RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK — The Triangle Tweener Fund (Tweener Fund) is excited to announce the results of the fourth quarter of 2024.
Tweener Fund made 18 new investments:
• 10 new portfolio companies (8 investments were follow-on investments) • $940k invested across the 18 investments.
• 11 were Tweener investments and 7 were Pre-Tweener investments • $767k (82%) invested in Tweeners, $175k (18%) invested in Pre-Tweeners • $52,345 average investment
• $5.6m average round size
• $30.3m average pre-money valuation
• Number of investments by instrument:
o SAFE: 9 (50%)
o Convert: 4 (23%)
o Priced Round: 5 (27%)
“We kicked off 2024 in the Triangle startup ecosystem with a lot of positivity. “, said Scot Wingo, Tweener Fund General Partner. “We saw over five ‘up from previous round/fresh capital/new investor’ deals start this quarter in our existing portfolio which was the most we’ve seen since starting in 2022.”
Welcoming the Triangle Tweener Fund Q1 Portfolio
The Tweener Fund is excited to welcome 18 investments across 10 new companies into the portfolio, representing over $940,000 invested in the quarter.
“Given the strong activity at the Tweener level, we double downed on that segment “, said Robbie Allen, Tweener Fund General Partner. This quarter we had a great mix of categories with EdTech, HealthTech, SalesTech and Fintech all well represented.”
Triangle Tweener Fund investments for Q1 2024
Here are the 10 Q4 new portfolio companies (in order of investment):
● Sani (Pre-Tweener) – Founded by two NCSU sisters, Sani is a direct-to consumer and wholesale consumer brand. Sani provides South Asian inspired apparel that integrates contemporary design details. Sani was recently picked by Nordstrom for a collaboration. www.sani.co
● Mapt (Pre-Tweener) – Mapt is an EdTech company that provides an interactive app that helps parents and students plan for and navigate the complex college application process. The app uses AI-driven guidance, tailored college lists and empowers families to approach the admissions process strategically. www.mapt.co
● Cookie (Pre-Tweener) – The Triangle has a rich and deep history in SportsTech and the newest company in the category is Cookie. Cookie focuses on youth sports leagues with solutions for event managers, clubs, coaches, parents and players. Their anchor functionality is around event ticketing and payments and they are branching out from there to digitize and modernize the other parts of the youth sports experience. www.getcookie.com
● Phinite (Tweener) – We’re excited to welcome another CleanTech company to the portfolio with Phinite. Phinite turns animal farms into renewable fertilizer generators. Their proprietary robotic system turns animal waste into granular fertilizer rich in phosphates creating a circular cycle for the waste to be re-used and preserve Earth’s resources. www.phinite-us.com
● Higharc (Tweener) – Higharc is digitalizing the home building process by leveraging AI and other technologies to elevate the experience not only for the builder, but for the buyer as well. www.higharc.com
● Upswing (Tweener) – Upswing is an EdTech company that partners with universities to provide an integrated student services platform that has been proven to dramatically increase student retention. Services provided by the platform include tutoring, mental health and more. www.upswing.io
● Revcast (Tweener) – Founded by Pendo co-founder Eric Boduch and Pendo RevOps leader, Jeff Serlin, RevCast provides solutions for RevOps leaders. RevOps provides agile revenue planning that allows today’s GTM leaders to plan, execute and hit their company’s high revenue goals. RevOps helps the team answer questions such as: What is your quota capacity against goal, how is the pipeline building against goal and which reps are driving the most ROI and more. www.revcast.com
● RxLink (Pre-Tweener) – Prescription affordability is a challenge for everyone. RxLink is a HealthTech company that provides an AI-driven platform that automates the process of finding the lowest possible prescription therapies and then delivers them to patients. www.rxlink.com
● Medicom (Tweener) – Medicom is a HealthTech company that provides help systems exchange complex and HIPAA complaint medical images, reports and
orders. Their new AI data platform, Medicom Intellect, allows GenAI companies to access and train on anonymized longitudinal health information to create the next generation of hyper-vertical AI solutions. www.medicom.us
● Vector (Pre-Tweener) – I have too many leads! Said no organization with a sales team ever. Vector is a YCombinator company that helps a company’s sales organization mine the entire company employee base and network for new leads to help companies fill their pipeline and solve the dreaded ‘lead drought’ problem. www.vector.co
In Q1, Tweener Fund also made 8 follow-on investments in these existing portfolio companies: GetSpiffy, TraKid, Offline Media, Curemint, The Looma Project, Alcove Rooms, Spring & Mulberry, Groupups.
About the Triangle Tweener Fund
The Triangle Tweener Fund was founded in January 2022. It is a rolling fund that has a very narrow focus:
1. Companies must be headquartered in the Triangle
2. The fund invests 70%+ in early-stage, high-tech, ‘Tweener’ companies (10 people or $1m ARR)
3. The fund is building an index of Triangle Tweeners, so favors writing more ‘small’ checks vs. the traditional venture model of fewer large checks
4. Our accredited investors (LPs) are top entrepreneurs, service providers and other participants in our startup ecosystem and are not only looking for great returns, but also see the opportunity to accelerate the Triangle startup ecosystem flywheel.
Triangle Tweener Fund is managed by two Triangle area serial entrepreneurs who are the General Partners (GPs): Scot Wingo and Robbie Allen. Tweener Fund leverages the Angel List ‘rolling fund’ platform. The minimum investment is $20,000 (4 quarterly investments of $5k for the first year) and then ‘rolling’ (quarter-to-quarter) thereafter. In its first two years, Tweener fund invested over $6m across 114 investments in Triangle HQ’d high-tech early-stage startups. Unlike closed funds, the Tweener Fund is always open for new accredited investors.
More information can be found at www.tweenerfund.com
