Agentive: Revolutionizing Auditing with AI

Auditing is a critical function in the business world, ensuring financial accuracy and compliance. Yet, it’s often bogged down by manual processes and time-consuming tasks. Agentive’s AI workspace streamlines these routine tasks, from audit planning, client requests, testing procedures, and documentation.

The founding team is built for this opportunity. Danny Alberson’s background as an auditor at Ernst & Young and product manager at Facebook gives him firsthand knowledge of the challenges auditors face and how to build products to solve them. Meanwhile, Jason Draper’s experience as the CTO of Fairquote and Nathan Turnbow’s experience from Imagine Learning and Dell provide the technical expertise to build the platform.

The potential impact of Agentive extends far beyond individual auditors or firms. By increasing the efficiency and accuracy of audits, Agentive has the power to enhance trust in financial reporting across the board.

Agentive is now taking a significant step forward by revolutionizing document requests, a process that has long been a source of frustration for both auditors and clients. The current state of document requests often involves confusing interfaces, unorganized sample requests, and time-consuming reviews, leading to strained relationships and re-work.

Clients struggle with confusing request platforms and unorganized document lists, leading to miscommunication, mistakes, and re-work. Auditors spend days reviewing files, matching documents, and handling missing or incorrect evidence. Constant follow-ups strain relationships, wasting time and leaving both clients and auditors frustrated.

Agentive streamlines the document request process with an intuitive engagement board, real-time tracking, and drag-and-drop updates. Native sample tables replace Excel, enabling direct evidence attachment. Automated matching and instant citations cut review time by 90%, while a secure portal simplifies uploads, eliminating email clutter and outdated systems.

Delivering a delightful document request experience is just the beginning. Agentive is set to launch AI-drafted audit procedures that run automatically when a client completes a request. Their vision is to vertically integrate and elevate the entire audit process with AI, making audits smoother, more efficient, and more enjoyable for everyone involved.

We see Agentive playing a pivotal role in shaping the auditing industry. A world where AI and human expertise work in tandem, where auditors are empowered to provide more value than ever before, and where financial transparency becomes the norm, not the exception.

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Alex: Building the AI Bridge for iOS Development

The way we build software is changing again. Just as cloud computing transformed development practices a decade ago, AI is reshaping how we write code today. That’s why we’re investing in Alex, an AI-powered development tool that’s bringing intelligent assistance directly into Xcode.

Alex tackles a clear problem in iOS development: the gap between generic AI coding tools and the specific needs of Apple platform developers. By integrating deeply with Xcode through MacOS’s accessibility features, Alex provides contextually aware assistance that actually understands iOS development patterns and Apple’s frameworks.

The numbers speak for themselves – over 1,200 active users adopted Alex in its first week. Engineers from aircraft navigation companies to major online marketplaces are already incorporating it into their daily workflow. What’s compelling isn’t just the adoption rate, but how Alex is becoming an essential part of developers’ coding process.

At the helm of this innovative venture is Daniel Edrisian, a visionary founder with a proven track record in iOS development. Daniel’s experience as a founding engineer at FlutterFlow and his work on the iOS app for ElevenLabs have given him a unique understanding of the challenges faced by iOS developers. His internships at tech giants like Apple, Meta, and Google have also equipped him with a broad perspective on the tech industry’s evolving landscape. Daniel’s passion for creating tools that enhance developer productivity is evident in Alex’s design and functionality.

This investment feels familiar. At Ritual Capital, we’ve had the privilege of backing transformative developer tools before. Our early investments in Parse and Heroku came at similar inflection points. Heroku bridged the gap between developers and cloud infrastructure, while Parse revolutionized backend services for mobile development. Now, as AI creates another fundamental shift in how we build software, developers need tools that bridge the gap between AI capabilities and mobile development workflows. Alex is building that bridge for iOS.

What sets Alex apart is its focused approach. Instead of trying to be everything for everyone, the team is building specialized iOS-focused language models trained on Apple’s documentation. They’re creating a local development agent that handles background tasks like refactoring, testing, and documentation – allowing developers to focus on building features that matter.

The team’s roadmap is clear and ambitious: build the tools that make AI truly useful for iOS development. We’re excited to partner with them as they execute on this vision and help shape the future of how we build software for Apple platforms. With Daniel’s leadership and vision, we believe Alex is poised to revolutionize the iOS development landscape.

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Turning Air into Fuel: The Anthrogen Story

In the race to decarbonize our world, we’ve placed our bet on a team that’s rewriting the rules of chemical manufacturing. Anthrogen, a San Francisco-based startup, has engineered the fastest photosynthesizing organism ever known to exist. Their breakthrough? Using these supercharged microbes and AI-designed enzymes to transform atmospheric CO2 into valuable chemicals using nothing but sunlight.

The company recently secured $4 million in funding to accelerate their vision of creating affordable, carbon-negative chemicals. This isn’t just another green technology – it’s a fundamental reimagining of how we produce the building blocks of modern life.

What sets Anthrogen apart is their unified platform that combines AI-engineered enzymes with these remarkable microbes. Their system optimizes chemical reactions in ways previously thought impossible, creating a production process that runs primarily on sunlight instead of electricity (often the costliest part of standard “e-fuel” operations). The implications are staggering: chemicals that don’t just reduce carbon emissions but actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere while remaining cost-competitive with fossil fuel alternatives.

The founding team brings together an exceptional blend of expertise. Led by CEO Ankit Singhal, alongside Connor Lee and Vignesh Karthik, these Columbia University alumni combine deep knowledge in biophysics, robotics, and geology. Their approach to solving complex enzymatic challenges with AI demonstrates the kind of innovative thinking that defines category-creating companies.

Initially focused on carbon capture, Anthrogen has expanded their vision to include recombinant protein expression and generative protein models. Their technology can produce everything from jet fuel to industrial polymers, all while consuming CO2 rather than creating it.

The challenge of using atmospheric CO2 as a feedstock has always been its stability and low concentration. Anthrogen’s breakthrough lies in their AI models, which design specialized enzymes that actively capture CO2 and transform it through an optimized pathway into valuable chemicals.

This is why we invested. In a world desperate for scalable climate solutions, Anthrogen isn’t just offering incremental improvements – they’re fundamentally transforming chemical manufacturing. They’re proving that environmental sustainability and economic viability aren’t mutually exclusive. They’re showing us that the future of chemistry isn’t found in oil wells, but in the elegant folds of novel enzymes , powered by sunlight and guided by artificial intelligence.

The road ahead is long, but the potential is boundless. This is more than an investment in a company – it’s an investment in a future where chemistry works in harmony with our planet, not against it.

That’s the kind of future worth building.

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Caladan Bio: Unleashing the Power of Synthetic Biology

In a nondescript Brooklyn lab, a small team is changing the future of biotechnology. Not with flashy headlines or grandiose promises, but with quiet determination and relentless innovation.

Meet Caladan Bio.

Their mission? To democratize synthetic biology and accelerate the pace of biological discovery. Their weapon of choice? A next-generation benchtop bioreactor that’s redefining what’s possible in bioprocessing.

The Caladan 250 isn’t just a piece of lab equipment. It’s a statement. A declaration that the old ways of doing things aren’t good enough anymore. It’s for the researchers who refuse to accept the status quo, who believe that with the right tools, they can push the boundaries of what biology can do.

Imagine running not just one experiment, but 24 simultaneously. Imagine sensors that capture more data than ever before, and software that turns that data into actionable insights. Imagine a world where the next breakthrough in medicine, materials, or sustainable technology isn’t years away, but months or even weeks.

That’s the world Caladan Bio is building.

Founded by Michael Kobida and Rob Jauquet, Caladan Bio brings together expertise in hardware, robotics, and software engineering. They’re not just engineers; they’re visionaries who see the potential for biology to solve some of our world’s most pressing challenges.

