DreamIt Ventures
DreamIt Ventures, founded in 2007, is a venture capital and seed accelerator firm focusing on Seed Venture, Early Stage Venture and Late Stage Venture Investing. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the venture capital firm operates four seed accelerators in the USA: Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Austin, as well as an international accelerator in Tel Aviv.
Via its accelerator programs, DreamIt Ventures has launched over 200 companies that have raised $275 million at combined valuations of more than $1 billion.[1] Notable investments include SeatGeek,[2] social gaming company SCVNGR, MindSnacks,[3] Take The Interview,[4] Meerkat,[5] Notehall,[6] LearnBop[7] and Headout.[8] DreamIt Ventures worked with Comcast Ventures on seed projects for Kwelia, Reactor Inc. and Toppermost Corp.
DreamIt ventures[9] was listed on the Forbes Midas List of Top Startup Incubators and Accelerators.[10]
History
DreamIt Ventures was co-founded in 2007 by Steven Welch, Michael Levinson and David Bookspan. Steven Welch is Managing Partner of programs in the Austin and Philadelphia accelerators and is CEO of KinderTown, providing educational Apps for young children.
Michael Levinson is Founding Partner and CEO of SaaS productivity tool WizeHive. Currently, Levinson is an investor at Robin Hood Ventures.[11]
David Bookspan is a Founding Partner, CEO and Founder of Monetate Inc. All three founders are active ‘angel investors’ with a focus on pharmaceutical, medical devices and software/SaaS.
Avi Savar was named CEO in September 2015.[1]
Accelerator programs
DreamIt Ventures manages and operates[12] accelerator programs in all its offices. The Philadelphia programs operate from University City Science Center and each program accepts up to 15 startup companies that work from the Center under the guidance and mentorship of DreamIt Ventures and partner organizations.
Each company chosen for an accelerator program receives $25,000 and is paired with industry-specific individuals and companies as well as a platform from which to present ideas and business plans to potential angel investors and venture capital firms.[13] Each accelerator program lasts for 3 months and all companies chosen work collaboratively.
DreamIt Health programs[14] focus on startups that work specifically on health technology and enterprise health solutions and the accelerator programs partner with larger organizations such as Johns Hopkins University, Penn Medicine, Independence Blue Cross and Northrup Grumman.
DreamIt Access programs are a partnership between DreamIt Ventures and Comcast Ventures, working together on the Minority Entrepreneur Accelerator Program (MEAP) to provide mentorship and funding to minority-owned startups.
Portfolio of companies
DreamIt Ventures has to date invested in 168 startups and companies, including:
| Company | Funding Rounds | Date |
|---|---|---|
| SCVNGR | Seed | June 1, 2008 |
| Parsely | Seed | May, 2009 |
| SeatGeek | Seed | May 22, 2009 |
| Postling | Seed | August 1, 2009 |
| Adaptly | Seed | August 11, 2010 |
| MindSnacks | Seed | March 9, 2011 |
| newquill, Inc. | Seed | August 10, 2011 |
| Kwelia | Seed | September 8, 2011 |
| SnipSnap | Angel | May 11, 2012 |
| Brideside | Seed | December 5, 2012 |
| YEVVO | Seed | April 1, 2013 |
| Reactor Inc. | Seed | July, 2013 |
Notable exits
| Company | Acquisition |
|---|---|
| AppArchitect | Acquisition December 8, 2014 |
| Clothes Horse | Acquisition December 3, 2014 |
| Stylr | Acquisition June 16, 2014 |
| Sqoot | Acquisition May, 2013 |
| Postling | Acquisition November 2, 2012 |
| UXFLIP | Acquisition April 24, 2012 |
| Notehall | Acquisition June 23, 2011 |
References
- 1 2 Konrad, Alex (September 21, 2015). "Dreamit, The Accelerator Behind Meerkat And SeatGeek, Takes A Bold No Equity Approach". Forbes. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
- ↑ "SeatGeek on CrunchBase".
- ↑ "Mindsnacks on CrunchBase".
- ↑ "Take The Interview on CrunchBase".
- ↑ "Meerkat on CrunchBase".
- ↑ "Notehall on CrunchBase".
- ↑ "LearnBop on CrunchBase".
- ↑ "Headout on CrunchBase".
- ↑ "DreamIt Ventures on CrunchBase".
- ↑ Mac, Ryan (April 30, 2012). "Top Startup Incubators And Accelerators: Y Combinator Tops With $7.8 Billion In Value". Forbes.
- ↑ "Michael Levinson on Bloomberg Businessweek".
- ↑ "DreamIt Ventures Launches Accelerator Program in Philadelphia". September 8, 2011.
- ↑ "Five Entrepreneurs Share Their Startups For A Chance to Win $400,000". Forbes. October 21, 2014.
- ↑ "Meet the incubator: DreamIt Ventures". October 1, 2014.
External links
- Official website
- "DreamIt Ventures". Angel.co. Retrieved September 21, 2015.