setting the scene
- today’s most recognizable companies went through plenty of changes to get to where they are
- Twitter, once called Odeo, was originally a podcasting company 🎧
- YouTube started as a video dating platform ❤️
- Nokia was once a paper mill company 📄
- Nintendo originally manufactured playing cards 🃏
- Slack went from startup to unicorn in only one year 🤯🦄
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the point: companies are constantly pivoting, iterating, and growing 🚧
- even bulletpitch is rocking a fresh logo and rolling out our genz ambassador program (see below)
- this week we will be highlighting the progress of our q1 startups
the basics
- 📈 valuation domination: of the 12 startups we covered in q1, 25% raised more capital
- 🌱 consumer growth: the startups have added users, downloads, clients, and even revenue
- 📞 founder conversations: after speaking with some of the founders, we got firsthand info on where they hope to take their companies
- if you missed any q1 letters, check out the full list of companies here
quarter in review
◉ Levels Health 🏃♀️
Levels Health makes it accessible for individuals to track their metabolic health, using a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) that connects to a personalized app
- new and updated features, including
- a dashboard redesign 🎨
- enhanced educational experience, both on the blog and in the app
- integration with Stripe subscriptions 💵
- 20% revenue growth from the previous month
- next level waitlist, climbing 6,000 people to surpass 100,000
◉ The.com 🧑🏾💻
The.com is a low-code website building platform that simplifies the process of creating, remixing, and launching websites and allows creators to earn credit for their work
- official launch of their collaborative website builder, with $4.4m in seed funding
- led by NFX and participation from Sound Ventures, VSC Ventures, Village Global and Harry Stebbings
- a feature from TechCrunch
- a nice bulletpitch shoutout on The.com’s site
- we’re still obsessed with the domain name and have learned “the.xyz” is still up for grabs, any takers?
◉ Finless Foods 🐟
Finless Foods is an alternative seafood company, currently focusing on two products: plant-based and cell-cultured bluefin tuna
- Finless Foods is swimming in cash, as they just raised $34m in their series 🅱️
- led by Hanwha Solutions with participation from DainichiCorp, At One Ventures and Olive Tree Capital
- this will allow them to finish constructing an 11,000 square-foot pilot facility to scale production
◉ BeReal. 📷
BeReal. is a social media platform where once a day users have two minutes to capture a non-curated, candid photo to be sent out to their friends
- ⚠️ BeReal. has continued to explode on college campuses, surpassing over 1 million downloads in the month of February
- coffee machine conversation starter: how long until Instagram creates their own version to try and compete?
◉ Stellic 🧑🏽🎓
Stellic is a planning and advising software for universities and colleges to provide their students with a suite of solutions, making it the one-stop shop for managing a degree
- Stellic raised $11m in their series 🅰️ led by Reach Capital, along with prominent edtech founders & investors including
- the platform is now used by more than 45 colleges & universities
- a few of our subscribers were so excited by Stellic that they shared our letter with their schools’ registrars, lol
◉ Camber 🗺
Camber is an app that lets you share your favorite places with friends, plan your next trip, and discover spots near and far
◉ Mento 👥
Mento is a career care platform that provides support and resources for individuals to better manage their careers, salaries, and daily work
- using the promo code bulletpitch you can get 20% off your first month on Mento
- Mento’s founders thought our bulleted version was so funny, they’ve claimed us as mentees 🥳
◉ Dorian 👾
Dorian is a no-code interactive storytelling platform that allows fiction writers to create mobile games from their work
- after speaking with founder, Julia Palatovska, we learned more about Dorian’s story
- Dorian’s next features can go many directions, and we’re excited to see which path they choose
genz sourcing ambassadors⚡️
- calling all college students with a passion for vc & entrepreneurship
- are you interested in:
- access to special bulletpitch events including networking and meeting founders?
- connecting with like-minded college students on other campuses?
- sourcing companies and being credited in bulletpitch?
- click here to learn more
one more thing
- word of mouth goes a long way 🗣