With their recent $5 million seed round, Caladan Bio isn’t just growing a company. They’re nurturing a revolution. A revolution that could accelerate the development of life-saving medicines, create more sustainable materials, and unlock the full potential of synthetic biology.

In a field where biology is becoming engineering, Caladan Bio is providing the tools to make that transition seamless. They’re not just participants in the biotech revolution; they’re enablers of it.

To the dreamers, the innovators, the scientists who refuse to accept limits – Caladan Bio is building for you. They’re creating the platform that will turn your ideas into reality, your hypotheses into breakthroughs.

The future of biotechnology is being written right now, in labs across the world. And with Caladan Bio’s technology, that future is coming faster than anyone thought possible.

This isn’t just an investment. It’s a belief in the power of biology to change the world. And with Caladan Bio, that change starts now.

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Why We're Betting on the Future of Freight: Cartage's AI-Driven Revolution

North American manufacturers and distributors spend $1.3 trillion on freight every year— $200 billion is wasted on third-party vendors and internal labor just to coordinate shipments. Moreover, internal data remains fragmented, buried in emails and spread across disjointed platforms. It’s a system plagued by inefficiency, opacity, and inflated costs that can reach up to 50% above necessary spending that consumers end up paying for.

Enter Cartage, a company that’s not just disrupting the freight industry – they’re completely reimagining it. When we first encountered their team, what immediately caught our attention wasn’t just their innovative technology, but their profound understanding of the industry’s core challenges.

The magic of Cartage lies in its innovative approach to an age-old challenge. Rather than forcing the industry to adopt new technology, Cartage uses AI to manage logistics for its clients without changing how anyone works. Wilson, its AI logistics coordinator, serves as a shipper’s representative, coordinating freight on their behalf with trucking companies via email and phone call while storing data in a bespoke operating system. By handling the work of freight coordination, Cartage removes the need for third-party providers, an inhouse logistics team and software such as a TMS, streamlining operations, increasing service performance and saving shippers up to 30% on their annual freight budget.

What truly sets Cartage apart is their pragmatic approach to innovation. While others push for solutions that uproots how the industry operates, Cartage recognizes that phone calls and emails aren’t going anywhere. Instead of adding complexity, its AI works within these established channels, proving that significant improvements can be made seamlessly.

The results speak for themselves. Since launching in early August 2024, Cartage is already on pace to coordinate more than $10 million in shipments for their customers this year, while cutting costs for shippers by up to 30%.

Behind this success stands a team with unparalleled expertise. CEO Abdul Basharat and CTO Josh Lampen bring deep technical knowledge from their time at freight-tech company Rose Rocket, while COO Harman Sahota contributes hands-on logistics experience, having previously founded Westcore Logistics, a freight brokerage that grew to handling $50 million in shipments annually.

The freight industry doesn’t need another software solution – it needs a revolution. Cartage is delivering exactly that, with a service that reduces costs, increases transparency, and maintains the human touch where it matters most. Their approach to automation isn’t about replacing people; it’s about empowering them to focus on what truly matters.

This is why we invested in Cartage. We’re not just backing a company; we’re investing in a future where freight coordination is simpler, more efficient, and more transparent for everyone involved. The road ahead is clear, and Cartage is in the driver’s seat.

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From Manual to Magical: Clearly AI Revolutionizes Security & Privacy Reviews

Privacy and security are critical to enterprise-grade software but often result in labor-intensive processes that stall innovation. Engineers wait. Products stall. Opportunities slip away. All while security and privacy teams drown in manual reviews that take days or weeks to complete.

Clearly AI flips this story on its head. Their platform transforms security and privacy from bottlenecks into breakthroughs. Privacy impact assessments and security threat modeling that used to take 100+ hours? Done in minutes. Continuous security and compliance monitoring that never sleeps. A knowledge base that grows smarter with every review.

Founded by Emily and Joe Choi-Greene, who first crossed paths during an Alexa security review, Clearly AI emerged from a deep understanding of real-world security and privacy challenges. Their mission struck a chord with us immediately: transforming the complex, manual processes of security and privacy reviews into streamlined, automated workflows.

What sets Clearly AI apart is its comprehensive approach to both security and privacy compliance. Their platform doesn’t just identify issues—it accelerates resolution. From automated privacy impact assessments (PIAs) and threat modeling to vendor security assessments and regulatory compliance reviews, their solution covers the full spectrum of privacy and security needs. Think of it as having an elite compliance team working 24/7—powered by AI.

The timing couldn’t be better. As companies race to implement AI solutions, security vulnerabilities and privacy concerns multiply exponentially. Clearly AI’s platform acts as a crucial bridge, enabling innovation while maintaining rigorous security and privacy standards. Their automated vendor risk assessments, architecture risk reviews, and centralized knowledge base ensure that companies can move fast without breaking trust.

The most compelling aspect of Clearly AI’s solution is its practical impact on engineering, security, and compliance teams. By automating routine security and privacy reviews, they free up engineers to focus on what they do best—building great products. Security teams spend less time chasing down documentation and more time proactively mitigating risk. Privacy teams gain immediate insights into compliance gaps, reducing legal and regulatory exposure.

The decision to invest in Clearly AI wasn’t just about their technology—it was about their vision. In a world where security and privacy concerns are central to business success, Clearly AI isn’t just offering a solution; they’re pioneering a new standard for how companies manage risk. And with Clearly AI, companies finally have the tools to prove it.

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DryMerge: Revolutionizing Work with AI Agents

DryMerge, founded by Edward Frazer and Samuel Brashears, is transforming how we interact with AI and automation. At Ritual Capital, we’re excited about their innovative platform that allows anyone to create powerful AI agents using natural language.

What sets DryMerge apart is its intuitive approach. Instead of complex interfaces, users build agents through simple chat conversations, resulting in what users describe as the lowest learning curve in the market, making advanced AI technology accessible to everyone, not just tech experts.

The impact is already significant. Thousands of users, from AI enthusiasts to large corporations, are leveraging DryMerge agents for a wide array of tasks:

– Automating CRM updates
– Managing marketing and customer support emails
– Creating social media bots that post hundreds of times daily
– Generating personalized news digests and meeting summaries

But DryMerge isn’t just simplifying tasks; they’re expanding what AI agents can do. These agents integrate with over 50 apps, performing real-world tasks like sending emails, manipulating spreadsheets, making phone calls, and managing CRMs.

The founders’ journey adds to the appeal. Frazer and Brashears, coding together since elementary school, bring a strong foundation of collaboration to their venture. Their dedication forms the bedrock of DryMerge, providing the kind of stable founding team investors seek.

What excites us most is DryMerge’s potential to redefine productivity. By enabling users to deploy multiple AI agents that work continuously, DryMerge is effectively multiplying human capability. Some users already have teams of over 10 agents working full-time, showcasing the platform’s scalability and effectiveness.

As investors, we see DryMerge as more than just a product. It represents a shift towards a future where AI agents are integral to our work processes, handling tasks with efficiency and intelligence. DryMerge is making this future accessible to a broad range of users, not just those with technical expertise.

The road ahead for DryMerge in the AI agent space looks incredibly promising. Their user-friendly approach, combined with robust app integrations and the ability to perform complex tasks, positions them well to lead in this emerging field. As DryMerge continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible with AI agents, we at Ritual Capital are thrilled to be part of this journey, supporting their mission to make powerful AI accessible to everyone.

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Fazeshift: Revolutionizing Accounts Receivable

Every year, enterprises waste $200 billion managing accounts receivable. Teams of up to 12 people spend countless hours manually reconciling payments, generating invoices, and chasing overdue accounts. It’s a problem hiding in plain sight, affecting businesses worldwide. That’s why we’re excited to announce our investment in Fazeshift’s $4 million seed round, led by Gradient Ventures.

