On one hand, social media has made so much possible that was once impossible. On the other hand, social media has often left them grasping for a life that doesn’t exist. “Social media can be very isolating for Gen Z,” said Zehra Naqvi, Headline Ventures investor and founder of The Z List, a community for early-stage founders and VCs. “It’s not social at all as an individual experience. You’re just consuming other people’s lives.” At the end of the session, the panelists went down the line offering advice to executives about communicating with Gen Z. “Be more vulnerable than you think you need to be,” said Naqvi Still, at the end of the hour, I understood something I didn’t before: If you think Gen Z’s insistence on chill is rhetoric or laziness, you’re missing the point. Chill is their rebellion.  _____ Read the full recap here: https://lnkd.in/eybT5U8P

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Someone broke down the estimated costs of a $15 Sweetgreen salad. We need these cost graphics for digital health to help future founders. Especially for tech enabled cos, the greatest cost is labor. Much of the "value created" is in curation and matching, which means the gross margins are reliant on labor arbitrage. Pay someone $X, but get paid $X+Y% per visit. The challenge with healthcare is that you often have to pick one of two business models: 1. specialized, low volume, high cost, low gross margin % 2. generalized, high volume, low cost, high gross margin % I'd argue founders should focus on gross dollars over the lifetime of the customer (like Jeff Bezos said) instead of gross margin %'s, but we'll leave that for another time. The challenge is that many tech enabled digital health cos have high cost of goods sold (labor) and moderately high product, design, and engineering budgets. We must build differentiated solutions for patients, clinicians, and clients to be out incumbents, however, we're realizing that companies are ultimately valued on the discounted value of future cash flows. And the high SG&A costs at most organizations might be inbalanced to the unit economics of the business. I'm not sure the math pencils out for everyone unfortunately. But I'm just a guy on the internet, would love to hear the thoughts from those smarter than I (you!). Comment below. --- p.s. I have no idea the accuracy of the graphic and not an investor in Sweetgreen. Cheers. Credit: David Crowther

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Calling all #Founders: Venture Capital Association of Alberta (VCAA)’s Deal Flow Calls represent a great opportunity for #PreSeed to #SeriesA companies to gain exposure to some of the countries most active Venture Capital #investors. If your company is raising equity capital, I strongly encourage you to check out the link below!

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Summary: The article discusses the challenges faced by climate tech startups as they transition from the lab to commercial outfit. These companies, which work on hardware and infrastructure projects for climate solutions, struggle to raise necessary funds and often face difficulties in scaling up production. Key takeaways: The transition from early-stage startup to commercial operation is difficult, especially for hardware and infrastructure projects in the climate tech industry. The lack of financing options and specialized expertise for these types of projects creates a "commercial valley of death" that many companies struggle to overcome. Startups often fall into the trap of trying to expand their business too quickly, losing sight of their core value proposition and failing to ensure proper execution. Counter arguments: Some may argue that this "first of a kind" problem is not unique to the climate tech industry and can be seen in other industries as well. Others may argue that with the increasing focus on climate change and need for sustainable solutions, more funding and support will become available for these startups. #venturecapital #vc #startups

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It has been a week of climate at The Drop and another incredible one coming up with NY climate week! Another topic that's close to my heart: Spotlight on #femalefounders: There's been a recent decline in the aggregate number of female startup founders (down almost 2% in 2023), one of the lowest % in recent years. While this decline affects many traditionally active sectors (education, consumer, biotech, and SaaS), FemTech is a notable exception - with a 1000% increase in startups over the past decade. Still, in 2023 - only 1.4% of capital invested went to #FemTech, many citing the "ick" factor. To add salt, male-led FemTech startups have historically secured more funding than female-led ones. Many have written on this, including Cindy Gallop 👏🏻. This is a largely untapped and underfunded market - some argue the "Femtech Revolution" will exceed $103 bil. by 2030. I'm excited to see more funds with female partners executing deals - which will naturally #growthepie and increase the capital flowing to female founders. The #formula is simple: Female investors + female founder expertise puts us in solid position to solve the many issues that disproportionately affect women - from #healthcare, #FinTech and #sustainability. ⭐️I'm proud to work with the fantastic team at Emmeline Ventures - and if you haven’t heard: they are doubling down on this focused thesis. 👀 #WomenInTech #VentureCapital #Investing

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Thanks Chinenye. I couldn't agree with you more. However while we work on this, we also have to be mindful of the fact that bias isn't just the problem in this data rather a combination of poor economy and bias. Of all these regions mentioned, Africa is the least performing market. therefore Davidson, naturally you would expect investors to do less there. They are not charity organisations but a venture set up for outsized returns.Therefore the major issue we should be discussing is, which sectors are receiving this funding in Africa? Are the investments coming to sectors that will lift the other sectors up fundamentally or to sectors that will window dress the issues? or Worst still the ones that will reap-off on the people and distort rather than disrupt the system. (eg Nigeria POS fintech and the real banking system. a discussion for another day). Until strong investments are made in the technology sectors powering manufacturing strong job growth in Africa be it REAL B2B eCommerce not repeating what is already being done, or B2C eCommerce that is truly efficient and cost effective. Equally important is the improvement in the purchasing power of the consumers via credit card system. in as much as Sub-Sahara Africa lacks good credit system that captures the average citizens and residents, B2C will continue to struggle. in as much as our logistics investments are predominantly in the last mile delivery rather than efficient crosborder logistics, both B2B abd B2C eCommerce will struggle to scale efficiently and profitability. So, it's time for the investors to do away with the low hanging fruits and start tackling the real issues that will empower and propel Africa economies. That's where the main bias lies.

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Summary: Harlem Capital, a venture capital firm focused on backing diverse founders, is raising its largest fund to date of $150 million. This would be its third fund and is a testament to the industry's continued support for diverse communities. Key takeaways: Harlem Capital was founded in 2015 with the goal of supporting diverse founders. The firm has $174 million in assets under management and has made investments in over 80 companies. The successful raising of the $150 million fund would be a show of success for both Harlem Capital and the industry's continued focus on diversity and inclusion. #venturecapital #vc #venture #diversity #dei

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