Ludlow Ventures
Featured Article
All VCs say they are founder friendly; Detroit’s Ludlow Ventures takes that to another level
VCs Jonathon Triest and Brett deMarrais see their ability to read people and create longstanding relationships with founders as the primary reason their Detroit-based venture firm, Ludlow Ventures, is celebrating its 15th year in business. It sounds silly, attributing their longevity to what’s sometimes called “Midwestern nice.” But is it…
A startup called Playbyte wants to become the TikTok for games. The company’s newly launched iOS app offers tools that allow users to make and share simple games on their…
Commercial real estate lending startup Lev brings in $30M on a $130M valuation
Commercial real estate has been slow to embrace technology, with most deals still paper-heavy and complicated.
Diet ID wins TechCrunch’s Detroit City Spotlight pitch-off — watch the event here
TechCrunch just hosted its first pitch-off in Detroit and we’re pleased to announce Diet ID won the event. The company, based in Detroit and founded in 2016 by Dr. David…
Detroit VCs weigh in on fundraising and building startups in Michigan and the Midwest
TechCrunch just hosted a small virtual meetup with Detroit startups and venture capitals. Like the one we held last month in Miami, the event was a blast and featured a…
Notarize raises $130M, tripling valuation on the back of 600% YoY revenue growth
When the world shifted toward virtual one year ago, one service in particular saw heated demand: remote online notarization. The ability to get a document notarized without leaving one’s home…
Onboard says it can help SaaS companies bring their new customers up to speed faster and better
While companies have embraced the offerings of software-as-a-service companies with growing vigor, getting those new offerings to work in a seamless way from the outset isn’t so easy, with some…
Venture funds have been springing up everywhere in recent years. But a decade ago, it was far more difficult to build a new venture brand far away from a tech…
Umba, a digital bank for emerging markets, raises $2M Seed funding to expand across Africa
Umba, a digital bank for emerging markets and aiming first at Africa, has secured a $2 million seed funding round from new investors including Lachy Groom, ex-Head of Issuing at…
Welcome raises $6M to help your company hire and keep employees
Welcome, the HR software that helps organizations make and close offers to new candidates, announced the close of a $6 million seed round today, led by FirstMark Capital. Participating investors…
LA-based Boulevard raises $27 million for its spa management software
Boulevard, a spa management and payment platform, has raised $27 million in a new round of funding despite a business slowdown caused by the COVID0-19 pandemic. Founded four years ago…
Thinking back to the last time I accepted a job, I can’t recall actually reading any of the material that was sent over. I think I skimmed some docs to…
YC-backed Cleanly merges with NextCleaners to vertically integrate
Cleanly, the YC-backed company that looked to bring tech to the laundry industry, has today announced a merger with NextCleaners. The New York-based companies signed an all-stock deal after more…
Free Agency wants to give every tech worker a career and salary boost
Labor markets, particularly those in the tech industry, are incredibly lopsided against employees. Companies screen, interview, and negotiate with thousands of candidates per year, while employees may only go through…
Playing traffic cop for drones in cities and towns nets Airspace Link $4 million
As the number of drones proliferates in cities and towns across America, government agencies are scrambling to find ways to manage the oncoming traffic that’s expected to clog up their…
Wardrobe picks up $1.5 million for a new fashion rental marketplace
Wardrobe, a new peer-to-peer fashion rental marketplace, has today announced the close of a $1.5 million seed round and its public launch out of beta. The funding was led by…
Featured Article
Here’s where top gaming VCs are looking for startup opportunities
With cross-platform experiences like Fortnite and PUBG, in-game socializing environments, and subscription-based cloud gaming services from Playstation, Google, Amazon, and others, the gaming industry is entering a new era beyond mobile.
Most of the buzz about esports focuses on high-profile professional teams and audiences watching live streams of those professionals. What gets ignored is the entire base of amateurs wanting to…
Ludlow Ventures raised another $45 million to invest in young startups. The Detroit-based venture firm is today announcing it closed its third fund since the firm’s founding in 2010. Founding…
Detroit’s StockX raises $44M from GV and Battery to expand marketplace internationally
StockX started as a marketplace for reselling sneakers but has since grown to be much more, bringing its transparent and anonymous marketplace to more verticals. Today the company is announcing…
Ludlow Ventures has closed its second fund with $45 million
Ludlow Ventures, a young, early-stage venture firm in Detroit, has closed its second venture fund with $45 million in capital commitments, founder and managing partner Jonathon Triest tells us. Ludlow’s team,…
uBeam’s Ultrasound Wireless Charging Is Real, And About To Be Really Funded
What if wireless power at a distance actually worked? It does. uBeam invented a way to wirelessly send energy up to 15 feet away with ultrasound. What if you could…
Backed By $3.5 Million, SnowShoe Debuts Clever, Plastic “Stamps” That Unlock Content On Mobile Phones
Imagine being able to touch a toy figurine to your phone’s screen in order to see the character transported into your video game, or touching another small piece of plastic…
Meet Jonathon Triest. The 32-year-old Detroit native runs Ludlow Ventures and just closed his first venture fund — $15 million. He’s a Detroiter investing directly in Silicon Valley with the sheer…
UpTo: An iPhone App That Unlocks Your Calendar’s Social Potential (In The Right Way)
Back in December, Robin wrote about a Detroit app development startup called Rock City Apps, which had just raised a seed round of funding for its stealth iPhone app, UpTo.…
UpTo Lands Seed Funding To Go “Beyond Status Updates And Check-ins”
A new, relatively stealth startup called Rock City Apps is gearing up for the launch of a mobile application called UpTo, and has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding…
A New Deal Flow: Startup Raps For Angel Funding, Venture Firm Responds In Kind
Last week, Erick posted a video in which the founders of a stealth, San Francisco-based startup called Undrip spit some rhymes in an effort to raise seed funding for their…
