York IE Announces 7th Cohort of Startup Investments

(Manchester, N.H., Feb. 16) — York IE, a vertically integrated strategic growth and investment firm for technology companies, today announced its seventh investment cohort.

The six-month cohort, which ran July 1 to Dec. 31, 2022, features nine total investments — five new companies and four follow-ons to previous investments — totaling $7.9 million. York IE also saw significant growth and progress from prior investments within its portfolio.

“Companies that are succeeding in the current market share a similar profile: strong, founder-led businesses with pragmatic growth strategies,” said Kyle York, CEO, York IE. “Each company in our seventh cohort matches that description. Startup valuations are down, but capital-conscious businesses like these are still securing funding, growing their revenue and scaling sustainably.”

Seventh York IE Cohort

With this new cohort, York IE has made 53 investments in 42 companies, including 17 investments in 2022. The new companies in the cohort are:

• BlueTrace, which offers the easiest and most powerful traceability solution for seafood growers, wholesalers, distributors and dealers (Castine, Maine);
• Ovation, the actionable guest feedback platform for restaurants (Provo, Utah);
• Secure AI Labs (SAIL), a next-generation clinical data registry that enables clinical researchers to break new ground with disease-ending insights (Cambridge, Mass.);
• Stay AI, a subscription enablement platform that helps direct-to-consumer ecommerce companies launch subscription offerings, reduce churn and boost long-term value (New York); and
• Wunderite, an insuretech platform that enables independent agents to automate the application and onboarding process, collaboratively gathering underwriting data from clients (Boston).

“I want to work with people that I trust, that other founders say great things about, and people have said great things about York IE,” said Chip Terry, founder and CEO, BlueTrace. “I also like the fact that they specialize in B2B SaaS. They can take lessons from neighboring industries and bring them to us. That’s incredibly important.”

The follow-on investments are:

• CloudTruth, the DevSecOps platform company that helps enterprise development teams manage their cloud configurations (Boston);
• Lytica, an electronic component spend analytics and risk intelligence company that uses real customer data to help companies make their supply chain more cost transparent, resilient and predictable (Ottawa, Ont.);
• Pixaera, a learning metaverse for professionals to build core skills and collaborate (London); and
• Datazoom, a video data platform that continually gathers data to help organizations develop a more effective and efficient pipeline (New York).

Several companies in this cohort, including CloudTruth, Lytica, Pixaera, SAIL and Stay AI, are also clients of York IE’s Advisory as a Service offering.

“As a startup, our advantage over established players is the ability to move fast,” said Anne Kim, co-founder and CEO, SAIL. “York IE’s strategic advising, plus their finance and marketing support, enables us to do that successfully.”

Success for York IE Portfolio Companies

The second half of 2022 was successful for many companies within York IE’s portfolio:

• Auditoria was named a Gartner Cool Vendor in Finance;
• CloudTruth announced new funding and a new CEO;
• Finmark was acquired by BILL;
• Lytica expanded its executive team and was named to the 2022 ProcureTech100;
• Metadata had 7,000-plus marketers register for its DEMAND conference; and
• SAIL received funding from Mozilla Ventures.

Of the 42 companies York IE has invested in, three have been acquired and more than one-third  have raised additional capital at an increased valuation.