When we first met Caitlin Leksana and Timmy Galvin, Fazeshift’s founders, their vision immediately resonated with us. They weren’t just building another automation tool – they were reimagining how businesses handle their entire accounts receivable process.

What sets Fazeshift apart is their sophisticated approach to AI implementation. Unlike traditional robotic process automation that struggles with complex workflows, Fazeshift’s LLM-powered system handles intricate billing scenarios with remarkable precision. Their AI agents don’t just process data; they understand context, manage complex billing workflows, send customer emails, and update accounting records – all while working within existing software tools.

The numbers speak for themselves. With 500 billion invoices sent annually, the market opportunity is massive. But more importantly, Fazeshift is already proving its worth, automating workflows that previously required entire teams to manage. Their platform seamlessly integrates with essential business tools across CRM, ERP, invoicing and payment systems, creating a unified solution that actually delivers on the promise of automation.

What truly convinced us was their laser focus on solving a specific, painful problem in enterprise finance. While others chase broad AI applications, Fazeshift has fine-tuned their technology specifically for accounts receivable processes. This specialized approach allows them to achieve the accuracy and flexibility required for enterprise-grade operations.

The enterprise back office is the perfect proving ground for AI’s next phase. It’s where complexity meets scale, where small inefficiencies compound into massive costs. The future of back-office operations is being reshaped by AI, and Fazeshift is at the forefront of this transformation. They’re not just eliminating tedious tasks; they’re fundamentally changing how businesses manage their cash flow. As investors focused on backing exceptional founders building enduring companies, we see in Fazeshift a team that combines technical excellence with deep domain expertise.

The future of enterprise operations won’t be built on incremental improvements. It will be shaped by technologies that fundamentally transform how businesses operate. That’s why we invested in Fazeshift. They’re not just solving a problem – they’re defining a new category in enterprise software, one automated workflow at a time.

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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.

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Beyond Bug Bounties: How Gecko Security is Redefining Code Security

Security testing has long been a bottleneck in software development – expensive, time-consuming, and often ineffective. When we first encountered Gecko Security, what stood out wasn’t just their technology, but their pragmatic approach to solving a persistent problem in modern software development.

The founding team brings substantial credibility to the table. JJ’s background as a security researcher for the UK Intelligence, combined with Artemiy’s expertise in multi-agent systems and reinforcement learning from Imperial College London, created a foundation for tackling security challenges at scale.

Their technology merges LLM agents with program analysis tools used previously in government research. While this might sound technical, the real innovation lies in how Gecko makes these sophisticated tools accessible and practical for everyday development teams.

What’s particularly compelling is Gecko’s ability to not just identify vulnerabilities but also generate exploits and fixes. The platform deploys multiple AI agents that work together to create, test, and refine security patches, significantly reducing the engineering hours typically spent on security remediation.

The market need is clear. Current security tools often frustrate development teams with high false-positive rates and an inability to detect complex business logic vulnerabilities. Gecko addresses these pain points by verifying each vulnerability with a proof-of-concept exploit and providing ready-to-implement fixes.

Their approach integrates security testing directly into the development workflow, running comprehensive checks at every pull request. This transforms security from a periodic audit into a continuous process that catches issues early, when they’re least expensive to fix.

The team’s technical expertise is backed by concrete achievements – over $100,000 in CTF and hackathon winnings, and experience developing security solutions for national infrastructure. These credentials translate into a deep understanding of both offensive security and practical development needs.

Gecko Security isn’t just building another security tool – they’re addressing the fundamental challenge of making security testing both thorough and efficient. In a landscape where security threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated, their approach represents a significant step forward in making robust security testing accessible to development teams of all sizes.

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Granza Bio: Advancing Therapeutic Delivery

In the realm of genetic medicines and cancer treatments, innovation is not just desirable — it’s essential. Granza Bio, a startup born from rigorous research at Oxford University, is at the forefront of this innovation, developing a novel therapeutic delivery approach for treating cancers, autoimmune conditions and genetic diseases. This has caught our attention at Ritual Capital.

Granza Bio is developing a protein-based delivery vehicle that can load different type of therapeutic cargos like proteins and nucleic acids and deliver them to specific cells of interest in our body. We’re at a pivotal moment in medicine, where groundbreaking cell and gene therapies are being developed, yet their potential is often limited by one critical challenge: delivering them precisely to the right cells within the body. Too often, these therapies are degraded in the bloodstream or diverted to the wrong organ, reducing their effectiveness. Granza is tackling this problem with a breakthrough delivery technology inspired by the natural mechanisms and proteins our immune cells use to communicate and target harmful cells.

What sets Granza Bio apart is not just their innovative technology, but the team behind it. Founded by two accomplished researchers – Ashwin Nandakumar and Ashwin Jainarayanan – and supported by the renowned Professor Michael Dustin, the company brings together a wealth of expertise in oncology and immunology. This combination of scientific rigor and entrepreneurial spirit is precisely what we look for in our investments.

The potential applications of Granza Bio’s technology extend beyond cancer. While their initial focus is on oncology, the platform shows promise for treating genetic and autoimmune diseases and infections as well. This versatility significantly expands the company’s potential impact and market opportunity.

At Ritual Capital, we’re committed to backing companies that have the potential to transform industries and improve lives. Granza Bio fits this criteria perfectly. They’re not just iterating on existing treatments; they’re developing a fundamentally new approach to fighting disease.

The road ahead for Granza Bio will undoubtedly involve challenges. Developing new medical treatments is a complex, time-consuming process fraught with regulatory hurdles. However, we believe that the potential benefits of their technology far outweigh these obstacles.

We’re excited to support Granza Bio as they work to bring their innovative treatments to patients. Their work represents a significant step forward in personalized medicine and targeted therapies. If successful, their approach could dramatically improve outcomes for cancer patients while reducing the often debilitating side effects of treatment.

In backing Granza Bio, we at Ritual Capital are not just making an investment—we’re supporting a vision for a future where cancer treatment is more effective, more tolerable, and more personalized. We look forward to being part of this journey and to seeing the impact that Granza Bio will have on the field of oncology and beyond.

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Gravity: The Future of Analytics

The analytics landscape is at a pivotal moment. While 93% of companies are increasing their investments in data and analytics, many struggle to transform these investments into tangible business value. This is where Gravity Foundation steps in with their groundbreaking AI data analyst, Orion.

What makes Gravity Foundation special isn’t just the technology – it is the vision of eliminating the gap between data insight and business action. Their AI-powered data analyst doesn’t just process data; it transforms it into actionable insights that drives real business outcomes.

The numbers tell a compelling story. Companies leveraging AI effectively are seeing their corporate revenues rise by more than 20% over three years. With 92% of large companies now reporting returns on their AI investments, the timing couldn’t be better for Gravity Foundation’s AI data analysts, Orion.

Orion isn’t just another analytics tool. It’s a 24/7 data expert that seamlessly integrates with existing business intelligence tools, making it immediately valuable to enterprises. From supply chain optimization to customer retention and marketing ROI, Orion delivers insights exactly when and where they’re needed.

The team’s background is not only impressive but also essential to their success. Lucas Thelosen and Drew Gillson each bring over 15 years of experience in data analytics and artificial intelligence. Lucas was formerly the Head of Product, Data & AI Cloud at Google, where he aligned Google’s data analytics and AI technologies and led the data analytics consulting division for the Americas and APAC. Drew was part of the Cloud AI team at Google before co-founding Gravity Foundation. Together, Lucas and Drew’s expertise has enabled customers to achieve their business goals through data-driven insights and solutions.

