Gradient

Venta AI (YC S23) is an EU-compliant AI SDR that automates highly targeted multi-channel outreach across letters, LinkedIn, and emails. While running cold outbound campaigns, Lucas Spreiter and Stefan Reuther discovered that sending cold emails was highly regulated and increasingly ineffective due to email overload. Especially in the EU, where GDPR and local laws often prohibit sending cold emails altogether. They found that sending physical letters was an under-utilized and EU-compliant channel that converts 2X better. Today, they're launching Venta AI - an AI SDR that allows you to run highly targeted and EU-compliant outbound campaigns using alternative channels such as letters or LinkedIn. Venta AI notifies you directly when a QR code on your letter is scanned, allowing you to engage with prospects when they are most aware of your product. To date, Venta AI has run more than 350 outbound campaigns and received more than 5,000 replies. Congrats on the launch, Lucas and Stefan! https://lnkd.in/g86-xUkR

The idea that led to Quilt was this: Turn heat pumps into an incredible consumer product. Not just a better product than other heat pumps – but better than any HVAC system of any kind. From day 1 we have invested deeply in two areas to accomplish that: design and innovation. FastCompany was one of the first magazines I read as a tech-obsessed kid in the 90s. It was how I followed the dotcom times from far away Canada. It's honestly a bit surreal to have Quilt recognized as one of the World's Most Innovative Companies in the Design category for 2025 https://lnkd.in/gUXeKmC7 Kudos where kudos is duo: key folks for this one are the incredible industrial design duo Mike Simonian and Maaike Evers, our creative director Audrey Nieh, product designers David Bedingfield and Andy Yang, our amazing marketing leader Lizz Niemeyer, and my co-founder Matthew Knoll. Thank you to all of you and many many others. And thank you to our customers who are the most important people of all.

Exciting to see Gigs recognized on Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies list! This is just the beginning 🚀

Gigs has been named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2025! 🥳 Over the past years, we've built the world’s first operating system for mobile services—making global connectivity programmable, interoperable, and automated. By redefining how telecom is distributed and operated, we've ushered in a new era: telecom for the platform age. In 2025, this shift will accelerate as more leading tech companies integrate phone plans directly into their core services—transforming telecom from a commodity into a powerful tech product. With Gigs at the center of this transformation, we're shaping the future of connectivity. What an amazing team effort 😍 Exciting times ahead! 🚀

Mid-market to enterprise sales are the most challenging part for first time founders. Last night Brex and Gradient hosted a GTM dinner in SF for early stage founders. We learned a ton from Garrett (Brex's CRO) and founders' experience, a few takeaways: 🎯 Finding innovators: Target prospects with "early adopter DNA" through LinkedIn history (advisory board, startup/investment community connections, etc.) 🧩 Sales conversation structure: Emotional pain points first, system problems second, ROI/Demo last. 👥 Mutual value mapping: Show how your solution fits customer's ecosystem without being desperate, and be willing to acknowledge when it's not a good fit. 🔍 Strategic demos: Using synthetic data and NDAs to personalize the early demo and identify serious buyers Thanks for joining us! Cyril, Mike, Peyton, Pranav, Rohan, Sonya, Tara, Vikhyath, Yixin (Bethany), Zach cc Jonathan 🤝 If you're interested in joining future ones, please fill out the form below : https://lnkd.in/grhTXRgt

🚀 Arva AI grew 3x in February – and now we’re hiring again! We're on a mission to redefine financial crime operations with AI. Banks and fintechs lose billions annually to inefficiencies in compliance. Arva AI’s Agents automate business verification and compliance reviews, cutting operational costs by 80% while increasing accuracy and efficiency. Our solution is already trusted by top fintechs and regulated banks across the UK, US, and beyond. As we scale, we’re looking for two more product engineers to help build the future of AI-driven financial crime prevention, in person in our snazzy new office! Join us if you want to: ✅ Ship fast and solve real problems in financial services ✅ Work with a world-class team in AI and financial crime operations ✅ Be part of a culture that values: Delivering value fast Customer First, Team Second, Self Last Transparency 💰 $5K referral bonus if you help us find the right engineers! https://lnkd.in/dFuRmpud Oliver W. NB: we don't sponsor visas, and no recruiters

