Beam Impact is a New York-based social impact technology company that helps e-commerce and retail brands turn everyday purchases into measurable charitable giving. Through an embeddable checkout integration and consumer app, Beam lets shoppers choose a vetted nonprofit at checkout while the brand donates a portion of the sale at no extra cost to the customer. Founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 honorees Viveka Hulyalkar and Alex Sadhu, the platform pairs mission-driven brands with high-impact causes to lift conversion, average order value, and repeat purchase rates - while pursuing a goal of shifting $10B toward nonprofits.
CollegeVine is a Boston-based education technology company that started as a near-peer mentorship service for college applicants and has grown into an AI platform for higher education. Its free consumer tools - a machine-learning Chancing Engine, school list generator, scholarship finder, and a large student Q&A community - reach millions of high school students, while its newer business is a suite of customizable AI agents (AI Recruiter, AI Advisor, AI Ambassador) that colleges deploy across the student lifecycle to cut administrative costs and raise engagement. The stated goal is to level the playing field in admissions and confront the rising cost of higher education.
Spring Health is a New York-based digital mental health company that uses machine learning to match people with the right care - therapy, coaching, medication, or self-guided tools - and deliver it through employers and health plans. Founded in 2016 by Yale graduates, its 'Precision Mental Healthcare' approach reframes the old employee assistance program (EAP) into a measurable, outcomes-driven benefit. Now valued at $3.3 billion, Spring Health reaches more than 20 million people worldwide through employers, payers, and channel partners.
Preferabli is an AI-driven B2B2C product discovery and recommendation software platform for wine, beer, spirits and other sensory consumer products. Formerly Wine Ring, the company pairs proprietary, patented machine-learning models with the world's largest assembled group of Masters of Wine and Master Sommeliers to predict what an individual will actually like - then plugs that prediction into retailers, hotels and merchants across roughly 100 countries.
Raisin is a Berlin-based fintech that runs a pan-European and US savings and investment marketplace, letting retail customers shop competitive interest rates across hundreds of partner banks from a single account, while giving banks an on-demand channel to gather deposits. Beyond its consumer marketplace, Raisin licenses white-label 'savings-as-a-service' technology to financial institutions and offers ETF, pension and investment products. The company surpassed one million customers, turned profitable in 2022 after a decade of operation, and intermediates tens of billions of euros in deposits across more than 30 markets.
Plume is a Palo Alto-based software company that turns home and small-business WiFi into a managed, self-optimizing service. Its cloud platform - delivered through internet service providers rather than direct to consumers - uses machine learning to continuously tune connectivity, secure connected devices, and layer on consumer apps like parental controls, motion-sensing, and guest access. Built on the open-source OpenSync framework, Plume powers tens of millions of locations and more than a billion connected devices worldwide for operators including Comcast, Charter, Liberty Global, and Vodafone.
Jenny Lefcourt is a General Partner at Freestyle VC, a San Francisco-based seed-stage venture capital firm with $565M+ AUM. A serial entrepreneur who dropped out of Stanford GSB to co-found WeddingChannel.com (backed by Kleiner Perkins), she later co-founded Bella Pictures before transitioning to venture capital in 2014. She has since backed iconic companies including Airtable, Patreon, BetterUp, and Intercom, earned spots on the Forbes Midas Seed List and Forbes 50 Over 50, and co-founded All Raise, the nonprofit accelerating female founders and funders in tech.