Lucas and Drew brought together a team from Google who witnessed firsthand the challenges enterprises face with data analysis and built Orion specifically to address them. This deep understanding of analytics’s technical and business sides sets them apart in an increasingly crowded market.

What truly excites us is Gravity Foundation’s potential to reshape how businesses interact with their data. In an era where data-driven companies increase their operational productivity by 63%, Gravity Foundation’s approach to making analytics more accessible and actionable isn’t just innovative – it’s necessary.

The future of business intelligence isn’t about more data – it’s about better insights. Gravity Foundation isn’t just participating in this future; they’re creating it. That’s why we invested, and that’s why we believe they’re positioned to lead the next evolution in enterprise analytics.

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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 Hawkins, 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.

This is why we invested in Magic Story. Because we believe that the stories we tell our children today shape the world they’ll create tomorrow. And with Magic Story, that future looks brighter than ever.

The future of children’s media isn’t just about watching – it’s about becoming. It’s about empowering. It’s about growing. And that future starts with Magic Story.

Welcome to the next chapter in children’s entertainment. Welcome to Magic Story.

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Maple: Revolutionizing How Families Get Things Done

I first met Maple’s founder Michael Perry a decade ago when he was building Kit, a lightweight marketing suite inspired by his teenage years spent selling at a local car dealership. There, he’d developed a unique approach – meticulously noting customer details in spreadsheets, from their favorite music to items left in their cars, all in service of building genuine relationships. The CRM he built caught Shopify’s eye, leading to an acquisition that saw his tools rolled out across their platform. But what caught my eye was his attention to detail and deep empathy.

Years later, when Michael and his wife welcomed their first child, he applied that same observant, empathetic approach to a new challenge: the overwhelming juggle of family, work, and household management. This was the genesis of Maple.

When we reconnected to discuss Maple, it was instantly clear that Michael wasn’t just building another productivity app – he was reimagining how modern families function in an increasingly complex world.

As investors, we’re constantly searching for companies that solve real, pressing problems. The challenge of family organization isn’t just a minor inconvenience; it’s a universal pain point that affects millions of households globally. Parents spend an average of 23 hours per month just planning family activities and managing household logistics – that’s nearly a full day lost to administrative tasks that could be spent making memories with loved ones.

What makes Maple different is its deep understanding of family dynamics and its elegant approach to solving household chaos. The platform isn’t just a digital calendar or a to-do list; it’s an intelligent system that learns from your family’s patterns and preferences to automate the mundane while elevating the meaningful. Having previously founded Parent Co. (acquired by Shopify) and serving as Director of Product, Michael brings a unique perspective on building technology that truly serves families.

The numbers speak for themselves. Since launch, Maple has seen exceptional growth, with families reporting up to 80% reduction in planning time and a 65% decrease in missed activities and appointments. These aren’t just statistics – they represent real hours given back to families, real stress eliminated from parents’ lives, and real improvements in household harmony.

What particularly excited us about Maple was their vision for the future of family technology. The team isn’t just solving today’s problems; they’re anticipating tomorrow’s challenges. Their innovative browser-based approach, which seamlessly integrates with existing family workflows, demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how technology should adapt to users, not the other way around.

The market opportunity here is massive. With over 33 million families in the US alone juggling multiple children, activities, and household responsibilities, the demand for intelligent family organization solutions has never been higher. Maple’s rapid adoption rates and impressive user retention metrics suggest they’ve struck a chord with their target market.

But beyond the market opportunity, what truly convinced us to invest was the team’s commitment to building technology that strengthens family bonds rather than replacing them. In a world where screen time often comes at the expense of face-to-face interaction, Maple is using technology to facilitate more quality time together.

The platform’s emphasis on collaborative planning and shared responsibility also reflects a modern understanding of family dynamics. Whether it’s coordinating with caregivers, managing multiple schedules, or ensuring everyone stays on the same page, Maple has created a solution that adapts to various family structures and needs.

Looking ahead, we see Maple becoming the essential platform for family organization, much like Slack has become for workplace communication or Shopify for e-commerce. The company’s robust product roadmap, combined with their deep understanding of user needs, positions them perfectly to capture this growing market.

Our investment in Maple represents more than just backing a promising startup – it’s an investment in the future of family life. As we continue to support their journey, we’re excited to see how Maple will transform the way families organize, communicate, and spend time together.

The challenge of family organization might not be the most glamorous problem in tech, but it’s arguably one of the most important. By giving families back their time and reducing the mental load of household management, Maple isn’t just building a successful business – they’re making a meaningful impact on people’s daily lives. And that’s exactly the kind of innovation we love to support at Ritual Capital.

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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 led by Adverb and Matrix, 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.

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How Oway is Fixing the $900B Freight Industry

The freight industry’s inefficiency problem is staggering – 45% of truck capacity sits empty while businesses all the way up to enterprise overpay for non full-truckload shipping. Oway is addressing this market failure with a straightforward solution: matching freight shipments with partially-empty trucks already heading to their destination.

The numbers make the case. Oway’s platform enables overnight shipping of up to 10 pallets across the country. Their machine learning system automates matching and route optimization, reducing order placement to a 30-second process. For truckers, this translates to up to an 30% additional in annual revenue from otherwise wasted capacity.

Since their 2023 launch, Oway has methodically expanded across six western states while maintaining 99.9% delivery satisfaction. The platform’s rapid adoption demonstrates the acute need for this solution in the market. Small businesses get faster, cheaper shipping. Truckers maximize their revenue. Empty trucks are eliminated.

The $900 billion US trucking market remains highly fragmented, with 90% being small and midsize carriers. This creates an ideal environment for Oway’s platform to become essential infrastructure. Their technology streamlines logistics while generating clear ROI for all participants.

As early investors in Convoy through our previous fund, we witnessed firsthand both the enormous potential and challenges of modernizing freight brokerage. While Convoy made significant strides in automating load matching and reducing empty miles, Oway’s approach is fundamentally different. Instead of building a full-service brokerage, Oway focuses exclusively on utilizing existing truck capacity through a pure marketplace model. Their technology identifies and matches only already-scheduled routes with small business shipments, creating a more capital-efficient business with stronger unit economics. This focused strategy allows them to solve the matching problem without taking on the operational complexity and capital requirements that ultimately challenged Convoy. We’re particularly excited about how Oway’s model naturally aligns incentives between truckers and shippers while maintaining healthy margins for sustainable growth.

Ritual Capital’s investment thesis is straightforward: Oway combines proven unit economics, strong network effects, and a massive addressable market. The founding team has demonstrated both technical capability and operational discipline in their execution.

The freight industry is overdue for transformation. Oway is building the technology to enable it, benefiting businesses, truckers, and the environment in the process. The opportunity and execution make this a compelling investment for Ritual Capital.

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Oxen: Version Control for the AI Era

In today’s AI landscape, data is the new code. While engineers have mastered version control for software development, managing massive machine learning datasets remains a critical challenge. That’s why we invested in Oxen.ai, a breakthrough platform transforming how teams version and collaborate on AI data.

Training modern AI systems requires managing terabytes of unstructured data – from images and audio to video and text. Traditional version control systems like Git struggle with these massive datasets, creating bottlenecks that slow down development and increase costs. Teams need a solution purpose-built for machine learning workflows, and Oxen.ai has stepped up to meet this challenge.

Behind Oxen.ai stands a founding team with deep expertise in both AI and company building. Greg Schoeninger brings a decade of AI experience, having been an early employee at AlchemyAPI (acquired by IBM Watson) and a seasoned AI consultant and entrepreneur. Scott Howard brings complementary expertise in scaling companies, having built multiple successful ventures and run prestigious accelerator programs. This blend of technical depth and operational excellence positions Oxen.ai for rapid growth.

