Klein Venture Partners

Bia was the first iconic fitness platform for women built on data.

What did KVP see in bia?

Passion. Bia's CEO, Cheryl Kellond, was the personification of her target market. Cheryl Kellond saw an underserved market for female athletes and built the fitness platform this market always wanted. Lemnos invested in the same round we did.

Status

Bia, unfortunately, closed.

Blossom Coffee is dedicated to better coffee brewing through science, engineering, and art.

WHAT did KVP SEE IN BLOSSOM?

A passionate founder advancing the science and art of brewing. We were also excited to see the impact of capturing rich data around the brewing process. Lemnos invested in the same round we did.

Status

Blossom does consulting work for leading coffee ecosystem partners.

EpochML develops tools for game development quality assurance. 

What does KVP see in EpochML?

We had worked with Idan Beck at Lemnos and knew he was a founder we would work with again. When Idan pitched us his idea around automating game development QA, we were committed before the third slide. We’ve lived the pain he is solving, and it is massive.

Status

in development and testing.

Instock is gravity-defying eCommerce Fulfillment.

wHAT does KVP SEE IN instock?

Instock came strongly recommended from a trusted KVP partner. We will give you more details we are allowed to :)

Status

stealth mode

Restore Health created breakthrough digital therapeutics for metabolic syndrome.

What did KVP see in Restore Health?

Restore Health fundamentally changes people's lives and health. This was an opportunity to invest again a world class CEO, Mark Williamson, who we trust will positively impact the lives of millions.

Status

Restore Health was acquired by Zillion Health.

LootWorks was a small group of experienced game developers making fun synonymous with social gaming. KVP worked on and co-founded the startup.

Status

Lootworks’ first game, Epic Swords 2, was distributed on the Android platform through the Google Play Store.

Loyakk seamlessly integrated national and local brands, messaging, content, and services on mobile devices.

HAT did KVP SEE IN LOYAKK?

We saw the classic combination of an experienced management team and a startup targeting an under-served market.

Status

Loyakk, unfortunately, closed.

Lumafield adds X-ray vision to your toolkit.

wHAT does KVP SEE IN lumafield?

Our work at Lemnos on additive manufacturing highlighted an acute need to see inside of complex objects. With a veteran, wicked smart CEO, this was an easy investment decision we were happy to have been offered.

Status

Lumafield raised a Series B in 2022.

Remitly is the online remittance service that allows immigrants in the U.S. to send money home faster and cheaper than ever before.

What does KVP see in Remitly?

We invested in Josh Hug’s (CTO) previous startup, Shelfari, and knew he was a rock star. Combine Josh with radically improving the efficiency of a large and under-served market and it was a no-brainer.

Status

Remitly went public in 2021.

Roth River is business intelligence for barrel-aged spirits. 

What does KVP see in Roth River?

You had us at whiskey :) This is another “I can’t believe someone doesn’t do this already” moment around a huge market segment. We’ll recover the angel’s share.

Status

Roth River is in testing with a major distillery and discussing partnerships throughout the industry.

Shelfari was a social networking site for book lovers. 

What did KVP see in Shelfari?

Shelfari brought together two talented people, Josh Hug and Mark Williamson, who we had previously worked with. Whatever they were going to do together, we knew we had to invest. And we love books!

Status

Shelfari was acquired by Amazon in 2008.

Shopventory is a innovative cloud-based inventory management and business intelligence platform for SMB. 

What does KVP see in Shopventory?

SMB owners want to focus on their business and customers, not the nuts and bolts of inventory, SKU performance, and sales efficiency. We trusted the CEO, Dave Carlson, from our joint time on Vanilla’s BoD.

Status

Shopventory is growing and making SMB owners happy!

Spectrohm delivers safe, high-speed inspection and material identification.

What does KVP see in Spectrohm?

Insanely smart founding team and a massive, under-solved problem for huge market segments.

Status

Spectrohm raised a pre-seed round and is completing development of its solution.

Survios is the premier mixed reality game studio.

What does KVP see in Survios?

