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• SendOwl, a startup providing infrastructure for the sale of digital products, raised a $9M Series A led by TheGP (PRN)

SendOwl, an SF-based payments startup focused on digital products, raised $9m in seed funding. TheGP led, and was joined by Defy.vc and Alumni Ventures. www.sendowl.com

SAN FRANCISCO –– SendOwl, a technology company that provides the infrastructure to transfer, manage, protect and collect payment for digital products, has secured $9 million in seed funding in a round led by by new investor TheGP, with participation from returning investors defy.vc and Alumni Ventures, and new backer Authentic Ventures. The new funding will be used to accelerate the product roadmap, increase the number of 3rd party integrations, and invest in key creator partnerships.

SendOwl is building the “digital product rails for the internet” with a set of powerful and scalable tools designed to help people share their knowledge and passion with the world and in the process get paid for doing what they love. It is now the preferred tool for tens of thousands of independent merchants, as well as some of the world’s largest creative companies including Bungie Inc. and Universal Music Group.

“We believe scaled internet commerce was built primarily with physical goods in mind, and we’re excited to build a ground-up commerce layer for digital products,” said Matt Plotke, CEO of SendOwl. “We hear from creators all the time how much of a game-changer it is for them to control their revenue streams, and I look forward to continuing to expand the product and team to service an ever-growing user base. Completing this round at a significantly increased valuation to our last is further validation that our vision is resonating.”

SendOwl says users have delivered more than $2 billion of digital products using the platform, which grew its monthly average users 25%+ in H2 of 2022 alone. The funding comes shortly after several other recent product launches, including the Link App, which allows Linktree’s 30M+ users to sell digital products and services directly from their Linktrees.

“We are incredibly excited to partner with Matt and the team at SendOwl,” said Phin Barnes, Co-Founder of TheGP. “It’s rare to find a company with such strong product market fit when it comes to helping creators build sustainable businesses. That’s why we were eager to provide the partnership and funding they needed to build the infrastructure to support these creators.”

The digital-commerce startup SendOwl has raised a $9 million seed round.
It has a platform where creators and businesses can sell digital products.
SendOwl gave Insider exclusive access to the memo it used to pitch investors.

It also has integrations with Shopify and the payment platform Stripe that allow creators
to sell directly from their profiles on those platforms.

SendOwl CEO Matt Plotke told Insider the company believed that integrations such as these would let “creators and businesses meet their buyers at the point of distribution.”

The latest fundraising round, which the company secured over several months in 2022, was led by the venture-capital firm the General Partnership. defy.vc and Alumni Ventures, which were existing investors, also took part, as did a new backer, Authentic Ventures.

Rivet Work Inc., a Detroit-based construction labor management platform, was seeded with a $5.6 million investment. Led by defy, the round included support from Augment Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Ideal Industries and Michigan Rise. Neil Sequeira, founder and partner at defy, will join the company’s board.

• Rivet, a Detroit-based labor ops platform for construction contractors, raised $5.6m in seed funding. Defy.vc led, and was joined by Augment Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Michigan Rise and IDEAL Industries. www.rivet.work

Detroit-based proptech firm finds a digital home in the Motor City

If Tuesday’s announcement that Detroit-based software startup Rivet Work closed a $5.6 million seed round is any indication, the home of the American auto industry is on the road to becoming a proptech digital destination as well.

A 3-year-old labor operations platform for construction contractor operations and job site teams, Rivet has raised $8.2 million to date.

The latest round was led by Woodside, Calf.-based Defy, which lists former New York Yankee Derek Jeter among its “startup founders and industry leaders.” Neil Sequeira, founder and partner at Defy, will be joining Rivet’s board of directors.

Others participating in the round are LegalZoom co-founder Brian Lee, Airspace co-founder and CEO Nick Bulcao, Augment Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Michigan Rise and Ideal Industries as well as angel investors.

Abercrombie & Fitch — the classic middle school brand — has experienced somewhat of a renaissance in recent years.

The brand has shed its image as a destination for “cool kids” and has become a more “wholesome” and on-trend brand targeted to those entering adulthood, Insider reported.

Now, investors are even wearing Abercrombie & Fitch apparel to the office.

Madison McIlwain, a partner at the venture firm Defy Partners told Insider by email, “Abercrombie is back and I’ve been drawn most mornings to these casual trousers that are ready for back to office. (Sshh elastic back waist).”

Price Range: $$ (based on approximate prices: mens’ jackets range between $40-$400; women’s jackets $40-$400)

San Francisco-based early-stage venture firm Defy.vc closed its third fund at $300M. The firm intends to back 33 startups from the new fund. It has already invested in an undisclosed blockchain startup and real estate startup from the new fund. The firm will set aside double the initial funding for follow-on rounds.

More:

• The firm typically leads $3M to $10M investments in Seed to pre-Series A stage startups.
• Defy.vc was established by former General Catalyst venture capitalist Neil Sequeira.
• The fund brings its total capital raised from limited partners to $713M, of which it raised $262M for Fund II and $151M for Fund I.
  • Defy.vc invested in 19 companies from Fund I and 27 from Fund II.
• 10% of the funds will be used to back founders that have built relationships with the firm.
• Notable portfolio companies include Airspace Technologies, Aalto, Novi, Bazaar, and Arena Club.

• Early-stage VC firm Defy.vc raised $300M for its third fund to invest in pre-Series A rounds (CB)