Exclusive: GoalBased Investors Banks $2.75M Seed To Gamify Financial Planning

 GoalBased Investors aims to provide access to anyone who wants goal-based financial planning and advice, and now has $2.75 million in new seed funding to continue developing its platform.

 The New York-based company, founded in 2019, asks users three questions: How much you have now, how much you want to save and the trade-offs you are willing to make. It then matches users and advisers through a free gamified app experience.

“We are creating a platform where conversations can happen,” said Chip Castille, founder of GoalBased Investors who previously spent time as an investment strategist at BlackRock. “We saw people without financial literacy, and we want to help individual investors build a financial plan and lower the barriers around finding advice.”

True Ventures led the seed round with participation from The Venture Collective.

“This team is on a mission to strip away some of the intimidating jargon from financial planning that makes it daunting for people,” said Phil Black, co-founder of True Ventures, in a written statement. “Bridging communication between the average investing consumer and advisors who can help them is an incredible use of technology. We believe in Chip, his team and their honest mission to help people achieve their life goals.”

GoalBased’s smartphone app offers a social media-like interface so the experience is something familiar, Castille said. Even before a plan is set in motion, app users can anonymously and confidentially share information with financial advisers until they get comfortable enough to share additional information.

When speaking with an adviser, goals are expressed in points, Castille explained. Each time the user adds more information or works on their financial plan, points are earned. For example, when the user answers an initial question, they earn 100 points. Someone could then “spend” points in a way to reach their goals, such as spending points to retire three years early or create a college fund, he added.

Because GoalBased is still early in its journey, there are no growth metrics Castille could reveal yet. While the app is free for consumers and advisers, the company aims to monetize the investment manager, he said.

In the meantime, the app will launch this summer, and the new funding is being used to continue testing it with the adviser community. The company is also using advertising to encourage users to get on the waitlist, as well as building out its engineering and sales teams.

“We understand the existing distribution channels and want to make them better,” Castille said. “You will be able to talk to your adviser and say, ‘I’m two points to my goal, what can I add to get there?’ Consumers can express their own way to achieve a goal, and the dialogue will have more meaning.”

Source. Techcruch, Christine Hall, April 22, 2021

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Avidbots raises $23.6 million in Series B funding led by True Ventures

Avidbots, a company that brings robots to everyday life to expand human potential, today announced it has raised $23.6 million in Series B funding led by returning investor True Ventures. Other returning investors include GGV Capital, SOSV, Real Ventures, and 500 Startups Canada. New investors include Next47, BDC Capital, and KCPL. To date, Avidbots has raised $36 million in venture capital financing.

Avidbots is a fast-growing company that designs and builds autonomous connected robots. Its first product is Neo, a robotic floor scrubber widely deployed in commercial locations around the world, including airports, warehouses, manufacturing sites, malls, and universities. Manufactured in Avidbots’ 40,000-square foot facility in Kitchener, Ontario, Neo is in use today in over a dozen countries, cleaning floors in locations such as Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Toronto’s Eaton Centre mall, and Rochester Institute of Technology. To date, Neo has cleaned over half a billion square feet of floor space.

“With strong worldwide demand for our Neo industrial cleaning robot, Avidbots has been growing at a tremendous pace, and we’re excited to announce the financial support of world-class investors such as True Ventures, Next47, and GGV Capital as we enter into our next phase of expansion,” said Faizan Sheikh, CEO and co-founder of Avidbots. “With this new funding, we will accelerate investment in talent acquisition, engineering, marketing, and sales to bring our cutting-edge robots to more customers worldwide.”

Avidbots created Neo to solve a real-world problem: cleaning floors in large commercial spaces. Traditionally, a janitor must push a floor-scrubbing machine every night, taking hours to complete this tedious and back-breaking work. The job has high turnover, making it difficult for facilities to efficiently manage their cleaning operations. When Neo joins the maintenance crew, it frees up human coworkers to focus on higher-value tasks, such as cleaning bathrooms and common areas. Ground staff control Neo through an easy-to-use touch screen, while facilities managers can log into an intuitive web app called Command Center to access real-time and historical reporting and video streams—getting clear visibility into cleaning operations and outcomes.

“We invest in industrial automation and robotics companies that have thought deeply about which types of work are best suited for machines,” said Rohit Sharma, Partner at True Ventures. “Repetitive, tedious work like commercial floor cleaning is an effective area of initial focus and we’re thrilled to support Faizan and his team as they pioneer this space.”

While most robotic floor-cleaning machines are simply existing manual models retrofitted with hardware and software that allows them to travel a few pre-programmed routes, Avidbots Neo is the first purpose-built commercial robotic floor scrubber that uses AI to optimize performance. Neo does not just follow a set path, but instead continually learns from its environment to change its route on the fly—avoiding obstacles and adapting to new floor layouts. Neo has a vertically-integrated technology stack that incorporates proprietary software and a unique hardware design, as well as the most advanced 3D sensors and cameras. Connected to the cloud through WiFi and 4G, Neo includes 24x7 monitoring and automatically receives regular software updates to continuously gain new functionality. Neo is the only floor-cleaning robot that gets smarter and more effective over time.

About Avidbots

Avidbots designs and manufactures autonomous connected robots to expand human potential. Its first product is Neo, a robotic floor scrubber widely deployed in airports, warehouses, manufacturing sites, malls, universities, and other commercial spaces worldwide. With a rapidly-expanding customer base in over a dozen countries, Avidbots is a global leader in collaborative service robots. Founded in 2014 by robotics engineers from the University of Waterloo and headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, Avidbots is backed by top global venture capital firms including True Ventures, Next47, GGV Capital, BDC, Felicis Ventures, Real Ventures, and Golden Ventures. For more information, visit https://www.avidbots.com

About True Ventures

Founded in 2005, True Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology startups. With more than $2 billion under management, True provides seed and Series A funding to the most talented entrepreneurs in today’s fastest growing markets. The firm maintains a strong community that supports founders and their teams, helping True companies achieve higher levels of success and impact. To date, True has helped more than 250 companies launch and scale their businesses, creating over 10,000 jobs worldwide. The firm was awarded 2018 Venture Firm of the Year by the National Venture Capital Association. To learn more, visit https://trueventures.com


Source. Company Press Release, March 21, 2019