The company has reimagined data version control from the ground up. Their lightning-fast system can index hundreds of thousands of files in seconds while using modern network protocols to sync data at unprecedented speeds. The platform handles everything from single CSVs to repositories with millions of unstructured files, making it a versatile solution for teams of all sizes.

What truly sets Oxen.ai apart is its focus on developer experience. The interface mirrors Git commands, making it instantly familiar to engineering teams. But under the hood, Oxen.ai’s architecture is optimized specifically for machine learning datasets – enabling features like native DataFrame processing, model inference, and collaborative data exploration. This thoughtful design has already attracted researchers and engineers at leading technology companies who praise its speed and ease of use. In benchmark tests, Oxen.ai significantly outperforms existing solutions for large-scale data operations.

The team is rapidly expanding the platform’s capabilities, with upcoming features including Hugging Face compatibility, configurable storage backends, and block-level deduplication.

At Ritual Capital, we look for exceptional founding teams building transformative developer tools. Oxen.ai exemplifies this by tackling one of machine learning’s most pressing infrastructure challenges. We’re thrilled to partner with them as they empower the next generation of AI development, making data version control as natural as writing code.

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Photon Health: Revolutionizing the $700B Prescription Industry

The prescription industry is broken. In an era where we can order anything with a tap, track our packages in real-time, and compare prices instantly, getting medications remains stuck in the past. Long lines, drug shortages, and opaque pricing continue to plague millions of Americans. This is why we’re thrilled to announce our investment in Photon Health, alongside Notation, Flare Capital, and other strategic partners in their $9M funding round.

Photon Health isn’t just another healthcare startup – it’s a fundamental reimagining of how prescriptions should work. Founded by Otto Sipe, Michael Rado, and Sam Kotlove, the company brings deep expertise from Microsoft, Wayfair, and Thirty Madison.

Their vision? To put prescription control back where it belongs – in the hands of patients.

The company’s growth trajectory speaks volumes. From their Brooklyn headquarters, they’ve built one of America’s largest prescription networks, processing over 70,000 prescriptions monthly. But what truly sets Photon apart is their consumer-first approach. They’ve created a seamless digital experience that gives patients unprecedented control over their prescriptions while saving valuable time for healthcare providers.

What makes Photon particularly compelling is their elegant solution to a complex problem. When a doctor writes a prescription, patients receive a secure link via text message. No apps to download, no complicated portals to navigate. Patients can choose their preferred pharmacy, whether it’s Amazon, their local independent pharmacy, or a major chain like Walgreens. It’s prescription fulfillment reimagined for the digital age.

The impact is already evident. Sesame, a major healthcare marketplace, reported a 71% decrease in prescription support requests after implementing Photon. This efficiency isn’t just about convenience – it’s about fundamentally improving healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.

Looking ahead, Photon is positioned to transform the $700 billion prescription industry. Their platform will soon display medication prices and delivery estimates before pharmacy selection, bringing unprecedented transparency to prescription fulfillment. They’re not just building a better prescription service; they’re creating the future of how medications reach patients.

We’re investing in Photon because they’re tackling one of healthcare’s most persistent challenges with a solution that’s both ambitious and elegantly simple. In a market dominated by legacy systems and entrenched interests, Photon is proving that patient-centered innovation isn’t just possible – it’s inevitable.

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PointOne: Transforming Law Firm Financial Operations

The legal industry stands at a crossroads. While client demands evolve and billing models become increasingly complex, most law firms still operate on legacy systems that weren’t built for today’s challenges. This disconnect is what drew us to PointOne, a company reimagining how modern law firms handle their financial operations.

The story behind PointOne resonates because it started with a fundamental observation: law firms have a remarkably limited understanding of the tasks and activities that make up client work. While firms track hours and narratives, they lack the tools to process and interpret this data at scale – leaving them ill-equipped for an era where clients demand fixed fees, caps, accurate budgets, and transparent value.

The founding team – Adrian Parlow, Jeremy Ben-Meir, and Katon Luaces – brings unique insight into this challenge. Parlow’s experience at Fenwick & West, combined with Ben-Meir and Luaces’s technical expertise from Google and Applied Intuition, enabled them to see beyond surface-level problems to build a comprehensive solution for modern law firm operations.

PointOne’s integrated platform tackles the entire billing lifecycle. Their AI-powered system not only automates time capture but transforms how firms handle pre-bill review, compliance with billing guidelines, and financial analytics. The result is a solution that reduces administrative overhead while providing the data-driven insights firms need to make strategic decisions about pricing, staffing, and profitability.

The timing is critical. As the industry shifts toward a mix of billing models – from traditional hourly billing to fixed fees, caps, estimates, and subscriptions – firms need sophisticated tools to navigate this complexity. Without granular understanding of their work and activities, firms can’t accurately price projects, understand margins, or adapt to shifting client demands.

This vision has gained significant market validation. The company’s recent $3.5M seed round attracted investment from leading firms including Bessemer Venture Partners, 8VC, General Catalyst, and Y Combinator, along with strategic investment from a Cooley-affiliated fund and several of their customers. This broad support signals the market’s recognition that law firms need to become data-driven organizations to thrive in the future.

At Ritual Capital, we invest in founders who combine deep domain expertise with technical innovation to solve fundamental business challenges. PointOne exemplifies this approach. They’re not just automating manual processes – they’re building the infrastructure that will enable law firms to make more intelligent decisions about their operations and adapt to evolving client demands.

The future of legal practice will require firms to have a nuanced understanding of all work performed for clients, much like how software companies track every user interaction. PointOne is building the platform to make this transition possible, allowing firms to focus on high-value work while gaining the insights needed to operate more effectively in a changing market.

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PromptArmor: Securing the Future of AI Innovation

Picture this: A world where AI applications are as secure as they are powerful. That’s the future PromptArmor is building, and we’re thrilled to be part of it. Founded by Shankar Krishnan and Vikram Jayanthi, two Berkeley graduates with impressive backgrounds at companies like Roblox, Google, and Tesla, PromptArmor isn’t just another tech startup—it’s a game-changer in the AI security landscape.

Why does PromptArmor matter? Because as AI evolves, so do the threats. Traditional cybersecurity measures aren’t enough anymore. PromptArmor steps in with a security solution for LLMs that integrates seamlessly. That’s not just efficient; it’s revolutionary.

But PromptArmor isn’t just about defense. It’s about empowering businesses to harness the full potential of AI without compromising on security. Their comprehensive approach—up to date with the latest threats—ensures that businesses can innovate with confidence.

The AI security market is booming, and PromptArmor is at the forefront. As venture capitalists, we’re always looking for that perfect blend of innovation, market potential, and exceptional talent. PromptArmor checks all these boxes and then some.

Think about it: As more businesses adopt LLMs and AI technologies, the need for specialized security solutions skyrockets. PromptArmor isn’t just riding this wave—they’re shaping it. They’re not just protecting against current threats; they’re anticipating future ones.

At Ritual Capital, we don’t just invest in startups; we invest in visions. PromptArmor’s vision of a secure AI future aligns perfectly with our mission to back enduring, iconic companies. We see in PromptArmor the potential to become a cornerstone in the AI security ecosystem.

The team’s background speaks volumes. With experience from industry giants like Roblox, Tesla and Google, Shankar and Vikram bring a depth of knowledge that’s rare in the startup world. They’re not just building a product; they’re shaping an industry.

But it’s not just about the technology or the market potential. It’s about the approach. PromptArmor’s commitment to education—offering free security primers and LLM pentesting services—shows they’re invested in the long game. They’re not just selling a product; they’re fostering a culture of AI security awareness.