Today, we're absolutely thrilled to announce a $5.5M strategic investment from KASZEK! We couldn't ask for better partners than Hernan Kazah and the incredible Kaszek team as we work to dominate B2B compliance and fraud in Latin America as part of our global vision. Niva's mission is simple: make it effortless to trust and work with businesses anywhere in the world. With Agentic AI, we’re automating the tedious, manual business verification processes that fintechs and financial institutions rely on—helping them verify businesses in minutes instead of days or weeks. This investment fuels our next phase of growth, and we’re just getting started. Join us on this journey to transform global commerce — we're hiring! 🌐✨ Read more in the link posted in the comments below. ⬇️

🚀 Excited to announce our investment in FirstWork (YC S24)! Frontline workers are the backbone of the global economy, yet the systems to manage them have remained fragmented and outdated. Firstwork's solution integrates full-time and seasonal workers into one cohesive system - streamlining everything from onboarding to compliance to shift scheduling. Looking forward to partnering with this Shubham Choudhary and Vardhan Kapoor on their journey! More on our investment from Eylul Kayin: https://lnkd.in/dgtUM8HP

It’s podcast time! 🎤 Check out the latest episode of the TechCrunch Equity Podcast where Mary Ann Azevedo sits down with Eylul Kayin, partner at Gradient, to chat about the AI startup landscape. Eylul was recently a judge for the 2024 Startup Battlefield and shares her advice for founders applying, as well as a few fun facts about the history of the program. It was also announced last week that Gradient is leading the $7.2M seed round of our Startup Battlefield Top 20 alumni CTGT (YC F24) ✨ Tune in next week when I will be on Silicon Valley Impact talking about how founders make decisions. Decisions like- Should I apply for Startup Battlefield? 🏆 That’s an easy one, yes you should! Applications are open now, head to TechCrunch.com/apply to learn more #StartupBattlefield #Disrupt2025 Brian💥 Sparkes Trevor Tuttle Cyril Gorlla AJ Thomas ⚡️ Michelle Florendo

Today is a big day. Very excited to share our $21.5M Series A and our rebrand to Venn 🎉 Last year I did 12,260 minutes of customer calls. The year before, about half that. It’s only been 2 years since we launched Venn and (almost) every minute since then has been spent on building the best financial platform for Canadian businesses. We grew revenue >400% last year but that’s only a by-product of this time spent truly understanding our customers and building solutions to their problems. Canadian businesses kept asking us to replace more and more of the archaic systems they were using. They wanted us to deeply embed into how they manage their finances. We started by helping companies save with better accounts and payments but now we’re truly integrated into how they work. Venn came naturally with this change. Despite spending twice as long speaking with customers last year, I kept hearing the same story. Banking was eating the two most precious resources for a business, time and money. Teams were having to go into the branch, not have visibility over payments, and were paying sky-high fees. Since switching to Venn, businesses have those precious resources back to invest in growing the business. In fact, more than 4,000 businesses count on Venn today, from your corner coffee shop to some of Canada’s leading brands. It’s a privilege to earn their trust. I’m incredibly thankful for this and will continue to earn it. It feels like only yesterday Ahmed Shafik and I were sitting in my kitchen designing early mocks and trying to get our first customer. We wouldn’t be here today without our amazing team Yisheng Guo, Yurii Shylov, Tom Keane, Leo Katz, Rushabh Parekh, Denys Boiko, Shani Mithani, Amin Azimi, Alphaeus Tan, Anton Riabov, and former employees! Our day one investor Zachary Bratun-Glennon, thank you for your continued support and early vote of confidence. Christian Ostberg, the fin team, and our amazing angel investors. Welcome and thank you to our new investors joining us in this next chapter of Venn, including Left Lane Capital (Dan Ahrens), XYZ Venture Capital (Ross Fubini), Intact Ventures (Ben Belec, Michaela Hirsh, Justin Smith-Lorenzetti). More on our fundraise and future in our blog below. Now...if you made it this far: 1. We’re hiring for the best sales reps. If you’re ready to beat my 2024 record, reach out to me and let me know why you want to join Venn! 2. If you haven’t tried Venn yet, I’d love to show you what we’re all about. Grab time with me using the link in my profile or DM me.