Ritual Capital

I've been dreaming about a company like Magic Story. Twenty years ago I helped my friend Andy Lueck attempt to build something like this. But the tech wasn't there. The ability to create personalized stories featuring your kids has finally arrived. This is the story of why Ritual Capital invested in Magic Story! Personalized Adventures: How Magic Story is Reshaping Children's Media Imagine a world where every child can be the hero of their own adventure. A world where stories aren't just read, but experienced. Where learning isn't a chore, but a thrilling journey. This is the world Magic Story is creating, and it's why we're proud to be part of their $4 million seed funding round.   Magic Story isn't just another children's entertainment platform. It's a revolution in personalized storytelling, powered by AI and crafted with Hollywood-quality artistry. Founded by Erik Ober and Alex H., who bring a potent mix of animated film industry experience and expertise in technology and psychology, Magic Story is redefining what it means to engage young minds. The magic lies in the personalization. With Magic Story, children don't just read about heroes - they become them. By simply uploading a photo, kids can see themselves as the protagonists of their own tales. This isn't mere entertainment; it's a powerful tool for building confidence, conquering fears, and unlocking potential. But Magic Story goes beyond just books. Their free iOS app offers a complete media ecosystem including access to an ever expanding library of read aloud digital stories, animated videos and original music. Users can share with family and friends, making it easy to personalize and share each adventure, ensuring that storytelling is a truly interactive and collaborative experience. What sets Magic Story apart is its focus on growth and learning. Their stories aren't just fun - they're designed to nurture. They encourage 'mental rehearsal,' helping children visualize overcoming challenges and building positive self-belief. In a world where screen time is often viewed as a necessary evil, Magic Story offers content that parents can feel good about. The numbers speak for themselves. With 24 stories across six categories and plans for rapid expansion, Magic Story is poised to become a major player in children's media. Their approach offers a meaningful alternative to traditional streaming services, empowering parents to provide content that entertains and educates in equal measure. At Ritual Capital, we believe in backing companies that have the potential to change the world. Magic Story isn't just changing the world - it's changing how children see themselves in it. By making every child the hero of their own story, they're inspiring a generation to see themselves as capable of anything. Welcome to the next chapter in children's entertainment.

As part of this ongoing series highlighting companies Ritual Capital has invested in, I’m excited to feature Outset. Before getting into venture, I spent years in the advertising world, where understanding consumer sentiment around products and ad campaigns required extensive research. Outset makes that process ridiculously easy—and their progress over the past year has been nothing short of incredible (though not surprising). Why Ritual invested in Outset AI: The New Frontier of Qualitative Research In the relentless pursuit of innovation, we’re always on the lookout for game-changers. Outset AI isn’t just changing the game; it’s rewriting the rulebook for qualitative research. Picture this: 100 in-depth interviews conducted and analyzed in just 24 hours. It’s not a pipe dream; it’s what WeightWatchers achieved with Outset AI, leading to a complete overhaul of their user segmentation strategy. This is the power of Outset – delivering the depth of personal interviews at the scale and speed of surveys. At its core, Outset AI harnesses GPT-4, OpenAI’s cutting-edge language model, to conduct and synthesize interviews at an unprecedented scale. But it’s more than just a sophisticated chatbot. Outset’s AI interviewer speaks, listens, and reacts in real-time, asking follow-up questions that uncover the crucial ‘why’ behind participant responses. What started as a text-based tool has evolved into a multi-modal powerhouse. Today, Outset deploys video and voice interviews across multiple languages, shares visual content, tests live websites, and distills complex data into actionable insights within minutes. It’s not about more data – it’s about better data, faster. The results speak for themselves. Away, the innovative luggage company, leveraged Outset to gather critical insights for a major product launch. And Nestle used the platform to collect multi-country, multi-language consumer insights, capturing ten times the data in a quarter of the time and at a tenth of the cost of traditional methods. Led by Aaron Cannon, a veteran product leader with stints at Tesla and Pebble, and Michael Hess, a firefighter turned founder, Outset AI is poised to become the cornerstone of market and user research across industries. With $3.8 million in seed funding, Outset is well-equipped to push the boundaries of AI-human interaction in research. In a business landscape where yesterday’s insights are already outdated, Outset AI doesn’t just keep pace – it sets it. This isn’t the future of research; it’s the now. And that’s why we invested. Outset AI is more than an investment; it’s a bet on a future where deep, actionable insights are available at the speed of thought.

