A venture capital firm that invests in early-stage consumer companies.

Maveron

Maveron is a consumer-only venture capital firm funding the brand upstarts, the disruptors, the slayers of the consumer old guard.  We target companies at their earliest stages and are obsessed with helping extraordinary founders build consumer companies that directly engage, evangelize, and enchant customers.  

We invest where people live, work, spend, find joy, stay healthy, and everywhere in between.  We are searching for the next big brands in social, fintech, healthtech, ecommerce, education, and beyond.  We've had the distinct pleasure to back some incredible companies - Zulily, Allbirds, Trupanion, Everlane, General Assembly, eBay, August Home, Imperfect Produce, and many more.  

The Maveron team lives in San Francisco, Seattle, and New York City. We invest everywhere in the U.S.  We believe that diversity is an asset, and we have a team that comes from all walks of life. 

Our values are our north star: Unapologetically non-normal, 'ships over 'actions, Profit + Purpose, and Win the Right Way.

Learn more about Maveron at www.maveron.com

zulily

Otis

Pro.com

Scoot

100Plus

Allbirds

Eargo

August Home

Modern Fertility

Betty Labs

Tile

Trupanion

Valence Community

Dolly

Earnest

eBay

Blend

Bread

Flywire

General Assembly

Groupon

Happy Returns

Imperfect Foods

Inkbox

Common Living

Exciting opportunity to help us work on our investment theses and shape the future of consumer research function at Maveron!

Congratulations to our Co-Founder and CEO, Austin Allison, for being named an Inman Innovator Finalist! The Inman Innovator Awards celebrate those who are shaping the future of real estate by enhancing productivity, efficiency, and transparency for consumers and professionals alike. 

This recognition underscores Austin’s leadership and commitment to pioneering innovative solutions like Pacaso’s unique co-ownership model. Together, we are setting new standards in how we make second home ownership more accessible and enjoyable for more people. Here’s to driving continued innovation and excellence in the real estate industry! 🎉 

#Pacaso #InmanInnovator #RealEstate #RealEstateInnovation #CoOwnership #SecondHome #RealEstateTech #IndustryLeader #InnovativeRealEstate #FutureOfRealEstate #PropTech

Today, caregiving business Grayce announced its Series A fundraise, where we led a $10.4M financing. 

In a world where a benefit needs to truly stand out to resonate with employers, why did we invest? Well, let’s take a step back in time to a few months ago, when we were in the thick of diligence. The growth was impressive, but it was the reflections from users that really did it for us.

- We spoke to a woman who was the caregiver for her sister, who had throat cancer. Grayce helped her find a home health aide who could assist with a feeding schedule, as well as file for insurance coverage. 
- We spoke to a mother whose daughter was struggling with mental health issues. Grayce helped her find and then enroll her daughter in a high-quality residential treatment facility.  

Personally, Grayce’s story resonated deeply. Whether it was my mother-in-law suffering a stroke, my nephew facing an autism diagnosis or my son suffering a severe sports injury, there have been many times where my family didn’t get the support we needed. Each of these cases had logistical, financial and emotional challenges that were so much greater than a medical professional was able to provide. Grayce would’ve helped us navigate each of these challenges with support we could have benefited greatly from receiving. 

So why Grayce versus the other caregiving companies out there? Simply put-  Grayce’s product, which integrates support from health professionals and digital tools at a fair price, was superior to competitive offerings. One customer reference said “Our employees had a lot of talk about being sandwich generation and they didn't feel there were places they could go for support. Our EAP just didn’t give employees a dedicated person for a just in time need. We looked at 10 vendors but felt Grayce had the most broad experience.”

Grayce has already helped dozens of employer customers, including Docusign, Okta, and Blue Cross Blue Shield and countless employees - their offering seamlessly combines digital tools with the work only qualified humans like licensed clinical social workers can do. That is why we’re so proud to have led the Series A.

This is a growing problem, coupled with an unmet need. A Goldman Survey Ayco study from 2023 stated that the inclusion of caregiving benefits, whether it's child care or elder care assistance, has increased by 177% in the last three years. Employers are increasingly citing the lack of caregiving support as one of their biggest needs. Without help, many of these employees will take leaves and/or drop out of the workplace for good.

Julia Cohen Sebastien and Kassidee Kipp are the right founders to lead this business to the next stage of growth. They combine deep health care experience with experience going through these caregiving issues themselves. At Maveron, many of us are managing the juggling act ourselves - raising young kids and supporting aging loved ones. So we know that a little support can go a long way.

This week, Kate Clark called me to chat about BeReal in the wake of the 500 million Euro acquisition. I shared with her a few thoughts about the M&A market opening up in consumer tech, which has been frozen over since 2022. In the past 10 days alone, we've seen sizeable acquisitions of Tabular (Databricks), Champion (Hanesbrands), Bitstamp (Robinhood), AlphaSense (Tegus) and BeReal (Voodoo). 

Why did this happen and what does this mean for the future? Well, as I shared with Kate, a few reasons: 

1) public company growth has slowed down. As Chetan Puttagunta from Benchmark shared, "there are no public software companies projecting to grow revenue 30% or more in the next twelve months."

2) private companies have for the last 18+ months tried to adjust cost structure with varying degrees of success. There's a group of companies that have gotten closer to profitability, still growing nicely with an attractive user base,  these make for viable M&A candidates. Other profiles: AI talent grab, compelling product that can lead to long term margin expansion in the combined entity. 

3) these late stage private companies face a harsh fundraising environment. Large money managers that entered the venture market in the ZIRP era have shifted some their focus away from late stage growth / pre IPO rounds to asset classes (i.e. fixed income, private credit) where the risk adjusted return is better with rates where they are. The alternative to face the public markets may also not be a viable option. 

4) while there are more favorable conditions for M&A today than the last 2 years, these deals may not look as pretty as the headlines suggest. Regulatory headwinds from FTC are inevitable, and wouldn't be surprised if we see more performance earnouts as part of the deal package. 

5) I'm optimistic for more M&A activity, and believe it's directionally net positive for the overall ecosystem. M&A activity has the ability to encourage a new set of entrepreneurs; getting even a taste of an exit can be powerful.

Even more, I'm bullish on consumer tech. Consumers are still buying, still adopting new technology, and have proven to be resilient. If you're in the early stages (seed + Series A) building in consumer, don't be a stranger and drop me a note. And! Any feedback and thoughts on M&A and markets are always welcome :) 

Full Information article here: https://lnkd.in/gJJkCVd4

A can’t-miss episode of the DeWinter Difference podcast: Anarghya Vardhana, a Partner at Maveron and Forbes "30 Under 30" listee,  joins Derek DeWinter for a great conversation around technology,  the evolution of start-up cultures, and what it takes to prosper in Venture Capital. 

Anarghya shares her insights on finding career success through authenticity, the key traits she looks for in leaders before investing, and her professional journey from Stanford to Google and eventually to the world of Venture Capital. Listen now at: https://lnkd.in/erN5VZCt

When I was 30, I took a test from Modern Fertility (we invested in the seed). The results of the in-home fertility test led me to seek additional medical counsel, and I learned that I had premature ovarian aging, which prompted me to start a journey of learning about my fertility (or lack thereof). Through IVF, we got several healthy embryos (and two kiddos!). So hot take: We can and should educate consumers about the downsides to at-home health tests, but my belief is that on the whole it’s a positive trend. The medical system isn’t perfect, and almost everyone I know has found something from a health test they ordered. We should be allies in the goal for better health, not adversaries. 

Thank you to Elizabeth Dwoskin for this much needed and well articulated piece!

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