Fika Ventures

Last week we announced our investment in Hue. and I couldn't be more delighted that this was my first investment back at Fika Ventures. Working with founders like Janvi Shah, Sylvan Guo, and Nicole Clay on substantial problems like authenticity (and conversion..) in eCommerce is what makes this job such a unique privilege. We're just getting started, but they already have the trust and love of brands like Tatcha, Credo Beauty, and over 40 more household names. If you're a brand that needs authentic, relatable, and scalable video (who doesn't), they're the end-to-end solution for you. https://lnkd.in/gRu8JebU

🎉 We're excited to announce Fika Ventures has co-led Hue.'s $4.5M seed round alongside Underscore VC. Hue is set to redefine the online shopping experience, making it more authentic, inclusive, and effective for both brands and consumers. A few things that make us lucky to be a part of the Hue journey: Bridging the Authenticity Gap Hue tackles one of eCommerce's most pressing challenges: the need for authentic, relatable content that resonates with all consumers. In an AI-native era where shoppers crave genuine experiences, Hue's solution is a game-changer. Impressive Traction With 45 brands already on board, including TATCHA and Credo Beauty, Hue has already demonstrated strong market validation. Their ability to drive 5-25% increases in conversion rates speaks volumes about their impact. Exceptional Team Founded by Janvi Shah, Nicole Clay, and Sylvan Guo, the Hue team brings a unique blend of tech expertise and industry insight. Their personal experiences and domain expertise fuel their mission to enhance representation in eCommerce. Scalable Solution Hue's end-to-end platform for user-generated video content addresses multiple pain points for brands, from content creation to personalization. Their AI-powered approach ensures scalability and continuous improvement. Perfect Market Timing As the eCommerce landscape evolves, the demand for authentic, inclusive content has never been higher. Hue is perfectly positioned to meet this growing need. More from Arteen Arabshahi on why we invested in Hue.: https://lnkd.in/gcePdrnJ #eCommerce #videocommerce #poweredbyhue #beautynews #fundingnews

🚀 Exciting News from Hue.! We’ve closed a $4.5M funding seed round led by our incredible partners at Fika Ventures and Underscore VC! A huge thank you to our team, VC partners (Arteen Arabshahi and Richard Dulude), and clients who are all on a mission to turn real customers into brands’ most powerful marketing channel. We’re beyond excited for this next chapter. Onward and upward! Thank you to all participating investors for supporting our journey: 💜 - Fika Ventures - Underscore VC - Glasswing Ventures - The MBA Fund - Google for Startups - Heirloom ventures (tristan walker) - Courtyard Ventures - The Graduate Syndicate - Phoenix Fund Go team! Janvi Shah Nicole Clay Sylvan Guo Holly Guenther Elena Allison Angel Catalan Noureen Shallwani #FundingNews #WomenInTech #PoweredByHue #HarvardBusinessschool

Earlier this week, Fika Ventures brought together an amazing group of Bay Area CIOs and CISOs for an engaging night filled with insightful conversations. A huge thank you to our special guests, Rinki Sethi (VP & CISO at BILL) and Lucas Moody (SVP & CISO at Alteryx), for sharing their expertise and sparking discussions on the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity. Highlights of the Evening: Community: It was fantastic to connect with so many brilliant minds in the industry. Engaging Conversations: From emerging threats to innovative solutions, the discussions were both enlightening and inspiring. Delicious Eats & Drinks: The ambiance at Donato Enoteca made for a perfect backdrop to our evening of camaraderie. We’re grateful to everyone who attended and contributed to making this event a success. Looking forward to more opportunities to connect and collaborate in the future! #CISO #CIO Guang Wang Gourav Nagar KiKi W. Vineet Edupuganti jen hsin Matt Hersh Karl Mosgofian Adnan D. John Donovan Vasu Kohli Edward Frye Bill Gambardella Oz Wasserman Archana Muralidharan Dhawal Thakker Marty Garvin Atul Tulshibagwale Erik Gustavson Scott Kriz

We are thrilled to announce that Moment Energy has been awarded US$20.3 million by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to establish the first UL1974 certified EV battery repurposing facility in the United States! Our Gigafactory, located in Taylor, Texas, will create 250 jobs and produce 1 GWh of battery storage systems annually, pushing forward the circular economy for EV batteries and strengthening the U.S. clean energy supply chain. Read more about our DOE award and plans for the Gigafactory in our latest press release: https://bit.ly/48jxcKH. #CleanEnergy #EVbatteries #BatteryRepurposing #Gigafactory #SustainableEnergy #DOEFunding #CircularEconomy #JobCreation #TexasEnergy #MomentEnergy

Sunday night reflections after a long week on my journey back to venture capital, Fika Ventures, and writing in general :) I’d love to hear what you all think of my pledge to founders. My biggest take away after a few years on the operating side is how much of our industry is built off of the combination of hard work, transparency, and a little bit of luck. As an investor, I can promise 2/3 of those 🙃 If it resonates with you, I’m committed to writing more often again and you can subscribe to my writing at the link in the comments. 

