Santa Barbara Venture Partners

📣 Get Ready! 📣 I’m thrilled to co-host our “Wine with AI Category Leaders” event next Tuesday evening with Hyperlink Ventures and Mucker Capital. This will be a special event featuring a panel discussion of three world-class founders all developing different AI approaches for unique end markets. Yarden Gross, Orca AI – Machine Vision for maritime Toru Shiozaki, QSimulate – Quantum Simulation for drug discovery / material design Jeff Chang, Rad AI – LLMs for radiology 📅 Date: Evening of October 15th 👉 RSVP: https://lnkd.in/g7-UtEpf? Special thank you to HSBC Innovation Banking for partnering and sponsoring the event. If you haven't received an invite yet, DM me—we’d love to see you there! #LATechWeek #VentureCapital #Networking #Startups #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #AI

I wanted to share a key takeaway from Rad AI's $50M Series B round, led by Khosla Ventures, as many founders have asked how we succeeded in such a tough funding market. The answer is simple: strong business metrics A compelling vision is essential, but as your business grows, focusing on strong fundamentals and metrics makes the funding process far smoother. We raised our Series B in under a month, receiving multiple term sheets. What I'm most proud of is that we haven't lost a single customer—our team's dedication to treating every customer like a valued partner has been a huge part of our success and growth. Focus on your metrics!

Rad AI is proud to be listed on Newsweek's 2024 World's Best Digital Health Companies roundup 🎉 Newsweek partnered with data intelligence platform Statista and market intelligence company HolonIQ to help healthcare sector stakeholders and patients identify the digital health companies that make the most sense for their goals. We're thrilled to continue to be recognized for the tangible impact we are making in radiology and healthcare!

🛰 Go, VanZyl-1, go! 🚀 We, at Hydrosat, are incredibly proud to announce the upcoming launch of our first satellite, VanZyl-1, early July on SpaceX’s Transporter 11, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Working to accelerate the delivery of global high-resolution thermal imaging technology and provide a critical daily dataset to further enhance agricultural and climate models, the satellite will include high-resolution thermal imagery and insights spanning the entire earth - including land and water for the first time. 🌍 Named after one of our co-founders, Jakob van Zyl, who sadly passed away in 2020, the satellite follows in Jakob’s footsteps to better understand global water stress, particularly in agriculture, which is often caused by drought and insufficient irrigation. Read more about the VanZyl-1 satellite on our press release here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e-r-FQaq

I'm thrilled to announce that Orca AI has successfully completed a $23 million funding round backed by OCV Partners, MizMaa Ventures, Ankona Capital Santa Barbara Venture Partners and Playfair . With this achievement, our total funding now reaches nearly $40 million. This funding comes at a pivotal moment for the #maritimeindustry, which has lagged behind sectors like aviation in terms of technological advancements. It's exciting to see that many forward-thinking shipping companies are now adopting AI and automation to improve their operations. To date, almost 1,000 vessels are booked with Orca AI's platform, and our partners experience substantial operational improvements each year. This mind shift towards data-driven technologies not only contributes to a safer and more efficient #shipping industry but also helps companies meet their corporate sustainability targets. The benefits extend far beyond our customers, positively impacting the entire maritime sector. I want to extend a huge #thankyou to everyone who has supported us on this journey. We're excited to continue leading the charge towards a smarter, safer, and more sustainable maritime future. See more details here: https://bit.ly/4bSj7ob #winningteam #maritimeinnovation #newfunding

Venture Capital Journal features our completion of 4 exits out of 10 Fund I investments in 3.5 years since we launched Santa Barbara Venture Partners Fund I. “The thing that’s most important is sending money back to your investors at a profitable return,” Engel said. “If there are opportunities to do that where the return is in line with what you promised, that’s what you should be looking to do.” Thanks to Ryan Hibbison, Brad Svrluga & (our PR whiz) Joel Richman #venturecapital #VentureCapital #liquidity #irr #SantaBarbara #santabarbara

The Wall Street Journal today featured our achievement of 3 successful exits in 3 weeks in one of our Santa Barbara Venture Partners software/AI VC funds. Jackpocket was acquired by DraftKings Inc. for $750M, followed by two successful exits that we engineered. “The thing that’s most important is sending money back to your investors at a profitable return,” Engel said. “If there are opportunities to do that where the return is in line with what you promised, that’s what you should be looking to do.” Thank you Marc Vartabedian, Jeffrey Grabow, Kyle Stanford, CAIA & (pr whiz) Joel Richman #VentureCapital #venturecapital #Markets #economy #Economics #SantaBarbara #santabarbara

Excited to announce a monumental milestone in our journey: Jackpocket has entered into an agreement to be acquired by DraftKings! 🚀 This transaction is far from an endpoint; rather, it marks the thrilling start of a new chapter. Together, we're poised to revolutionize the lottery experience, and make it more accessible, enjoyable, and responsible for everyone. This achievement is a testament to our incredible team's dedication and hard work over the past decade. Against all odds, we've transformed what many believed impossible into a groundbreaking company. As we move forward, our commitment to reinventing the lottery will continue to enhance the customer experience and increase innovation. - “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence… Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” - Calvin Coolidge https://lnkd.in/ghiWthvw