Social Starts

Social Starts is a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage investments in the technology, health tech, internet, and mobile tech sectors. Established as the first venture capital partnership dedicated to the emerging science of individual health, the firm aims to enhance well-being and happiness through its investments. It operates several funds, including Social Starts A, Social Starts 1 through 3, and Joyance Partners in the US and Europe. The firm seeks to identify and support top technologists and scientists globally, helping them advance innovations in health, biotechnology, and therapeutics. By leveraging advancements in medical care, prevention, personalization, and artificial intelligence, Social Starts believes it can capitalize on significant investment opportunities that promote health and happiness.

Kevin Dasch

COO

Toshi Eguchi

Partner

Chris Kurdziel

Venture Partner

Maria Zhang

Venture Partner

Past deals in Social Network

Vina

Seed Round in 2018
Vina, Inc. is a company dedicated to empowering women through its networking and communication platform, which facilitates connections, encouragement, and celebration among users. Founded in 2016 and based in San Francisco, California, Vina operates primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. The platform allows users to chat, post content, take quizzes, comment, and share photos, fostering an environment where women can support one another and showcase their achievements. In addition to its core offerings, Vina is also known for LadyBrag.com, a website designed to inspire women to recognize and share their successes, alongside the Hey! VINA app, which serves as a social networking tool for women seeking to make new friends.

Clover

Series A in 2016
Clover Inc. is a Toronto-based company that develops a mobile dating and chat application aimed at facilitating meaningful connections among online daters. Founded in 2014, the app allows users to discover potential matches based on location, preferences, and timing. It offers features that enable individuals to browse profiles of nearby users who have expressed interest, as well as find popular venues for dates. By simplifying the process of meeting new people, Clover enhances the dating experience, making it easier for users to connect and arrange meetups.

TOK.tv

Series A in 2016
TOK.tv Inc. operates a voice social platform designed for sports fans, enabling them to communicate with friends while watching live games on television. The platform enhances fan engagement by allowing users to share stadium sounds, take social selfies, and stream games on their devices, creating a more immersive experience akin to being at the stadium. Founded in 2012 and based in Palo Alto, California, with additional offices in London and Pavia, TOK.tv also facilitates interaction between sports teams and their fans, providing opportunities for monetization within the game experience. The company became a subsidiary of Minerva Networks in August 2019 and has partnered with notable brands, contributing features like the TOK.tv Social Button to official mobile apps for major sports teams.

SocialRank

Convertible Note in 2015
SocialRank is an online service that enables users to identify, organize, and manage their followers on Twitter and Instagram. SocialRank's product empowers their users to segment and filter their followers based on location, interests, bio keywords, hashtags, influence, engagement, and more. Fortune 500 brands have used SocialRank to mobilize marketing campaigns ranging from local events and prize giveaways to targeted advertising and competitive analysis. SocialRank was launched by Alexander Taub and Michael Schonfeld in February 2014.

Search and Share

Seed Round in 2015
Search and Share Inc

Clover

Venture Round in 2015
Clover Inc. is a Toronto-based company that develops a mobile dating and chat application aimed at facilitating meaningful connections among online daters. Founded in 2014, the app allows users to discover potential matches based on location, preferences, and timing. It offers features that enable individuals to browse profiles of nearby users who have expressed interest, as well as find popular venues for dates. By simplifying the process of meeting new people, Clover enhances the dating experience, making it easier for users to connect and arrange meetups.

Clover

Seed Round in 2015
Clover Inc. is a Toronto-based company that develops a mobile dating and chat application aimed at facilitating meaningful connections among online daters. Founded in 2014, the app allows users to discover potential matches based on location, preferences, and timing. It offers features that enable individuals to browse profiles of nearby users who have expressed interest, as well as find popular venues for dates. By simplifying the process of meeting new people, Clover enhances the dating experience, making it easier for users to connect and arrange meetups.

Sidelines

Seed Round in 2014
Sidelines, Inc. operates an online platform that connects content creators with their audiences, particularly focusing on sports enthusiasts. Founded in 2010 and based in San Francisco, California, the company amplifies writers' voices by showcasing their work on premium digital publications. It offers content publishers enhanced discussions integrated into their sites and allows brands to engage with specific demographics through sponsored authentic discussions. Additionally, Sidelines serves as a social network for sports fans, enabling users to follow their favorite teams and share opinions, photos, videos, and articles with friends and fellow fans.

