First and foremost, thank you for joining us on the journey so far. 2022 is just around the corner, and here at Chisos, we’re wrapping up and preparing for the year ahead. In that spirit, we wanted to recap where we've been and where we're going.
A Few Big Wins from 2021
As the year comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on 2021:
- We launched and closed a $500K+ crowdfunding campaign on WeFunder.
- We’ve just opened up our Fund II to accredited investors on Securitize.
- Thousands of people learned about how we’re investing directly in individuals via a flurry of positive press mentions on platforms like TechCrunch.
- We’ve welcomed ~10 new founders to our portfolio.
- Two new investment analysts, Zach Schultz and Hannah Rich, joined our team to provide even more support to founders.
- We earned the Diversity in VC certification and re-affirmed our commitment to equitable access to funding.
- We worked with Horizan.vc to bring a version of the CISA to the UK.
- Our portfolio founders celebrated major milestones - more on that next.
While we're proud of these accomplishments, we know we wouldn't be here without our community. Thank you to each and every investor, founder, partner, and colleague for your support and encouragement!
Plus, Wins from Our Founder Portfolio
This year, our portfolio founders also achieved some seriously impressive milestones:
- Entertwine recently received sponsorship from Good Robot, Monkeypaw, Shudder, CrookedHighway and more. The team is focusing on their AI system (e.e.r.s.), a proprietary matching software that pairs two separate entities of data and provides their compatibility to one another. They're looking for intros to slack communities that could try their matching product for free. Also seeking accelerators to propel their current tech.
- Chrissybil Boulin, founder of Jump Start Tutoring (Fund II investment) has been selected for Forbes 2022 30 under 30 list. Jumpstart is on track to earn six figures in revenue by year-end. They are raising a pre-seed round to build out their AI/ML platform.
- Everlaunch is officially post-revenue, with over 600 users - 32 new users just last month. Additionally, Everlaunch won 1st Place at the dotLA Summit Pitch Competition, was a finalist for the AfroTech World Cup Pitch Competition, and 3rd place winner at Latinx Launchpad pitch competition. Everlaunch is raising a pre-seed round until December 10.
- Fox & Robin launched their women's apparel line and has expanded into 15 retail locations throughout the country!
- Vizen Analytics has been selected as an AWS AI Challenge Master. They were one of ten (10) global start-ups chosen out of >1000 companies who participated. They are raising a pre-seed round.
Congratulations to the incredible founders in our portfolio for these accomplishments - and for the smaller, less celebrated wins along the way, too.
What's Next in 2022
This year has been one for the books. Next year is shaping up to bring even brighter horizons. In 2022, we’re looking forward to:
- Closing our Fund II raise to scale up and fund more entrepreneurs. Our goal is to make 50-100 investment in 2022.
- Continuing development on our CISA investment management platform. We look forward to sharing more detail about this in the months to come.
- Increasing our partnerships and bolstering our portfolio support resources. Our network of partners and resources is one of the things that sets Chisos apart. We're looking forward to offering even more support to our community in the future.
From all of us at Chisos, we wish you nothing but the best this holiday season and a very Happy New Year!