Breaking Retail's $800 Billion Surplus Problem: Our Investment in Sotira The retail industry faces a $800 billion challenge that rarely makes headlines: excess inventory. While most innovation focuses on getting products to consumers faster, the backend of retail – specifically, what happens when products don't sell – has remained stubbornly inefficient. That's why Ritual Capital is investing in Sotira, a company that's bringing long-overdue innovation to retail surplus management. Founded by UC Berkeley graduates Amrita Bhasin and Gary Kwong, Sotira has built a tech-enabled platform that streamlines how retailers handle excess inventory. The platform serves as an intelligent marketplace, connecting retailers with qualified buyers through a modern, digital interface that replaces traditionally manual processes. The numbers make a compelling case. One of their partners, the biggest instant commerce company in the U.S., reduced shrink by over 20%, netting 5 figures in monthly shrink reduction vs. previous liquidators because of Sotira. These results demonstrate how software leveraging AI can transform surplus management from a cost center into a revenue driver. What sets Sotira apart is their technology stack. While the interface is intuitive enough for anyone familiar with e-commerce to use, the backend employs sophisticated machine learning algorithms that optimize matching, pricing and compliance. This combination of user-friendly design and advanced technology enables Sotira to create more efficient transactions for both sellers and buyers. The timing is good too. As retailers face mounting pressure to improve operational efficiency and meet sustainability goals, the need for better surplus management solutions has become critical. Sotira's platform addresses both challenges simultaneously – improving financial outcomes while reducing waste. Our investment decision was driven by three key factors: the size of the problem ($800 billion annually), the effectiveness of Sotira's solution (demonstrated by their early results), and the team's unique combination of retail expertise and technical capability. Under Amrita's leadership, the team brings the right mix of industry knowledge and technical innovation needed to tackle this complex challenge. Looking ahead, we see Sotira becoming an essential part of retail operations. Their platform isn't just solving an immediate problem – it's laying the groundwork for how surplus inventory should be managed in the digital age. As the retail industry continues to evolve, solutions like Sotira will be crucial for maintaining efficient, sustainable operations. We're backing Sotira because they're bringing practical innovation to a significant industry challenge. For more information check out the Techcrunch article below about how Sotira is transforming retail surplus management, or visit www.sotira.co. https://lnkd.in/gfUxuxWS

I’m incredibly excited to announce that we’ve raised a $4M Seed Round from Gradient, Google’s early-stage AI fund! 🎉 Today, businesses spend over $200B annually to manage Accounts Receivable (AR). AR and billing teams spend countless hours bogged down by manual tasks such as reconciling payments, parsing sales contracts, responding to emails, and chasing overdue accounts. These tasks, while tedious and labor-intensive, are critical to business operations. Fazeshift's core thesis is that the data needed to run accounts receivable is fragmented and disjointed. The result? Teams are bogged down by heavily manual, tedious workflows—endlessly entering data, copying and pasting between platforms, and managing back-and-forth email exchanges. Fazeshift changes this. Built on robust, generalizable data models and seamless integrations, our AI agent pulls data from multiple sources, extracts relevant information, and takes meaningful actions. We go beyond using LLMs for analysis by automating tasks that once required entire teams and hours of manual effort. The momentum has been incredible. We are already serving customers ranging from fast-growing AI startups to unicorn companies valued at over $1 billion. We’ve automated entire workflows using AI that used to take a team of 12 people. And this is just the beginning—we have even bolder plans for 2025. This fundraise is a huge milestone for Fazeshift (YC S24) and a continued validation of our founding principle that AI will fundamentally transform how businesses operate and transact. This fundraise allows us to accelerate product development and expand our reach to more teams around the world. This fundraise is also a testament to the innovation and value we have already delivered to our clients. My favorite moments are hearing customers say “This is amazing. I’ve been waiting to see something like this.”  To the Fazeshift team—let’s keep pushing the bounds on what’s possible. A massive thank you to our investors, customers, and the growing Fazeshift team for believing in our vision and being part of the journey 🙏 Incredibly proud to partner with top-tier investors who share our vision of an AI agent future. Fazeshift's $4M seed round was led by, Darian Shirazi and Clayton Petty from Gradient with participation from, Y Combinator Yuri Sagalov from Wayfinder Ventures Pioneer Fund Chris H. from Ritual Capital Devon Triplett from Phoenix Fund and incredible angels, Terrence Rohan Kulveer Taggar Richard Aberman Thank you to Garry Tan and Ooshma Garg for being incredible mentors and YC partners 🙏 Thanks to Ryan Lawler at Axios for covering our story - read more here: https://lnkd.in/eWq23WcA

Democratizing Interview Success: The Final Round AI Vision In a job market where preparation can mean the difference between success and months of searching, Final Round AI is redefining the interview experience. That's why Ritual Capital invested in this platform revolutionizing how candidates approach their career-defining moments, now backed by a $6.88 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by Uncork Capital. In today's hyper-competitive job market, preparation meets opportunity at the intersection of artificial intelligence. Final Round AI stands at this crucial junction, offering a comprehensive suite of tools that transforms interview preparation from an anxiety-inducing ordeal into a strategic advantage. The stark reality of 2024 revealed that job seekers spend an average of 247 days and submit 294 applications to secure a role. The Interview Copilot, Final Round AI's flagship innovation, delivers real-time AI-generated insights and answers during interviews, empowering candidates to articulate their thoughts with clarity and confidence. It's a movement toward democratizing interview success and making career transitions faster, smarter, and more equitable. What truly sets Final Round AI apart is their commitment to accessibility. Their newly announced $8 million scholarship program for 2025 offers certain Premium members in the program a 100% refund on membership fees upon successful job placement. This bold initiative demonstrates their dedication to removing financial barriers and supporting job seekers in achieving their career aspirations. Founded by Michael Guan and Jay Ma, Final Round AI represents the next evolution in professional development. Their mission is clear: leverage cutting-edge AI technology to guide job seekers through every step of their career journey, helping them land their next opportunity in under 30 days. They're not just preparing candidates for today's interviews; they're equipping them for tomorrow's opportunities. With this new funding, Final Round AI is poised to enhance their Interview Copilot, scale operations, and unlock new revenue opportunities through strategic partnerships. They're building a world-class team dedicated to pushing the boundaries of AI in the recruiting and hiring process. We invested not just in a platform, but in a vision where every candidate has the tools to showcase their true potential. In a world where AI and automation continue to reshape industries and redefine the workforce, Final Round AI ensures candidates stay ahead of the curve. The interview is changing. The questions remain the same, but the way we prepare for them is evolving. Final Round AI isn't just part of this evolution - they're leading it.