In a world where AI is becoming increasingly integrated into our daily lives, the importance of security can’t be overstated. PromptArmor isn’t just protecting data; they’re safeguarding the future of AI innovation. They’re ensuring that as we push the boundaries of what’s possible with AI, we’re doing so on a foundation of security and trust.

As we look to the future, we see PromptArmor playing a pivotal role in shaping how businesses interact with and deploy AI technologies. They’re not just a cybersecurity company; they’re enablers of safe AI innovation.

Our investment in PromptArmor isn’t just about returns—it’s about impact. It’s about being part of a movement that’s making AI safer, more reliable, and more accessible. It’s about backing a team that has the vision, the skills, and the drive to make a real difference in the world of technology.

In the end, investing in PromptArmor was an easy decision. They have the right team, the right product, and they’re in the right market at the right time. But more than that, they have the potential to become an enduring, iconic company—the kind that doesn’t just participate in the market but defines it.

As we move forward, we’re excited to see how PromptArmor will continue to innovate, to challenge the status quo, and to set new standards in AI security. Because in the world of AI, security isn’t just a feature—it’s the foundation of trust. And with PromptArmor, that foundation is stronger than ever.

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Reprompt: Revolutionizing Location-Based AI Services

In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, most conversations focus on the broader applications of AI. However, there’s an emerging player that’s caught our attention at Ritual Capital by solving a specific and crucial challenge: location-based AI services. That’s why we’re excited to announce our investment in Reprompt, a company that’s transforming how businesses handle location data within their AI systems.

Reprompt emerged from a fundamental observation: while companies are racing to integrate AI into their operations, they’re struggling with a specific challenge – making AI systems location-aware in a meaningful and efficient way. The company’s innovative approach to this problem has created a solution that’s both elegant and powerful.

At the heart of Reprompt’s promise is its exceptional founding team. Lukas Martinelli brings deep expertise in location technology and data, having served as Engineering Director and GM of Search and Data at Mapbox, where he led a 120-person labeling and evaluation team. Alongside him, Rob Balian brings proven experience scaling high-growth technology companies, having led Robinhood’s Growth team through critical periods including Covid, the Gamestop phenomenon, and IPO, following his early product management role at Facebook. This combination of deep location technology expertise and proven growth leadership makes them the ideal team to tackle the complex challenges of location-based AI services.

What makes Reprompt particularly compelling is their laser focus on solving location-specific challenges in AI applications. Their platform enables businesses to seamlessly integrate location intelligence into their AI systems, making applications more contextually aware and relevant to users’ physical locations. This isn’t just about adding coordinates to data – it’s about making AI truly understand and respond to location-based context.

The timing for Reprompt couldn’t be better. As AI becomes increasingly embedded in our daily lives, the need for location-aware AI systems is growing exponentially. Whether it’s retail, real estate, logistics, or local services, businesses across sectors are discovering that generic AI solutions fall short when it comes to location-specific requirements.

Reprompt’s approach stands out because it addresses a clear gap in the market. While many AI companies are building broad-spectrum solutions, Reprompt has chosen to excel in a specific, critical niche. Their platform helps businesses create more personalized, location-relevant experiences for their users, leading to improved engagement and better business outcomes. The potential applications are vast – from delivering more accurate local recommendations to enabling better location-based decision-making.

What’s particularly exciting about Reprompt is their understanding of both the technical challenges and business implications of location-aware AI. Their solution isn’t just about processing location data – it’s about making that data actionable and valuable in real-world business contexts.

Looking ahead, we see Reprompt playing a pivotal role in the evolution of location-based AI services. As businesses increasingly seek to bridge the gap between digital intelligence and physical location, Reprompt’s specialized approach positions them perfectly to become a leader in this growing market. Our investment represents our belief in the critical importance of location intelligence in the future of AI applications.

In a world where ‘where’ matters as much as ‘what,’ Reprompt is ensuring that AI systems can finally understand both.

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The Great Data Unlock: Why We Invested in Reworkd

Every once in a while, a company comes along that doesn’t just solve a problem – it unlocks an entirely new future. Reworkd is that company.

Here’s the reality: AI is hungry. Starving, actually. While Large Language Models and AI agents promise to revolutionize how we work, they’re missing something crucial – the ability to access, understand, and process the vast ocean of human knowledge that lives on the internet. It’s like having a Ferrari without fuel.

That’s why we’re investing in Reworkd. They’re not just building another AI tool – they’re creating the missing data layer that will power the next generation of AI applications.

Think about it. The internet contains humanity’s collective knowledge, but it’s trapped behind millions of different interfaces, formats, and structures. Reworkd’s AI agents are the skeleton key that unlocks it all. Their technology can autonomously navigate, understand, and extract data from any website, turning the chaotic web into structured, usable data for AI systems.

When Reworkd launched AgentGPT, they hit 100,000 daily users in a week. But the team, led by Asim Shrestha, Adam Watkins, and Srijan Subedi, quickly recognized a bigger opportunity: becoming the universal data layer for AI.

Their breakthrough? AI agents that can analyze any website, generate custom scraping code on the fly, and extract precisely what you need. It’s pure, automated intelligence that understands the web the way humans do.

This isn’t just incremental improvement – it’s a paradigm shift. Reworkd is essentially building a universal API for the internet. Every webpage, every data point, every piece of human knowledge becomes instantly accessible and actionable for AI systems.

The implications are staggering. Market research that took weeks now takes minutes. Competitive analysis that required teams now runs autonomously. Training data that cost millions to compile can be gathered efficiently and ethically. This is the infrastructure that will make AI truly scalable. As AI systems become more sophisticated, their need for real-world data will grow exponentially. Reworkd is positioning itself as the crucial bridge between AI and the world’s information.

Their commitment to ethical data practices sets them apart too. In a space often criticized for playing fast and loose with data, Reworkd is building responsibly, focusing on publicly available data and steering clear of controversial areas like news scraping.

This is why we’re betting on Reworkd. Not because they’re riding the AI wave, but because they’re building the infrastructure that will make that wave possible. The future of AI isn’t just about better models or more computing power. It’s about access to the right data, at the right time, in the right format. They’re not just another AI company – they’re the company making AI companies possible.

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Risotto: The Silent Revolution in IT Support

Sometimes the biggest disruptions start with the smallest changes. A subtle shift in how things are done. A smarter way to solve an old problem. That’s exactly what drew us to Risotto.

The IT support industry has been dominated by the same players for decades. ServiceNow, Zoho, and Spiceworks have built empires on complex platforms that require training, maintenance, and constant hand-holding. They’re the kings of the castle, comfortable in their position, perhaps too comfortable.

Enter Risotto. While the incumbents weren’t looking, this team quietly built something revolutionary: an AI-powered IT help desk that lives entirely in Slack. No new apps. No portals. No training. It’s the kind of elegant solution that makes you wonder why nobody thought of it before.

The genius is in its simplicity. Risotto slips into organizations through the side door – Slack – where employees already spend their days. It’s a Trojan horse strategy that bypasses the traditional enterprise sales cycle entirely. By the time the incumbent players realize what’s happening, Risotto will already be the de facto IT support solution for thousands of companies.

But this isn’t just about clever distribution. Risotto’s AI engine is a beast, automatically resolving up to 60% of support tickets without human intervention. Every interaction makes it smarter, creating a growing intelligence gap that legacy players can’t bridge with their bolt-on AI features. It’s like watching a Tesla race a Model T – there’s just no comparison.

The team behind Risotto – Aron Solberg, Alex Confer, and Chris Paul – bring experience at companies like Dropbox, Gusto, HelloSign, and Square, where they’ve seen firsthand how broken traditional IT support is. They’re not outsiders trying to solve a problem they don’t understand – they’ve lived it, breathed it, and now they’re fixing it.