KVP worked with Survios from its earliest days when it was developing hardware to go along with its content strategy. We are believers that the next major HMI revolution is led by mixed reality, and Survios’ aspirations are ours as well.

Status

Survios has shipped multiple award winning VR titles across multiple platforms and raised multiple rounds of capital from key Hollywood and Silicon Valley partners.

Tap.me was a mobile in-game advertising platform solution.

What did KVP see in Tap.me?

We thought (and still do) that advertising, done tastefully, has a place in games.

Status

TapMe was acquired by Media Math in December 2012.

TiltFive creates the holographic gaming system.

What does KVP see in tiltfive?

Jeri Ellsworth, TiltFive’s CEO and co-founder, is a force of nature. When we first saw her solution (it was castAR back then) we knew we had to help in any way we could. Luckily we’ve had the opportunity to support TiltFive and are active users!

Status

TiltFive shipped to customers in 2022, is growing both in terms of users and developers, and is the daring of the AR community!

Never watch sports alone! tok.tv brought together friends to watch sports in a social setting.

What does KVP see in tok.tv?

tok.tv was the first connected TV application we believed could change the game :) The CEO was an experienced startup leader and passionate about delivering an amazing solution that delights sports fans.

Status

tok.tv, unfortunately, closed.

UrbanMachine salvages the past to build the future.

wHAT does KVP SEE IN urbanmachine?

Have you ever listened to an idea and express shock that no one has done it before? Eric Law’s idea is obvious, inevitable, and helps the planet. Why would we not invest?

Status

UrbanMachine recently raised a Seed round and is completing development of their solution.

Vanilla Forums is the leading commercial and open source community forum solution. 

What did KVP see in Vanilla?

We saw a great founding team that understood the actual needs of brands, companies, and individuals who need to build and support communities.

Status

Vanilla was acquired by Higher Logic in 2021.

Zekira helps you recall the context around half-remembered things.

What did KVP see in Zekira?

We saw an underserved opportunity in terms of instant information recall for business professionals.

Status

Zekira, unfortunately, closed.

Zipline transforms what’s possible with automated, on-demand delivery.

What does KVP see in zipline?

We were one of the first investors in Romotive, the company that became Zipline. Keller Rinaudo Cliffton’s tranformative vision for automated delivery has since changed the world.

Status

Zipline currently operates on three continents and completes an instant delivery on behalf of businesses and governments every two minutes. To date, Zipline has delivered more than 450,000 packages, more than 4.5 million products, and flown more than 30 million autonomous miles.

Zoodles was an consumer solution dedicated to safely entertaining and educating young children online.

What did KVP see in Zoodles?

We were excited to invest in Mark Williamson’s second startup and as parents, believed strongly in his vision around safely educating kids.

Status

Zoodles was acquired by HTC in October 2011.

Better Ventures is the amplifier of essential science and technology startups.

Our role

We were delighted to help on the Advisory Board for Better for Funds 1 and 2, provide technical diligence for some of their early investments, and continue to send startups for their consideration.

FTW partners with the smartest minds solving the biggest challenges in our Food System.

Our Role

We were delighted to be one of the first Limited Partners (LP) in FTW Ventures, serve on the Advisory Board for the fund, provide diligence for potential investments, and continue to send startups for their consideration.

Lemnos is the premier early-stage venture fund focused on startups combining bits and atoms.

Our Role

KVP’s Managing Director is a Partner (GP) at Lemnos Labs, which has made 60+ investments across three primary funds.

Massive is an investment firm whose members are founders and operators who helped to start or build some of the best companies around - from early stage to global powerhouse.

Our Role

We are delighted to have made investments in line, Path, and Gridwise through this member driven fund, with many more investments expected.

Techstars is a global investment business that provides access to capital, one-on-one mentorship, a worldwide network and customized programming for early-stage entrepreneurs.

Our Role

Some of our best KVP investments were TechStars startups. We were also blessed to have invested as an LP in TechStars 2009 and 2012. KVP also mentors for many of the TechStars programs across the country over the last ten plus years.