SocialRank

Seed Round in 2014
SocialRank is an online service that enables users to identify, organize, and manage their followers on Twitter and Instagram. SocialRank's product empowers their users to segment and filter their followers based on location, interests, bio keywords, hashtags, influence, engagement, and more. Fortune 500 brands have used SocialRank to mobilize marketing campaigns ranging from local events and prize giveaways to targeted advertising and competitive analysis. SocialRank was launched by Alexander Taub and Michael Schonfeld in February 2014.

Hobo Labs

Seed Round in 2014
Hobo Labs is a game development company founded by entrepreneurs with a background in creating successful platforms like Rotten Tomatoes and Lithium. The company focuses on delivering innovative mobile games that incorporate guild mechanics, drawing inspiration from the PC gaming experience. Hobo Labs aims to create games that not only engage players individually but also enhance social interaction, allowing friends to play together. Their platform supports a variety of gaming applications, emphasizing a seamless and enjoyable experience for users who appreciate the community aspects of gaming.

Kanvas Labs

Seed Round in 2014
Kanvas Labs, Inc. is a mobile social networking platform that allows users to create and share social photo stories centered around real-world experiences. Founded in 2010 and based in New York, the company offers a product called Kanvas, which enables users to create engaging content utilizing photos, videos, gifs, and custom stop motion animation. Users can enhance their creations with text, stickers, overlays, drawings, and music before sharing them with friends and followers across various social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Originally known as Tracks Media, Inc., Kanvas Labs operates as a subsidiary of AOL Inc. and focuses on fostering micro-social networks that connect users through shared visual narratives.

Fitocracy

Seed Round in 2013
Fitocracy, Inc. is a New York-based company that provides an online social gaming platform focused on health and fitness tracking. Established in 2010, Fitocracy aims to empower individuals to achieve their fitness goals through gamification and community support. The platform allows users of all fitness levels to connect, share experiences, and discover new workout routines. By integrating a gaming reward system, users can track their workouts, earn points, unlock achievements, and receive guidance from fitness coaches, fostering a motivating environment for personal growth and improvement in fitness.

Butter

Seed Round in 2013
Butter is an innovative app designed to foster new friendships through the sharing of photos and messaging. It connects individuals globally who share similar interests, facilitating meaningful relationships. In addition to its social networking features, Butter is known for its exceptional production team, which has a strong track record of collaborating with major names in advertising and entertainment, including prominent companies such as Paramount Pictures and Showtime. The platform's commitment to high-quality work and international talent sets it apart in the competitive landscape of social applications.

Beyond Games

Convertible Note in 2013
Beyond Games is a San Francisco-based company that specializes in developing a game platform focused on group-based multiplayer experiences. The team comprises highly skilled artists, designers, and engineers dedicated to high production quality and meticulous attention to detail. Beyond Games creates sandbox and strategic games that encourage collaboration among players, allowing them to work together and compete to achieve common objectives. This design philosophy enhances the overall gaming experience by fostering shared spaces and strategic depth, catering to players who value cooperative gameplay.

Ideal Me

Seed Round in 2013
Ideal Me is a social market place and online community created for women between 18 to 45 providing resources to help them live a lifestyle-by-design. It is a social commerce marketplace designed to disrupt the 11 billion dollar annually “self-improvement” industry. It combines [Facebook](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/facebook) with [Amazon](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/amazon) while supporting personal development of its clients. Ideal Me was founded by [Brittany Lynch](https://www.crunchbase.com/person/brittany-lynch) and is based in Los Angeles, C.A.

Kanvas Labs

Angel Round in 2013
Kanvas Labs, Inc. is a mobile social networking platform that allows users to create and share social photo stories centered around real-world experiences. Founded in 2010 and based in New York, the company offers a product called Kanvas, which enables users to create engaging content utilizing photos, videos, gifs, and custom stop motion animation. Users can enhance their creations with text, stickers, overlays, drawings, and music before sharing them with friends and followers across various social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Originally known as Tracks Media, Inc., Kanvas Labs operates as a subsidiary of AOL Inc. and focuses on fostering micro-social networks that connect users through shared visual narratives.

FanFueled

Angel Round in 2013
FanFueled operates a social marketing platform that utilizes patented "ROI" Technology, designed to track and reward consumer influence beyond traditional referral limits. This peer-to-peer loyalty system incentivizes users to share their purchases with friends, enhancing overall fan engagement and creating new revenue streams for brands. By leveraging real-time data analytics, FanFueled enables brands to connect with their customers more effectively, fostering sustainable digital communities. The platform not only authenticates consumer interactions but also rewards them for the additional purchases that arise from their social sharing, transforming fans into active promoters.