What excites us most is how Risotto is positioning itself for the long game. Starting with IT support is just the beginning. As they build trust and prove their value, they’ll naturally expand into broader enterprise service management. It’s the classic disruptor’s playbook, executed with precision.

That’s why we’re betting on Risotto. The future of IT support isn’t another clunky platform or a complicated workflow. It’s a simple, intelligent conversation in Slack. And Risotto is leading the way. Sometimes the biggest disruptions don’t announce themselves with fanfare – they slip in quietly through the side door and take over from within.

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RunLocal: Solving the Last Mile Problem in AI Deployment

While tech giants battle over the next breakthrough in AI models, a critical challenge lurks beneath the surface: getting AI to work effectively on the devices we use every day. That’s where RunLocal comes in, on a mission to make on-device AI development accessible and efficient.

The challenge of deploying AI models on diverse devices – from phones to laptops – has become a significant hurdle for engineering teams. What works flawlessly in the lab often falls apart in the real world, where different hardware specifications and operating systems create a maze of compatibility issues. RunLocal is solving this by providing a comprehensive platform that allows teams to test, optimize, and confidently deploy AI models across a wide range of devices.

Founded by Ismail Salim, Ivan Chan and Ciaran O’Rourke, RunLocal emerged from their firsthand experience with the limitations of existing on-device AI tooling. The founders’ background, including Ivan’s work on Marshall Wace’s internal server-side AI platform, and Ismail/Ciaran’s early insight into the challenges of on-device AI development while working together on the first AI video codec at Deep Render, gave them unique insights into the gap between server-side and on-device AI development.

The platform’s approach is refreshingly practical. Instead of forcing developers to maintain their own device testing infrastructure, RunLocal provides a streamlined solution that can reduce model conversion and optimization time from weeks to days. This isn’t just about speed – it’s about giving engineers the confidence that their AI models will perform consistently across different hardware and operating systems.

What particularly caught our attention was RunLocal’s focus on real-world performance metrics. The platform enables teams to spot performance issues early, iterate faster, and ensure a consistent experience across devices.

The timing couldn’t be better. As AI continues to move from centralized servers to edge devices, the need for robust deployment solutions becomes increasingly critical. RunLocal is positioning itself at the intersection of two powerful trends: the democratization of AI and the shift toward edge computing. Their platform isn’t just solving today’s challenges – it’s building the infrastructure for tomorrow’s AI-powered applications.

The early results are promising. One customer, Skylum, reported decreasing the size of an embedding model by a factor of 10 in just a few days while maintaining accuracy. These kinds of outcomes demonstrate the platform’s potential to fundamentally change how teams approach on-device AI development.

At Ritual Capital, we believe the next wave of AI innovation will be defined not just by model capabilities, but by how effectively these models can be deployed and optimized for real-world use. RunLocal is building the essential infrastructure to make this possible, and we’re thrilled to be part of their journey.

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Schematic: Launch and monetize features, end-to-end

Feature monetization has long been an afterthought in SaaS, but it shouldn’t be. Every great company starts with a simple truth: SaaS pricing and packaging should be a growth lever, not a bottleneck.

Yet for most companies, pricing is stuck in code. Teams know they need to experiment—launch trials, bundle and unbundle, manage usage limits, and iterate on packaging. But every change requires an engineering sprint, every tweak introduces instability, and most features ship without a clear monetization plan. The result? A disconnect between product development and revenue growth.

Schematic is changing that. They’re not just building another tool—they’re unleashing the next wave of SaaS innovation. The world’s best software companies are held back by their own pricing infrastructure. Engineers spend precious time maintaining billing code instead of building products their customers love. Schematic demolishes this complexity with brutal efficiency. A few lines of code, and suddenly, you can launch any pricing model, track any usage metric, and create any package—no engineering sprints, no technical debt, no compromises.

The team behind Schematic knows this pain firsthand. Fynn, Benjamin, and Giovanni have lived it at companies like Automox and Relay Payments. They’ve felt the frustration of watching great ideas die on the vine because pricing infrastructure couldn’t keep up. Now, they’re doing something about it. They’ve built a platform that allows SaaS companies to move at the speed of their imagination, enabling product teams to launch new features without waiting for billing to catch up and freeing engineering resources to focus on innovation, not maintenance.

The market is massive—$30 billion and growing—but the real opportunity is even bigger. This isn’t just about making life easier for software companies; it’s about unleashing innovation. When you remove the constraints of legacy billing systems, you open the door to new business models, new customer experiences, and new ways of delivering value.

Early adopters are already feeling the impact. Companies that once spent months building pricing systems are now doing it in days. Teams that were stuck with rigid pricing models are now experimenting freely. Revenue that was left on the table is now flowing to the bottom line. As one founder put it: “It’s extremely unlikely that a product’s optimal pricing will be obvious from the start. And even less likely that what works today will still be optimal six months from now. As product teams, we’re shipping new value constantly, but we’re not monetizing it. Every time we want to iterate with pricing & packaging, we have a really bad tradeoff to reconcile: pull developers off of shipping new features and onto the pricing initiative, or keep shipping. It’s crazy if you think about it.”

Another Schematic customer described how the platform changed their perspective on feature monetization, “Schematic taught us to think in terms of features we will monetize. Before, we would ship new things and just use flags to turn them on. But now, ‘off’ isn’t just ‘hidden’—it’s an upgrade opportunity. ‘Off’ means ‘Upgrade to access,’ or ‘You’ve reached your limit,’ or ‘Time to renew.’”

Schematic extends feature management beyond deployment, integrating it with monetization strategies. This means product teams can launch, test, and iterate on features without requiring code changes. They can bundle and unbundle offerings dynamically and connect feature access directly to billing systems. What excites us most about Schematic is how it enables a single product developer to drive these changes in real-time, without waiting for an engineering cycle.

The most successful SaaS companies already think this way, but until now, they’ve had to build these systems internally. Schematic is doing for SaaS pricing what Stripe did for payments—taking something complex, messy, and time-consuming and making it simple, elegant, and powerful.

That’s why we invested. Because pricing and packaging should be a growth lever, not a bottleneck. Because developers shouldn’t have to reinvent feature pricing infrastructure from scratch. And because the future of SaaS isn’t just about shipping features—it’s about monetizing them effectively from day one.

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Sotira: Breaking Retail's $800 Billion Surplus Problem

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 we’re 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 about how Sotira is transforming retail surplus management, or visit www.sotira.co.

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Stack Auth: The Open-Source Future of User Management

Authentication has long been a pain point in software development. While solutions like Auth0 and Clerk dominate the market, their closed-source nature and vendor lock-in have created friction for development teams seeking more control and flexibility. This is what drew our attention to Stack Auth, an open-source authentication platform that takes a fundamentally different approach.

Stack Auth addresses a clear market gap. Most development teams face a difficult choice: either invest significant resources building authentication in-house, with all the security risks that entails, or accept the limitations of proprietary solutions. Stack Auth offers a third path – enterprise-grade authentication that’s both open source and production-ready.

The technical architecture reflects deep consideration of real-world development needs. The platform provides essential features like password-based authentication and SSO, while also supporting more complex requirements such as team management and role-based access control. Its integration with Next.js and handling of OAuth tokens for third-party services demonstrate an understanding of modern application architectures.

What sets Stack Auth apart is its pragmatic approach to security and customization. The open-source codebase allows for complete transparency and auditability, while the platform’s design enables developers to modify and extend functionality without sacrificing security. For teams that require it, self-hosting options provide additional control over data and infrastructure.

The market timing is notable. As applications become more complex and data privacy concerns intensify, the demand for flexible, transparent authentication solutions is growing. Stack Auth’s architecture is well-suited for emerging use cases in AI and machine learning applications, where fine-grained access control and third-party integrations are crucial.

