Our Work

Upstart Ventures has been incubating, consulting to, investing in, and launching new businesses since 1998. We have been involved in the start-up and growth of over 15 new businesses.

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Current project

Candoo Tech

Candoo Tech provides tech support and training to help older adults stay independent, safe and connected. Candoo Tech Concierges fix what’s broken, recommend new devices to keep older adults safe and secure and teach clients how to user technology to make their lives easier and more fun. Registered as a Public Benefit Corp, Candoo’s goal is to make an impact in the communities in which we work, while providing excellent technology consultation, set up, training and support services designed specifically for older customers.

www.candootech.com.

 

 

PAST projects

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APplywise

Invested in, incubated and launched ed-tech business with leading college counseling firm IvyWise.  Provided high school parents, students and counselors with affordable, accessible online college planning tools.  Established key partnerships with diverse group of partners including Kaplan Test Prep.

 
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taxipass

Part of founding management team & served as acting COO/President of early stage company bringing cashless payments to the taxi industry before Uber & Lyft.  Currently operating as Get Ride

 
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hypnotic

Incubated, funded and co-founded Nibblebox, early leader in branded entertainment and online entertainment content. Funding led by Michael Milken’s Knowledge Universe. Completed merger with Hypnotic.

 
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WebWoo

Developed the concept for and incubated one of the first social networking/online dating sites on the web.

 

 

Pro bono work

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Indego Africa

Evaluated business training programs and provided recommendations for Indego Africa in Rwanda (member of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program).

Click to see more photos of our work with Indego Africa

Click to see more photos of our work with Indego Africa

 
 
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solight

Launched campaign to bring solar lights to Puerto Rico after the hurricane. Partnered with Social Enterprise So-Light Design. Resulted in over $80k raised, over 6k lights distributed in less than 2 months and led to order for 50k lights.

Click to see more of our work in Puerto Rico

Click to see more of our work in Puerto Rico