2nd Screen Games

Seed Round in 2012
2nd Screen Games is launching a platform that promotes brand engagement through social challenges.

Onefeat

Angel Round in 2012
Onefeat is an online social gaming platform that allows users to engage in real-life activities and complete missions to earn points. Through its iOS application, the platform encourages users to participate in various tasks, blending gaming with everyday life. By achieving these missions, users can track their progress and achievements, fostering a sense of community and motivation.

Rally Games

Seed Round in 2012
Social Mobile Action Game Developers. Creators of 'Top Bot', the industry leading asynchronous multiplayer racing game for iOS! Check out 'Top Bot' here: http://rallygam.es/top-bot/ Top Bot combines turn-based multiplayer with arcade racing action. One-touch controls make it easy to get flying, while an arsenal of powerups to master keep you coming back for more!

Fitocracy

Seed Round in 2012
Fitocracy, Inc. is a New York-based company that provides an online social gaming platform focused on health and fitness tracking. Established in 2010, Fitocracy aims to empower individuals to achieve their fitness goals through gamification and community support. The platform allows users of all fitness levels to connect, share experiences, and discover new workout routines. By integrating a gaming reward system, users can track their workouts, earn points, unlock achievements, and receive guidance from fitness coaches, fostering a motivating environment for personal growth and improvement in fitness.

TOK.tv

Angel Round in 2012
TOK.tv Inc. operates a voice social platform designed for sports fans, enabling them to communicate with friends while watching live games on television. The platform enhances fan engagement by allowing users to share stadium sounds, take social selfies, and stream games on their devices, creating a more immersive experience akin to being at the stadium. Founded in 2012 and based in Palo Alto, California, with additional offices in London and Pavia, TOK.tv also facilitates interaction between sports teams and their fans, providing opportunities for monetization within the game experience. The company became a subsidiary of Minerva Networks in August 2019 and has partnered with notable brands, contributing features like the TOK.tv Social Button to official mobile apps for major sports teams.

LikeIt.com

Seed Round in 2012
LikeIt.com (http://www.likeit.com), a fun way to discover people, places, and things via social graph interests and social games. LikeIt™ enables social people discovery, helping users connect to others who are talking about the things they like and share their attitudes. LikeIt™ expands people search beyond the Facebook network, allowing users to easily aggregate interests and activities from eight other social networks into their people-discovery experience. LikeIt™ considers a broad picture of a user’s preferences to make people recommendations, while saving the user the time of having to repeat movie reviews, music channels, favorite restaurants, and other interests from numerous other social sites. The site also uses social games to continually update users’ searchable interests and opinions. How LikeIt™ Works: • Users log-in using a Facebook account and share their favorite music, movies, books, hobbies, and sports across Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Photobucket, Flickr, Foursquare, and Goodreads • The site uses fun social games to encourage people to share their interests, which are fed into a recommendation engine to present interesting people from around the world • “Would You Rather” questions let users compare opinions on today’s hottest topics • “Top Interests” encourages sharing of preferences for movies, sports, music, celebrities, food, books, and more. • “SuperFan” challenges users to pick friends’ top interests, such as the San Francisco 49ers, Oscars®, and Adele • “Who Wore It Best” lets users share fashion opinions and tastes • Using intuition and compatible interests, users play matchmaker for single friends with FriendConnect™ • LikeIt™ is committed to privacy, is TRUSTe certified, and offers users control over who sees what and when

Vingle

Series A in 2012
Vingle, Inc. operates an online interest-based community platform that facilitates connections among individuals who share similar interests. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Vingle offers a mobile app and web service available in over 20 languages globally. The platform features more than 3,000 communities covering a wide range of topics, including hobbies, professional subjects, and fandoms. Users can engage with others through discussions, answer questions related to their interests, and interact across various communities, fostering a vibrant social marketplace for sharing thoughts and passions. Vingle also has offices in Silicon Valley, Tokyo, and Seoul.

Hotlist

Angel Round in 2012
Hotlist is a location-based social media platform designed to help users coordinate plans and discover events at millions of venues globally. By allowing users to follow friends, places, and brands, Hotlist provides personalized notifications and suggestions tailored to individual social interests. Its Planner feature enables users to easily find the most convenient times and locations for meet-ups with friends. Additionally, users can take "virtual peeks" into venues to view crowd demographics, including expected attendees and their Facebook profile photos, enhancing the decision-making process for social outings. Leveraging data from over 110 million users, Hotlist offers insights on more than 3 million venues across over 40,000 cities, using public data from platforms like Facebook and Twitter to customize recommendations based on users' locations and preferences.
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