Our investment in Stack Auth reflects our conviction that authentication infrastructure is due for a significant shift. The movement toward open-source solutions in critical infrastructure components continues to accelerate, and authentication is a natural next step in this evolution.

The authentication space has remained relatively unchanged for years, despite significant evolution in other areas of the development stack. Stack Auth’s approach to opening up this layer of infrastructure, while maintaining enterprise-grade security and usability, positions it well to capture the growing demand for more flexible authentication solutions.

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StepChange: Performance at Scale, Simplified

In the evolving landscape of modern engineering, where every dollar spent on infrastructure must deliver results, StepChange is rewriting the rules. At Ritual Capital, we believe in founders who don’t just see inefficiencies—they tackle them head-on with vision and precision. That’s why we’re thrilled to back StepChange.

StepChange was born from the lived experience of scaling some of the most complex systems in tech. Founders Niall O’Higgins and Harry Tormey met at Coinbase during crypto’s meteoric rise and experienced the challenge of balancing performance, reliability, and cost. At its peak, Coinbase’s observability spend climbed to eye-watering levels—$65 million annually on DataDog alone. The industry-wide pain was clear: companies were overspending on monitoring tools that flagged problems but didn’t solve them. StepChange is here to fix that.

Niall and Harry saw an opportunity to do more than diagnose issues; they envisioned a solution that would automate problem-solving, cut costs, and keep engineering teams focused on building, not firefighting. After months of prototyping and countless conversations with engineers and CTOs, they founded StepChange Labs. Their mission: to deliver performance and reliability without the heavy overhead.

Fast forward to today, and StepChange has unveiled APX (Application Performance Xcellerator), an AI-driven platform that doesn’t just monitor systems—it optimizes them. APX automatically detects, diagnoses, and resolves performance bottlenecks, from slow queries to infrastructure inefficiencies, all without manual intervention. It’s like having a senior performance engineer embedded in your systems 24/7, slashing observability costs by up to 50%.

StepChange isn’t just building a product—they’re setting a new standard for how engineering teams approach performance. Their early results speak volumes: startups and tech giants alike have relied on their expertise to scale reliably and leanly. Now, with APX, the same level of impact is available at the click of a button.

To fuel this momentum, StepChange has raised a $4 million seed round, led by Kindred Ventures and The General Partnership, with support from Ritual Capital and Liquid 2 Ventures. This funding will accelerate product development and bring APX to more companies looking to balance speed, scalability, and efficiency.

For companies navigating the challenges of high-growth scaling, StepChange offers more than a product; it’s a promise. A promise that engineering teams can focus on building transformative technology while StepChange ensures their systems run faster, smarter, and more efficiently.

We’re proud to be part of this journey. If you’re ready to see what StepChange can do for your team, visit their site to learn more and try APX today.

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Streamlining Sales: Synch Raises to Unify Go-to-Market Tools

In today’s fast-paced sales world, leaders find themselves drowning in a sea of tech stacks, vendor evaluations, and team training sessions. The result? Less time selling, more time managing tools. Synch is flipping that script.

Led by CEO Daniel Ruiz, Synch brings deep expertise in high-velocity startup growth to the sales tech transformation challenge. As an early revenue operations employee at several Y Combinator companies, Ruiz experienced firsthand the operational friction that plagues sales teams. His career trajectory through high-growth startups provided crucial insights into the pain points of modern sales operations, making him uniquely positioned to tackle this industry-wide challenge.

Synch’s platform leverages AI to minimize the operational burdens of running a sales function. It simplifies Salesforce migration and implementation with just one click, building out your schema, mapping existing data, and installing recommended automations and dashboards. Day one, and you’re ready to roll – no consultants needed.

Synch doesn’t stop there. They’ve unified the go-to-market products with a shared analytics suite. Forecasting, deal review, pipeline management, alerts, lead assignment – all at your fingertips, with zero implementation time. And the best part? These tools talk to each other, sharing data to optimize your sales process automatically.

Synch isn’t just a tool; it’s a GTM co-pilot. It turns plain text into Apex Code, creates robust dashboards with a few clicks, and manages your Salesforce schema without you ever having to log into Salesforce. It’s like having a Salesforce consultant at your fingertips, but better.

The impact is already evident. Companies like Clay, Superhuman, Unify, Redis, CaptivateIQ, Haus are saving hours of dev time, and supercharging their GTM motion with data insights and recommendations. Sales teams are spending less time on internal operations and more time refining the craft of selling.

To fuel this vision, Synch raised a $3M seed round from investors and operators like Jack Altman at AltCap, Semil Shah at Haystack and participation from Y Combinator, and executives from leading tech companies like Retool, Ramp, Superhuman, Flexport, Navan, Everlaw, Lattice, Pipe, and Finley.

At Ritual Capital, we believe Synch has the potential to transform the sales landscape by combining GTM SKUs that power sellers with workflow software for Sales Operations teams. Their approach of owning how companies build and interact with their CRM system sets them apart, allowing for best-in-class retention across both Systems/Operations tooling and GTM products.

Synch gives you the power to make every second sell. That’s why we invested in Synch. Because we believe in a future where sales teams can focus on what they do best – selling. And with Synch, that future is now.

If you’re excited about revolutionizing the sales stack, Synch is hiring across engineering, design, and sales. Join them in their mission to supercharge sales teams everywhere.

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Tofu: AI-powered Hiring at Scale

Finding the right candidate among thousands of resumes is like searching for a needle in a digital haystack. Remote work and outdated hiring tech have only made the process harder, yet talent teams are still expected to do more with less. That’s where Tofu comes in—revolutionizing how fast-growing companies screen, qualify, and hire top talent using AI.

We met founders Jason Zoltak and Jonathan Perez a year into their journey—after they had already bootstrapped their way to 100+ customers as a two-person team. Inspired by Jason’s experience at Shiftsmart, where he saw firsthand the inefficiencies in hiring, they left their jobs to build Tofu with a clear mission: eliminate the 25 million hours wasted annually on inefficient recruiting. Their resourcefulness and vision made it clear—they were founders we wanted to back.

Toronto-based Tofu has built an AI-first hiring platform that’s already helping 170+ companies streamline recruitment. At its core, Tofu solves the most time-consuming part of hiring: screening candidates at scale. Its AI can review 1,000 profiles in 60 seconds with 96% accuracy, cutting application review time by up to 83%.

But Tofu goes beyond just screening—it customizes AI resume review agents to match each company’s hiring needs. These agents learn from **ideal candidate profiles and past successful hires, ensuring that hiring decisions align with a company’s unique requirements and culture. The result? Higher-quality candidates and dramatically faster hiring.

Tofu transforms standard applicant tracking systems into live, searchable talent databases enriched with insights beyond the resume. It even validates applicants to prevent fraudulent submissions, ensuring recruiters engage only with genuine candidates.

The platform’s impact speaks for itself:
– Recruiters save at least 3 hours per week on screening.
– Companies using Tofu have cut staffing costs by over 70% by automating repetitive tasks.

This traction has attracted leading investors, securing a $1.2M pre-seed round from Night Capital, Garage Capital, Wayfinder Ventures, and Ritual Capital.

Tofu isn’t stopping at screening. Their upcoming AI Silver Medalist Resurfacing will help companies rediscover top candidates from past hiring cycles, while AI-powered outbound sourcing will proactively identify talent for open roles. And with a growing network of talent moving through customer funnels, Tofu is building a recruitment engine that connects top candidates across companies.

Hiring is no longer just about filling roles—it’s about finding the right people, faster and smarter. Tofu is leading this shift, combining cutting-edge AI with deep hiring insights to help companies build stronger teams with less effort.

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