What a week! Flying home now, but started off with LA TECH WEEK by a16z followed by Shoptalk Chicago. The inaugural fall Shoptalk was definitely more intimate than the flagship Las Vegas (which isn’t saying a lot given how big that one is). It felt like more people were there to listen and learn from each other, not just network for network’s sake. I met amazing people and didn’t feel like everyone was always running off to the next thing. Had the privilege of cohosting a beauty and fashion dinner with the Hue. and Nectar Social teams and 20+ execs from brands and retailers of all sizes. The biggest take away from all my conversations is how 6 months ago (during Shoptalk Vegas) everyone was talking about AI use cases, but no one had yet actually tested, implemented, and/or learned from AI use cases. And I mean that across all functions (marketing, supply chain, last mile shipping, customer success, and more). Everyone feels everything is moving and changing so quickly that people are truly in a learning mindset and excited for the future, but open that there are many parts still unknown. Another one of my favorite examples was someone who told me they no longer feel they need to get super clean data from their legacy partners because they are using AI to take unstructured, PDF or CSV data and automatically cleaning it up into structured data that works seamlessly with their systems, something that before would’ve been entirely manual. Thanks for the conversation and time together, not to mention, the pickleball! Fika Ventures Nicole Clay Sylvan Guo Angel Catalan Noureen Shallwani Misbah Uraizee Jonathan Wu JB Osborne Scott Vold Nima Elyassi-Rad Ninaad Acharya Richard McNish Amish Tolia Larry Grischow Aditya Sriram Jeff Diamond Jason Duboe Ezra Galston Jackson Bubala Madeline Katz Perri Sheftel Julia Miller Courtney Sheahan

An exclusive sneak peek of the AI-Native Vertical SaaS panel at #LATechWeek with olive, Bonfire Ventures 🔥, Fika Ventures, Headline Ventures, and TipTop Ventures, moderated by David Pack. Hear what the panelists Jim Andelman Nick Tippmann 🏔️☁️ John Chen Trevor Neff are most excited to talk about:

A *huge* thank you to Laura Boettcher (Hippo), Mark Seich (The Philadelphia Contributionship), John Zheng (Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group China), and David Embry (Mylo) for joining me on stage for an engaging discussion this afternoon on omnichannel mastery at #ITCVegas2024!🙏 Some key takeaways from our chat… 1️⃣ Omnichannel mastery means meeting the customer where they’re at—whether online, on text, or over the phone—and ensuring seamless transitions between channels (including data handoffs) 2️⃣ In the context of customer support and experience, AI is most impactful when it augments the human vs replaces (e.g. flagging when a supervisor should step in or extracting key data from conversations) 3️⃣ Cold calling, screening, and claims management are ripe for automation, making them prime areas for AI to start entering customer-facing interactions Excited to see how the dialogue around this topic evolves as innovation in insurtech and AI continues to push forward! 🤔 cc: Fika Ventures #Insurtech #OmnichannelMastery #CustomerExperience

Had a BLAST bringing together the LA proptech and aerospace communities at our 🏠 LA TECH WEEK by a16z 🚀 event yesterday morning with our co-hosts 75 & Sunny and Navitas Capital + our sponsors PwC and Pacaso! A huge thank you to our incredible panelists — Karthik Gollapudi (Sift), Ian Cinnamon (Apex - Spacecraft Manufacturing), Matthew Gialich (AstroForge), Michael DeGiorgio (Crexi), Kamini Rangappan Lane (Coldwell Banker), Malte Kramer (Luxury Presence) — and our moderators — Roxanne Fattahi and Spencer Rascoff — for such engaging discussions and thoughtful insights 💡 And of course, a special shout out to Spencer for opening up his home to us & to all of the attendees for showing up and making it such a valuable, high quality event ✨ #LATechWeek #LongLA #Proptech #SpaceTech cc: Fika Ventures Arteen Arabshahi James Shecter Olivia Pittard Ju-Djuin Csontos Mike Heller Wilson Chockley